transgressive architecture
Introduction
Ricardo Blanco (July 16, 1940 in Buenos Aires, Argentina - September 11, 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina), was a renowned architect dedicated to industrial design. In his career he achieved such prominence that it led him to project himself internationally as one of the main references of Argentine design. He is famous for his furniture designs, particularly, he has created a countless number of chairs and armchairs, all with an innovative and transgressive design. He graduated as an architect in 1967 from the University of Buenos Aires. The following year he began his professional work at the Stilka firm. There he was able to develop products based on unconventional technologies such as wood laminate.
In 1972, after leaving this company, he founded EH (Equipamiento de Hoy) together with two other architects. From that moment he also began to carry out work independently for Lañin"), a company that manufactures traditional wooden chairs. Then Indumar"), allowed him to make more than a hundred designs of chairs and armchairs, some of experimental character, such as the Plaka folding chair and the Skel armchair. With these developments, the company was able to position itself better in the market. For several years he continued working on the development of equipment for various companies in the industry such as Zbar and Venier.
In 1982 he was honored by the CAyC (Center for Art and Communication) with the Silver Pencil Award for Furniture Designer. In 1983 he founded Visiva together with the designers Hugo Kogan and Reinaldo Leiro), a company that produced unique furniture. On this occasion, he produced designs with high aesthetic content, related to the current of the new Milanese design and the Memphis Group. In 1992 he designed the set of furniture for the National Library, in Buenos Aires.
During his career he not only designed furniture, he also worked for appliance companies, producing white goods, telephones and a robotic arm for production. He was the author of the design of a train and a premetro for Materfer in Córdoba "Córdoba (Argentina)"), Argentina and private cruises for the Río Dulce shipyard.
Since 1968 he dedicated himself uninterruptedly to teaching industrial design at the universities of La Plata, Mendoza, Buenos Aires and sporadically in Córdoba, Chaco and San Juan. From 1986 until his death, he was director, teacher and consulting professor of the industrial design program at the UBA. He was the author of the books Five approaches to habitat, Chronicles of Industrial Design*l and Sillopathy, among others. His latest text, , was presented in August 2017. He was also the author of numerous articles published in national and foreign magazines. His conferences and writings provided important contributions to the definition of the role of design and the designer in today's world.