Gold Medal to Alberto Campo Baeza

CSCAE's biennial Gold Medal in Architecture is the Spanish equivalent to the AIA Gold Medal in the United States and the RIBA Gold Medal in the UK. Given since 1981 (but not established formally until 1987), it is the most important distinction for architects in Spain. Alberto Campo Baeza joins the list of Gold Medal recipients that includes Josep Lluís Sert i López, Álvaro Siza Vieira, José Rafael Moneo Vallés, and Juan Navarro Baldeweg, among others.

This year's jury — comprised of Juan Antonio Ortiz Orueta, CSCAE second vice president and jury chair; Pedro Joaquín Navarro Trallero, dean of Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Aragon (COAA); Moisés Castro Oporto, dean of Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Cantabria (COCOAN); architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg; architect Dolores Alonso Vera; philosopher Francisco Jarauta Marión; Laureano Matas, CSCAE general secretary — made the decision unanimously.

In selecting Alberto Campo Baeza for CSCAE's latest Gold Medal, the jury highlighted the "coherence" of his "abstract and rational work," his attention to "perception" of architecture through the "visual exploration" of space, and the important role of his teaching. In regards to the last, Alberto Campo Baeza teaches at Madrid School of Architecture (ETSAM), where he has been a tenured professor for more than 40 years.

The announcement that Alberto Campo Baeza was selected as this year's recipient was made on October 28, though the actual delivery of the Gold Medal will take place on November 28 at La Zarzuela Racecourse, when awards for Spanish architecture and urbanism will also be given out.

Alberto Campo Baeza's previous awards are many, with recent ones including Beca de Honor Colegio Mayor Hernando Colón and Spanish International Architecture Award, both in 2015; a RIBA International Fellowship in 2014; the International Award Architecture in Stone and Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize, both in 2013; and the Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal in 2012.