Rafael Moneo and the search for a reflexive canon

Abstract

This article considers the teaching, writing and architectural practice of Rafael Moneo (1937–), and in particular, his development of a theory that understands the ‘canon’ of architectural knowledge and shared humanist values, while giving proper accord to the current contemporary context. This required his own students at Barcelona, Madrid and later at Harvard, to acknowledge the plurality of architectural options available to them, and to develop the necessary skills to select the most appropriate. The article argues that Moneo's theoretical position is sceptical, rather than idealistic or playfully post-modernist, because of its insistence on the possibility of the rational analysis of the ‘canon’. The article argues that Moneo's own practice illustrates the implications of this position: eclectic in its sources, yet consistent in revealing a powerful personal character in compositions of a multilayered and ambiguous temporality.