The Museo ICO in Madrid is hosting a comprehensive exhibition on the catalan architect’s career, comprising her initial period as partner of Enric Miralles to over 30 years practice in her own office.

Scheduled for last October, the exhibition finally will be open from February 10 to May 9, 2021, showcasing the work of Carme Pinós, one of the main representatives of contemporary architecture in Spain.

Curated by Luis Fernández-Galiano -founder and director of the architecture publications group “Arquitectura Viva”-, the exhibition will offer a journey through the career of the Barcelona-based architect throughout over 200 images of these so-called “urban settings” created to experience the built environment. The actual display of the exhibition was also designed by the architect herself in collaboration with AV.

Practical information

“Carme Pinós, Escenarios para la vida”
February 10, 2021 – May 9, 2021
Museo ICO
calle Zorrilla, 3 Madrid
Spain

“Carme Pinós builds scenarios for life, and she does so by bringing reasoning and emotion together: her work shows that the extreme sensitivity manifested in the materialization of her projects is supported by the solid, inquisitive intelligence, committed to understand the world”, shares Fernández-Galiano.

Carme Pinós began her career in the 1980s together with the architect Enric Miralles, a period to which the first part of the exhibition is dedicated and which includes eight projects carried out jointly. It is possible that this first stage is the best known in the media and, however, it is not the most important in Pinós’ career. The ICO Museum is committed with this exhibition to bring the figure and work of Carme Pinós to the general public.

The exhibition includes 80 projects developed by Estudio Carme Pinós from its opening in 1991 to the present, detailed through photographs, plans, sketches and models. Two short videos bring together the public figure of the architect and her idea of architecture. A  recreation of Pinós’ study and library has been placed within the exhibition display, accounting for  the importance and influence that reading has had on her professional and personal career.

The architecture of Carme Pinós, although diverse, has a persistent leit-motiv: the importance that context and environment have on architectural space.

As she herself explains, “architecture either builds a landscape or builds a city: it is not a sculpture. With each urban action, we must have the purpose of making a city, the purpose of dignifying our environment. When I work, I consider that my intervention aims, ultimately, to improve, to beautify the context ”.

This strong belief in the need to embrace the environment, be it natural or urban, can bee seen in any of her works, such as the Caixaforum in Zaragoza (2014), the Barcelona Massana School of Arts and Design (2017) or the Mexican Torre Cube (2005). In 2006, the MOMA in New York acquired the model of the latter for its permanent collection.

With this exhibition, part of the Madrid Design Festival 2021 program, the ICO Museum aims to bring citizens closer to the philosophy and work of this prestigious architect both in Spain and abroad.