Miscellaneous
Abstract: Rafael Moneo (born 1937) is one of the most thoughtful current architects, whose work has inspired a younger generation in Spain and internationally, since he has taught at Harvard for many years. His practice and writings challenge contemporary assumptions, which suggest that architecture’s role has somehow been superseded, and question the position of those who “wish to think of architecture only in relation to instantaneity and action”. Yet, unusually for an architect much concerned with theoretical issues, he insists that it is only in the construction of a project that architecture can actually be realised - “architecture needs the support of matter” – and this is one defence against the arbitrary. Another is an acute self-consciousness about the history of architecture, which is available for appropriation by the skilful architect. This lecture will discuss Moneo’s prolific architectural output, in an attempt to illustrate his theoretical position. Biography: Nicholas Ray is principal of NRAP Architects, Reader Emeritus in Architecture at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Jesus College. His most prominent local buildings are Quayside, opposite Magdalene College, and the renovations to the University’s Department of Chemistry. He is the author of Cambridge Architecture, a Concise Guide (CUP 1994), (Re)Sursele Formei Arhitecturale (Paideia 2000), Alvar Aalto, (YUP 2005), Architecture and its Ethical Dilemmas (Routledge 2005) and “Philosophy of Architecture”, a chapter with Christian Illies in Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Sci2009). He is currently working on a monograph of Rafael Moneo, with Francisco Gonzalez.