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."
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 relation to his passion for classical music and art.
Born in Uruguay and educated in Argentina, Viñoly first opened his practice in New York in 1983 and rose to prominence with the commission of the Tokyo International Forum in 1996. His name, for better or worse, became ensnared in the bitter debate over the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site and reshaping of the midtown skyline into an ultra-luxury warren of high-rises over the subsequent two decades. He died with the status of being one of just a handful of contemporary architects to complete projects in all five boroughs. To that score, Viñoly said: "I've always felt the city was an extraordinary client.''
"Architects feel empowered to give opinions about politics and sociology and philosophy without knowing much about it," Viñoly told The Observer in 2011. "Kind of in the same way that they think they can design furniture or fashion or utensils for dining. I think architects tend to believe that they can almost do anything, which is a wonderful characteristic, but in some cases, you just fall flat."
Viñoly was reportedly working on a renovation of the San Rafael Hotel in Punta del Este, Uruguay at the time of his death and recently completed designs for the Ritz Carlton and the forthcoming 125 Greenwich Street (both in Manhattan) before his passing. His firm had also recently begun hiring for the new National Medal of Honor Museum project in Arlington, Texas.
Rafael Viñoly was 78 years old.
3 Comments
The Tokyo forum is an awe inspiring building; he leaves a rich legacy as an architect. I think his firm’s best work possesses that kind of sophistication and formal curvature.
mo06march2023
the Death of Rafael Viñoly is a true tragedy!
…the loss of perhaps our “Greatest Civic Architect!”
my/our sympathies to family friends and colleagues!!!
Rafael your are deeply missed!
-harry pb;-|
harry edmund peters-bolick
A great pity. Never met Rafael, but have friends who worked for him and who spoke well of him. Personally I was inspired by the fact that he was licensed as an architect in Japan, a distinction that he earned while undertaking the Tokyo Forum. Knowing how difficult it is to do that as a non-Japanese gave me permission to open my own office in a way, simply because I knew he had done it so spectacularly. It remains an impressive achievement.
The forum is a strange but powerful architecture. Strange because the iconic interior space is barely used but central to the way everything else functions. The outdoor public space that runs between the curved glass atrium and the boxy theatres has become very popular, site of weekend markets and an everyday destination for many who work in the area. It is a great connection between Marunouchi and Yurakucho, two areas around Tokyo station, and works extremely well urbanistically. Something very few architects have achieved in Japan. At least in Tokyo his legacy will be lasting and important.
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