Remembering Rafael Vi?oly

One Sunday afternoon in the office, Rafael said “Grab your laptop. We'll work during intermission.” Moments later, we're in a cab on the way to see the Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. An hour after that we're sitting in the old, red seats, working on a 3D model on my laptop during an intermission – an experience I think only the two of us can claim.??

Five years later, he walked into the lobby of Building 10 at MIT to attend my graduate thesis review with his black coat hanging off his shoulders – the closest he got to wearing a cape –?at the precise moment our Dean said “I don't know who started this rumor about Vi?oly, but he's not coming.”?(They hugged shortly thereafter)

These are maybe the two strongest of many great memories made working with Rafael. On Thursday, we lost a family member, friend, colleague, mentor, and icon. He created remarkable buildings from concert halls to laboratories to courthouses to convention centers to office and residential towers. Millions of people work, learn, and live in these spaces every day. We all have these memories. His sad and sudden passing surely brought so many back.?

It’s been 20 years since I worked with Rafael and a wonderful set of colleagues – all of us passionate, smart, dedicated, and a little bit crazy – but I think often about all that I learned and all that the firm stood for and accomplished.?

During the five years I worked with him, I got 10 years of experience and learned so much. How to come up with the big idea –?and for Rafael they were always big. It was as if you could never find a pen or a marker big enough for him to sketch with. But also angling the facade just right. Organizing the program to fit intelligently on the site. Finding a way for the movement through the building to be intuitive and efficient. Getting the idea across so our clients would understand and approve it.

The lessons we all learned weren’t only about what architecture was, but also what profession was lacking because Rafael was both a devoted fan and a harsh critic. The latter because of the former. He observed how the architect's role had reduced over time, ceding scope and influence to a battery of managers and consultants –?all of which he was inherently skeptical of. Something we debated as I became an educational consultant.??

He was always looking to challenge convention and the rules imposed by consultants. One unmistakable pattern in his work is to approach a building type that's stuck in tradition, and then reinvent it with a strange mix of curiosity and confidence. Moving from convention centers to laboratories to business schools to hospitals to office and residential towers every five years, he’d find fertile ground and build something we’d never seen before that worked a lot better than what had come before.

Rafael and the firm created remarkable buildings that millions of people experience every day. He also created so many opportunities for young people like me to do what we couldn't have anywhere else.?

Thank you Rafael. You will be missed by me and so many others.