Tomorrow, Thursday 16th and Friday 17th November, Calpe will host the 1st International Architecture Symposium, an event organised by Calpe Town Council in collaboration with the Alicante College of Architecture as part of the Bofill Year programme of activities to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the emblematic La Muralla Roja building.
The symposium will feature various presentations based on the work of the architect Ricardo Bofill but covering broader issues of universal architecture such as the protection of the environment, aesthetics in architecture, urban landscape, etc.
Tomorrow's session will start with the talk "Protection of the environment" by Alberto Mengual, Head of Technical Assistance Service of the Department of Architecture of the Provincial Council of Alicante and will be followed by the talk "Vitrubio to Bofill. Un Paseo Histórico por la Belleza de la Arquitectura" (Vitrubio to Bofill. A Historic Stroll through the Beauty of Architecture) by the architect and town planner and land-planning technician, Gerardo Roger.
Another of the planned lectures is "Internationalisation of the Manzanera" by Andrés Martínez Medina, Doctor of Architecture from the UPV and winner of the COACV prize, followed by the talk "Modern residential urban landscapes" by Javier Monclús, Doctor of Architecture and Professor of Urban Planning at the School of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Zaragoza, and Carmen Diez, architect from the UPM and Doctor of Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Vienna. At the end of the lectures, a round table discussion will be held.
On Friday 17 November, the day will begin with a talk on "PINKA -BOO Visual Art" by Daniel Rueda and Anna Devis, two imaginative photographers and architects, ambassadors for Hasselblad and recently included in the "Forbes 30 under 30" list in the category of Art and Culture. Francesc Morató, Doctor of Philosophy, will give a lecture entitled "Bofill amb l'estètica contemporània" (Bofill and contemporary aesthetics).
Then the researchers from the IUIEG of the University of Alicante, Maria Elia Gutiérrez Mozo and Ana Gilsanz Díaz will give the speech "Anna, the Bofill counterpoint" which will focus on the figure of Anna Bofill, Ricardo's sister. Anna Bofill was a pioneer, being one of the first women to graduate in architecture from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Barcelona in 1973. Her architectural works include Walden 7 when she was part of the Taller de Arquitectura and, individually, the Plaza Cataluña train station in Barcelona. She is a point of reference for feminism in architecture and has worked to incorporate the gender perspective in urban planning, as well as vindicating throughout her career the role of women in music and architecture.
The next lecture will be "Influences of Bofill's Red Wall in the videoludic art of Monument Valley 2" by Diana Mª Espada Torres, graduate in art history and technical architecture from the University of Zaragoza, and Adrián Sánchez, graduate in art history from the same university.
Admission to the symposium, which will be held at Diamante Beach, will be free of charge, and attendance can be booked by emailing simposium@ajCalpe.es for either one or both days. The symposium will start at 9 am.