The COAC explores the "open work" of Josep Lluís Mateo, from the Chemnitz bank in the Toni Catany center

BarcelonaArchitect Josep Lluís Mateo (Barcelona, ​​1949) achieved one of the first major international milestones in the mid-1990s with a new headquarters for the German central bank in Chemnitz. The competition was a challenge, and Mateo prevailed with a truly ambitious project. After discovering the fossilized trees in the city's Paleontology Museum, Mateo conceived the building, located in the Park of the Victims of Fascism—home to a centuries-old forest—as "a petrified tree," as can be seen in the exhibition Mateo presented at the College of Architects of Catalonia's historical archive. The tree metaphor allowed Mateo to resolve the building's relationship with its surroundings and also with Germany's turbulent history. The most striking detail is that the main façade is made of alabaster, which freezes in cold weather, and glass. This allows natural light to enter, and at night it transforms the building into an urban lantern. "The building is, at the same time, something organic and geometric," says Mateo. The exhibition is titled Open work The curators are Maria Figueras and Cristina Marcos, from the Acto studio, along with Mateo's own studio. As for the title, it refers to how Mateo approaches his work "as an open work, to be discovered in each case," as he himself says.

Mateo has often described himself as a "European architect" and a "dissident" who once distanced himself from the Barcelona School, led by Oriol Bohigas, to forge his own path. "I didn't like them; they were a different generation, with a different mentality," he explains. "When Bohigas talked about monumentalizing neighborhoods, the periphery, I didn't agree. At that time, following my own path caused me serious problems, but I was fortunate that, with Spain's entry into the European Union, I was able to connect with Swiss architects." Indeed, one of his first major achievements was a housing complex at the end of the Borneo dock in Amsterdam's renovated port. "The Borneo housing was very important to me; the developer is still a friend. It was a strange coincidence. I think the developer chose me because he was a big football fan." "Back then, Barça was all Dutch, and I think he came to see me play football," he jokes. "During the construction, I was interviewed on television and they asked me what I thought I was doing designing apartments with terraces, because they told me nobody would go out, and they were a huge success," he explains.

In Catalonia, Mateo is known for the urban development of the medieval village of Ullastret, the Forum Convention Center, the Filmoteca de Catalunya, the renovation of the Ninot Market, and the Toni Catany International Photography Center. He is also known for a central axis of the Nice Grand Arenas multimodal hub, and is currently working on a complex in Montpellier that includes offices, apartments, and an art school.

As can be seen in the exhibition, drawing is key to Mateo's creative process, both hand-drawn sketches and more technical and conceptual ones. The first models soon appear, with which he explores the volumes of the buildings and their relationship to the site, the latter conceived as a "loving dialogue" and subtlety that does not prevent his works from maintaining their autonomy. "When we entered the competition for the Toni Catany Center, many other participants submitted proposals that looked like a Guggenheim, and for me, that would have been outrageous," Mateo points out.