Born in Valladolid, where his grandfather was an architect, but from the age of two, he lived in Cádiz where he saw the Light.
He is an Emeritus Head Professor of Design in the Madrid School of Architecture, ETSAM, where he has been a tenured Professor for more than 35 years. He has taught at the ETH in Zurich, EPFL in Lausanne, University of Pennsylvania, Kansas State University, CUA University in Washington, L’Ecole d’Architecture in Tournai, Buffalo University, School of Architecture of Barcelona, and at New York Institute of Technology. Since 2023 he conducts a postgraduate course at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (Spain).
Photograph by MARCO ANELLI ©
He has given lectures all over the world and has received significant recognitions like the Torroja Award for his Caja Granada, the Award of the UPM University for his Excellence in Teaching, the Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal, the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the RIBA International Fellowship. He is Full Member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (Spain), Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and Honoris Causa Doctorate of the San Pablo CEU University (Madrid), the National University of Rosario (Argentina), the Università della Svizzera Italiana (Mendrisio) and the Ion Mincu University of Bucharest (2026). And he has also received the Piranesi Prix di Roma, the Gold Medal of Spanish Architecture, the National Architecture Prize of Spain and the Daylight Award for Architecture.
Javier Callejas
His works have been widely recognized. From the Houses Turégano, de Blas, Cala or Rotonda, in Madrid, to Gaspar House, Guerrero House and House of the Infinite in Cádiz, Moliner House in Zaragoza, Olnick Spanu House in Garrison, New York, and the House in Mojácar. Or the BIT Center in Mallorca, the public space Between Cathedrals, in Cádiz, the Caja Granada Savings Bank and the Museum of Memory, in Granada, the Benetton Nursery, in Venice, the Offices in Zamora for the Regional Government of Castilla y León, the Sports Pavilion of the Francisco de Vitoria University, the Library of the French Lycée in Madrid, the Robert Olnick Pavilion in Coldspring, New York, and the Smart Center for the Children of Armenia Fund in Armavir.
And more than 30 editions of the books with his texts “La Idea Construida” [The Built Idea], “Pensar con las manos” [Thinking with your hands], “Principia Architectonica”, “Poetica Architectonica”, “Varia Architectonica” and much more have been published in several languages. All his work has been gathered in a monography “Complete Works” by Thames & Hudson, recently updated and completed by Rizzoli New York.
Armenia-Javier Callejas
He has exhibited his work in the Crown Hall by Mies at Chicago’s IIT, at the Palladio Basilica in Vicenza, in the Urban Center in New York, at the Saint Irene Church in Istanbul, the Tempietto of San Pietro in Montorio, Rome, the MA Gallery of Toto in Tokyo, the MAXXI Museum in Rome, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Pibamarmi Foundation in Vicenza, the Oris House of Architecture in Zagreb, the Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid and at the House of the Architecture in Madrid.
Biblioteca LFM _Javier Callejas
1 How would you describe your latest works?
I think my latest works are showing the Maturity. The intellectual work, Architecture is, is growing and frowing. Progressing! I hope everytime better and better,
2 What are the biggest challenges you have met in your career?
I tried to be more an amore poetic. POETIC. To be more Precise PRECISION
3 What is the message you want to send?
I construct my architecture to make people more HAPPY. To get the BEAUTY! to offer Beauty like away to become more HAPPY People
4 What is your main source of inspiration?
The LiFE. MUSiC is air, ARCHiTECTURE is LIGHT!
5 What about your next
With every new project I try to Grow my illusion and I hope It will be the BEST!
Alberto Campo Baeza