José María García de Paredes. Meeting spaces, in October

José María García de Paredes (Sevilla, 1924-Madrid, 1990) was an influential Spanish architect, recognised for his role in the modern movement. His works have been awarded the Grand Prix de Rome (1955), where he resided at the Spanish Academy of Fine Arts until 1958; the National Prize for Architecture (1956) and the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts (1990). 

His work is characterised by a functionalist approach and careful aesthetics, combining efficiency and beauty. In addition, his relationship with figures from the cultural scene of the time stands out, a fact that the exhibition also focuses on. This is amply exemplified by the family bond between the architect and Manuel de Falla, which promotes projects such as the National Music Auditorium in Madrid or the Manuel de Falla Auditorium in Granada.

Ángela García de Paredes Falla (Madrid, 1958) is architect from the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid in 1982 and a doctor, Extraordinary Prize for doctoral thesis - dedicated to the work of her father, José María García de Paredes - from the Polytechnic University of Madrid in 2015, where she is a professor in the Department of Architectural Projects.

She began working as an architect collaborating, together with her husband Ignacio Pedrosa, in her father's studio which, after his death in 1990, became Paredes Pedrosa arquitectos Estudio de Arquitectura.

She is vice president of the Manuel de Falla Foundation, founded by her mother, and Academician of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando for the Architecture Section.

In 1990 he joined forces with Ignacio Pedrosa with whom he shares his professional and research activities, having obtained numerous first prizes in competitions and having built more than twenty buildings, and having been awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts 2014. In addition, his work has been exhibited at the Venice International Architecture Biennale in various editions.

Ignacio García Pedrosa (Madrid, 1957) is architect from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, where he obtained his doctorate in 2015, receiving an extraordinary award for his thesis Auditorium, a typology of the 20th century.

Since 1995 he has been an associate professor of Architectural Projects at the ETSAM and has been a guest professor at various institutions such as the IUAV in Venice, the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, etc.

In 1990 he joined forces with his wife, Ángela García de Paredes, to open the Paredes Pedrosa studio. In his professional career they have won first prizes in competitions and built more than twenty buildings, highlighting public works of a cultural nature and public housing.