Mario Lius Corea, a notable Argentinian architect, planner and educator, attended the Architectural Association from 1969-1970, where he is recorded as having enrolled in the Department of Planning and Urban Design. It is uncertain as to the exact courses taken but he is recorded in the AA Diploma Roll Book as having been awarded a post-graduate Diploma from the AA Department of Tropical Studies. His AA thesis, entitled Towards a Sociopolitical Dimension of Architecture and Urbanism, examined the exploitation of Latin American countries by large corporations and their influence on urban policies of their benefit. Prior to attending the AA, Corea received his architecture degree from the School of Architecture at the Universitat del Litoral de Rosario, Argentina, in 1962, and completed his master's degree at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University two years later. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, he worked with the studio of Sert, Jackson and Associates, from 1962-1965, followed by periods with the studios of Desmond and Lord, in Boston, and Paul Rudolph, in New York. In 1968 he returned to Argentina and embarked upon a career in academia, taking up the position of professor at the Instituto de Planeamiento (and subsequently the Faculty of Architecture) at the Universitat del Litoral de Rosario, where he was to teach until 1976. Alongside this, Mario founded his own practice, Arquitectos Asociados, and served as Research Director for the National Council of Technical and Scientific Research, in Rosario from 1968-69. He was also appointed the Director of Urban Design for the municipality of Rosario but was forced into exile, after the military coup of 1976. After contacting his former mentor, Josep Lluis Sert, Corea was invited to join his practice in Barcelona and supervised a number of projects, including ‘La Porta Catalana’. Whilst in Spain, he continued to teach at the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura, Barcelona (1976-2007) and was the Head of Department of Projects there from 1978-1989. In the mid 1980s he established his own studio, Mario Corea Arquitectura, together with Edgardo Mannino and Francisco Gallardo, in Barcelona. His most significant projects during that phase of his career, include the Baseball Stadium for the Barcelona Olympics (1992) and the restoration of the 1936 Tuberculosis Clinic (1992), also in Barcelona. From 1997, he was the head of the team commissioned to draft the guidelines for the new Master Plan of Rosario, Argentina. Since 2007, he has served as a consultant and project designer for the Special Projects Unit of the Public Works and Housing Ministry of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, and is currently listed as the Director of the Laboratori Arquitectura Hospitalària Barcelona [LA(H)B]. Over his long career, his portfolio of over 80 buildings spans a wide range of healthcare centres, sports facilities, and public buildings and his recent award-winning projects include the Hospital of Mollet del Vallès, Spain (2010) and Carles Rahola Public Library in Girona, Spain (2014). Some of his key awards include, in 2010, the A + Award and the designation as an Honorary Fellow by the American Institute of Architects, and, in 2016, the National Prize for Architecture from the Fondo Nacional de las Artes of the Ministry of Culture of Argentina.

Sources:

• Architectural Association Diploma Roll Book, 1964-1975, AA Archives.
• Architectural Association Student Register 1945-1972, AA Archives.
• Mario Corea 1985-2006 (published 2008), by Mario Corea, Diane Gray (ed.), publisher: Actar D.
• J.M. Marti Font, “Mario Corea Arquitecte: No s’ha de buscar l’originalitat.” El País, July 5, 2012, p8.
• “Mario Corea: Premio Konex 2012: Arquitectura: Quinquenio 2007-2011.” Fundación Konex. Accessed October 24, 2024. https://www.fundacionkonex.org/b4460-mario-corea.
• “Estudio. El Equipo: Maria Corea.” Mario Corea Arquitectura.  Accessed 24th October, 2024. http://mariocorea.com/estudio/