Carmen Pigem finished her studies at the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura del Vallès in 1987 and since 1988 she has been working with Rafael Aranda and Ramon Vilalta, now under the name RCR ARQUITECTES in her hometown Olot. They are National Prize of Culture in Architecture 2005 from the Generalitat Catalunya, Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres 2008 from the République Française, Honour Members for the AIA American Institute of Architecture 2010, International Prize 2011 'Belgian Building Awards' and Honour Members for the RIBA Royal Institute of British Architects 2012. Since 1989 they have been consultant architects for the La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park and have taught Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture (1989-2001, Vilalta) and Projects (1992-2004, Pigem), having written essays on architecture and landscape. They have won different international contests (the last ones, the Parque del camino condal in Barcelona, the Waalsekrook Multimedia library in Belgium, the Soulages Museum in France, the Crematorium of Hofheide in Belgium and The Edge Business Bay in Dubai) and have received distinctions in the work among which three finalist works in the European Union Mies Van der Rohe Awards stand out. Some of the awarded works have been exhibited in different events (the last one, Global Ends in the Toto Gallery.Ma in Tokyo) and now published in different monographs, the last one 'El Croquis', Nº 162 (IV), RCR Arquitectes 2003-2012. Poetic Abstraction, 'AV', No. 137, 'The Sketch', No. 138 (V), RCR Architects 2003-2007 The Attributes of Nature, 'RCR' 3C Design, Korea
Born in Navarra in 1957, Francisco Mangado is an architect from the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra, where he has been a professor since 1982. He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. Likewise, he has been Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor of Architecture at Yale University's School of Architecture. Mangado is also a professor of Projects in the Master of Architectural Design, an extraordinary professor of Projects at the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra, and a visiting professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. In June 2008, he promoted the Fundación Arquitectura y Sociedad, which works to foster the interaction of architecture with other disciplines of creation, thought and economics. Simultaneously to his academic activity and his dedication to the Foundation's programmes, he has been working as an architect from his studio in Pamplona.
Through this professional work, he has received, among others, the Andrea Palladio Architecture Award, the Thiene Architecture Award, the Architécti Award, the CEOE and FAD Award, the First Place in the 20th edition of the 2005 Urban Planning, Architecture and Public Works Awards granted by the Madrid City Council. Besides, he has also been awarded the 2007 Saloni Architecture Award, the 2007 Enor Architecture Grand Prize, as well as the 2007 COAL First Place for Architecture. The Spanish Pavilion at Expo Zaragoza 2008 has won the following awards: First Place at the 7th ASCER Cerámica de Arquitectura Exhibition in 2008; in 2009, First Place at Construmat en Edificación; the Giancarlo Ius Gold Medal, awarded by the UIA, the García Mercadal Award granted by the Association of Architects in Aragon (COA) and the Spanish Architecture Award by the Board of Directors of the Spanish Associations of Architects (CSCAE), as well as in 2010 the Green Good Design Award by the Chicago Athenaeum. The Archaeological Museum of Vitoria received the 2010 Copper Award in Architecture, the First Award of the COAVN in the category of Public Building and the 2010 International Architecture Award. The Centro Municipal de Exposiciones y Congresos of Ávila won the International Architecture Awards in 2011.
In December of this year, Francisco Mangado has been named RIBA International Fellow, a recognition granted by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to non-British professionals for their particular contribution to the field of architecture.
Topic: 'SENSES'
Louis I. Kahn says: 'A man with a book goes into the light. This is how a library begins'
Define a space of three thousand cubic meters for reading, from perception.
There are as many perceptions as views.
'What the view does is to invent perceptive possibilities in the real properties of the stimulus. Probe the reader to look at a word without reading it. The letters are lines, but the intelligent eye does not want to rest on them, and goes beyond them. He doesn't see: he reads. And this elaborate perception is inevitable. J.A. Marina
And Kahn also says, 'The building in question is part of a man who wants to read a book.'
The architectural tour of the city of Pamplona took place on Friday 27th October 2005. Architect Patxi Mangado collaborated as a guide.
