Chilean architect Smiljan Radic at Barcelona

The Monday 9 May, a talk by renowned Chilean architect Smiljan Radic marks the close of Foros 2016 “Origen”,  a public cycle of lectures on architecture organized by the School of Architecture at UIC Barcelona. With the evocative title “Bestiary”, Smiljan Radic will be presenting the unique and relaxed approach to style, language and architectural method that he uses, which has positioned his work as an exponent of contemporary architecture.

For Radic, the term “bestiary” refers to a family of projects that illustrate moments which others call architecture, a premise that is the point of departure for his talk at the School of Architecture; a look at the ideas that generate his works, the effects they have on their surroundings and their relationship with the world around them. For this Chilean architect, a good building is the illustration of a momentary conviction that is capable of civilizing its surroundings.

Smiljan Radic is a member of Chile’s “golden generation”, who, along with names such as Mathias Klotz, Cecilia Puga and Alejandro Aravena, started to make a name for himself in the nineties, when Chile began to open up to the world and to democracy, with the invitation to take part in the Venice Biennale and the country’s leading role in the Congress of the International Union of Architects in Barcelona in 1996. Radic set up his practice in 1995 in Chile, after postgraduate studies at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia and winning the competition for Iraklio Square in Crete. In 2001, the Colegio de Arquitectos de Chile awarded him the prize to the best Chilean architect under the age of 35 for his project for the civic neighbourhood of Concepción and, in 2009, he was named honorary member of the American Institute of Architects. His work has been shown in prestigious galleries such as the Hiroshima Contemporary Art Museum and TOTO·Gallery MA in Tokyo.