Designing a More Livable World

“You can tell immediately all the tricks they used in the movie, showing things that are not in the building, totally impossible in the building,” laughs Pelli, 82, whose love affair with architecture began at age 16, when pondering college majors. “It’s very flattering, and that was a very entertaining movie. I have other buildings in terrible movies. But it’s okay. It’s entertainment, after all.”

The Argentina-born Pelli, named one of the ten most influential living American architects by the American Institute of Architects in 1991, has designed some of the most spectacular buildings in the world, from high-rise office towers to private homes. Landmarks such as the U.S. embassy in Tokyo, the World Financial Center and Winter Garden in Lower Manhattan, and the Petronas Twin Towers have earned his firm more than 100 awards for design excellence.
 
His theory: we should judge a building not by how beautiful it is in isolation, but by how much better or worse it makes the city.
 
“I see my buildings as pieces of cities, and in my designs I try to make them into responsible and contributing citizens,” says Pelli, a principal of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects in New Haven, Connecticut.

In Pelli’s work, that manifests through universal design, designing for aging populations, and developing livable communities. “I’m particularly interested in the public role that all buildings play,” says Pelli. “I believe that we architects should try to go beyond our basic obligations to the public, and our opportunities to do so are many.”
 
Pelli is widely credited with bringing universal design principles into the mainstream. This philosophy is apparent in projects like the Petronas Twin Towers and the Reagan National Airport terminal in Washington, D.C., says Stan Mathews, an architectural historian and associate professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York.
 
“Pelli has demonstrated that ensuring accessibility need not restrict an architect’s creativity,” says Mathews. “For example, in his Reagan Airport terminal, his use of color and light-dark contrast makes visual way-finding much clearer.

“Pelli’s [work] sets a high standard for designs for aging populations,” adds Mathews. “He considers architecture to be a process of community building, and the principles of livability are a vital part of that process.”
 
“The greatest pleasure is to sense that you have contributed something that will make other people’s lives better in some dimension,” says Pelli. “Citizens have a right to expect that every new building will contribute to a better city and a more humane world.”

Next: Pelli's holistic approach to architecture.>>