Reconstruction of an Old Rural Mansion / Josep Lluís Mateo

© Adrià Goula

Architects: Josep Lluís Mateo
Location: Vall de Vianya, Catalonia,
Collaborators: Dot Arquitectes - Bet Capdeferro, Ramón Bosch
Area: 500 sqm
Photographs: Adrià Goula

On Building: Matter and Form / Josep Lluís Mateo


is one of Spain’s-and Europe’s-most prolific and visible architects. Mateo has designed corporate headquarters, housing units, office blocks and hotels throughout Western Europe, and has also renovated urban centers in Gerona (Spain) and Castelo Branco (portugal). this volume looks back at nearly 30 years of Mateo’s built structures, as portrayed by the architectural photographer Adrià Goula. As well as buildings from the 80s and 90s, it also looks at his most important projects of the past few years, from the Banc Sabadell Headquarters renovation (2004) and the Factory office building in Boulogne-Billancourt, France (2010) to the PGGM Headquarters in Zeist, Holland (2011) and the Catalonian Film Theater in (2011). Interspersed among Goula’s photographs are Mateo’s observations and musings on architecture.

Masterplan for Nice Grand Arénas / Josep Lluís Mateo

Courtesy of

Josep Lluís Mateo, of Mateo Arquitectura, recently presented his masterplan for the Pôle Multimodal -Aéroport quartier d’affairs Grand Arénas which imagines a city of the future. His brief description and a video can be viewed after the break.

Tête de Pont / Josep Lluís Mateo

Tête de Pont is a winning competition entry by Josep Lluís Mateo of Mateo Arquitectura that is a remodeling of the river Adour in Bayonne, France.  The solution of the design marks a new threshold for the approach to the old town that begins the process of urban renewal on the banks of Adour between the city center and the estuary.

Read on for more on this project after the break.

After Crisis

“‘After Crisis’ concentrates around the new conditions for architectural practice and around the new epistemologies that may inform it in the next future. That is, in the period after the financial bubble has collapsed and living and working conditions have significantly changed. Essays, studies and interviews, along with a selection of indicative projects, tackle the actual issues of growth and shrinking, economy and ideology, craftsmanship and social space in the city, materiality and sustainability in architecture. In a logical sequence, they depict the current reality of architecture.”

Further information and photos after the break.

The Factory / Mateo Arquitectura

© Adrià Goula

Architects: Mateo Arquitectura / Josep Lluis Mateo
Location: ZAC Ile Seguin, Rives de Seine,
Technical Project Manager: SNC LAVALIN
Coordinating Architect: Patrick Chavanne
Landscape: D’ici-la
Site Area: 3,000 sqm
Project Area: 17,300 sqm
Budget: 37, 8 million euros
Project Year: 2008-2010
Photographs: Adrià Goula

In Progress: PGGM Headquarters / Mateo Arquitectura

© Adrià Goula

Architects: / Mateo Arquitectura
Location: Zeist, Utrecht,
Project Leaders: Markus Lauber, Till von Mackensen
Project Area: 25,000 sqm offices, 25,000 sqm car park
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Adrià Goula

Place de la République / Mateo Arquitectura

Josep Lluis Mateo / Mateo Arquitectura shared with us their entry for the restricted competition for the Place de la République in Paris, .

More information after the break:

Banc Sabadell Access Hall / Mateo Arquitectura

© Pedro Pegenaute

Architect: Josep Lluís Mateo
Location: , Spain
Project and site supervisor: Ismael Heras
MAP Arquitectos team: Mariana Castro, Sara Cardoso, Miriam Moreno
Structure: Agustí Obiol, BOMA
Contractor: G56
Project Year: 2006-2007
Photographs: Pedro Pegenaute, Beat Marugg

First Prize: Reconstruction of the historical center of Sibenik, Croatia / MAP

based architect Josep Lluís Mateo won the first prize for the public competition for the reconstruction of the historical center of Sibenik, Croatia.

For more information, click here. More images and architect’s description, after the break.