Archinect - News

Rafael Viñoly Architects reveals first Canadian project in Toronto

2024-05-03T11:59:00-04:00

Rafael Viñoly Architects' debut work in Canada has been announced as a two-million-square-foot mixed-use development in Midtown Toronto. The four-tower, 2,364-unit scheme previewed by the firm last week was designed by its late founder before his passing and will stand as his sole Canadian project at the culmination of an undetermined construction phase that begins next year.

Rendering courtesy Binyan and Madison Group

Two 58-story structures will connect with another pair equaling 61 stories via a six-story skybridge between 90-110 and 150-164 Eglinton Avenue in the popular commercial neighborhood. A public plaza area will engage the site further with its civic context with a new amphitheater, retail spaces, and a children’s play area.

Rendering courtesy Binyan and Madison Group

MPFP Landscape Architecture will complete the landscape design for the program. Turner Fleischer Architects is listed as a collaborator. Overall, this is the third new project announced by the firm since Viñ...

Rafael Viñoly Architects designs vineyard atop an airport terminal in Italy

2024-01-25T11:47:00-05:00

Rafael Viñoly Architects has designed a new international terminal for the Aeroporto Amerigo Vespucci in Florence, Italy. When completed, the 538,000-square-foot terminal is expected to handle 5.9 million annual international passengers.

Image credit: Rafael Viñoly Architects

The airport’s most unique feature is a 19-acre vineyard gently sloping upwards atop the building, covering the terminal below. The landscape will see 38 rows of vineyards to both contribute to the airport’s LEED Platinum rating and symbolize “Italy’s rich traditions and innovative spirit.” Wine produced from the vineyard will be crafted and aged in specialized cellars beneath the terminal’s roof.

Image credit: Rafael Viñoly Architects

Inside, the airport will see an arrivals and departures area facing each other across a large public space, dubbed the ‘Piazza.’ at the center of the terminal. Circulation within the airport will also be reorganized to link to transport options such as a new light rail system, whil...

Rafael Viñoly Architects resumes construction on renamed 125 Greenwich Street condo tower in Manhattan

2023-11-08T17:36:00-05:00

Construction is in full swing again on a Rafael Viñoly Architects-designed 88-story 125 Greenwich Street Manhattan residential project after resuming earlier this year following a four-year pause.

The news comes as the blog New York YIMBY reports scenes of added glass curtain panels and other facade elements amidst renewed construction at or near the crown of the 912-foot tower. The firm followed with an announcement this week stating the project will now be completed in 2024 and under the new monicker The Greenwich by Rafael Viñoly, honoring the legacy of their late founder, who passed away in March at the age of 78.

The restart was expected after February's announcement that developers had finally secured the $313 million needed to complete the project after it topped out in March of 2019.

Photo: Evan Joseph (provided)

Once complete, the parallelogram-shaped design will showcase his storied facility with structural engineering and what his son Román Viñoly describes in a press rel...

Rafael Viñoly passes away aged 78

2023-03-03T18:04:00-05:00

Rafael Viñoly has passed away at his home in New York City, according to reporting by the Spanish-language outlet El Pais.

The architect of many noteworthy international designs — including London’s 20 Fenchurch Street (aka the “Walkie Talkie Tower”) and the controversial 432 Park Avenue in Manhattan — reportedly succumbed to a brain aneurysm.

In a statement on the firm's website, his son Román said: "The firm’s partners and directors, many of whom have collaborated with him for decades, will extend his architectural legacy in the work we will continue to perform every day."

Rafael Viñoly at work. Image via Archinect's 2017 employment feature “All experience will have some form of relevance”: How to get a job at Rafael Viñoly Architects

Viñoly will be remembered for working across a variety of different project types and scales, authoring award-winning designs that captured the public’s attention in addition to the ire of critics while experimenting with scale and materiality in rel...

Rafael Viñoly is hiring architects to work on the National Medal of Honor Museum

2022-09-07T11:54:00-04:00

Following last week’s look at an open opportunity for an Architectural & Campus Planner at Payette, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore a role for an Intermediate Designer for the National Medal of Honor Museum at Rafael Viñoly Architects.

