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‘Praise the Architect: Cruz y Ortiz’ by Resgua Navarro, J.

Today I will write about two Sevillian architects: Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz, Internationally known as Cruz y Ortiz Architects. It is possible that some of you have not heard of Cruz y Ortiz, but surely you know the Saint Justa Train Station, one of their most prominent and distinguished works. Many years ago, back in 1974, in a moment of doubt for professionals who considered whether to continue their career in Sevilla or seek opportunities elsewhere, these two architects chose the option to work and live in Sevilla. It continues this way, despite their work being spread all over the world including constructing and designing or giving classes. This forces them to travel constantly, although they are very well organized.
One contributing factor to the real estate crisis of the past few years is the discredit of the architect profession. In one instance architects have been discredited because of excessive spending on government buildings in the interest of the government. In another case for people purchasing and building homes, architects have been seen as overly expensive and unnecessary. However, if you want to have a clear vision of what an architect is and what we do, I encourage you to learn about the work of Cruz y Ortiz. Of course you can tell me that I am not impartial. It’s true. I’m not. I have been fortunate to share with them moments of beginnings and growth, hours and hours of drawing and maths together. Last week a group of fellow students of Cruz y Ortiz times had the opportunity to visit the magnificent exhibition of their work in the rooms of the ICO in Madrid. Antonio Cruz accompanied us and we were able to find out how the first architectural ideas started and how the finished work was kept with rigour and poetry. This work can easily be seen through a collection of models and sketches. It includes important buildings in its career, such as the apartment building on Doña María Coronel Street, to as far as the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and as mentioned earlier, the Santa Justa Train Station which is a brilliant example on rescuing the main ideas of train stations that nowadays all look the same.

Publish by Diario de Sevilla, 21th november 2016.

Click on the following link for more information. http://www.diariodesevilla.es/opinion/analisis/Elogio-arquitecto-Cruz-Ortiz_0_1083492085.html