Rafael Viñoly completed the Tokyo International Forum in 1996. It became an immediate success and put Viñoly’s name on the global map of architecture. In that same year, I started my undergraduate studies at the School of Architecture at Universidad de la República Uruguay, now known as Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo (FADU). As this was obviously at the dawn of the internet, I remember vividly being mesmerized by the first photos I saw of the Forum in numerous architectural publications. Viñoly, who was born in Uruguay in 1944, immediately received the kind of attention normally reserved for our soccer players who emigrated to Europe to play in the English Premier, Spanish, or Italian Leagues.
elatively speaking, Uruguay is a small country in population and size. The country’s population, about 3.5 million people, is equivalent to 0.04 percent of the total world population, and the nation ranks number 134 on a list of 235 countries by population. For a visionary, talented professional to emerge in 1996 in the global arena from such modest roots verges on myth and impossibility. And it was this outsize impossibility that resonated so profoundly within the professional, academic, and cultural circles of Montevideo.
Fast-forward to 2005. I was a graduate student at Columbia University GSAPP. Viñoly was giving a lecture along with Kenneth Frampton. I unexpectedly bumped into him outside the auditorium after the lecture and had the courage to introduce myself. He invited me to his office the following week to continue the conversation. More than just being hospitable to a fellow Uruguayan and enthusiastic graduate student, his invitation was rooted in a genuine sincerity and interest in conversation and sharing ideas.
