5 Days

ARQUITECTURE: TRIP TO MADRID - LEÓN - OPORTO

León. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León MUSAC - Exterior

Instituto de Turismo de España (TURESPAÑA). Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León MUSAC – Exterior. León
There is not a ‘Spanish’ architectural style. But there is an increasing level of quality and beauty within the new projects, probably more than other part of the world.
Terence Riley, chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art, and curator of the exhibition On-site: new architecture in Spain, MoMA, 2006.

This is a 5-day trip to visit Madrid, Porto, Zamora and León, focused specifically on Spanish and Portuguese buildings and led by renowned architects who specialize in contemporary architecture.

We’ll begin in Madrid, visiting some of the most important projects of the last century (Oiza, Fisac, Sota, etc.) as well as recently-created designs by Nouvel, Moneo, and Mansilla+Tuñón.

The following day, we’ll leave the capital to get a close-up look at projects by Mansilla+Tuñón, such as the Archeology and Fine Arts Museum in Zamora. Then we’ll travel to León, home to impressive historic buildings such as the Cathedral, and the San Marcos Parador, the contemporary art museum MUSAC (Mies van der Rohe Award, 2007) and the Auditorium (Spanish Architecture Award, 2003).

Casa da Musica, Porto, concert building. Pavel Krok. BY CC 2.0

Casa da Musica, Porto, concert building. Pavel Krok. BY CC 2.0
On our way to Porto, we’ll stop at the Pousada de Santa Marinha, in Guimaraes, a 12th century Augustine monastery whose refurbishment was recognized with Portugal’s National Architectural Prize in 1985.

There are countless places to see in Porto: the Serralves Foundation and the Casa de Chá (Siza), Matosinhos park (Fernando Tavora), the School of Architecture (Siza Vieira, Pritzker Prize, 1992), the House of Music and its surrounding areas (OMA, Rem Koolhaas, Pritzker Prize, 2000)…

As Terence Riley said, architects know very well where to leave their mark… and in Spain and Portugal we have the immense fortune of being able to enjoy architecture that was built to delight people who know how to appreciate design.