The role, situated in Arlington, Texas, asks for an architect with a minimum of five years' experience, preferably in the design and construction of museums.

National Medal of Honor Museum by Rafael Viñoly Architects

Why the role interests us

We first reported on the National Medal of Honor Museum project back in 2019, when Viñoly was named as one of four firms shortlisted for the commission. One year later, in October 2020, we were given our first glimpse at Viñoly’s winning scheme, defined by a large mass of steel suspended on five pillars. Now, the firm’s latest search for construction site-based architects signals the next step in the project’s realization ahead of its 2024 completion date.

The scheme is ...

Lawsuit against Viñoly-designed skinny tower is ‘ill-advised’ claims developer, says building is 'without a doubt safe'

2021-12-23T11:48:00-05:00

The developer behind 432 Park Avenue on New York’s Billionaire’s Row has hit back at a lawsuit alleging design defects. As reported by The Guardian, LA-based CIM Group calls the claims within the lawsuit “vastly exaggerated” in their response filed this week to the New York state supreme court.

As we reported in September, the lawsuit is being brought on behalf of the tower's condo board. The $125 million suit seeks damages for around 1500 alleged design and construction defects, causing multiple floods, faulty elevators, a string of electrical explosions, and an “intolerable” noise caused by the building’s sway.

Speaking to The New York Times at the time of the filing, a lawyer representing the condo board compared the uncovering of defects as “peeling an onion,” hinting that more may be discovered in the future. “This is a work in progress in ascertaining what’s wrong,” he noted.

In their resp...

Residents of NYC's 432 Park Avenue are suing the developers for $125 million in damages

2021-09-24T16:38:00-04:00

The condo board at the supertall tower 432 Park Avenue, one of the most expensive addresses in the world, is suing the developers for $125 million in damages, citing multiple floods, faulty elevators, “intolerable” noise caused by building sway, and an electrical explosion in June — the second in three years — that knocked out power to residents, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Reports on the shortcomings of the nearly 1,400-foot-tall, Rafael Viñoly Architects-designed luxury tower were initially released in February. Identified by an engineering firm hired by the condo board, damages include the estimated cost to repair around 1,500 construction and design defects in common elements of the building. The damages could continue to rise.

Previously on Archinect: The not entirely untroubled life in supertall luxury towers

As reported by the Times, the decision to go public with the lawsuit was due to the developers’ “band-aid approach” to resolving many of the building’s issues.

The not entirely untroubled life in supertall luxury towers

2021-02-03T13:28:00-05:00

Less than a decade after a spate of record-breaking condo towers reached new heights in New York, the first reports of defects and complaints are beginning to emerge, raising concerns that some of the construction methods and materials used have not lived up to the engineering breakthroughs that only recently enabled 1,000-foot-high trophy apartments.

The New York Times on complaints about substantial "leaks, creaks, breaks" in NYC's preeminent supertall ultraluxury condo tower, and briefly also tallest residential building in the world, 432 Park Avenue.

Previously:

Rafael Viñoly Architects unveil renderings of the new National Medal of Honor Museum

2020-10-21T14:34:00-04:00

Rafael Viñoly Architects have unveiled the first renderings of the National Medal of Honor Museum, one year after finalists were announced. The Museum is dedicated to the commemoration and preservation of the stories of more than 3,500 recipients of the Medal of Honor, the United States' highest medal for valor in combat.

Located in Arlington, Texas, the new facility will sit on a five-acre site and include 25,000 square feet of exhibition galleries, an education center, conference and event space, and an outdoor amphitheater.

At the Museum's main building, a large mass of steel sits suspended on five pillars, giving it an illusory look of levitation. Each pillar represents one of the traditional branches of the Armed Services.

An oculus penetrates the center of the floating steel volume, bringing light into the space while offering views to the sky above. Two spiral ramps encircle the oculus and lead to the main exhibition spaces where the stories of those fallen will be told thro...