L'Auditori

Rafael Moneo

José Rafael Moneo Vallés was born in Tudela (Navarre) in 1937. He studied at the Madrid School of Architecture, graduating in 1961. In 1970 he became a professor of Elements of Composition in the Barcelona School of Architecture and in 1980 held the same post in Madrid until 1985, when he was appointed Chairman de la Graduate School of Design of Harvard University, a post he held until 1990. Rafael Moneo is now Josep Lluis Sert Professor of Architecture in the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Of his professional work, it is worth mentioning the National Museum of Roman Art in Mérida (1986), Atocha Station in Madrid (1992), the Pilar y Joan Miró Foundation in Palma de Mallorca, the Davis Museum in Wellesley College in Massachusetts (1993), the Museums of Modern Art and Architecture in Stockholm (1998), the New Building for Murcia City Hall (1998), the Auditorium and Kursaal Congress Centre in San Sebastián (1999), the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas (2000), the New Cathedral in Los Angeles (2002), the General Archives of Navarre in Pamplona (2003) and the Gregorio Marañón Mother-Infant Hospital in Madrid (2003), amongst other works.

Rafael Moneo’s activity as an architect is accompanied by his work as a speaker and critic. Joint founder of the Arquitecturas Bis magazine, Rafael Moneo’s writings have been published in numerous professional magazines and the presentation of his work through exhibitions and talks has led him to institutions on either side of the Atlantic.

Rafael Moneo has received numerous distinctions, including the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 1996 and the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2003. Elected an Academic of Fine Arts in 1997, he took possession of his post in early 2005.