Architect Profile – Benedetta Tagliabue

One architect who has created amazing works with and without her famous husband is Benedetta Tagliabue. Being married to the famous architect Enric Miralles, who she met while living in New York, and working at the Miralles studio, the Miralles-Tagliabue-EMBT, Benedetta worked side by side with Enric until his untimely death in 2000. Since his passing, she finished the works of Miralles’, most notably the New Scottish Parliament building (which may be considered the most controversial building of this century).  Since then she has also worked on many of her own projects, including not only architecture, but also landscape, public space, building restoration, temporary installations, and design.

Most recently, Benedetta has designed the scenography for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company in New York,  the scenography for an exhibition by the Spanish film director Isabel Coixet, and is now working on the Spanish Pavilion for the Shanghai Expo of 2010.

Benedetta helped create a strong legacy for the EMBT, and as each new project is created, it is done so in a  totally distinct manner from the previous one. Benedetta’s designs do not rely on any particular building type or specific design besides the involvement of some use of public spaces and landscaping ideas. She believes that buildings and landscapes are much in the same thing and that you cannot treat one without considering the other as there are always strong contextual issues.

If you’d like to learn more about Enric & Benedetta’s work, you can find a 30-minute documentary directed by Enric’s close friend Bigas Luna, depicting progress on the buildings in the years immediately following the architect’s death. EMBT: Work in Progress, records the resonant legacy of a great architect.