The post-modern Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill (born 1939) fused the Classical syntax of architecture with modern building technology to create large scale housing projects recalling the grandeur of Louis XIV.

The son of a Venetian mother and a Catalan father, Ricardo Bofill was born on December 5, 1939, in Barcelona, Spain. He studied architecture at the Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura in Barcelona (1955-1956) and at the Architecture University of Geneva, Switzerland (1957-1960). In 1960 he founded the Taller de Arquitectura (Architecture workshop), based in Barcelona. The taller has an interdisciplinary approach to architecture and includes not only architects but designers, a mathematician, a musician, a poet, and a philosopher. Bofill became a highly romantic figure who generated the creative and intellectual drive for the team. His romantic spirit was captured in the renovated cement factory in Barcelona (1973-1975), which was the main office and studio of the firm. Other offices were...