Spanish architect Rafael Moneo on working with his heroes

SMALL TOWN, BIG WORLD VIEW I was born in Tudela, in northern Spain, in 1937. Although it seems paradoxical, I believe that growing up in a small town gave me a more complete perspective of life. A city child has a reduced view of the world, revolving around his home, his school; whereas a village child has more freedom, which allows him to understand the world better.

SOLID FOUNDATIONS I was a very restless student at high school. I enjoyed studying philosophy but was more drawn to painting. My father, an industrial engineer, said it’d be better for me to study a more practical vocation, like architecture, so I went to architecture school in Madrid when I was 17. It was a very old-fashioned school in those days but, luckily, I got the opportunity to work for the professor I most admired, an important Spanish archi­tect called Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza. I soon realised I could learn more with my maestro than at class, although I did relish some of my other subjects, such as history of architecture, with professor Leopoldo Torres Balbás.

CASTLES IN THE SKY When I graduated, in 1961, I left for Denmark to work with an architect who interested me enormously; Jørn Oberg Utzon, who designed the Sydney Opera House. I worked with him for a year – a year that was definitive for me, because it introduced me to a way of working that was nothing like I’d seen before. Sáenz de Oiza was an extraordinarily intelligent person, but full of doubt, while Utzon had no qualms about beginning construction of the Opera House without knowing exactly how it would be completed. Utzon had an incredible intuition for solving architectural problems.

THE ROAD TO ROME I returned to Spain in 1962 to complete my military service and then won a grant to study for two years at the Academy of Spain, in Rome. Rome was a true discovery for me. I had travelled to Paris, to London and Scandinavia, but I didn’t really know the Mediterra­nean world. Since then, Italian culture has been deeply connected to my life. Coming into contact with the histori­ans, scholars and architects in Italy completed my idea of a city where architecture is very important. Later in life, I was fortunate to work on the Roman Art Museum, in Merida (1985); a building that reflected the city’s ancient Roman roots. In its day, Merida was perhaps the most important Roman city in Spain, but it later became a predominantly agricultural city. I wanted the building to provide a glimpse of the ancient city that was once there, and built the museum space using Roman construction systems.