RCR Arquitectes is an architecture studio founded in Olot in 1998 by the architects Rafael Aranda. Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta. Its work is based on an innovative vision of architecture, which they see as a resource for integrating design into the natural environment, in order to create a mutual dialogue that enriches the surrounding space.
This holistic approach encompasses a number of different areas, such as the landscape, design, art and thought. In the company’s own words, their work stems from a shared creativity that goes further beyond just the discipline itself.
RCR Arquitectes does not restrict itself to simply managing an architectural “office”, but rather it sees the studio as a cross-cutting laboratory for ideas, as well as a cultural space. Its values and relational processes go further beyond architecture, and are applied to a holistic vision that embraces something greater than life itself. This is what makes its work so special, and is the reason for which it has been bestowed with numerous international prizes and commissions from around the world. In 2017, it received the Pritzker Prize, considered the Nobel Prize of architecture, for the work that has materialised from this conceptual spirit.
Although the Pritzker is the most renowned prize on an international scale, other notable highlights on their long list of public accolades include: the National Award for Culture in Architecture awarded by the Government of Catalonia (2005); appointments to the grade of Officiers (Officers) and then Chevaliers (Knights) of l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la République Française (2008 and 2017), an honorary fellowship from the American Institute of Architects (2010); an international fellowship from the Royal Institute of British Architects (2012); a gold medal from the Académie d'Architecture Française (2015), and a Gold Medal from the Government of Catalonia (2019).
Although its work can be found on several continents, its first creations emerged near the areas of Girona and Barcelona. In Olot - and among other creations - it designed the athletics stadium, as well as the swimming pavilion and the 2x1 pavilion at Tossols athletic park. In la Garrotxa area, they are behind the design of the Spaces for Leisure and Culture at Ruidaura Civic Centre, the Pedra Tosca park in Les Preses, and the pond and exteriors of la Vila country house in la Vall de Bianya, among other notable projects.
Visit the Trincheria House Museum, one of the most important ancestral homes in Olot, located at no. 29, Carrer de Sant Esteve. The house-museum is quintessential of how a well-off family lived in the first half of the 18th-century.
The Cloister of the former Carmen Convent in Olot, located at no. 3, Carrer Padre Antoni Soler, is a formation of impressive Renaissance galleries that is of the most unique and symmetrical in the whole of Catalonia.
The Malagrida neighbourhood (L’Eixample Malagrida in Catalan) is the most emblematic urban treasure in Olot. Built between 1916 and 1925, it is an example of the Noucentista “garden city” movement that took hold in the early 20th century.