Miralles
Maria Mauti
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Enric Miralles was an exceptionally talented Catalan architect. He died of a serious brain tumour in 2000, at the age of just 45 and at the peak of his career. Miralles was buried in the Igualada cemetery, which he had designed together with his first wife, the architect Carme Pinós.
Italian and more specifically Milanese director Maria Mauti has directed the exceptionally fascinating film MIRALLES, which was completed in 2024. It allows us to move between life and death and get to know the life, family and most interesting works of this original and skilled architect. The colourful image and film material, both newer and found in the archives, would perhaps not hold together if the film did not rely on the introductory text of fiction by author Sara Mesa. The narrator is actor Pep Ambrós, who captivates the audience with his calm and beautiful voice.
The film also deals to some extent with the theme of architectural competitions, as competitions have of course also been organised in Catalonia. Before his big breakthroughs, Miralles participated in several competitions with his wife Carme. When they parted ways and he married Italian-born Benedetta Tagliabue the foundations for the firm's success had already been laid.
It wasn't all sunshine, however, as even this masterful architect faced dramatic setbacks. After the catastrophic collapse of the roof structure of the Huesca sports hall during construction, Miralles bought himself a Leica camera, with which he recorded the details of the buildings and places and made collages of his photographs. The collapse of the structures was by no means the fault of the designer, but of the company responsible for the construction work, but the shocking event shook the architect to the core.
The film's story begins in Venice and ends there. Even in the final shots of the film, the very handsome and bearded architect himself is present with his camera. After her father's death, his adult daughter Caterina carries the same Leica camera with her. We see it in her hand as we move along the cable car to the hills of Barcelona.
One notable project designed with Tagliabue in Barcelona, which is also known to many tourists, is the Saint Catherine Market Hall. It is a combination of old and new and includes residential buildings for the elderly. The hall is also known for its large steel structures and its multi-coloured roof. The building is a combination of preserving the old, discovering strange things when examining the foundations, and exceptionally bold new architectural forms.
Miralles was taken from his loved ones and the Catalan people by a surprisingly aggressive brain tumour, despite which he worked almost until the end. The film also allows us to visit his and his family's incredibly fascinating home in Barcelona, as well as an equally fascinating architectural firm. There are both older and specially filmed scenes from both.
The film's collage-like structure holds together beautifully due to the chosen narrative method. The music also supports the whole. An attentive Finnish viewer may also raise questions about whether Miralles and the architect´s partners were familiar with, for example, the work of the Pietilä Architects, or Juha Leiviskä's way of bringing light into different spaces. They probably were, even though Barcelona and Catalonia are far from Finland. The same is true of Scotland, where the country's parliament building is one of the key works of Miralles and the office, which has been criticised but also appreciated.
While some young architects or students are now even led to believe that the world is already built and that nothing new should be built, this film also gives us faith in the importance of architecture designed by architects, and above all by architects who think in an exceptionally creative way and focus on people's needs. Moreover, things look completely different from anywhere other than relatively prosperous Finland. This is the case, for example, in the Mediterranean area or in countries at war for civilians and the building stock. Better or newly renovated buildings are needed all over the world. Frankly, there is a desperate need for as many talented and experienced architects as possible.
Italian and more specifically Milanese director Maria Mauti has directed the exceptionally fascinating film MIRALLES, which was completed in 2024. It allows us to move between life and death and get to know the life, family and most interesting works of this original and skilled architect. The colourful image and film material, both newer and found in the archives, would perhaps not hold together if the film did not rely on the introductory text of fiction by author Sara Mesa. The narrator is actor Pep Ambrós, who captivates the audience with his calm and beautiful voice.
The film also deals to some extent with the theme of architectural competitions, as competitions have of course also been organised in Catalonia. Before his big breakthroughs, Miralles participated in several competitions with his wife Carme. When they parted ways and he married Italian-born Benedetta Tagliabue the foundations for the firm's success had already been laid.
It wasn't all sunshine, however, as even this masterful architect faced dramatic setbacks. After the catastrophic collapse of the roof structure of the Huesca sports hall during construction, Miralles bought himself a Leica camera, with which he recorded the details of the buildings and places and made collages of his photographs. The collapse of the structures was by no means the fault of the designer, but of the company responsible for the construction work, but the shocking event shook the architect to the core.
The film's story begins in Venice and ends there. Even in the final shots of the film, the very handsome and bearded architect himself is present with his camera. After her father's death, his adult daughter Caterina carries the same Leica camera with her. We see it in her hand as we move along the cable car to the hills of Barcelona.
One notable project designed with Tagliabue in Barcelona, which is also known to many tourists, is the Saint Catherine Market Hall. It is a combination of old and new and includes residential buildings for the elderly. The hall is also known for its large steel structures and its multi-coloured roof. The building is a combination of preserving the old, discovering strange things when examining the foundations, and exceptionally bold new architectural forms.
Miralles was taken from his loved ones and the Catalan people by a surprisingly aggressive brain tumour, despite which he worked almost until the end. The film also allows us to visit his and his family's incredibly fascinating home in Barcelona, as well as an equally fascinating architectural firm. There are both older and specially filmed scenes from both.
