The Ceramics Chair at UIC Barcelona School of Architecture has a busy programme of events this November. On 8 November, fourteen students travelled to the town of Sant Just Desvern near Barcelona to visit the Ricardo Bofill Architecture Workshop, housed in a former cement factory reconverted in the seventies, as well as the famous Walden 7 building.

The students were accompanied by the director of the chair, Dr Vicenç Sarrablo, along with lecturers Jordi Roviras and Cristina Garcia Castelao as well as architect Hernán Cortés. Cortés is part of the Ricardo Bofill team and was a student of the first edition of the Ceramics Chair in 2004-2005. In addition to the offices, located in the former silos of the factory, the students were taken on a tour showing them the model workshops, the archives, “The Cathedral” (the exhibition space of the workshop) and the surrounding garden areas. 

“We were really lucky to have a former Ceramics Chair student with us as enthusiastic as Hernán Cortés who opened up the doors of such a special architecture studio as Ricardo Bofill. His explanations of how the studio works and the projects they are currently working on, captivated and fascinated our students who were able to experience first-hand how an architecture firm of these characteristics works”, said Dr Vicenç Sarrablo.

After visiting the Ricardo Bofill workshop, the students went to the Walden 7 building, one of the most emblematic pieces of architectural work in Catalonia from the seventies, designed by Ricardo Bofill himself using ceramic materials.