Faculty & Students

Jay Bargmann, AIA, NCARB

Vice President, Rafael Viñoly Architects PC

Jay brings to the classroom his special interest in problems of designing and fabricating innovative building components, as well as his broad experience in project management.

As vice president of Rafael Viñoly Architects, Jay has overseen programming, planning, design, and construction administration on all of the firm’s major projects for two decades. In addition to his expertise in managing large-scale projects, he is especially interested in the fusion of craftsmanship and innovative technology to solve specialized design problems. His recent research has focused on developing prototypes for flexible, modular casework systems, and he holds a patent for the lab bench system used by the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jay also lectures and participates regularly in conferences.

Jay has contributed his professional experience to the training program, chairs the research program steering committee, and works closely with fellows to solve technical and design problems.

Charles Blomberg, AIA

Technical Director, Rafael Viñoly Architects PC

As technical director, Charles plays an integral role in the development of the office’s projects. He brings this experience to the steering committee, which is designing a new curriculum for fall 2008.

As the firm’s director of technology, Charles has led the development of many innovative structural and enclosure systems, including the use of structural glass, moveable architectural elements such as rotating louvers, and highly transparent cable-stayed curtain walls. The breadth of his experience has been enriched by time spent working abroad, including years at the site offices of the Tokyo International Forum in Japan and the Samsung Jong-ro Tower in Seoul, South Korea. Before joining Rafael Viñoly Architects, Charles was a Fulbright Scholar in residence at the Museum of Finnish Architecture in Helsinki. He serves on both the research and training program steering committees, and, this fall, he will be extending his habitual roles as mentor and problem-solver to a more formal classroom setting. Charles assisted Mike Silver’s research on composite materials with his extensive experience of structures and materials.

Ned Kaufman, Ph.D.

Director, Architectural Training and Research Programs, Rafael Viñoly Architects PC
Principal, Kaufman Conservation

One of the training program’s founders, Ned worked with Rafael Viñoly to develop its original curriculum and is currently working with the steering committee to design the fall 2008 program.

Ned Kaufman helped launch the Rafael Viñoly Architects Training and Research Programs in 2005 and continues to direct them. He earned a Ph.D. in architectural history from Yale University and, when not working for Rafael Viñoly Architects, runs his own consulting practice, Kaufman Conservation, focusing on preservation planning, historical and policy research, and interpretive programming. Previously he served as director of historic preservation for the Municipal Art Society of New York, helping to save the African Burial Ground and the hospital buildings of Ellis Island. He also founded and co-directed Place Matters, a non-profit program dedicated to celebrating and protecting places of community significance. In his spare time, Ned teaches at Pratt Institute and Cornell University. The National Park Service has recently published his study of Sagamore Hill, while his book Place, Race, and Story: Essays on the Past and Future of Historic Preservation will be published by Routledge in 2009.

Andrea Lamberti, AIA

Project Director, Rafael Viñoly Architects PC

Andrea chairs the steering committee for the training program. In previous years, her classes have explored the art and politics of entering and winning competitions.

During her ten-year career with Rafael Viñoly Architects, Andrea Lamberti has developed wide expertise in building projects, master plans, and design competitions. She is currently the project director for Phase II construction of the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and oversees new business development and publications for the firm. Andrea chairs the training program steering committee, is a regular participant in the classroom, and sits on the research program steering committee.

After earning a Bachelor of Science in Arts and Design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University, Andrea received a Starr Fellowship for work and study in Japan from 1991-1993. In 2007 she was named one of Building Design+Construction magazine’s “40 Under 40.”

Chan-li Lin, AIA

Project Director, Rafael Viñoly Architects PC

A member of the training program steering committee, Chan-li’s classes in previous years have used the history of major projects such as the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center to explore the long and challenging process from initial design to final building.

A registered architect with more than fifteen years of professional experience, Chan-li Lin has extensive design and management skills cultivated from wide-ranging project experiences, including four years in Japan overseeing construction of the Tokyo International Forum. His work includes university laboratories, convention centers, conference facilities, residences, performing arts facilities, and a university stadium. He lectures often at professional conferences and universities. He has a Bachelor of Science in Art and Design and a Master of Architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chan-li is a regular contributor to the training program and is a member of both the training and research program steering committees.

