Rafael Viñoly Architects 2009 - 2010 Research Grants
Four teams from five continents explore the needs of communities under stress
In 2008, Rafael Viñoly Architects' call for proposals on the theme of "transformations in the built environment within dynamically changing societies" drew over 180 responses from 39 countries. The successful teams include researchers from Mexico, Australia, Colombia, France, China and the USA. They explore architecture from both standpoints of designer and user, in locations as diverse as Bogotá and Shanghai, the slums of Mexico City and the tsunami-torn Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
Two previous rounds of research grants focused on environmental and scientific themes, including green roofs and the performance of carbon-fiber composites. The 2009-2010 grants represent a shift towards themes of architecture in society, as well as a significant expansion of the program.
Teams for 2009-2010 are made up of both academics and practitioners and will harness research techniques drawn from environmental psychology, anthropology and documentary photography, in addition to architecture and urban planning, in order to analyze the performance of buildings and urban projects under real-world conditions and propose plausible, improved, real-world solutions.
Rafael Viñoly Architects will provide over $160,000 in cash stipends plus in-kind support including design, engineering, graphic, and modelling services. In 2009, research fellows visited the firm's New York office to present and discuss their work in progress with architects at the firm and invited outside experts. In 2010, Rafael Viñoly Architects will publish their work as a book and sponsor a series of events to disseminate their findings.
Rafael Viñoly says of the grants, “Research is the lifeblood of the profession. And in these difficult times it is especially important to reaffirm our commitment to architectural investigation that goes not only to design and technique but also to basic questions of human welfare.“
Ned Kaufman, program director, adds that “These four projects get at the essence of the question behind this year’s grant round: how can architecture promote livable settlements in the face of environmental stress, global poverty, and social turbulence? By supporting and disseminating research from all four hemispheres, we look forward to promoting global dialogue on these themes.”
Projects previously supported by the research program include investigations by Joe Hagerman into the relationship between green roof design and building envelope performance, and by Michael Silver into the technology transfer of composite fiber structures into architecture.
