Emilio Bofill
{{Short description|Spanish builder}}
{{family name hatnote|Bofill|Benessat|lang=Spanish}}
Emilio Bofill Benessat, in Catalan Emili Bofill i Benessat (1907–2000) was a Spanish builder with a strong background in architecture. He has been described as "the constructor whom every architect wanted to build their work."{{R|PAGH|p=58}}
Life
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Emilio Bofill was born in 1907 in an established Catalan family. His father {{ill|Josep Maria Bofill i Pichot|ca}} (1860–1938) was a physician and entomologist, involved in prominent local scientific institutions such as the Institute for Catalan Studies, the {{ill|Catalan Institute of Natural History|ca|Institució Catalana d'Història Natural}}, and the {{ill|Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona|ca|Reial Acadèmia de Ciències i Arts de Barcelona}}.
He studied at {{ill|Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura de Barcelona|ca}}, graduating in 1931,{{cite web|website=El Poder De La Palabra |url=https://www.epdlp.com/arquitecto.php?id=7315 |title=Emili Bofill i Benessat (España, 1907–2000)}} together with a group of significant Catalan architects that included {{ill|José Iváñez Baldó|ca}}, {{ill|Josep Torres Clavé|ca}}, {{ill|Josep Soteras i Mauri|ca}},{{citation|author=Andrés Martínez Medina |date=1998 |title=Arquitectura de la ciudad de Alicante, 1923–1943 : La aventura de la Modernidad |location=Alicante |publisher=Instituto de Cultura Juan Gil-Albert, Colegio de Arquitectos de Alicante |page=428}} {{ill|Miguel López González|es}}, Marino Canosa and {{ill|Ricard Ribas i Seva|ca}}.{{cite web|website=Villa Tupinetti |url=https://fnr.cat/tupinetti/informacio-de-la-casa/arquitectura/ |title=Architecture}} He did not become a licensed architect, however, and thus is generally referenced only as builder even in projects for which he actually was instrumental in the design. He kept close involvement with the {{ill|GATCPAC|ca}} group of modernist architects, and was a longstanding friend of Antoni Bonet i Castellana{{R|PAGH|p=223}} and Josep Lluís Sert as well as of Joan Miró.{{R|PAGH|p=58}} In a study of the early years of Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura, author Pedro García Hernández wrote that "many architects who aspired to do something new or different insisted that Emilio Bofill's firm should be the one building their works, in order to secure collaboration and holistic understanding of the project."{{R|PAGH|p=58}}
Bofill participated in the Spanish Civil War, in the Spanish Republican Armed Forces. Following the final defeat of the Republican side in 1939, he was acquitted by a court-martial (consell de guerra).{{cite web|website=Innovation and Human Rights: The central database of casualties, the missing and victims of reprisals in Spanish Civil War and Franco's dictatorship |url=https://scwd.ihr.world/en/document/28642 |title=Bofill Benessat, Emilio}} He kept a lifelong commitment to the Catalan republican cause and to its torch-bearer the ERC party, even though he was no linguistic nationalist and favored the use of Castilian over Catalan. His son Ricardo would describe him as "republican, liberal, progressive, austere and logical."
He married Maria Levi (1909–1991), who in the postwar era became a significant sponsor of Catalan literature. They had three children, José María (born 1936), Ricardo (born 1939) and Anna (born 1944). José María ("Nino") died from tuberculosis in 1951.{{R|PAGH|p=59}}{{cite book |title=L'Architecture d'un Homme |publisher=Arthaud |location=Paris |date=1978 |author1=Ricardo Bofill |author2=François Hébert-Stevens}}{{rp|249}}{{cite web |website=El Pais |author=Joan de Sagarra |title=El enlace |date={{date|1993/09/12}} |url=https://elpais.com/diario/1993/09/12/agenda/747784803_850215.html}} Ricardo became one of the most important architects of his generation; he died in January 2022.{{cite web |website=The Guardian |date={{date|2022/01/14}} |title=Ricardo Bofill: the outsider architect who gave 60s Spain a sci-fi makeover |author=Oliver Wainwright |author-link=Oliver Wainwright |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/jan/14/ricardo-bofill-the-outsider-architect-who-gave-60s-spain-a-sci-fi-makeover}} Anna became a recognized musician and feminist activist after an early career in architecture.
In the postwar period, Emilio Bofill's building firm had its office in the Banco de Vizcaya building on Plaça de Catalunya 5.{{R|PAGH|p=218}} Among the projects he built, one that stands out is the house known as {{ill|La Ricarda|ca}} in El Prat de Llobregat, by Antoni Bonet i Castellana, between the airport's runways and the sea, now a museum.
In the early 1960s, Emilio Bofill helped and mentored his surviving son's creation of a multidisciplinary team which in 1963 became Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura.
