GAD Editorial · Published · · English study · Chinese summary · Study dated 2026-10-05
RCR Arquitectes began in Olot in 1988, founded by Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta. Remaining close to a particular landscape has not confined the practice to a single building type. Instead, its work offers a way to connect material, movement and ground across cultural buildings, public spaces and places of production. The official studio description identifies a shared creative practice rather than a collection of individual signature projects. RCR
Landscape is more than a view
Bell-Lloc Winery at Palamós, completed in 2007, is an instructive starting point. The Pritzker documentation describes spaces embedded in the ground, with steel elements and narrow openings admitting traces of light. This makes the terrain an active part of the architectural reading, alongside the protected conditions associated with wine storage. The building is not simply an object placed against an attractive rural background. Its route and degree of enclosure help visitors register the ground around them. Built-work record
For a precedent study, trace the transitions rather than drawing only the final room: open landscape, compressed entry, shaded passage, then the working interior. Ask which changes arise from the site and which are constructed. That distinction is especially useful when adapting ideas to a different climate, where darkness, ventilation and moisture may require another technical solution.
An opening can be a civic programme
The Sant Antoni–Joan Oliver Library, senior citizens’ centre and Cándida Pérez Gardens in Barcelona, completed in 2007, move the discussion into a dense urban block. The library forms an entry to an interior courtyard, while the older people’s facilities address that shared space. Its significance is not restricted to the library as an institution: the arrangement creates a relationship between neighbourhood passage, reading and intergenerational proximity. RCR project chronology
This suggests a useful test for mixed civic briefs. List which users arrive independently, what they share, and whether the connecting space remains comprehensible without entering every institution. A courtyard can be visually open while still depending on gates, schedules and management. Those operational conditions should be checked before interpreting openness as unrestricted public access.
Strong material identity does not remove collaboration
The Soulages Museum in Rodez, completed in 2014, extends this investigation through a steel building and its relationship to landscape and art. The official award documentation credits the project in collaboration with G. Trégouët. That attribution matters: a practice profile should preserve the contribution of delivery partners instead of reducing every project to one name. Official project credits
RCR is most useful as a reference when material is read as a boundary with consequences: what it frames, filters, supports or connects. Start with the ground and route, then examine the surface. This avoids turning a recognisable palette into a transferable style while overlooking the spatial decisions that give it purpose.