PHILIPPE RHOTTIER. Architect.

• Publicado por Antonio Calvo
• Architecture

I met Philippe Rotthier, a Belgian architect, in the summer of 1982, at the beach bar at Sa Caleta, known as "El Rinco del Marino."
Several years later, we met again in the professional field of architecture.
Philippe, is passionate about traditional Ibizan architecture, and has developed several studies and publications on this subject, culminating these studies in an essential book, Le palais paysan, or El Palacio Payes.
In addition, in 1982 he founded the European Prize for the Reconstruction of the City and in 1986 the Foundation for Architecture in Brussels, which is materialized in the Archives of Modern Architecture (AAM).
From 1986, we started collaborate in the development of several architectural projects together with my partner Xefo Guasch.
The work basically consisted of adapting to the archaic and traditional Ibizan dwelling of modern means and lifestyles but maintaining the essence and purity, both of the forms, volumes, proportions and constructive systems of all life, looking for the original materials and the artisanal methods in their constructive solutions.
In this fruitful period we published different collaborations. Those include: Maisons sur l’île d’Ibiza (1990), Arquitecturas arquitectónicas Ibiza (1997) y XXX à Ibiza (2003).
It was another way of understanding architecture, signified by a traditional work method, taking care of the relation of the habitat with the immediate environment to avoid the transformation of the landscape.
Philippe has been an important piece for the conservation of the cultural and natural heritage of Ibiza, in promoting in a key era the awareness of inhabitants and, consequently, of politicians, by divulging and warning that excessive development would inevitably lead to overexploitation, and that would mean a dramatic end to the charm and beauty of the island.
In 2011 he founded the Museum of Architecture - La Loge in Brussels, dedicated to contemporary creation.

As a result of this intense and interesting collaboration, they were reflected in peasant homes such as: