This monograph presents one of the most unique voices in contemporary architecture whose collection of built work makes a compelling case, with some help from Hisao Suzuki’s photography, for the power of radical simplicity. Included amongst the projects featured are the Andalucian Museum of Memory and Caja Granada, two contiguous buildings united in a quiet yet monumental statement about Granada, and its history, as well as other instant classics such as the Asencio, Gaspar, and Turegano houses. All share a basic dedication to simple composition with unadorned masses and show Baeza’s uncompromising exercise of disciplined restraint in achieving architectural silence, his laconic answer to the deafening noise of the contemporary city. The projects explored in the book span four decades of an international architectural practice. Contributions by Richard Meyer, Jesus Aparicio, Kenneth Frampton, and Manuel Blanco offer critical commentary on Baeza’s persistent quest for beauty and relevance by means of simplicity.

• Foreword by Richard Meier
• Introduction by Jesus Aparicio
• Interview by Manuel Blanco
• Epilogue by David Chipperfield
• Edited by Oscar Riera Ojeda

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Contributors Biographies

Richard Meier received his architectural training at Cornell University and established his own office in New York City in 1963. He has received the highest honors in the field including the Pritzker Prize for Architecture, the Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Royal Institute of British Architects as well as the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association. Among his most well-known projects are the acclaimed Getty Center in Los Angeles, the High Museum in Atlanta, the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Frankfurt Museum for Decorative Arts. Current projects include the Italcementi ITC Lab in Bergamo, Italy, the St. Denis office complex in Paris, Rothschild Tower in Tel Aviv, and the SoMa Newark Master Plan.

David Chipperfield studied at Kingston School of Art and the Architectural Association in London. After graduating, he worked at the practices of Douglas Stephen, Richard Rogers, and Norman Foster. David Chipperfield Architects was established in 1984 and the practice currently has over 180 staff at its main offices in London, Berlin, Milan, and Shanghai. The practice has won more than fifty national and international competitions and many international awards and citations for design excellence. In 2009, David Chipperfield was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and named Knight Bachelor for services to architecture in the UK and Germany on the UK New Year Honours List 2010. He has taught and lectured extensively.

Jesus Aparicio graduated in architecture from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM). He has won the Rome Prize in Architecture at the Academia de Bellas Artes de España in Rome, and a Fulbright/M.E.C Fellowship. He was Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, New York, where he obtained a Master in Architecture and Building Design. He has a PhD in Architecture and since 2009 has been Full Professor of Building Design at the ETSAM. 

Manuel Blanco, Full Professor of Architecture at the Department of Architectural Design at the Madrid School of Architecture, Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de la Universidad Politécnica of Madrid, ETSAM UPM. First Director of Spain’s National Museum of Architecture and Urbanism, 2007, he was the Curator of the Spanish Pavilion at the X Biennale di Architettura di Venecia 2006, where he presented España [f.] Nosotras, las Ciudades. He has curated and designed numerous exhibitions, conceived as installations, including the following series: Campo Baeza: The Creation Tree, Gallery Ma de Tokyo 2009; Campo Baeza alla luce di Palladio, Basilica Palladiana de Vicenza 2004; Campo Baeza Light is More, at the Byzantine Basilica of Saint Irene for the UIA Congress in Istanbul 2005, Urban Center of New York 2003, Mies Van der Rohe’s Crown Hall, IIT Chicago 2003, Santiago Calatrava: Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, the Olympic Museum Lausanne, National Gallery of Athens, Design Center of Malmö, and Museo de Arte Moderno of Santo Domingo.