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Elías Torres and José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, friends and study companions, opened their Barcelona-based studio Martínez Lapeña – Torres Arquitectos in 1968, as a collaboration that produces acclaimed results to this day. With its Mediterranean essence and international contemporary vision, Martínez Lapeña – Torres Arquitectos are known for their respect towards the landscape and historical heritage, as well as their constant drive for innovation.
José Antonio Martínez Lapeña graduated as a building surveyor and architect at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB). Elias Torres holds a doctorate in architecture, also from ETSAB.
In Barcelona, in 1986, they were commissioned with the construction of the Vil·la Cecília Gardens (FAD Architecture Award). They also participated in the large-scale urban space remodelling project set in motion for the Barcelona Olympic Games, creating a number of housing nuclei in the Olympic Village (1992 FAD Architecture Award). In 1993, they restored Antoni Gaudí’s iconic work, the Park Güell. Their best-known project is likely the esplanade for the Barcelona Forum (2004), which responded to the expansion of the Avenida Diagonal to Diagonal Mar, a development that was not foreseen by Ildefons Cerdà in 1859. The esplanade includes an iconic 4000 m2 photovoltaic pergola, fixed at an angle of 35º and which produces energy, while at the same time providing a large amount of shade (special award at the Venice International Architecture Biennale). In 2012, they designed the Carme Cultural Centre in Badalona, a distinctive, mould-breaking construction that plays with the volumetrics and perspective of its surroundings. Their works outside of the metropolitan area include the Móra d’Ebre Hospital Comarcal in Tarragona (1988 FAD Architecture Award) and the Plaça de la Constitució in Girona (with J. Esteban, A. Font and J. Montero, 1995).
Notable on a broader national scale is the housing project for the Colonia San José in Madrid (1995), the stairway for La Granja in Toledo (2000), the Manuel de la Dehesa Award at the 6th Spanish Architecture and Urban Planning Biennale, the Hotel Hiberus in Zaragoza (2008) and the Estuary Promenade in Huelva (2016). They also received international acclaim for the Kumamoto Art Museum (1992) in Japan.
The Martínez Lapeña – Torres Arquitectos studio has won awards like the 2016 RIBA International Fellowship and the Spanish government’s 2016 National Architecture Award, as well as several FAD and Biennale Awards.
Both Elías Torres and José Antonio Martínez Lapeña have been involved in teaching throughout their careers.
José Antonio has shared his long years of experience in architecture and urban planning with Architecture degree students at ETSA Barcelona (during the periods 1969-71 and 1978-83), ETSA Vallés (from 1983 to 2007), ETSA La Salle (from 1998 to 2016) and for the master’s degree in Architecture at the ETSA University of Navarra (2001 and 2008). Elías taught at ETSAB from 1969 to 2014, and his teaching career extended beyond national borders as a guest lecturer at prestigious US universities such as the University of California, Los Angeles and Harvard University, as well as international universities like the University of Tokyo and the Spanish Academy in Rome.
Martínez Lapeña – Torres Arquitectos are creators of the Lampelunas streetlight (ADI-FAD Gold Delta, 1986) a singular lighting element that blends with nature, adopting a moon-like appearance at night and camouflaged with the tree canopy during the day. They also created the Rodes wall lamp (1989), a distinctive outdoor wall lamp made from tough materials that blends with its surroundings, and the Plaza planter (1990), a key element for cities looking to integrate nature into the urban fabric.
