Marcello Rodríguez Pons (born 24 August 1965) is an Argentine architect and sailor.
Early years
Marcello Rodriguez Pons was born in the city of Córdoba, Argentina. Part of his professional work during the first years was of a conceptual nature, and gradually, as the years passed, his ideas materialised into concrete projects. Designer from everyday products such as chairs, tables, books and wine labels to hotels and masterplans of new cities (see his MASTERPLAN book). Son of a German mother and an Argentinian father, he did his elementary schooling at Academia Arguello, in his home town. He developed his first experiences in design at architectural firms while he studied architecture at the National University of Córdoba In 1994, he formed a small architectural firm, and in 2000 he completed his master's degree in Architectural and Urban Design at the same university in Argentina. He moved to Malaga, Spain, where he worked at HCP Architecture & Engineering, from 2002 and until 2011. In 2012 he opened his own architecture office Rodriguez Pons & Partners.
His main activity as an architect is based on the development of Master Plans for communities all over the world, and the design buildings in a contemporary style, taking special care on spaces, envelopes and how light affects them. Sunlight is in his projects controlled by a series of layers that constitute, in many cases, the outer “Wood & White” envelope system as he calls it, which includes balconies as sunshades, blinds, plus other natural and/or artificial elements on the façades, to achieve energy efficiency and sustainability. In the interior design of his projects, as well as in the products and furniture designs he also uses the “Wood & White” design style, often with the addition of black, gray and/or bricks.
Works and Projects
One of his first relevant projects was the Punta Jabali Winery (designed in 2014) which presented the opportunity to look at the winery as a building type, using the topography of the site to aid the winemaking process, and to create the optimum natural working conditions, while reducing the building's energy demands and its impact on the landscape. The Winery is oriented on a north–south axis, using the site inclination to allow grapes to enter the building by gravity. Grape access is a key space in wine making; a covered external space was created in order for the grapes to be selected manually. The building's levels expresses the main stages of production: fermentation in steel vats; ageing in oak barrels; and maturation in bottles; at the highest level we designed an operations hub, from which all stages of the production process can be controlled. The upper volume of the building emerges from the land, wanting to be the business card of the winery. It is clearly expressing the values that prevail in the project. The building enjoys natural light through an oversized fully openable window, views into the vineyard and a direct connection to the Barrel Hall and Cellar underground. Lined with slats from recycled wine barrels, the public areas evoke the rich tradition of winemaking in the region.
The Olympic Sports Initiation Center (designed in 2015) is a low rise development located inside a bigger master plan at the called Cidade Esportiva da Baixada Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This 30-hectare master plan, also designed by Rodriguez Pons & Partners, includes, a sports center, residential units, school, retail, native forests, lagoons and the Brazilian Volunteer Firefighters Brigade. The sports buildings have a clean and tensioned silhouette with which the white horizontal lines of the grades and the curve of the grades-roof contrast with the vertical sun protection wooden blinds of the Indoor Arena, and the Aquatics Stadium. All of it clearly reflects his personal “Wood & White” design style. Between all these buildings, a multipurpose open air plaza joins them with the parking areas and the rest of the sports fields "connected" by large overhangs, canopies, fountains and ramps.