Charles Mattern

Project Manager, Rafael Viñoly Architects PC

Charles is participating in planning and organizing the training program for fall 2009, as a member of the steering committee.

Charles Mattern is currently overseeing Phase II construction administration of the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was project architect for the University of Arizona Science Center, where he was able to explore and develop innovative structures. He has publicly exhibited projects in New York, including the Parachute Pavilion Design Competition in Coney Island, the First Step Housing Design Competition, and the Designing the Highline Competition, for which he was awarded the Advisor’s Selection Citation. Charles is a member of the training program steering committee.

Harold Park, AIA, LEED AP

Project Manager, Rafael Viñoly Architects PC

Harold is participating in planning and organizing the training program for fall 2009, as a member of the steering committee.

Harold Park is currently project manager for the New Stanford Hospital. Prior to this, he was project manager through schematic design and design development of the Vdara Condo Hotel in Las Vegas and project architect for the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On this project, he developed the signature glass barrel-vault roof and the highly transparent end-wall structures, an engineering feat achieved by a gravity-tensioned cable suspension system that supports over 10,750 square feet of optically clear museum glass at each end of the barrel vault.

Harold graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science in Urban Planning, and, in 1996, he earned his Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University. He is a member of the training program steering committee.

Carlos Soubié, PE

Structural Engineer, Rafael Viñoly Architects PC

As a member of the training program steering committee, Carlos brings not only an exceptional understanding of structural issues but also a unique perspective on the entire process of designing and constructing buildings.

Carlos Maria Soubié has been practicing structural engineering for more than 50 years in Argentina and the United States, joining Rafael Viñoly Architects in 2000 as the firm’s in-house engineering expert. Since then, he has developed the structural systems of nearly all of the firm’s projects.

Carlos earned his Master of Engineering degree from the University of Buenos Aires in 1953. He has taught at several universities in Buenos Aires and, in 1975, founded Soubié, Fernandez & Associates, where he designed, supervised, and built highly complex projects from residential high-rises to convention centers. His work also included museums, hospitals, convention centers, sports complexes, commercial and industrial facilities, airports, water treatment plants, and over a hundred designs for bridges built in Argentina under a development plan implemented by the World Bank.

Carlos was a principal participant with Mike Silver in the funded research project for 2006-07, which focused on the design and fabrication of long-span structures using computer-automated fiber placement. He also sits on the training program steering committee.

Teal Usher

Writer and Editor, Rafael Viñoly Architects PC

Teal is a member of the steering committee for the training program and is working with Rafael Viñoly to turn the lectures given during the program’s first three years into a book.

An editor and architectural designer, Teal Usher is currently collaborating with Rafael Viñoly on a book of theoretic maxims and practical advice to architects which emerged from Rafael’s experience in launching and teaching the training program. Previously, she was a project manager for the firm, working on projects including art museums in Cleveland and Tampa. Teal holds a B.A. in Architecture from the Pennsylvania State University and an M.A. in Psychiatry and Religion from Union Theological Seminary in New York. Her research expertise includes the work of Adolf Loos and the development history of towns and cities in Pennsylvania. Teal also sits on the training program steering committee.

Rafael Viñoly, FAIA, JIA, SCA, Int FRIBA

Principal/Lead Designer, Rafael Viñoly Architects PC

The firm’s founder and director, Rafael is also the training program’s guiding spirit.

Born in Uruguay and raised in Argentina, Rafael Viñoly has practiced architecture for forty-five years. As principal of Rafael Viñoly Architects PC in New York, he has completed many critically and publicly praised buildings worldwide. His work is inspired by a conviction that architecture should enhance the public realm, and his projects are marked less by adherence to any specific architectural style or movement than by a sustained dedication to exploring the expressive and space-making possibilities of structural innovation.

The firm’s seminal projects include the Tokyo International Forum; the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Farm Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia; and Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. This year, New York’s Brooklyn Children’s Museum; the University of Pennsylvania Health System’s Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine in Philadelphia; “Curve,” a theater in Leicester, England; the Fortabat Collection in Buenos Aires; Edificio Acqua in Punta del Este, Uruguay, will reach completion.

Founder of the firm’s training and research programs, Rafael is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and a member of the Japan Institute of Architects. His classes on design development and the role of ideology in architecture have been highlights of the training program during its first years.