Ignasi De Sola-Morales (1942–2001)

In 2010, when I was in the throws of writing my "Guide to Contemporary New York City Architecture," I took a trip to Boston for work, a trip that included an afternoon of sightseeing at Harvard. Like any trip I take, especially one to a college town, I found a used bookstore: Raven Books on Harvard Square. With my mind absorbed on other architecture guides, I couldn't resist this find, an old guide from Birkhäuser. Covering Spain's architectural output over the span of nearly 80 years, it is an ambitious and extremely well done guide. Eighteen regional chapters follow an introductory essay by Ignasi de Solà-Morales and a thorough timeline of Spanish and world events. Project descriptions are fairly short, with longer texts provided for important buildings and developments. Black-and-white photos are used instead of color ones, but that keeps the cover price down. Therefore the biggest drawback are the maps, which are so geographically broad they don't help the reader navigate locally at all. This is only one downside to an excellent guide to a country I'm ashamed to say I've yet to visit.… (more)