Rafael Moneo

was born in Navarra, Spain in 1937. He graduated in 1961 from the Escuela de Arquitectura in Madrid after which he worked in the Denmark office of Jorn Utzon for two years. he then worked as an assistant at the Academia de Espana until 1965 when he established a private practice in Madrid. his professional life is divided into teaching and architectural practice, mainly in Spain and in the US. yesterday, at Instituto Cervantes in Berlin, he presented three project he built in the recent years in America. the projects reminded me of my years in the university, the late 90's, coherent plans and sections, the aesthetics of the structure and the forms that follow function. you could definitely tell that Moneo doesn't follow contemporary design trends (which he describes as short-life architecture). Instead, he produces buildings with influences of Nordic or Dutch design mixed with his own historic traditions, trying to maintain the competence of architecture.