黑洞社区

Rafael Vi帽oly

Controversy is an essential part of the job, says Rafael Vi帽oly, and he certainly caused some when designing the Walkie Talkie tower, winner of this year鈥檚 Carbuncle Cup, writes Hollie Tye. In light of his 鈥渨in鈥�, we revisit 2007, when he was interviewed by 黑洞社区.

鈥淩afael Vi帽oly is nothing if not provocative. In the four years since the US-Uruguayan architect designed his first building in the UK, he has been embraced by British clients with almost as much enthusiasm as he has been castigated by the heritage lobby,鈥� wrote reporter Dan Stewart. 鈥淏ut then there are the sceptics. These prefer to talk about his 160m tower at 20 Fenchurch Street in the City, better known as the Walkie Talkie tower. English Heritage, Unesco and others queued up earlier this year to take a pop at the tower鈥檚 organic, concave design. No less a figure than former RIBA president George Ferguson described it as a 鈥榗hild鈥檚 concept鈥� and an 鈥榰gly building鈥�.鈥�

When discussing his failure to win the competition for the redevelopment of the Twin Towers in 2003, Vi帽oly said that competition losses never rattle him - 鈥渢hey always teach you something whether you win or not鈥�. Let鈥檚 hope he feels the same way about his Carbuncle Cup award.