"Alessandro was a great friend and the person who most believed in my work. He published me, along with Clotet, in the Modo magazine when no one knew us internationally, continued to publish my work in Domus, invited me to the Triennale di Milano with the Alchymia Studio, and, above all, thanks to him, I worked for Alessi and on the Metropolitana dei Napoli.

◻️ He was an incredibly generous architect; he never hoarded commissions but instead distributed them among the artists he trusted. This was the case with the stations in Naples, but especially with the Groningen Museum, where he gave prominent spaces to Starck, de Lucchi, or Himmelblau.

◻️ That Mendini was the juror for the last Década, and that the winner was a building by Lluís Clotet, was a most fitting conclusion."

Oscar Tusquets Blanca

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Jury report for the Premio Década 2009 (Works completed in 1999)

"Surely, ten years ago, the year 1999, was a year of intense and fortunate design in Barcelona. All 15 works selected for the Premio Década are of high quality, and it was difficult for me to make a choice. What was wonderful, however, was the experience of visiting them.

▪️ It is interesting that the 15 projects represent many different types of architecture in the city, from subsidised housing to commercial buildings, from community centres to restaurants, from schools to parks and gardens, from museums to the latest small gem by Enric Miralles, who reinvented a simple small private house with an extreme degree of virtuosity.

▪️ In the oscillation of taste, styles, and the fashion of architecture, these 15 works have demonstrated, after 10 years, that they retain their relevance.

▪️ I award the tenth Década Prize to the UPF UNIVERSITY LIBRARY designed by LLUIS CLOTET and IGNACIO PARICIO. A large geometric building with a square floor plan, originally designed in 1874 as a water depot following a Roman scheme. The transformation of an engineering building into a magical space meant for a library, or rather, for reading rooms. Some precise simplifications of the structure create very high spaces characterised by light brick vaults of notable architectural poetry, highlighting the classicism of the existing structure. At the top, at the centre of the square vault modules, there is a new strong presence: a cross-shaped skylight with mirrored parts that distributes the sunlight and luminous vibrations to all the different areas of the space.

▪️ The philology of the restoration is perfect, and the new invention of space leads the place towards a distant, abstract atmosphere of concentration, capable of isolating this citadel of books from the outside world.

▪️ The space is muffled and silent, and it generates attention and thought.

▪️ The entire mezzanine and stair system contributes to this objective, being made of substantial design completely detached from the historical walls, and suitable for creating spectacular height points at times.

▪️ Also exemplary is the system of bookshelves, tables, and selected materials, with a lighting design that, starting from the visibility of the vaults, reaches the intimacy of the individual reading tables.

▪️ It is here that the student finds their scholarly figure, after passing through a highly sensitive space, which I believe rightfully belongs in the history and utopias of the most beautiful and intense public reading rooms of the last century."

Alessandro Mendini

Barcelona, 30 April 2009