BENEDETTA TAGLIABUE, architect.
While I wait for Benedetta in the architecture studio she runs, in the Mercè neighborhood, I am surprised by the silence and peace that reigns there, despite being full of people working. I take the opportunity to admire corners, scale models, different objects, and the light that fills this unique space.
Benedetta radiates a contagious sympathy and joy. She appears with her big smile and her colorful necklaces and clothes, apologizing for the delay. I tell her that I don't mind waiting in such an attractive space and that, besides, today is a special day for me, because hers is the portrait that makes 80, the one that closes my project. She likes that.
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Benedetta Tagliabue is the principal architect of the architecture studio Miralles Tagliabue EMBT, which she founded together with Enric Miralles in 1991, and president of Fundació Enric Miralles, she is an architect graduated from the Istituto Universitario de Architettura di Venecia (IUAV). She completed her studies in New York and in 1989 she settled in Barcelona. In 2004 she received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Napier University (Edinburgh). She currently combines her professional work with teaching in international schools and universities. She was a visiting professor in 2012 at GSD Harvard University and in 2011 at Columbia University in New York. From her studio she has designed projects in China, Germany, England and Holland, and other countries. Among her outstanding works are the Spanish Pavilion at the Shanghai Exhibition (2010), the Kālida Center (Maggie's Center) within the modernist complex of the Hospital Sant Pau, the Santa Caterina Market and neighbourhood in Barcelona (1997-2005), the Scottish Parliament Building (1999-2004), the Gas Natural Tower in Barcelona (1999-2006), the University Campus of Vigo (1999-2004) and the Diagonal Mar Park in Barcelona (1995-2002). Her works have received awards such as the International Fellowship, awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), in its 2010 edition, the RIBA Jencks Award 2013 and the prestigious Stirling Prize in 2005. In 2014, she joined the jury of the Pritzker Prize. In May 2019, she received the Sant Jordi Cross awarded by the Generalitat de Catalunya for the excellence of her professional practice in the field of architecture worldwide.