About Rafael Vinoly: Rafael Viñoly Beceiro is an Uruguayan architect. He is the principal of Rafael Viñoly Architects, which he founded in 1983 and has offices in New York, Palo Alto, London, Manchester, Abu Dhabi and Buenos Aires.
There is no piece of music that could relate to anything else but itself and its world. It is truly an independent. The one thing coplanar with music is the compositional aspect, the fact that you are composing something. Architecture is essentially ...
Music, first of all, is completely about abstraction, which is exactly what architecture is not. In a way, it has been incredibly constructive to know what true abstraction is. So you don't fall into the trap of thinking that what you do is abstract.
The most important thing about Jazz at Lincoln Center is the fact that it's the first time that perhaps the most important art form in American culture has a place to really exhibit itself and dedicated to its own particular conditions of performance...
I'm an expert on surfing the channels, so I'm always able to find something strange. Or I watch C-Span. I can watch a conference on oceanography, or whatever, for hours.
I think architects tend to believe that they can almost do anything, which is a wonderful characteristic, but in some cases you just fall flat.
In the theater, everything is ephemeral. Everything is almost weightless and without a very clear definition of how you made it.
Buildings are forms of performances.
Architects feel empowered to give opinions about politics and sociology and philosophy without knowing much about it. Kind of in the same way that they think they can design furniture or fashion or utensils for dining.
I play only classical music. My pianos are my only big indulgence, but they're a necessity. When I'm playing the piano is literally the only time I can be completely abstract and disconnected from the regular world and yet be connected - to my music.
