50|PROTAGONISTA VENECIA, BARCELONA... AND SHANGHAI She studied architecture at the Istituto di Architettura di Venezia (IUAV) and currently acts as director of the international architec- ture firm Miralles Tagliabue EMBT, founded in 1994 in collaboration with Enric Mira- lles, based in Barcelona and, since 2010, in Shanghai. Among her most notable projects built are the Edinburgh Parliament, Diagonal Mar Park, the Santa Caterina market in Barcelo- na, Campus Universitario de Vigo, and the Spa-nish Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo which was awarded the prestigious RIBA International “Best International Buil- ding of 2011” award. Current studio projects include The Business School of Fudan University in Shanghai, office towers in Taiwan and Taichung, public spaces of HafenCity in Hamburg Germany, and So- cial Housing in Madrid, following the princi- ples of sustainability and green architecture. Her studio works in the fields of Architec- ture, design of public spaces with especial attention and care toward the environment, rehabilitation, interior and industrial design. Her poetic architecture, always attentive to its context and its urbanism, has won inter- national awards in the fields of public space and design. In the teaching field, she has been a visiting professor at Harvard University, Columbia University and Barcelona ETSAB, lecturing regularly at architecture forums and univer- sities around the world. In 2004 she received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. Her work received the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2005, the National Spanish Prize in 2006, the Catalan National prize in 2002, City of Bar- celona prize in 2005 and 2009, FAD prizes in 2000, 2003 and 2007. Benedetta Tagliabue received the RIBA International Fellowships for her particular contribution as a non-UK architect to British architecture in 2009 and an Honorary De- gree, Doctor of Arts, from Napier University in 2005. She is also the director of the Enric Miralles Foundation, whose goal is to promote expe- rimental architecture in the spirit of her late husband and partner Enric Miralles. Rehabilitación de 9 pisos en el casco antiguo de Barcelona. Fotos: Marcela Grassi. for example, the Tina chair that you did for Expormin? A product is an object that many people use, it has a freshness and it can change. It can last a number of years and later be substituted by something else. On the other hand, a work of architecture is something that has to last in time; this is the difference. Also, in the way of conceiving it. You have to think of something more “eternal”. You mentioned that you are designing lights. What is your ideal type? Always a very warm light. Like the ones we design. Lights that create a special ambience, mysterious. That is why I like paper lights so much, and lights made from natural materials like the ones designed by the architect Noguchi. I also like Frank Gehry’s lights; they are made of paper. We are designing similar ones, made out of natural materials. A year ago, the Fundación Enric Miralles, a center for the experimentation and promotion of contemporary architecture