Oriol Bohigas

Oriol Bohigas i Guardiola (20 December 1925 – 30 November 2021) was a Spanish architect and urban planner, known for his work in the modernization of Barcelona.

Early life Bohigas was born in Barcelona, Spain, on 20 December 1925, in a Catalan bourgeois family. His father was the philologist , and he studied at the Institut-Escola de la Generalitat. During the Civil War, he moved to Olot, province of Girona, where he continued his high school studies.

At the beginning of the 1960s, Bohigas founded the firm MBM Arquitectes with David Mackay and Josep Martorell

In the first democratic mandate of the Barcelona City Council in 1980, Bohigas was appointed Urban Planning Delegate under the mayoralty of Narcís Serra, a position he held until 1984. After being elected, Mayor Pasqual Maragall named him head of the Department of Culture with the mandate to provide the city with large cultural infrastructures. During this period, in which he also designed buildings such as the Design Museum of Barcelona.

Bohigas was also a cultural manager. Between 1975 and 1999, he headed Ediciones 62, which he helped found, directed the Fundació Joan Miró between 1981 and 1988, and between 2003 and 2011, was president of the . Barcelona City Gold Medal of Artistic Merits (1986) Medal of Urbanism of the Académie d'architecture (1988) Sikkens Award (1989) Gold Medal of Architecture from the CSCAE (1990) Creu de Sant Jordi (1991) The City of Barcelona Award of International Projection (1999) Gold Medal from the Col·legi Oficial d'Arquitectes de Catalunya (2007) National Award of Architecture (2006) National Award of Culture (2011) Gold Medal from the Generalitat de Catalunya (2013)

Architectural works Bohigas' best known works are:

(1974) La Vila Olímpica del Poblenou and the Olympic Port (1992) "Pabellón del Futuro" of the Seville Expo '92 (1992) Palau Nou de La Rambla, Barcelona (1993) Pompeu Fabra University (2001) Offices building for the Trade Union UGT. Barcelona (2002–2008) Tecnocampus University in Mataró (2004–2011) Enlargement of the El Corte Inglés at Plaça de Catalunya (2004) Liceu Metropolitan station. Barcelona (2005–2008) Auditorium and Sala Gaudí in La Pedrera building from Gaudí. Barcelona (2005–2008) Central Police Station in Plaça Espanya. Barcelona (2005–2010) White tower in Plaça Europa. Hospitalet del Llobregat (2006–2010) La casa dels Xuklis in Barcelona (2006–2011) Offices building for RBA Editors. Barcelona (2007–2011) Disseny HUB Barcelona (2001–2003) Transformation of the area around the Station in Parma (Italy) (2001–2015)

Books He published amongst others the following books:

Els altis i baixos de l'arquitectura catalana (1961) Momentos estelares de la arquitectura (1961) Barcelona entre el plà Cerdà i el barraquisme (1963) Contra una arquitectura adjetivada (1969) Polèmica d'arquitectura catalana (1970) Arquitectura española de la Segunda República (1970) Proceso y erótica del Diseño (1972) Once arquitectos (1976) Historia de las tipologías arquitectónicas (1979) Reconstrucció de Barcelona (1985) Combat d'incerteses. Dietari de records I (1989) Quatre maneres de fer arquitectura (1990) Dit o fet. Dietari de records II (1992) Barcelona olímpica: ciudad renovada (1992) El present des del futur (1996) Contra la incontinencia urbana. Reconsideración moral de la arquitectura y la ciudad (2004) Passar Comptes. Dietari de records III (2012)