Juan Navarro Baldeweg facts for kids

Juan Navarro Baldeweg (born June 11, 1939, in Santander, Spain) is a very talented Spanish artist. He is famous for being an architect, a painter, and a sculptor. He runs his own architecture company, Navarro Baldeweg Asociados, in Madrid.

About Juan Navarro Baldeweg

The Teatros del Canal in Madrid, designed by Juan Navarro Baldeweg.

The Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain.

Juan Navarro Baldeweg started his journey in art by studying engraving in 1959. He then went on to study architecture and graduated in 1965 from the Technical University of Madrid. He even earned his doctorate degree there in 1969.

After his studies, he received a special scholarship from IBM. This allowed him to research how technology could help with city planning. He also taught at many famous universities around the world, including Harvard and Yale. He is now a professor at the same school where he studied architecture. He taught his students to think about architecture in new, creative ways, like comparing buildings to metaphors.

Juan Navarro Baldeweg has always combined his work as an architect with his passion for painting and sculpture. Art experts say his work connects modern art ideas with older traditions. Early in his career, he worked with another well-known architect, Alejandro de la Sota.

In 1974, he received another scholarship to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. There, he learned to see objects as ways to show the hidden qualities of their surroundings. This idea was very important in his later work.

Juan Navarro Baldeweg has worked alongside other famous architects like Álvaro Siza Vieira, Alberto Campo Baeza, and Rafael Moneo. He shared an interest with Álvaro Siza Vieira in making modern buildings fit well into their surroundings. With Alberto Campo Baeza, he focused on how important light and gravity are in architecture. And with Rafael Moneo, he explored ideas from classical and Scandinavian designs. Over time, his work has continued to explore new and exciting forms.

Throughout his career, Baldeweg has won many architectural design competitions. Some of his winning designs include the Castilla y León Convention Center in Salamanca (1985) and the Museum of Human Evolution in Burgos (2000). In 1990, he received Spain's National Award for Plastic Arts for his artistic achievements.

He has also written about the work of other architects. In 1998, he received the Tessenow Gold Medal for all his amazing work. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, a very important art institution in Spain. He is also a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

Main Works

Architecture Projects

• House of the Rain, Liérganes, Spain (1978-1982).
• Mills of the Segura River, Murcia, Spain (1984-1988).
• Social Services Center and Library at Puerta de Toledo, Madrid, Spain (1985-1992).
• Congress Palace of Salamanca, Spain (1985-1992).
• Congress and Exhibition Center, Cadiz, Spain (1988).
• Training Pavilion in the Olympic Village, Barcelona, Spain (1988).
• Entertainment Center, Blois, France (1991).
• Congress Center, Salzburg, Austria (1992).
• Trade Fairground, Silleda, Spain (1992).
• Studio House for the painter Gordillo, Madrid, Spain (1992).
• Headquarters for the Extremadura Regional Government, Mérida, Spain (1992-1995).
• Cultural Center, Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain (1992-1997).
• Museum and Cultural Center Salvador Allende, Santiago de Chile, Chile (1993).
• Courthouse Building, Mahón, Spain (1993-1995).
• Ministry of Industry and Tourism, Toledo, Spain (1993-1996).
• Hertziana Library, Rome, Italy (1995).
• Extension of the Woolworth Center for Music, Princeton, USA (1995-1997).
• National Museum and Research Center of Altamira, Santillana del Mar, Spain (1995–2000).
• Departmental Building at Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain (1996-2007).
• Cultural Center, Benidorm, Spain (1997-2006).
• Extension Project of the Reina Sofía National Museum and Art Center, Madrid, Spain (1999).
• Center for Performing Arts of the Community of Madrid, Spain (2000).
• National Research Center, Museum of Human Evolution and Congress Palace, Burgos, Spain (2000-2009).
• Martos Mill and Balcony of the Guadalquivir Restoration, Córdoba, Spain (2001-2005).
• Palace of Music and Performing Arts, Vitoria, Spain (2002).
• Institute of Knowledge, Amersfoort, Netherlands (2003).
• City of Flamenco Project, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain (2004).
• Congress Palace and Hotel Project, Palma de Mallorca, Spain (2005).
• New Central University Hospital of Asturias, Oviedo, Spain (2013).
• Expansion of the Courts of Mahón, Menorca, Spain (2013).
• Novartis Administrative Headquarters, Basel, Switzerland (2014).
• Headquarters of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, Barcelona, Spain (2016).
• Remodeling of the eastern cell of the Capitol and positioning of the Winged Victory, Brescia, Italy (2020).
• Repositioning of the Pugilatore in the Brescia Museum, Italy (2023).

Visual Arts Exhibitions

• "Light and Metals" (1976).
• "Domestic Hydraulics" (Milan Triennial, Italy 1986).
• The Resonance Box Recent Painting. Marlborough Gallery (Madrid 2000).
• John Soane architect, 1753-1837 (Soane Resonances, Center 2000).
• International Study of Architecture Andrea Palladio (Palazzo Barbaran da Porto, Vicenza, Italy 2000).
• Museum of Fine Arts (Santander 2001).
• Galician Center of Contemporary Art (Santiago de Compostela 2002).
• Marlborough Gallery (Madrid 2002).
• The resonance box Aam Gallery (Milan, Italy 2003).
• The Crystal Cup. Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos (Burgos 2004).
• Sculpture. Marlborough Gallery (Madrid 2004).
• Recent Paintings. Marlborough Gallery Chelsea (New York, United States 2005).
• Light, balance and hand. Academy of Architecture Gallery of Mendrisio (Switzerland 2006).
• Room with figure. Variations. Senda Gallery (Barcelona 2006).
• A resonance box. Chapel of the Palace of Carlos V. The Alhambra of Granada (Granada 2007).
• To paint, To paint. Malborough Gallery (Madrid 2010).
• To paint, To paint. Malborough Gallery Chelsea (New York, United States 2011).
• Weightless or light. Jorge Oteiza Museum Foundation (Navarra 2011).
• A Zodiac. ICO Foundation, Madrid, 2014.
• Two by Two. Marlborough Gallery (Madrid, 2016).
• To Do, Ways of Doing. Marlborough Gallery (Barcelona, 2018).
• Simultaneous Figures. Patio Herreriano Museum (Valladolid, 2019).
• In a Field of Energy and Process. City Museum (Brescia, 2020).
• Then and Now. Marlborough Gallery (Madrid, 2022).

Awards and Recognitions

• National Prize for Plastic Arts (1990).
• Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal (1998).
• Honorary Fellow of The American Institute of Architects (2001).
• Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts (2007).
• Gold Medal of Spanish Architecture (2008).
• X Spanish Biennial of Architecture Prize (2009).
• National Prize for Architecture of Spain (2014).

See also

In Spanish: Juan Navarro Baldeweg para niños