2006 RAIA National Conference

Carme Pinos was born in the Spanish city of Barcelona in 1954 and graduated as an architect from the city’s Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona (ETSAB) in 1979.

In 1983, she formed her first studio in partnership with Enric Miralles (1983-1991)*, which produced a range of projects including the Hostalets de Balenya Civic Center, the Olympic Archery Range in Barcelona, and the acclaimed Igualada Cemetery-Park. Their work received a number of key awards: the FAD Prize for the La Llauna School and the Igualada Cemetery-Park, as well as the City of Barcelona Prize for the Archery Range Building for the 1992 Olympic Games.

Carme started her own practice, Estudio Carme Pinos, in 1991, completing construction of several projects initiated in her previous office, including the Rehabilitation of the Suburb Vilaseca de Sant Vicens de Torelló, the Community Centre and Auditorium in Hostalets de Balanya, la Mina Community Centre and the Boarding School of Morella. The Morella Boarding School was awarded the Spanish National Architecture Prize in 1995. Other projects included the Torrevieja Waterfront, the Pedestrian Bridge in Petrer, and the Ses Estacions Park in Palma de Mallorca.

Over the past 11 years, Carme has combined her practice with teaching. She has been a guest professor of architecture at Columbia University in New York, the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, l’Ecole Polytechnique Federale of Lausanne, Academia di Architettura di Mendrisio, the University of Illinois, Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf, and other prominent institutions. At the same time, she has delivered papers at various conferences at other universities across Europe and the United States.

Pinos' architecture, exhibited in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and the USA, is often praised for its complicity with the geographical setting in which it is located. Marked by a poetic use of materials yielding forms that have a sculptural quality, Pinos' designs enliven and refresh.

* Enric Miralles is recognised as one of the 20th century’s most imaginative architects and designers. Concerned primarily with public spaces, his work explored and redefined the complex relationships between landscape, architecture and social interaction. Miralles's design credits include the new Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood, Heaven Pavilion at the Tateyama Museum in Japan and the Utrecht City Hall in Holland.