MIAMI, FLA.- A legacy has landed in Miami.

Catalonia, the autonomous nationality between France and Spain, has for centuries spawned a crop of highly idiosyncratic artists and architects such as Gaudi, Dali, Miró…

The story begins with a local builder Emilio Bofill, a progressive spirit who vehemently opposed Franco’s regime, and his son Ricardo Bofill, whose reaction to the modernist movement led him to develop a singular and unique architecture.

Ricardo’s first project “La Fabrica,” an abandoned cement factory, dates to the late 19th century when the first signs of industrialization appeared in Catalonia. Converting the factory’s formal remains into his residence and studio in 1973, modifying its original Brutality and incorporating Catalan Civic Gothic style with Surrealist elements, the architect began what would become, much like Gaudi’s Sagrada Família, a lifelong project that would evolve with time, technology, politics and family.

From La Fabrica, the now 79-year old architect Bofill Sr. and his son Ricardo Bofill Jr. (together Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura or RBTA) have been tapped for international commissions across the world, going on to create notable projects in Spain like the Barcelona Airport, Desiqual Headquarters, Madrid Congress Center, National Theatre of Catalonia, as well as private and public projects in Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa. RBTA has worked on 1000 projects to date in over 50 countries.

Throughout his evolution as an architect, his oeuvre pushed back against a signature style, bridging a gap between Bofill’s legacy of Brutalism, Surrealism, and Classicism – different “creative periods” that present themselves subtly in his contemporary works.

Mast Capital, led by Camilo Miguel, had the insight to bring Bofill to Miami for the first multi-family residential project in the U.S. 3900 Alton, a boutique development deceptively simple in design, marks the Catalan legend’s long-awaited residential debut in the states. The low rise residence in Mid-Beach’s secluded “Garden District” is a masterful study in restraint and contextual living, revealing itself slowly to the astute architectural buff.

Hailed as one of Spain’s master architects, Ricardo Bofill is renowned worldwide for his extensive body of work and design aesthetic. The founder of the interdisciplinary firm Taller de Arquitectura, Mr. Bofill’s career spans more than 50 years, encompassing more than 1,000 buildings from Lisbon and Boston to Tokyo and St. Petersburg, Russia. The firm’s headquarters in Sant Just Desvern, Spain is housed in Mr. Bofill’s notable conversion of a cement factory – known as La Fábrica - and comprises more than 50 professionals from around the world. La Fábrica has been critically acclaimed around the world and garnered Bofill the prestigious Ciudad de Barcelona Prize of Architecture. Since founding the firm in 1963, Mr. Bofill has been at the design helm of internationally acclaimed projects, including the new Terminal 1 for the Barcelona Airport; the W Hotel Barcelona in Spain; the redevelopment of Luxembourg’s Place de l’Europe; 77 West Wacker Drive in Chicago; the Alice Pratt Brown Hall at Rice University in Texas; the BNP Paribas head office in Paris; the Shiseido Ginza Building in Tokyo; the School of Industrial Management in Morocco; and the Houari Boumedienne Agricultural Village in Algeria. Throughout his career, Mr. Bofill has received numerous accolades of his work. They include the Vittorio de Sica Architecture Prize; the Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on the Israeli Building Center; the Chicago Architects Award; Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Degree from the Ministry of Culture in France; and the Fritz Schumacher Honoris Causa Degree from the University of Hamburg. He is also an honorary fellow of both the Bund Deutscher Architeker in Germany and the American Institute of Architects in the United States.