Rafael Vinoly

Via ArchNewsNow comes this interview on Artinfo.com with architect Rafael Viñoly, a propos the new (well, it opened Oct. 1) Nasher art museum at Duke University.

From the intro:

Viñoly offers a bold challenge to the kind of architectural sensibility that sees restrictions as limitations to the work of the architect, reaching for that rare synthesis of great design and purpose that defines his singular vision.

Ahem. Moving along, he is cited as the architect of several major projects including

the new home for Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, and the Leiscester City Perfoming Arts Center in the UK, as well as several university projects. Among his other museum projects are the Tampa Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Children's Museum, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, scheduled to be completed in 2011.

Oh, and the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, where his work was yesterday acclaimed as

a stunning, state-of-the-art concert hall that attracts world-class artists. It is one of the most beautiful and unique buildings of its kind in the world, a world-class performing arts center, a wonderful civic space and an economic engine for the entire area. As one of the best facilities of its kind anywhere, it has achieved its goal of becoming a cultural center for all tastes.

That high praise comes in the settlement documents relating to the Kimmel Center's $23 million lawsuit against the architect.

Not long ago, as you may remember, the Kimmel had a different view of the architect, if not of the building they ended up with. Viñoly, they said in court documents, is

an architect who had a grand vision but was unable to convert that vision into reality, causing the owner to incur significant additional expenses to correct and overcome the architect’s errors and delays.

Viñoly wasn't commenting on the settlement yesterday, which is why this from today's Artinfo.com interview is interesting if bewildering:

INTERVIEWER: Is that why you might be drawn to the civic function of a museum, as opposed to more corporate architecture? VINOLY: No, it has nothing to do with corporate…it has to do with the use of funds that have to be within logic, and that logic to me is what defines the capacity of an architect to produce a great idea, with less rather than more.

- Tom McGeveran

The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia and its architect, Rafael Vinoly, reached a settlement this week that ended an ugly and public legal battle in which the managers of the concert hall accused the designer of doing shoddy work that lead the construction to balloon $23 million over budget.

Peter Dobrin, who has been writing about the mess for the Philadelphia Inquirer, hands the win to Vinoly, and predicts dire things for the Kimmel Center for blaming its problems on Vinoly:

Anyone keeping track of these legal maneuvers will spot the fact that architect Rafael Viñoly got the apology he wanted. Whether any money changed hands in the out-of-court settlement - $23 million was the amount the Kimmel sought - is unanswered at the moment. And whether any amount of money was worth the message the Kimmel sent to its public when it sued its own architect is something one hopes the center's board fully considered. When a convention of music critics meets here this spring, you can be sure that this sad episode will be recounted to readers across the country.

No one at Vinoly would comment on Thursday as to whether any money exchanged hands in the settlement, and J Bradford Mcilvain, a lawyer representing the Kimmel Center, was not available for comment on Thursday afternoon. But Mr. Vinoly must feel somewhat vindicated with the statement that the Kimmel's lawyers issued.

"... the Kimmel Center recognizes that the Viñoly-designed and delivered Kimmel Center is a stunning, state-of-the-art concert hall that attracts world-class artists. It is one of the most beautiful and unique buildings of its kind in the world, a world-class performing arts center, a wonderful civic space and an economic engine for the entire area. As one of the best facilities of its kind anywhere, it has achieved its goal of becoming a cultural center for all tastes."

The Kimmel managers' tune was somewhat different in November, when they accused Mr. Vinoly of habitually failing to meet strict deadlines and being "wholly unable" to successfully convert his ambitious concept into a real building.

- Jason Horowitz

New York architect Rafael Viñoly has asked that the lawsuit filed against his prestigious firm by Philadelphia's Kimmel Center be dismissed.

The Kimmel Center is suing Viñoly over delays and cost overruns in the construction of their new building, for which Viñoly was the architect.

The news was carried in today's editions of The Philadelphia Inquirer:

In a response to a suit filed by the Kimmel Center against Rafael Viñoly Architects (RVA), the internationally esteemed firm says that "the delays and increased costs of this project were caused by [the Kimmel's] failure to make timely, fixed and consistent programmatic and budgetary decisions required of it..."

Jay Bargmann, the firm's senior vice president, tells Ink reporter Peter Dobrin that in a 2004 meeting, Kimmel Center president Janice Price characterized their lawsuit as a "fund-raising opportunity." In the article, Ms. Price calls that claim "absolutely false."

Viñoly himself doesn't speak to Dobrin in the piece, but Bargmann says the program kept changing, and the building increased in size by 50 percent, and that the Kimmel's own unstable plan was the reason for the difficulties in the construction.

Viñoly has countersued subcontractors who worked with him on the job.  read more »

Earlier: Life Getting Hot for Architect Rafael Vinoly - Tom McGeveran