I first encountered Manuel Gallego's work in Valencia, introduced to it by José María Lozano. There, at the school where I was studying, they had organized a symposium on Galician architecture.
Manolo Gallego taught urban planning at the School of Architecture in A Coruña, but to me, his entire body of work primarily teaches construction and Architecture with a capital A. He is one of the most prominent figures in Galician architecture, and, as his recent award demonstrates, on the national stage as well. I have only had the opportunity to share a meal with him once in Galicia, where we had traveled for an event related to Arquia Próxima (the awards for young architects) held at his magnificent Museum of Fine Arts in A Coruña. I asked him then if it wasn't a waste for him to teach urban planning (without undermining the discipline), when, in my view, his true strength lies in his projects. He replied that he was perfectly happy doing so. He is an affable, down-to-earth person—as is always the case with the greatest figures, like Andrés Albalat, another Galician giant who is a bottomless well of wisdom and stories over a meal. While I greatly admire Gallego, colleagues who studied at ETSAC absolutely revere him. Modestly, he claims that architecture should distance itself from the artistic, even though art effortlessly emerges in his work. In this attitude, as well as in the details and finishes of his work, I sense an underlying foundation: another Galician giant, Don Alejandro de la Sota.
