Mario Gandelsonas
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Mario Gandelsonas (born December 14, 1938 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an American architect and theorist whose specializations include urbanism and semiotics.
Gandelsonas is a founding partner of Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects, based in New York City, with Diana Agrest. In addition to his professional work, Gandelsonas is a renowned scholar. He currently serves as the Class of 1913 Lecturer in Architecture at Princeton University and previously taught at Yale University and the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.
Biography/Early Work
Mario Gandelsonas (born December 14, 1938 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is an American architect and theorist and educator whose specializations include urbanism and semiotics. Gandelsonas was educated at the University of Buenos Aires where he received a Diploma Architect in 1962, and at the Centre de Recherche d’Urbanisme in Paris,from 1967-1968. In 1971,the American Architect Peter Eisenman invited Gandelsonas to travel to New York as a Visiting Fellow to the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies(IAUS). [1] Gandelsonas became a fellow in 1972 and served as one of the founding editors of the Institues' architectural journal, Oppositions[2]. Gandelsonas currently serves as the acting dean and the the Class of 1913 Lecturer in Architecture at Princeton University's School of Architecture. [3]
Professional Practice
In 1980, Gandelsonas became a founding partner of Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects with Diana Agrest (1980)[4]. A unique perception of the city has formed the basis of his work. As a theorist, Gandelsonas is known for his approach to urbanism based on reading the plans of cities like they are text. His striking analytical diagrams of American cities have become a trademark for investigations into urban morphology. In the early 90's, he developed the concept of "Vision Planning" as a new approach to his urban planning work for the city of Des Moines.[5] The Des Moines Vision Plan contained two major propositions: Western Gateway Park and the Martin Luther King Parkway. In 2007 Gandelsonas built upon his origional vision plan by developing a new Downtown Des Moines Planning Project and completing Gateway Park with the John and Mary Sculpture Park. [6] [7] Other projects by Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects are Liberty Street in Liberty Harbor, Jersey City;[8] the master plan and urban design for Xu Jia Hiu in Shanghai, China; and the master plan for the West Side of Manhatten and the the Melrose Houses Community Center in New York City.[9]
Teaching and Research
Gandelsonas taught at the Institute for Architecture and Urban studies from 1973 until 1984 and was the Director of Educational Programs from 1981 until 1984. Later, as a Fellow of the Chicago Institute for Architecture and Urbanism (1988-1990), he refined his approach to urbanism—based on reading the plans of cities as if they were text—with a computational analysis of the Chicago plan and published it under the title The Urban Text(1992). Throughout the decade, Gandelsonas continued to apply his unique approach to urbanism on projects in several American cities including Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Des Moines, New Haven and Atlantic City. He published the results of his research in the book X-Urbanism(1999), presenting his theory on the relationship between architecture and the American City.
References
- ^ Agrest, Diana. "The Making of an Avant-Garde: The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies 1967-1984".
- ^ Hays, Michael (1998). "Oppositions Reader, Selected Readings from a Journal for Ideas and Criticism in Architecture, 1973-1984". Princeton Architectural Press.
- ^ "Mario Gandelsonas". Princeton University School of Architecture. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ^ "Agrest and Gandelsonas, Works". Princeton Architectural Press. 1997.
- ^ Smith, Elizabeth (1994). "The Des Moines Vision Plan in Urban Revisions, Current Projects for the Public Realm". MIT Press. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
- ^ Downtown Des Moines Planning Project. Approved by the Des Moines City Council, March 10 2008 (resolution 08-110).http://www.dmgov.org/Departments/CommunityDevelopment/PDF/DowntownPlanSection0.pdf
- ^ Vogel, Carol (February 20, 2009). "Sculpture Park in Iowa in "Inside Art"". New York Times.
- ^ Martin, Antoinette (December 9, 2007). "Two projects claim street savvy". New York Times.
- ^ Dunlap, David (November 14, 2002). "Projects' Community Centers Open Up, with Glass and Air". New York Times.