The film's collage-like structure holds together beautifully due to the chosen narrative method. The music also supports the whole. An attentive Finnish viewer may also raise questions about whether Miralles and the architect´s partners were familiar with, for example, the work of the Pietilä Architects, or Juha Leiviskä's way of bringing light into different spaces. They probably were, even though Barcelona and Catalonia are far from Finland. The same is true of Scotland, where the country's parliament building is one of the key works of Miralles and the office, which has been criticised but also appreciated.
While some young architects or students are now even led to believe that the world is already built and that nothing new should be built, this film also gives us faith in the importance of architecture designed by architects, and above all by architects who think in an exceptionally creative way and focus on people's needs. Moreover, things look completely different from anywhere other than relatively prosperous Finland. This is the case, for example, in the Mediterranean area or in countries at war for civilians and the building stock. Better or newly renovated buildings are needed all over the world. Frankly, there is a desperate need for as many talented and experienced architects as possible.
Miralles 2024. Maria Mauti. 90 min.
Maria Mauti
Maria Mauti was born in Milan in 1974. Her career as a documentary director began at the beginning of the millennium, at the age of around 30.
Mauti has made documentaries on Daniel Barenboim, Carolyn Carlson, Pina Bausch, the Cuban National Ballet, Meredith Monk, and many others; and has collaborated with, among others, La Scala in Milan, Teatro de la Fenice and the Venice Biennale, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Auditorium of Music, and the Maxxi Museum in Rome.
Her first feature film about a specific architect, "L'Amatore" (2016), explores the life of Italian architect Piero Portaluppi. The film premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, and it has since been screened at several international festivals, including IFFR Rotterdam and BAFICI Buenos Aires.
The film "MIRALLES" premiered at DOK Leipzig (Germany).
Maria Mauti is a professor at Estabi and Elisava Universities in Barcelona.
Mauti has made documentaries on Daniel Barenboim, Carolyn Carlson, Pina Bausch, the Cuban National Ballet, Meredith Monk, and many others; and has collaborated with, among others, La Scala in Milan, Teatro de la Fenice and the Venice Biennale, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Auditorium of Music, and the Maxxi Museum in Rome.
Her first feature film about a specific architect, "L'Amatore" (2016), explores the life of Italian architect Piero Portaluppi. The film premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, and it has since been screened at several international festivals, including IFFR Rotterdam and BAFICI Buenos Aires.
The film "MIRALLES" premiered at DOK Leipzig (Germany).
Maria Mauti is a professor at Estabi and Elisava Universities in Barcelona.
The film about the architect Enric Miralles was born from a fortunate encounter with the character, like when, as Enric himself used to say: You put your hand in the pocket of a second-hand jacket and find something you weren't expecting.”
The Encounter was marked by the same amazement, not so much by the myth surrounding his figure, but by the mysterious side of his creative process, by the fierce love for life and the Curse of losing it prematurely. Enric Miralles is, above all, a unique and unexpected architect in the contemporary scene, but I immediately felt that through his story and work, I could try to touch on a deep aspect of the human condition: our inevitable fragility and the Unstoppable need to find a path, to look at the unanswered question that underlies our existence.
Miralles wrote a text titled Portrait of Giacometti, in which he reflected on the creative process of the famous Swiss sculptor and painter. Miralles worked in variations on the same theme, like Giacometti, in an incessant search for possibilities to portray reality that incorporates the passage of time into architecture, unafraid that it may turn into ruins or a forest, in which the ground of a country dances, a Revolutionary Parliament, or the Tomb of the architect himself. Miralles' architecture is an architecture full of humanity, and that makes it the ideal landscape for a film. We are faced with an artist who has a powerful vision of the world and is close to our existential condition. That is why this film is necessary, as it allows us to turn architecture, the space in which all our existence moves, into a space for reflection on the threshold between the visible and the invisible, appearance and disappearance, death and life.
The Encounter was marked by the same amazement, not so much by the myth surrounding his figure, but by the mysterious side of his creative process, by the fierce love for life and the Curse of losing it prematurely. Enric Miralles is, above all, a unique and unexpected architect in the contemporary scene, but I immediately felt that through his story and work, I could try to touch on a deep aspect of the human condition: our inevitable fragility and the Unstoppable need to find a path, to look at the unanswered question that underlies our existence.
Miralles wrote a text titled Portrait of Giacometti, in which he reflected on the creative process of the famous Swiss sculptor and painter. Miralles worked in variations on the same theme, like Giacometti, in an incessant search for possibilities to portray reality that incorporates the passage of time into architecture, unafraid that it may turn into ruins or a forest, in which the ground of a country dances, a Revolutionary Parliament, or the Tomb of the architect himself. Miralles' architecture is an architecture full of humanity, and that makes it the ideal landscape for a film. We are faced with an artist who has a powerful vision of the world and is close to our existential condition. That is why this film is necessary, as it allows us to turn architecture, the space in which all our existence moves, into a space for reflection on the threshold between the visible and the invisible, appearance and disappearance, death and life.
Maria Mauti
Director
