Rafael Vinoly

Rafael Vinoly became famous as the architect of the stunning Tokyo International Forum (1989-1996). In Japan, where land is at a premium and public spaces are rare, the Forum with its 2.7 hectares and unusual design of public space, was widely admired. Originating in Uruguay, Vinoly heads an architectural office with an impressive list of projects in the areas of architecture, urban planning and interior design, including significant buildings such as the Philadelphia Regional Performing Arts Center which opened recently, Princeton University Stadium, the New Bronx Supreme Criminal Court Complex. In 1969 Vinoly founded his first office in Buenos Aires which was influenced by the Modern Movement but also by the ideas and concepts of the 1960s reflected in the work of Buckminster Fuller, Archigram and the Smithsons. Due to the political situation he emigrated and opened an office in New York in 1982. Despite the difficulties involved in starting over again in a new country where in the meantime post-modernism was prevalent, Vinoly stayed true to his style of architecture, feeling bound to the ethical considerations of modernism yet constantly questioning it, adapting it to changing conditions. With offices in New York and Tokyo, Rafael Vinoly Architects is now one of the most successful architectural offices worldwide. This book documents a large number of Vinoly's most significant buildings and projects. It also includes an essay by Joan Ockman, one of the best-known architecture theoreticians in the USA, and texts by Rafael Vinoly on his career which has been marked by the difficult political situation in Argentina and the cultural exchange between S. America, Europe and the USA.