He was one of the most internationally exposed Spanish architects and especially acclaimed for his hundreds of large-scale projects. Born in 1939, Ricardo Bofill Levi died in Barcelona at the age of 82 on January 14, 2022. In 1963 he created his architectural firm, Taller de Arquitectura. For more than 50 years, his work, as varied as it is colorful, has left its mark on world architecture.
Ricardo Bofill Levi was one of its architects regularly qualified as visionaries and innovators, for his particular conception of space, between a neo-classical inspiration (and in particular Palladio) and a postmodern expression. Author of the famous Walden 7 building and the W Hotel in Spain, the Arcades du lac and the Saint-Honoré market, the headquarters of Cartier and Shiseido, or even the Mohamed VI University in Morocco, Ricardo Bofill Levi has able to seduce many countries of the world, with audacious, colorful, sometimes unstructured creations.
Municipal Palace of Congresses, Madrid © Gregori Civera_Pati Nuñez Agency
Walden 7 building, Barcelona © Gregori Civera_Pati Nuñez Agency
In addition, he has also produced highly controversial projects, such as the Abraxas ensemble in Noisy-le-Grand, designed at the end of the 1970s. A project he wanted in opposition to the principle of building bars, and which appears in many cult films, from Brazil to one of the sections of Hunger Games .
Taller De Arquitectura, the family business with 30 nationalities
Student from 1957 at the Higher Technical School of Architecture in Barcelona but expelled for reasons of too assertive militancy, he will launch a little later, in 1963, in the creation of his own architectural firm. He will also be surrounded by many personalities and artistic professions, such as the literary critic Salvador Clotas, the poet José Agustin Goytisolo or the economist Julia Romea, once again marking a certain eclecticism, like the character.
The Red Wall, Calpe © Gregori Civera_Pati Nuñez Agency.
Mohamed VI University, Morocco © Gregori Civera_Pati Nuñez Agency.
Taken over a few years ago by Ricardo Emilio and Paulo, the architect’s two sons, the firm Taller de Arquitectura today represents nearly a hundred people active on projects and more than 30 different nationalities.
During his life, Ricardo Bofill Levi will have been at the head of more than 500 different projects in some fifty countries around the world.
Maïa Pois
