Biografie

From the World Financial Center in New York to the Petronas Towers in Malaysia and the International Finance Centre in Hong Kong, Pelli Clarke Pelli has had the great fortune to design many prestigious projects. Our portfolio includes retail and mixed-use projects, academic buildings, libraries, museums, research centers, residences and master plans, and we have served private clients, businesses, institutions and government agencies. Our work has received critical acclaim and hundreds of design awards, including the American Institute of Architects' Firm Award, the highest honor for an architectural practice. In 1995, the American Institute of Architects awarded Cesar Pelli the Gold Medal, its highest honor for an individual. In 2004, the firm was given the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the Petronas Towers.


STUDIO
Local Roots, Global Reach
The main office of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects overlooks the bustle of Chapel Street in downtown New Haven, Connecticut, across from Yale University and in the same spot where Cesar Pelli and Fred Clarke founded the firm over thirty years ago. In 2000, a Manhattan studio was added under the leadership of Rafael Pelli.

Despite the scale and breadth of the firm's work, visitors are often surprised by the intimate and friendly feeling of the studios. The open, naturally-lit spaces have an air of energetic focus as small teams of architects meet to discuss their projects and young designers concentrate on the business of making buildings - whether they're just down the street or on the other side of the globe.


SENIOR PRINCIPALS
Cesar Pelli FAIA, RIBA, JIA
Fred W. Clarke FAIA, RIBA, JIA
Rafael Pelli AIA, LEED AP

Cesar Pelli FAIA, RIBA, JIA
Senior Principal
Cesar Pelli was born in Argentina where he earned a Diploma in Architecture from the University of Tucuman. He first worked in the offices of Eero Saarinen serving as Project Designer for several buildings, including the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport in New York and Morse and Stiles Colleges at Yale University. After this apprenticeship, he was Director of Design at DMJM and, later, Partner for Design at Gruen Associates, both in Los Angeles. Throughout these years, he designed several award-winning projects, including the San Bernardino City Hall in San Bernardino, California; the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, California; and the United States Embassy in Tokyo, Japan.
In 1977, Mr. Pelli became Dean of the Yale University School of Architecture and also founded Cesar Pelli & Associates. He resigned his post as Dean in 1984 but continues to lecture on architecture. Since the firm's establishment, Mr. Pelli has personally originated and directed the design of each of its projects. In 2005, in recognition of the increased role of the firm's principals, the firm was renamed Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects.
Mr. Pelli has avoided formalistic preconceptions in his designs. He believes that buildings should be responsible citizens and that the aesthetic qualities of a building should grow from the specific characteristics of each project such as its location, its construction technology, and its purpose. In search of the most appropriate response to each project, his designs have covered a wide range of solutions and materials.
Mr. Pelli has written extensively on architectural issues. In 1999 he wrote Observations for Young Architects, published by the Monacelli Press. His work has been widely published and exhibited, with nine books and several issues of professional journals dedicated to his designs and theories. He has received twelve Honorary Degrees, over 200 awards for design excellence and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Academy of Design, the International Academy of Architecture, and of l'Academie d'Architecture de France.
In 1995, the American Institute of Architects awarded Mr. Pelli the Gold Medal, in recognition of a lifetime of distinguished achievement in architecture. In 2004, Mr. Pelli was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the design of the Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Fred W. Clarke FAIA, RIBA, JIA
Senior Principal
A founding member of the firm, Fred Clarke has been responsible for commissions with widely varied programs and locations, from San Francisco to Dubai, from Tokyo to Miami.
Mr. Clarke is a Design Principal for all projects in the New Haven studio. These have included the firm's major works such as the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the World Financial Center in New York, One Canada Square at Canary Wharf in London, Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., Nihonbashi Mitsui Tower in Tokyo, the International Finance Centre in Hong Kong, and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County.
A career-long teacher, Mr. Clarke has been a faculty member of Yale University, Rice University, and the University of California at Los Angeles. In addition, he has chaired design juries and panels for many professional organizations, including the Urban Land Institute and national, state and regional affiliates of the American Institute of Architects. He has written and published on many subjects, including urban regeneration, sustainability, public art and architecture and tall building design.
Fred Clarke met Cesar Pelli in 1969 while still a student. In 1970, upon graduating with highest honors from the University of Texas at Austin, he joined Gruen Associates in Los Angeles where Mr. Pelli was Partner for Design. For the following seven years, Mr. Clarke served as senior designer of the United States Embassy in Tokyo, the School of Music for Yale University, and the headquarters for the Daehan Kyoyuk Insurance Company in Seoul.
In 1992, Mr. Clarke was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. In 1997, he became a Registered Architect in Japan. In 1998, he received a fellowship from the MacDowell Colony, the oldest artists' colony in the United States, to research and write on social responsibilities in large-scale urban projects. He is now a member of its Board of Directors.

Rafael Pelli AIA, LEED AP
Senior Principal
Rafael Pelli is the partner directing the Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects New York office, established in 2000. Since that time, he has directed the design for several of the firm's New York projects. These include Bloomberg Tower, a mixed-use high-rise in Midtown that contains the new headquarters for Bloomberg L.P. and the residential condominiums One Beacon Court. Mr. Pelli was the designer of the reconstruction of the World Financial Center, and the lead designer for the Theodore Roosevelt U.S. Courthouse in Brooklyn. He was also the designer for three high-rise apartment buildings in Battery Park City: the Solaire, the Verdesian and the Visionaire.
Mr. Pelli has focused on incorporating sustainable design into his work and has made significant achievements in this field. In 2004, the Solaire achieved LEED Gold certification and became the first green high-rise residential building in the United States. The Verdesian, completed in 2005, is the first LEED Platinum building in New York City and the first LEED Platinum high-rise residential building in the United States. The Visionaire achieved LEED Platinum certification and received top honors in the 2008 Green Building Competition for New York City.
Beyond New York City, Mr. Pelli has overseen the completion of academic buildings including the Business Instructional Facility at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, which was awarded LEED Platinum certification, and the Simons Center for Systems Biology at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He also worked on the Daniel L. Malone Engineering Center at Yale University and projects for the University of Chicago and Rice University.
Mr. Pelli, AIA, LEED AP, has served on the New York Green Codes Task Force Climate Adaptation Committee and Turner Construction's Green Advisory Board, and is currently on the Board of Directors of the Salvadori Center, a nonprofit organization that provides educators the tools and resources needed to teach their students about the built environment.
Mr. Pelli has lectured widely on the firm's commitment to sustainable building design and was featured in an episode of the PBS documentary series “Design e2.” He received a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and a Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.