Emilio Bofill was thus involved in the design and construction of all the early major projects of the Taller.{{cite web|website=Escola Técnica i Superior d'Arquitectura La Salle – Universitat Ramon Llull |title=La Agregación Modular Como Mecanismo Proyectual Residencial en España: El Taller de Arquitectura |author=Pedro Alberto García Hernández |url=https://www.tdx.cat/handle/10803/108286#page=1 |date=2013}}{{cite web|website=Universitat Politècnica de Barcelona |title=Anna Bofill Levi: Una Conversa Durant El Confinament |url=https://upcommons.upc.edu/bitstream/handle/2117/331140/TFG%20UNA%20CONVERSA%20CONFINADA%20AMB%20ANNA%20BOFILL.pdf |author=Anna Bosch i Calvo |date=July 2020}} He also worked with Xavier Corberó in the early stages of creation of his palatial house and architectural complex in Esplugues de Llobregat and restoration of nearby houses.{{cite web|website=Generalitat de Catalunya |url=http://invarquit.cultura.gencat.cat/Cerca/Fitxa?index=0&consulta=&codi=18888 |title=Can Cargol}}
After retiring from his building activity in the 1970s, Emilio Bofill dedicated himself to reform of the College of the Rosary (previously, Poor Orphans' College) in Sant Julià de Vilatorta near Vic, an inland town to the north of Barcelona where he owned land and a family house.{{R|PAGH|p=217}}{{cite web|website=Lançois Doval |title=Sant Julià de Vilatorta. Casa en venta |url=https://www.lancoisdoval.es/898-propiedad-casa-chalet-en-venta-sant-julia-de-vilatorta-vic.html}} One of the college's main rooms is named after him.{{cite web|website=Barcelona Modernista i Singular |title=Collegi d'Orfes – Collegi El Roser – Interior |url=https://modernismobarcelona.com/ca/lugares/collegi-dorfes-collegi-el-roser-interior/}}
Projects
With Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura:
- Apartment building on Calle Bach 28, Barcelona (1963){{cite web|website=El Poder De La Palabra |url=https://www.epdlp.com/edificio.php?id=3279 |title=Edificio de viviendas}}
- Apartment building on Calle Nicaragua 97–99, Barcelona (1964){{cite web|website=El Poder De La Palabra |url=https://www.epdlp.com/edificio.php?id=77 |title=Edificio Nicaragua}}
- Apartment building on Calle Bach 4 / Plaza Sant Gregori Taumaturg, Barcelona (1965){{cite web|website=El Poder De La Palabra |url=https://www.epdlp.com/edificio.php?id=1845 |title=Edificio Pérez Cabrero}}
- El Castillo de Kafka apartment complex in Sant Pere de Ribes (1965–1968)
- Xanadu apartment complex, Calp (1966–1971){{cite book|title=Arquitectura y urbanismo valenciano en el franquismo (1939–1975) |page=497 |author=Pascual Patuel Chust |publisher=Universitat de València |date=January 2021}}
- La Muralla Roja apartment complex, Calp (1968–1973)
- Family house in Mont-ras (1973){{cite web|website=Brick Architecture |url=https://brickarchitecture.com/projects/family-house-in-montras-ricardo-bofill-taller-de-arquitectura |title=Family House in Montras / Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura}}
- Walden 7 apartment complex, Sant Just Desvern (1970–1975)
Other works:
- Project for the Barcelona Outer Harbor (1931){{cite web|website=El Dominical |url=https://degraf.ua.es/es/documentos/publicaciones/andres-martinez-medina/2001/101/101.pdf |title=Paseo por la arquitectura turística de Miguel López |author=Andrés Martínez Medina |date=8 April 2001}}{{dead link|date=January 2023}}
- La Ricarda House in El Prat de Llobregat (1948–1963){{cite web|website=ArchEyes |title=La Ricarda House or Casa Gomis / Antoni Bonet i Castellana |date=1 July 2020 |url=https://archeyes.com/la-ricarda-house-or-casa-gomis-antoni-bonet-i-castellana/}}
- Villa Tupinetti, Sitges (1970)
- {{ill|Casa Baccheli|ca}}, Cadaqués (1968–1971){{cite web|website=Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports |url=http://www.culturaydeporte.gob.es/planes-nacionales/dam/jcr:d07e4884-9f65-4346-b6f7-dc6a0e57b1ae/tomo-ii.pdf |title=Estudio y catalogación de 400 edificios de la arquitectura del Movimiento Moderno realizada en España entre 1965 y 1975, Tomo II |date=May 2019}}
- Corberó House / Can Cargol, Esplugues de Llobregat (1972){{cite web|website=El Poder De La Palabra |url=https://www.epdlp.com/edificio.php?id=5325 |title=Casa Corberó (Can Cargol)}}
- Restaurant Il Giardinetto, Barcelona (1973){{R|PAGH|p=217}}{{cite web|website=Metal Magazine |url=https://metalmagazine.eu/en/post/interview/il-giardinetto-amantes-del-buen-comer-gemma-cuartielles |title=Il Giardinetto – Amantes del buen comer |author=Gemma Cuartielles |date=2015}}