After designing a stadium for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, Mr. Viñoly fled during the military junta then ruling the country.
For the junta, the World Cup was seen as an opportunity to garner international legitimacy despite mounting evidence ofatrocities including leftist opponents detained or “disappeared.” Mr. Viñoly was now accountable to the military rulers over the completion of the venue.
Just before the World Cup, Mr. Viñoly’s personal library was searched by authorities. He and his family felt they were no longer safe and left the country. First, Mr. Viñoly took a guest lecturer post at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and then permanently settled in New York in 1979. Mr. Viñoly said his preference on architectural “openness” was a response to the paranoia and the enforced obedience he saw under the junta. A hallmark of his designs is what he called a “new kind of civil space” of grand halls and spaces. “You can’t avoid seeing other people,” heMr. Viñoly called himself a disciple of the “unglamorous” side of architecture by emphasizing function and practicality over more embellished architectural statements.factor,” he said.
In London, his rotund design for 20 Fenchurch Street was quickly dubbed the “Walkie Talkie” for its handset-like swoop. “It feels bloated, not elegant,”
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