Ricardo L. Castro

Ricardo León Castro, (born 1942) is a Colombian-born, Canadian architectural photographer, critic, and educator. Known for his monographs on architects Rogelio Salmona and Arthur Erickson, his design philosophy was published in Syndetic Modernisms. Castro was elected Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (FRAIC) in 2010, and to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2015. He was awarded the 1990 Prix Paul-Henri Lapointe for architectural journalism by the Ordre des Architectes du Québec. A frequent contributor to Canadian Architect Magazine and ARQ Architecture Québec, photographic expositions of his work were also held in public institutions in Bogotá, Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City.

Education and career Ricardo León Castro was born in Bogotá, Colombia, on April 2, 1942. As a youth he lived in Madrid, Spain, and, at age 14, began to photograph his surroundings. Inspired by his uncle, architect Dicken Castro, he enrolled in architecture at the Universidad de Los Andes where he was taught by Rogelio Salmona. Castro graduated with a Master of Architecture in 1974, but continued to study Architectural History and attend seminars given by photographers Bernard Freemesser and Brett Weston. At that time he partnered with Nicholas Olsberg of the Canadian Centre for Architecture to research the work of Canadian architect Arthur Erickson. Castro continued to teach at McGill School of Architecture and, in 2015, he was Resident Fellow of the McGill Institute for Public Arts and Ideas (IPLAI) as well as a member of the editorial board for the architectural journal deArq. At that time he was also recognized for photographic excellence by the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and inducted as a member in May 2016.

Design philosophy and analysis An architectural historian and design instructor, Castro wrote that his goal was to convey "both the theoretical and pragmatic aspects in a holistic way". Influenced by the work of architects Juhani Pallasmaa and Peter Zumthor and colleagues Alberto Perez-Gomez and Robert Mellin, Castro used the Greek term sýndesis to convey both the "tangible and conceptual" in monographs on Canadian architect Arthur Erickson and Colombian architect Rogelio Salmona. Interested in literature and philosophy, Castro's analysis of architecture or art also incorporated literary concepts. Introduced to the writings of Alejo Carpentier by his uncle Dicken Castro, More recently Castro included W. G. Sebald's "concept of the extraordinary" in A Taxonomy of Collecting, In Syndetic Modernisms, Carlos Rueda Plata wrote that both "syndesis and thaumaturgy (the marvelous)" informed Castro's analysis of the ceremonial path of Punta Pite, Chile.

Recognition Castro is recognized as a photographer as well as an architectural critic and historian. He was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 2015, The book was also awarded the 2007 Alcuin Society Award for Excellence in Book Design Castro's research on Baroque Fortifications in the Caribbean in association with the University of Western Ontario was funded through the Major Collaborative Research Initiatives (2008-2014) of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. and was recognized, as an educator, with the 2005 Ida & Samuel Fromson Award for Outstanding Teaching by the McGill University Faculty of Engineering (School of Architecture).

Books Syndesis II co-authored with Robert Mellin and Carlos Rueda Plata. (Bogota: Universidad Piloto de Colombia, 2016) Bilingual English/Spanish edition. Syndetic Modernisms co-authored with Robert Mellin and Carlos Rueda Plata. (Bogota: Universidad Piloto de Colombia, 2014) Bilingual English/Spanish edition. Rogelio Salmona: A Tribute (Bogota: Villegas Editores, 2008) English edition. . First published as Rogelio Salmona: Tributo (Bogotá: Villegas Editores, 2008). Spanish edition. Arthur Erickson: Critical Works co-authored with Nicholas Olsberg. (Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre) 2006 Canadian edition and (Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2007) American edition . The Shapes of Time: John Schweitzer (Montreal: Westmount Visual Art Centre, 2001) Bilingual English/French edition. Rogelio Salmona (Bogota: Villegas Editores, 1998) English edition and Spanish edition.