Architect discusses his creative process

Vinoly, who designed the soon-to-be-completed Philadelphia Regional Performing Arts Center -- an immense structure being constructed in the heart of Center City -- expressed optimism about the future of architecture in a lecture last night in Meyerson Hall, in which he spoke of his latest projects. Upon introducing Vinoly, Graduate School of Fine Arts Dean Gary Hack -- who organized the event -- called him "likely to be as important to Philadelphia as we start the new millennium as the creators of the City Hall were last century." In the talk, entitled "Works in Progress," Vinoly used a slide presentation and detailed several projects still under construction, such as the HIV Research Center at Queens College and a domed structure at Columbus Circle in New York City. His speech was the latest installment in the Louis I. Kahn Lecture Series, which celebrates the late Kahn, an internationally respected architect and former member of the University faculty. Several hundred students and faculty -- mostly from the Fine Arts school -- filled Meyerson's large lecture hall. Appropriately for the Penn audience, much of the speech focused on the unfinished Performing Arts Center at Broad and Spruce streets in Center City. That project requires continuous "working at a conceptual level" in order to create not only a "sense of quality of space for music," but to create a sense of energy that is "not just visual or acoustic," Vinoly said. Before designing the center, Vinoly conducted a thorough analysis of the site in an attempt to gain a better "understanding of the community." He said he learned from the mistakes of previous failed models for the center, leading up to the ultimate plaza design that is currently under construction. The final design was inspired by the painting "The School of Athens," by Raphael, whose notion of an academy in which "things could happen under one roof that could not happen under several roofs" appealed to Vinoly. The design employs a large glass shell and utilizes plenty of skylights. Vinoly explained that he often uses this practice of maximizing natural light because it "creates a sense of intermediate urban condition" and clarifies that "there is an urban dimension to the arch." The design also includes an orchestra hall in the shape of a cello, as well as an "experimental theater" hall. Carrie Rothfeld, a first-year architecture student in GSFA, said she found Vinoly's work "fascinating" in that he "used engineering to make ideas happen that would seem unreasonable." The lecture was followed by a reception in the Meyerson Hall Galleries which celebrated the opening of two new exhibits.