The Uruguayan architect Rafael Vinoly, world-renowned archistar and proponent of an architecture characterized by the widespread use of the most modern technologies, died of an aneurysm on Friday 3 March in a New York hospital at the age of 78.
Having gained international fame following the creation of the Tokyo International Forum (1996), considered the most important cultural center in Japan, in 1983 he founded Rafael Vinoly Architects, a design company with headquarters in New York and branches in Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles and London, who signed over 600 buildings.
Known for his bold and impressive projects, built in a dozen countries around the world, his work includes works for universities, scientific and biomedical research centers, courthouses, private residences, museum complexes, sports facilities, theaters and concert halls . In Uruguay, her native country, Vinoly designed the new terminal at Carrasco airport in Montevideo (2009) and the circular Laguna Bridge in Garzón (2015).
the author of the Boston Convention Center, which redefined the urban space of the American city, of the controversial Fenchurch Tower in London, a 160-metre-high skyscraper that has received harsh criticism for its impact on the surrounding environment (it is known as « Walkie Talkie» for its apparent resemblance to the communication device) and of the Etihad Campus, the sports center of the Manchester City Football Club. Among his many works we mention: The Manhattan tower in New York (1984); the Physical Education Facility at Lehman College in the Bronx in New York (1994); the Academic Building at William Paterson college in Wayne, New Jersey (1996); the Samsung Cultural and Education Center in Seoul, Korea (1999); the International Climate Prediction Center in Palisades (1999); the Fortabat Museum in Buenos Aires (2000); the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York (2002); the Brooklyn Public Library for the Visual and Performing Arts (2002); the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2003); the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston (2004); the Mahler 4 Office Tower in Amsterdam (2005); the California NanoSystems Institute in Los Angeles (2006); the Wageningen University and Research, Atlas Building in Wageningen (Netherlands, 2007); the Institute for Regeneration Medicine of the University of California at San Francisco (2011); the Laguna Bridge in Garzón, Uruguay (2015); on 277 Fifth Avenue in New York (2019).
His concave designs cause the glass in the windows of buildings to act like huge magnifying glasses that raise the temperature of the place they face by more than 20 degrees, a feature that has not been without controversy, due to the use of sunlight. The amplified rays of sunlight reflected from his buildings are known as “Death Rays”, in reference to the “Death Star” from the Star Wars saga. Born in Montevideo on June 1, 1944, son of Romano Vinoly Barreto, director and artistic director of the Sodre Opera Theater, María Beceiro, mathematics teacher, Rafael Vinoly spent his childhood between Uruguay and Argentina, where he initially studied music to start a career as a concert performer. Interested in architecture, he completed his studies at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning of the University of Buenos Aires and, together with six associates, formed the Estudio de arquitectura; the professional studio quickly became one of the largest in Latin America. Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, he left in 1974 to avoid the influences of the military regime. Arrived in the United States in 1978, he settled there permanently the following year, continuing his teaching activity (Washington University, Harvard University, Yale University, Rhode Island school of design, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Lugano branch of Sci -Arch) and starting his own studio. In 1983 he founded Rafael Vinoly architects, a design firm with offices in New York, Tokyo and Buenos Aires. He was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Japan Institute of Architects and a member of the Sociedad Central de Arquitectos of Argentina.