Rafael Viñoly Architects PC

Launched in 2005, the Architectural Training and Research Programs are a response to the need for the practice of architecture to return more of what is learned through designing and constructing buildings to the field itself. Each program creates a space in which architectural knowledge can be developed free of the constraints of particular projects, sites, budgets, or programs – yet informed at every step by the realities of practice. In the first two rounds, the only requirements were that the ideas should have the potential to improve the craft or practice of architecture, and that they should benefit from being carried out within the context of a busy architectural office. Researchers have worked as resident fellows in close association with architects, engineers, graphic designers, and model makers at Rafael Viñoly Architects, and with non-profit and industry partners. To mark its twenty-fifth anniversary, the firm for the first time awarded multiple research grants, with an emphasis on international themes. Research teams have worked in Europe, China, Latin America, Australia, and Indonesia.The program, which is not to be considered a substitute for a formal architectural education, was created for advanced students and practicing architects who find a significant gap between their formative instruction and the challenges they face as professionals, presenting architectural expertise not as an intuitive ability that comes only with experience, but as a body of knowledge that can be taught. Classes have been offered by Rafael Viñoly and his colleagues. In 2008, the course’s faculty and other interested architects in the firm redesigned the program, evaluating the curriculum from the standpoint of the firm's own experiene in training young architects. The new curriculum was organized around a few central questions: How do architects learn to make good decisions within the context of a project, a schedule, and a budget? How do they learn what they need to know to make decisions? How do they learn what questions to ask? In 2009-2010, with the help of a workforce training grant from New York State's Department of Labor, the program underwent further modifications. Participation was limited to employees of Rafael Viñoly Architects. In 2010, the training program focused on publishing and disseminating the work produced by the latest round of research fellows. The 2012-2013 training program is currently under development.