Vicente Guallart facts for kids

Vicente Guallart (born in Valencia, Spain, in 1963) is a Spanish architect, city planner, and researcher. He is known around the world for his ideas on how to build cities that are good for the environment and use digital technology. He is an expert in planning cities, designing buildings, and creating beautiful landscapes.

From 2011 to 2015, Vicente Guallart was the chief architect for the Barcelona City Council. In this important role, he helped plan how the city would grow and change. He was also the first general manager of a new department called Urban Habitat. This department brought together different areas like city planning, housing, environment, and technology.

Before that, he helped start the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC). This is one of the top architecture schools in the world. At IAAC, he worked on exciting projects like the Media House Project. Today, he helps lead Valldaura Labs at IAAC and a master's program focused on ecological buildings.

His company, Guallart Architects, has designed many eco-friendly projects. These include ports in Taiwan and neighborhoods in Spain. He has also won awards for his designs in China, like the post-Covid housing project in Xiang'an in 2020. He has written books such as Geologics and The Self-Sufficient City, which share his ideas about future cities. His work has been shown in famous places like the Venice Biennale and the MoMA museum.

Early Life and Career

Vicente Guallart finished his architecture studies in 1989 in Valencia. After that, he moved to Barcelona. He worked with other architects on big projects, like competitions for the Paris Zoo. In 1992, he started his own architecture office in Barcelona. His office became known for its focus on nature and technology working together. They designed buildings and spaces that were both eco-friendly and self-sufficient.

Leading Barcelona's City Planning

As the chief architect of Barcelona City Council from 2011 to 2015, Vicente Guallart was in charge of the city's future plans. He came up with the idea for the 'Urban Habitat' department. This new department combined city planning, transportation, energy, housing, and the environment. During his time, Barcelona invested over a billion euros in city projects. Important areas like Plaza de las Glorias were developed. The city also focused on its mountain neighborhoods and promoted a Digital City Campus. Because of these efforts, Barcelona was named the "most connected city in the world" in 2015.

Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC)

Vicente Guallart also co-founded and directed the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) from 2001 to 2011. At IAAC, he led innovative projects like the Media House Project, which he worked on with MIT. IAAC now offers a Master's program in Advanced Architecture. It welcomes over 150 students from more than 40 countries around the world.

Guallart Architects' Projects

Since 1992, Vicente Guallart's company, Guallart Architects, has worked on many projects. These include the ports of Fugee and Keelung in Taiwan. They also designed the Sociopolis neighborhood in Valencia, Spain. The company is currently working on different projects globally. In 2018, they won several competitions in Shenzhen, China, for new city districts. In 2020, they won a major competition to design post-Covid housing in Xiang'an, China. They competed against 300 other architecture firms to win this project.

Ideas and Exhibitions

Vicente Guallart has written several books about architecture and city planning. These include Geologics and The Self-Sufficient City. He also helped write The Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture. His work has been shown in famous art and architecture exhibitions. These include the Venice Biennale and the MoMA in New York. In 2010, the American Institute of Architects held a special exhibition of his work in Washington D.C.

He also helped translate an important book into English. It was called General Theory of Urbanization, written by Ildefons Cerdà in 1867. This book was the first worldwide theory about how to build cities. It even created the word 'urbanism'. Vicente Guallart has given talks at many top universities around the world. These include Princeton, Harvard, and MIT.

Exhibitions of His Work

Vicente Guallart's designs and ideas have been featured in many exhibitions.

Solo Exhibitions

• Urban Ecologies. Cervantes Cultural Institute. Beijing. China. 2018.
• Geologics, American Institute of Architects, Washington. USA. 2010.
• Natural Logics. IVAM. Valencia. 2007.

Group Exhibitions

• Venice XI Biennal, Out There: Architecture Beyond Building with: Hyperhabitat: Reprogramming the World. Venezia, Italia. 2008.
• MoMA. “On Site. New Architecture in Spain”. New York, USA. 2006.

Books by Vicente Guallart

Vicente Guallart has written or co-written many books that share his ideas about architecture and cities:

• Plans and Projects for Barcelona 2011-2015. (with Carles Bárcena and Ricard Gratacòs)
• General Theory of Urbanization 1867. Ildefons Cerdà. (Editor)
• Geologics. Geography, Information and Architecture. Ed. ACTAR 2009.
• The Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture. (Edited with Willy Müller, Manuel Gausa, Federico Soriano, José Morales, Fernando Porras). Published by ACTAR, 2002.
• Self-Sufficient City. Ed. ACTAR, 2014.

Selected Projects

Here are some of the projects Vicente Guallart and his team have worked on:

Architecture

• Hortal Mediterraneo House. Tarragona, Spain.
• Valldaura Labs Design and Rehabilitation. Barcelona, Spain.
• Gandia University Housing. Gandia, Spain.
• Fugee Port Market. Taiwan.

Landscape Design

• Sociopolis Urbanisation. Valencia, Spain.
• Taiwan Keelung Port, Taiwan.
• Rooftop Park Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science Park. Shenzhen, China.

City Planning (Masterplanning)

• Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base. Shenzhen, China.
• Shenzhen Xiangmihu Central Business District. Shenzhen, China.
• The Forest City Project - The Future Urban Bio-City, Gabon.

Awards and Honors

Vicente Guallart has received many awards for his work:

• 2014. Barcelona was chosen as the European Capital of Innovation when he was chief architect of Barcelona City Council.
• 2014. Named as chief scientist for the China National Smart City Joint Lab.
• 2002. Ciutat de Barcelona prize for the Media House Project.
• 1998. Möbius Award for the best scientific CD-ROM in Spain: “Gaudí”.
• 1995. Möbius Award for the best Spanish CD-ROM “Mateo at ETH”.
• 1992. FAD Award in Interior Design.

See also

In Spanish: Vicente Guallart para niños