Helio Piñón is a renowned Spanish architect born in Onda in 1942. He graduated from the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB), where he was awarded a PhD several years later. Since 1980 he has held the Projects professorial chair and headed the Architecture Laboratory. He has been the Vice-Chancellor for Cultural Affairs at the Catalonia Polytechnic (UPC), and has authored several books including "Arquitectura de las neovanguardias" (1989), "Miradas intensivas" (1999) and "Paulo Mendes da Rocha" (2002). In 1974, he opened the Viaplana-Piñón Studio in collaboration with architect Albert Viaplana, undertaking several important projects including Plaza dels Països Catalans and the Barcelona Contemporary Cultural Centre (CCCB), a reference point for the best of modern architecture. The Viaplana-Piñón tandem worked with Escofet to create the A-E-I-O-U Vocabulary Collection (1988), composed of the Test-E planter, the Llum-I light, the Gat-O boundary, the Banc-U and Silla-U benches. In 1998, once again in conjunction with Escofet, they designed the Cilíndrico boundary and the project for the Barcelona Sants Hotel facade. In 2000, Helio Piñón worked once again with Escofet, this time alone, to create the Bagdad Café bench and seat, the Luco series and the Morella series, which contains a range of street furniture in cor-ten finish. It owes its name to the town where this design was first used to shape public spaces.
