Test your Design IQ
MANILA, Philippines - Who is the American architect, who’s one of the “New York Five,” best known for the renovation work he did for the Guggenheim Museum in New York City?
He was born in 1938 in Charlotte, North Carolina, to an artistic family. His mother Rosalie was a photographer, while his father was a painter. He was 11 years old when his father took him to travel through Europe for a year to visit cathedrals, chateaux, museums, and places to experience art and architecture simultaneously. This instilled in him a love for architecture, and made him want to build and make things with his hands.
In 1962, he received his master of architecture degree from the Yale School of Architecture, where he won both the William Writ Winchester Fellowship as the outstanding graduate, and a Fulbright grant.
One of his first projects was a 1,200-square-foot house he built for his parents in Amagansett, Long Island, from 1965 to 1967. This house, which seems “carved away from a solid block,” launched his career.
In 1967, he was named one of the New York Five architects, whose works were featured in an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art organized by Arthur Drexler. All five architects, including Peter Eisenman, Michael Graves, John Hedjuk, and Richard Meier, exhibited houses they designed.
His renovation of the Solomon R., Guggenheim Museum in New York City in 1992 is one of his most celebrated and critically acclaimed works. It contains 51,000 square feet of new office space, a restored theater, a new restaurant, and storage spaces.
Some of his works include the Walt Disney World Convention and Exhibition Center, the New York Public Library, the Mid-Manhattan Library, the North Miami Museum of Contemporary Art, the Spielberg Residence, and the $2.5-million residence of Sean Puffy Combs.
He is currently working on the United States Mission to the United Nations, which is expected to be completed in 2010. The challenge in this project is to build an iconic tower that would transcend strict programmatic and technical constraints, and become a compelling and representative landmark for architecture and democracy.
Describing himself as uncompromising in what he believes, he has been quoted as saying that a commission is a combination of marriage, therapy, and enlisting in the marines.
His works have brought him great recognition. He was honored with the Brunner Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1970; the Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1983; and the First Yale Alumni Arts Award in 1985. Three years later, he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Medal in Visual Arts by the Guild Hall Academy of Arts, as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award from the New York State Society of Architects in 1990.
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Last week’s question: Who was the Austrian-American architect whose inventive designs in and around Los Angeles have placed him as one of the true mavericks of early 20th-century architecture?
Answer: Rudolph Schindler
Winner: Elizabeth Moning
Text your answer to 09053142614 with your name and address. One winner will be chosen through a raffle of texts with the correct answer. The winner will receive P2,000 worth of SM gift certificates for use at Our Home, SM Department Store, or SM Supermarket. They can claim their prize at Our Home in SM Megamall. Call the store manager at 634-1950, 634-1943. Bring photocopies of two valid IDs and a clipping of the Design Quiz issue in which you appear as winner.
