RCR Arquitectes is a Spanish

architecture firm In the United States, an architectural firm or architecture firm is a business that employs one or more licensed architects and practices the profession of architecture; while in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and other countr ...

consisting of principles and co-founders Rafael Aranda,

Carme Pigem Carme Pigem Barceló (born Olot, 8 April 1962) is a Spanish architect, a member of the Pritzker Prize-winning architectural firm RCR Arquitectes, together with Ramón Vilalta and Rafael Aranda. Biography Between 1977 and 1979, she studied at ...

and Ramon Vilalta. The trio were the 2017 recipients of the

Pritzker Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international architecture award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produ ...

for Architecture. While the firm had won many awards before the Pritzker, they were relatively unknown compared to other finalists.

History

The firm was founded in Olot, Spain in 1988.

Style

The firm is known for its frequent use of

weathering steel Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable r ...

in its projects.

Selected projects

The firm designed the imposing in

Rodez Rodez ( or ; oc, Rodés, ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of th ...

, France after winning a 2007 competition. * De Krook, the central public library and media center in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, designed in collaboration with local firm Coussée & Goris and opened in 2017. *

Celler Peralada Celler Perelada is an emblematic building in Peralada and state of the art in leaving a minimum environmental impact during winemaking process. It is committed to environmental balance within the DO Empordà and the first winery in Europe to receiv ...

, the first winery in Europe to receive the golden

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

certificate for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

References

Pritzker Architecture Prize winners Companies based in Catalonia Architecture firms of Spain {{Architect-stub