Ullastret revisited by Jordi Bernadó

Josep Lluís Mateo was born in Barcelona (1949) and graduated in Architecture in 1974 from the ETSAB, later obtaining his PhD (cum laude) from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in 1994. He is also Professor Emeritus, Doctor of Architecture and Design at ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). He has taught and lectured at major academic institutions worldwide, including the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles (Scholar), the Berlin Sommer Akademie, and Harvard Graduate School of Design (Guest Professor), among others.

In 1991, he founded mateoarquitectura, a practice based in Barcelona that has developed a broad range of projects—office buildings, urban planning, public spaces, housing—always with a strong international focus. Mateo’s practice is currently involved in a number of local and international projects such as the new Film Theatre of Catalonia in Barcelona, the new headquarters for PGGM Pension Fund Company in Zeist, Holland, and the office building on the former site of Renault factories in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, among others.

With each of his projects, Mateo seeks to connect the practice of construction with research and development in both intellectual and programmatic terms. His work lies at the intersection between conceptual thinking and built reality, combining technical rigor with ongoing inquiry. His architecture has been widely published and exhibited globally, receiving numerous awards and honors. In 2011, he received the Aplus Award for Best Career Achievement; in 2019, DOMUS named him among the 100 best architecture studios worldwide; and in 2021, he was named Author of the Year by the Juanzong Archive Awards (China).

Among his most significant projects in Spain are the Toni Catany International Photography Center in Mallorca, the Barcelona International Convention Center (CCIB), the Filmoteca de Catalunya, the renovation and extension of the Mercat del Ninot in Barcelona, and the paving of the historic center of Ullastret. Internationally, his work includes the headquarters for PGGM in Zeist (Netherlands), La Factory office building in Boulogne-Billancourt, the ESMA School in Montpellier, and the Castelo Branco Cultural Center.

Academic collaborations and teaching:
Josep Lluís Mateo has been Professor of the Architecture Department at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich (ETH-Z) since 2002. He has also taught and lectured at numerous institutions around the world, including Princeton, Columbia University in New York, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, ABK Stuttgart, UP8 Paris, OAF Oslo and ITESM Mexico. He was Visiting Scholar at the Jean P. Getty Center in Los Angeles from 1991 to 1992. Josep Lluís Mateo is President since 2009 of the Board of Directors of the Barcelona Institute of Architecture. He has been a member of a number of juries and expert committees, including the Quality Committee of Barcelona City Council (2000-2008), and for prizes such as the European Landscape Award and the Thyssen Award.

Recent exhibitions and prizes:
The practice’s work has been exhibited on numerous occasions thanks to its international influence. New York’s MoMA devoted a space in the exhibition “Spain: On Site” (2006) to its apartment building in Valencia for the Sociopolis Project. Individual exhibitions include those at Ras Gallery (Barcelona, 2009), Architekturgalerie Aedes (Berlin, 2004), Architekturzentrum Wien (Vienna, 1998), Col•legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya (Barcelona, 1998),Galerie Fragner (Prague, 1998), Galerie Aedes (Berlin, 1994), Architekturgalerie Luzern (Luzern, 1992) and Architekturgalerie Munich (Munich, 1991).

The work of Josep Lluís Mateo has been awarded many prizes, including:
- Top International Purpose-Built Venue 2008, First Prize. Best International Convention Centre category.
Organized by C&IT magazine, London. Project: CCIB-Barcelona International Convention Centre
- 2008 Archizinc Award, First Prize. Collective Housing category. Project: Sant Jordi Students’ Hall of Residence, Barcelona
- European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award 2005, Runner-up. Project: CCIB- Barcelona International Convention Centre
- 15th Award of Grupo Dragados de Arquitectura.

Jordi Bernadó (Lérida, 1966). The artist understands photography as a way of conceiving the world. He understands the discipline as a form of knowledge and a tool to see the city, architecture and the artistic activity from another perspective. He has published over 20 books and many of his works have been acquired by public and private collections worldwide.

His photographs have been acquired for major public and private collections, such as those of Fundació “La Caixa”, Fundación Telefónica, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Deutsche Bank Collection, Artium, MUSAC, Fundación Vila Casas, and Banc Sabadell among others. They have also been shown in many solo and collective exhibitions in Spain and abroad, at venues such as Artist Space in New York, la galerie VU' in Paris, Galería Senda in Barcelona, Filter Space in Hamburg, Museo Civico Riva del Garda in Italy, Fundación Telefónica in Madrid, in Fotografie Forum International in Frankfurt and the MAXXI museum in Rome.

He has published more than 20 books focusing on contemporary architecture and landscape, such as Good News* always read the fine print (winner of Laus award, 1999), Very very bad news (winner of the best photography book in Photoespaña 02 and best art book prize from Spanish Ministry of Culture in 2003), True Loving and other tales (selected as one of the best photography books in Photoespaña 07), Lucky Looks published in 2008 (for Banc Sabadell), Welcome to Espaiñ in 2009 and Europa in 2010.

