Rafael Moneo's guest appearances

Rafael Moneo

Royal Academy of Arts (archive)

School of Architecture: Special Events

Martin Centre Research Seminar Series

Without Pictures

Edmund de Waal

Phil Jones

Michael Craig-Martin

Sebastian Faulks

Howard Jacobson

William Boyd

Stephen Fry

Rene Descartes

Kim Wilkie

Rem Koolhaas

Adam Caruso

Frank Lloyd Wright

William Kentridge

Josef Frank

Allen Jones

OwlTail

On Typology by Rafael Moneo

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rafael Moneo delivers our Annual Architecture Lecture in the inspiring setting of the Summer Exhibition. Moneo is world-renowned for his intellectually and structurally rigourous buildings, such as the Kursaal Congress Centre in San Sebastián, the City Hall in Murcia and the Northwest Corner Building at Columbia University.

<p>Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rafael Moneo delivers our Annual Architecture Lecture in the inspiring setting of the Summer Exhibition. Moneo is world-renowned for his intellectually and structurally rigourous buildings, such as the Kursaal Congress Centre in San Sebastián, the City Hall in Murcia and the Northwest Corner Building at Columbia University.</p>

Rafael Moneo: Royal Academy Annual Architecture Lecture

Nicholas Ray

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 His practice and writings challenge contemporary assumptions, which suggest that architecture’s role has somehow been superseded, and question the position of those who  “wish to think of architecture only in relation to instantaneity and action”.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.

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. <br> <br>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.

Nicholas Ray "Rafael Moneo and the Problem of the Arbitrary"