Rafael Viñoly

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Rafael Viñoly (born 1944) is a world-famous architect.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Buildings 2.1 Completed 2.2 In Progress 2.3 Unbuilt/Cancelled 3 External links 4 References

[edit] Biography

He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay to Román Viñoly Barreto, (a film and theater director) and Maria Beceiro (a mathematics teacher).

He was educated at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Buenos Aires, graduating in 1968.

In 1964, he formed the Estudio de Arquitectura with six associates. This practice would eventually become one of the largest architectural practices in South America, completing many significant commissions in a very short time.

In 1978 Viñoly and his family relocated to the United States. For a brief period he served as a guest lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, settling permanently in New York City in 1979.

He founded the firm Rafael Viñoly Architects PC in 1982. His first major New York project was the John Jay College of Criminal justice, which was completed in 1988. In 1989, he won an international competition to design the Tokyo International Forum. Completed in 1996, many people consider this building to be the most important cultural complex in Japan. His firm's design was one of the finalists in the World Trade Center design competition ultimately won by Daniel Libeskind.

Rafael Viñoly is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and a member of the Japan Institute of Architects as well as the Sociedad Central de Arquitectos.

[edit] Buildings

[edit] Completed

• Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan, 1996

• Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2001

This building, home to the Philadelphia Orchestra, is inspired by winter-garden structures of the 19th century and the former Crystal Palace in London. Its basic design consists of two theaters (Verizon Hall and the Perelman Theater) within a public open space known as Commonwealth Plaza

• Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2002

This laboratory building is defined by three cascading glass terraces which define the primary research spaces, which are filled with natural light and incorporate extremely flexible laboratory casework.

• Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 2002

• Information Sciences and Technology Building, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, 2003

Inspired by the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, the IST Building straddles a main thoroughfare through the town (North Atherton Street/Business Route 322) and houses the university's School of Information Sciences and Technology as well as the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

• David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2003

Defined by a suspended roof structure inspired by Pittsburgh's many bridges, this 1.5 million square foot convention center has been called the world's largest "green" building, and is certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

• University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Hyde Park Center, Chicago, Illinois, 2004

This building incorporates a six-story glass-enclosed Winter Garden supported by steel columns that draw their inspiration from the University's Gothic Revival architecture.

• Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Boston, Massachusetts, 2004

The largest building in New England, this 1.7 million square foot convention facility includes a 515,000 sf contiguous exhibition hall, 72 meeting rooms, and a 50,000 square foot ballroom.

• Jazz @ Lincoln Center, New York, New York, 2004

• Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 2005

This museum, designed as a series of pavilions joined by an atrium, opened on October 2, 2005 to critical acclaim.

• Mahler 4 Viñoly Toren Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2005

[edit] In Progress

• Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, 2006

• California NanoSystems Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, 2006

• Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Farm Research Campus, Leesburg, Virginia, 2006

• firstsite:newsite Colchester Visual Arts Facility, Colchester, UK, 2007

• Leicester Theatre and Performing Arts Centre, Leicester, UK, 2008

• University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Center for Advanced Medicine, 2008

• Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, 2011

• CUNY City College School of Architecture, City College of New York, 2008

• 20 Fenchurch Street Tower, City of London, UK, 2010

[edit] Unbuilt/Cancelled

• World Trade Center Redevelopment, New York, NY, 2002

• Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida, 2002. Plans for the museum's replacement fell through after numerous financial burdens.

• John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC, 2013

This project has stopped due to the cancellation of federal funding for a plaza connecting the center to the city center, which is an integral component of the masterplan and expansion.

[edit] External links

• Rafael Viñoly Architects PC
• Tokyo International Forum at Greatbuildings.com
• Grand gestures catapault Rafael Vinoly to architectural stardom
• Land Securities Appoints Architect for City Site
• Penn Medicine Breaks Ground on its Largest Capital Project Ever
• DCist: Kennedy Center's Plaza Project Doomed?

[edit] References

1. Rafael Viñoly, Rafael Viñoly, ISBN 1-56898-373-5