César Pelli: 1926—: Architect Biography - Won American Scholarship, Years In New York And Los Angeles, Designed World's Tallest Building
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Argentinian-born César Pelli is the architect of some of the most striking skyscrapers on the urban American landscape. Pelli's buildings often boast innovative new design strategies, frequently in the form of an unusually textured or rippled outer "skin." A modest practitioner in a profession known for oversized egos, Pelli rejects architectural style labels such as modern or postmodern, and instead simply insists that a building should reflect its surroundings. Time's Kurt Andersen said of Pelli, "Remarkably, his very big buildings are thoughtful, likable, rich in detail, humane." In 1991 the American Institute of Architects (AIA) named him as one of the ten most influential living American architects.
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Pelli was born on October 12, 1926, in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina, a town with a rich legacy of Spanish colonial architecture. His grandfather was an immigrant from Italy, while his mother's family was criollo, the term used for Argentines of Spanish-settler descent. Pelli studied at the University of Tucumán, and earned an diploma from its renowned architecture program …
During his ten years with Saarinen as an associate architect, Pelli worked on one of the firm's most significant commissions, the Trans World Airlines Terminal Building at John F. Kennedy International Airport outside New York City. He was also involved in the design and construction of the Morse and Stiles Colleges at Yale University. In 1964 Pelli joined Daniel, Mann, Johnson, & Me…
Pelli's other buildings include the San Bernardino City Hall in San Bernardino, California, Herring Hall at Rice University in Texas, the Princeton University mathematics building, and several impressive skyscrapers. The 57-floor Norwest Center in Minneapolis is a dominant part of the Twin Cities skyline, and Pelli's Canary Wharf Tower in London, at 776 feet, is the tallest building …
Pelli's structures often feature large skylights or walls of glass. He told Capital Times journalist Kevin Lynch, "I believe that everybody enjoys natural light. You can have it in many places. The openness to light does two things: It brings natural light to the materials, and opens up the views and makes you feel you are in a larger, grander space. But most importantly today, it op…
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