Rubens Henríquez

1925-2017

Rubens Henríquez died on 26 April in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. He was a key referent for architects in the Canary Islands. Henríquez graduated from the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB) in 1951, and contributed as few others to renovating the architectural field in the Islands, adapting the modern language to the specificities of their landscape and climate in works like the gas station of Los Llanos (1964) – where he tried out an interesting roof design with inverted precast concrete umbrellas –, the four houses in La Laguna (1963) – a prototype deeply rooted in the place –, the stepped houses of Ifara (1969) – where modular repetition allies with the abrupt topography –, or the strictly modern special education center Hermano Pedro (1971). His outstanding work as designer and urbanist was combined with political activity: he was a representative of the architects in the ‘Cortes’ (1971) and Deputy (1977), actively participating in processing the land code (Ley del Suelo) of 1975, and was the first dean of the architectural institute (‘Colegio de Arquitectos’) of the Canary Islands, carrying out an important task promoting the avant-gardes in the Islands.