Type: Company
Contact: Rafael Vinoly
Rafael Vinoly’s work is marked by a sustained structural originality that transcends passing fads of architectural movements.
Born in Uruguay in 1944, he was a founding partner of Estudio de Arquitectura, one of the largest design studios in Latin America, by the time he was 20. His celebrated early work transformed the landscape of Argentina before emigrating to the United States in 1979.
He founded Rafael Viñoly Architects C in New York City where his first major New York project was the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, completed in 1988.
The following year, he won an open international competition to design the Tokyo International Forum, the largest and most important cultural complex in Japan. His success at creating a beloved civic and cultural space secured his reputation as an architect of great imagination and professional rigor.
After nearly forty years of practice in the United States, Latin America, East Asia and Europe, his work reflects his belief that the architecture’s essential responsibility is to elevate the public realm. His celebrated proposal for the World Trade Center site adhered to his conviction that every construction project is an opportunity for civic investment.
At home with both large- and small-scale projects, his recent work ranges from university buildings such as the Chicago University Graduate School of Business and the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University to leading-edge biomedical and nanosystems research facilities such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Institutes of Health, and the University of California, Los Angeles.
Viñoly’s work has been recognized in the world’s leading design publications and by numerous design excellence awards. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, member of the Japan Institute of Architects, and was named an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.