César Portela, CSCAE Gold Medal of Architecture

The architect César Portela (Pontevedra, 1937) is the new winner of the Gold Medal for Architecture, the most important distinction awarded by the profession. Established by the Superior Council of the Colleges of Architects of Spain (CSCAE) in 1981, the Gold Medal recognizes the "effort of people and institutions that ennoble architectural work with their work."

In its opinion, the Jury has valued the "solidity" of César Portela's professional career, "as a Galician benchmark for new generations of architects in both Architecture and Urbanism". Likewise, it highlights the work of the "localist architect who exceeds his native area to project himself internationally".

Gold Medal for Architecture in recent years was awarded to Carme Pinòs and Carlos Puente (2022), Alberto Campo Baeza (2019), Victor López Cotelo and Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra (2016), Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz (2014), Javier Carvajal Ferrer (2012)...

Cemetery and Fisterra. Photography by Hisao Suzuki.

The jury that decided to award the Gold Medal for Architecture to César Portela was made up of the second vice president of the CSCAE, Moisés Castro Oporto, as president of the jury; the deans of the colleges of architects of Ceuta and Galicia, José Daniel Moya Enríquez and Elena Ampudia Aixendri, respectively, both by appointment of the plenary session of the CSCAE; the CSCAE treasurer, María José Peñalver, as a member of the CSCAE Awards and Distinctions Working Group; the tenured academic of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Pedro Moleón Gavilanes, appointed by the Institute of Spain; the architect Sol Madridejos, the journalist and architecture critic Llàtzer Moix and the general secretary of the CSCAE, Laureano Matas.

The delivery of the Gold Medal for Architecture will take place on June 22, at a gala in which the I Award "Architect Lluís Comerón Graupera" will also be awarded to the Secretary General of Housing, Urban Agenda and Architecture, Iñaqui Carnicero, and the General Director of Housing and Land, Javier Martín, and the ARQUITECTURA Awards, which will be unveiled during the ceremony.

Cotobade Astronomical Observatory. Photography by Sergio Portela.

Point Nose Lighthouse. Photography by Carlos Osorio.

Natural History Museum. Aerial photography, via CSCAE.

César Portela. Photograph by Gustavo Santos.

Museo do Mar. Photography by Sergio Portela.

Los Toruños Bridge. Bay of Cadiz. Photography by Clemente Delgado

Point Nose Lighthouse. Photography by Carlos Osorio.

Natural History Museum. Aerial photography, via CSCAE.

Cotobade Astronomical Observatory. Photography by Sergio Portela.

Cordoba station. Photography by Hisao Suzuki.

Togamura Museum. Photography by Fujie-San.

Palexco Coruña. Photography by Cesar Portela.

Domus Building in collaboration with Arata Isozaki. Photograph by Arata Isozaki.

Sharm El Sheikh Tower. Rendering by Gonzalo Sánchez.

Vigo Auditorium. Photography by Manuel González Vicente.

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César Portela

César Portela. Born in Pontevedra in 1937, César Portela studied Architecture at the Superior Technical Schools of Architecture in Madrid and Barcelona. Two years after his graduation, in 1966, he obtained a doctor's degree.

In his extensive career, construction works stand out, such as the Córdoba Bus Station, which earned him, in 1999, the National Architecture Award; the Central Station of Valencia, the Natural History Museum of Galicia, the Palace of Congresses and Leisure and the Domus Building, in A Coruña; the Fisterra Municipal Cemetery, the Cádiz Railway Station; the Palacio Auditorio Mar de Vigo and the Airport Terminal of said city; the Togamura Ethnographic Museum, in Japan, and the Sharm El-Sheik Control Tower, in Egypt, among others.

He has also projected interventions in public spaces, such as the Cabo Fisterra Master Plan, the rehabilitation of San Simón Island or the Special Plan for intervention in Pazo de Oca and its surroundings, recognized in 1981 with the National Urbanism Award. . To these recognitions are added distinctions and honors from various national and international institutions.

Visiting professor at numerous universities and institutions around the world -among them, the Superior School of Architecture of Pamplona, Nancy, Caracas, Lisbon and Weimar-, he has also directed various seminars and architecture workshops, some as relevant as the one directed in collaboration with Aldo Rossi in Santiago de Compostela (1974), the international architecture workshops in Naples, Seville, Barcelona, Belfort, Caracas, the IV Santander Architecture Biennial; the Seminar on Culture and Nature: Architecture and Landscape, dependent on the Menéndez Pelayo University, on the Island of San Simón, and the direction of the Architecture Seminar of the University of Weimar. He has been a professor of Projects for 20 years at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Galicia.