Among others he is the winner of the following awards:

Fotopres Scholarship (1993), Endesa Scholarship (2007), PhotoEspaña best photography book award (2002), the Ministry of Culture Award for best art book of the year (2003), he was granted by Beca Endesa X in 2007 and the award for best experimental film “Hello Ms. Hock” in the Architecture Film Festival of Santiago de Chile (2013).

Jordi Bernadó en el Pabellón presentando su intervención el 13 de marzo de 2014. Fotografía © Pietro Milici.

José Juan Barba (1964) is an architect, graduated from ETSA Madrid (1991), and holds a Doctorate in Architecture from ETSA Madrid, awarded Cum laude for his thesis Inventions: New York vs. Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi, Piranesi (2004). He received a special mention in the National Awards for Completion of Studies (1991) and served as an advisor to various NGOs until 1997. He founded his studio in Madrid in 1992 (www.josejuanbarba.com). 

Barba is an architecture critic and has been the director of METALOCUS magazine since 1999. Since 1998, he has directed the International Architecture Magazine METALOCUS (bilingual, Spanish/English), which has been recognized with multiple national and international awards.

He is a Full Professor at the University of Alcalá, leading the project line of the Habilitation Master's Architecture and City, responsible for several courses in Theory and Criticism, heading the Urban Planning area of the Department of Architecture, and participating in the research group Architecture, History, City, and Landscape at UAH. He has been invited to numerous architecture and urbanism forums, including the II Forum of Mexican Cities World Heritage: Urban Development, History, and Modernity, organized by the Pan-American Committee for Urban Development and Historical Heritage, and the World Urban Development Forum (FMDU) in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico. He has also participated in the International Architecture and Urbanism Conferences from the perspective of women architects, and has lectured at prestigious national and international universities, including the National Building Museum (Washington, DC), Roma TRE, Politecnico di Milano, UPMF Grenoble, ETSA Madrid, ETSA Barcelona, University of Thessaly (Volos), UNAM Mexico, the Faculty of Architecture Montevideo, schools of architecture in Medellín, Quito-Ecuador, Alicante, Málaga, Granada, Seville, A Coruña, Zaragoza, Valladolid, Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico, IE School, Universidad Europea Madrid, UCJC Madrid, ESARQ-UIC Barcelona, or Università Degli Studi di Genova.

Barba has extensive professional experience in architecture, urban planning, landscape design, and territorial recovery. He has received numerous awards, including the First Prize for Gran Vía Posible for Delirious Gran Vía (Madrid), the River Interpretation Center (Zamora), exhibited at the World Architecture Festival (Barcelona 2008), Santa Bárbara Park (Toledo), the Erich Degner Architecture Prize 1995 promoted by the BBVA Foundation, and his Day Care Center for the Elderly project, featured in Volume 3 of the COAM Madrid Architecture Guide (2007). His work has been published in numerous national and international books and magazines.

He was also Maître de Conférences at IUG-UPMF Grenoble (2013–14), in a position obtained through a European competition. His work has been published internationally. He regularly serves on academic juries, including the editorial competition of Quaderns magazine (2011), as a selector for the Mies van der Rohe Awards (2007–2026), as juror for EUROPAN13 Spain (2015–16), TRANSFER in Zurich (2019), and was invited to participate in the Venice Biennale 2016 as part of the exhibition Spaces of Exception / Spazi d’Eccezione.

He has published several books, including The Dark Line. michele&miquel, dA Vision Design (2024), CONGRESO ANYWAY. The City of Cities (2020), #Positions (2016), and Inventions: New York vs. Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi, Piranesi (2015). He has contributed to other publications such as Public Space Gran Vía. The Tourism City (2020), Spaces of Exception / Spazi d’Eccezione (2016), La mansana de la discordia (2015), and Contemporary Architecture of Japan: New Territories (2015), as well as chapters in numerous books including Architects: A Professional Challenge (2009), 21st Century Architectures (2007), Ruta de la Plata, New Conquerors of Space (2019), and The Tourism City (2020).

Selected awards include:

- “PIERRE VAGO” ICAC. International Committee of Art Critics Award, London, 2005
- “PANAYIOTI MIXELI AWARD,” SADAS-PEA, award for the promotion of architecture, Athens, 2005
- “SANTIAGO AMÓN” AWARD, award for the promotion of architecture, COAM Madrid, 2000
- FAD Award 07, Ephemeral Interventions, First Prize, M.C. Escher Exhibition, Arquin-FAD, Barcelona, 2007
- World Architecture Festival, Center for Research and Interpretation of the Rivers, Tera, Esla, and Órbigo, Finalist, Barcelona, 2008
- Gran Vía Posible, First Prize, Delirious Gran Vía, Madrid, 2010
- Reform of the Río Segura Surroundings, Award, Murcia, 2010