Architecture in Spain

It might surprise some to hear that Spain has a vibrant culture of contemporary architecture. Delayed by the Spanish Civil War and the ensuing dictatorship under Franco, the emergence of modernity in Spain may have been late in coming, but today’s young architects are making up for lost time in a spectacular way. Original personalities like César Manrique Cabrera marked a move toward the modern in the 1960s, while Richard Bofill’s innovative work in the ’70s helped bring Spanish architecture to the world stage. In the 1990s, architects such as Rafael Moneo and Santiago Calatrava began to create the look of contemporary architecture in Spain as we know it today. From a modern interpretation of a bullring to cutting-edge green architecture, the book covers a dizzying variety of architectural innovation.