Mario Gandelsonas facts for kids

Mario I. Gandelsonas is an architect and thinker from Argentina and America. He was born on December 14, 1937, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is an expert in designing cities (urbanism) and understanding how signs and symbols work (semiotics).

He helped start a company called Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects in New York City with Diana Agrest. Besides his work as an architect, Mr. Gandelsonas is also a respected teacher and researcher. He teaches architecture at Princeton University and used to teach at Yale University.

Early Life and Learning

Mario I. Gandelsonas was born on December 14, 1937. His parents were immigrants from Lithuania who moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied at the University of Buenos Aires and became a certified architect in 1962. He also studied in Paris, France, from 1967 to 1968.

In 1971, a famous American architect named Peter Eisenman invited Mr. Gandelsonas to New York. He joined the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (IAUS) in 1972. He also helped start a special magazine for architects called Oppositions. Today, Mr. Gandelsonas is a full professor at the Princeton University School of Architecture. He also leads the urban studies program there.

Designing Cities and Buildings

In 1980, Mr. Gandelsonas and Diana Agrest started their own architecture firm, Agrest and Gandelsonas Architects. Their work is special because they see cities in a unique way. Mr. Gandelsonas believes that city plans can be "read" like a book or a text. He creates amazing diagrams that help understand how cities are built and organized.

In the early 1990s, he created something called "Vision Planning." This was a new way to plan cities. He used this idea for the city of Des Moines. The Des Moines Vision Plan had three main goals:

• To bring people back to the downtown area from the suburbs.
• To create a large public space called Western Gateway Park.
• To build the Martin Luther King Parkway instead of a highway loop.

In 2007, he continued to work on the Downtown Des Moines plan. He helped finish Gateway Park, which now includes the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park. His firm has also worked on other big projects. These include Liberty Street in Jersey City, a community center in New York City, and city plans for Shanghai, China. They also worked on a master plan for the West Side of Manhattan.

Teaching and Research

Mr. Gandelsonas taught at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies from 1973 to 1984. He was also in charge of their education programs. Later, he continued to develop his ideas about cities. He studied the plan of Chicago like it was a text. He published his findings in a book called The Urban Text in 1992.

Throughout the 1990s, he used his special way of looking at cities for projects in many American cities. These included Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Des Moines, New Haven, and Atlantic City. He wrote about his research in another book, X-Urbanism (1999). This book shared his ideas about how architecture and American cities are connected.

After teaching at Yale University and Harvard University, Mr. Gandelsonas joined Princeton University in 1991. He is a full professor there. In 1995, he started a special program with Tongji University in Shanghai, China. This "China Studio" allowed students to learn about architecture and city life in another culture. This program continued until 2012. In 2013, he started a new program with the University of São Paulo, focusing on city design and infrastructure.

From 2007 to 2013, Mr. Gandelsonas was the first director of the Center for Architecture, Urbanism and Infrastructure (CAUI) at Princeton University. This center aimed to connect researchers around the world. They studied how cities are growing quickly in the 21st century. He also published two books for CAUI: In search of the public (2013), which looked at public spaces, and Garden [City] State (2013), which suggested new ideas for infrastructure in New Jersey.

From 2014 to 2018, Mr. Gandelsonas led a research group called "Fluvial Metropolis." This group worked with the University of São Paulo to study cities near rivers. He is currently working on a research project about the Meadowlands area.

Awards and Recognition

Mr. Gandelsonas's work has won many awards. He received Excellence in Design Awards from the AIA in New York State and New York City. He also won the Masterwork Award for the "Best Building in New York City" from the Municipal Art Society. The Society of American Registered Architects also gave him an Award of Merit. In 2006, he became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, which is a high honor.

Exhibitions

Mr. Gandelsonas's work has been shown in museums, art galleries, and universities all over the world. Some notable places include:

• The Canadian Center for Architecture
• The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles
• The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis
• The Dallas Museum of Art
• The Fogg Museum at Harvard
• Leo Castelli Gallery in New York
• Centre Pompidou in Paris
• Milano Triennale
• Frankfurt Architecture Museum
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
• The Architectural League in New York
• Yale University School of Architecture Gallery

His drawings are also part of important collections. These include the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Sao Paulo architecture Biennale, and the Canadian Center for Architecture.

See also

In Spanish: Mario Gandelsonas para niños