Tomás Llorens

[2] That same year he left Spain with his family to live in England, where he was appointed a Research Fellow at Portsmouth Polytechnic School of Architecture, at the invitation of its head of Department, Geoffrey Broadbent.

At Broadbent’s instigation, the school taught architectural semiotics under Llorens and his colleague Richard Bunt, resulting in various publications, notably the book they edited together, Meaning and Behaviour in the Built Environment (1980).

[4] Llorens returned permanently to Spain in 1984, settling in the Valencian Country, where he took over as general director of Artistic Heritage at the Generalitat Valenciana.

He was one of the promoters of the Institut Valencià d'Art Modern (IVAM), of which he was its very first director between 1986 and 1988 – his contribution being crucial for the Julio González collection to be installed permanently in the museum.

[2] From the mid-eighties Llorens was part of the Spanish Ministry of Culture team that negotiated with Baron Thyssen-Bornemizsa in the transfer of his artistic collection to Madrid.