Rafael Viñoly


Rafael Viñoly Beceiro is a Uruguayan architect. He is the principal of Rafael Viñoly Architects, which he founded in 1983 and has offices in New York City, Palo Alto, London, Manchester, Abu Dhabi and Buenos Aires.

Life and career

Viñoly was born in Montevideo, Uruguay to Román Viñoly Barreto and Maria Beceiro. He attended the University of Buenos Aires, receiving a Diploma in Architecture in 1968 and a Master of Architecture from the School of Architecture and Urbanism in 1969.
In 1964, he formed the "Estudio de Arquitectura Manteola-Petchersky-Sánchez Gómez-Santos-Solsona-Viñoly" architectural firm with six associates. This practice would eventually become one of the largest architectural practices in South America, completing many significant commissions in a very short time.
In 1978, Viñoly and his family relocated to the United States. For a brief period he served as a guest lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, settling permanently in New York City in 1979. He founded the firm Rafael Viñoly Architects PC in 1983. His first major project in New York was the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which was completed in 1988. In 1989, he won an international competition to design the Tokyo International Forum, which was completed in 1996. His firm's design was one of the finalists in the World Trade Center design competition.
During the course of his forty-plus year career, Viñoly has practiced in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
Viñoly is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and a member of the Japan Institute of Architects as well as the Sociedad Central de Arquitectos.

Honors and awards

Major works by Viñoly include 432 Park Avenue, 20 Fenchurch Street and the Curve Theatre.

Criticism

Carbuncle Cup

The building 20 Fenchurch Street in London won the 2015 Carbuncle Cup for its ugliness.

Sun Glare

Two of the skyscrapers designed by Viñoly, the Vdara in Las Vegas and 20 Fenchurch Street in London, have experienced unusual sun reflectivity problems due to their concave curved glass exteriors acting as respectively cylindrical and spherical reflectors for sunlight. In 2010, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported that sunlight reflecting off the Vdara's south-facing tower could make swimmers in the hotel pool uncomfortably warm, as well as melt plastic cups and shopping bags; employees of the hotel referred to the phenomenon as the "Vdara death ray". In London during the summer of 2013, sunlight reflecting off 20 Fenchurch Street melted parts on a parked automobile and also scorched the carpet of a nearby barber shop.