—Cohen———Cronin—Dahl— —Marino—Matyas—Muse—— ————Perlman—Pibum— —Thompson—Wong—Yoon—
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HENEGHAN PENG ARCHITECTS WINS DESIGN COMPETITION FOR LONDON OLYMPICS FOOTBRIDGE Dublin-based architect Shih-Fu Peng (B.Arch. ’89) and Roisin
ROBERTO EINAUDI CARRIES ON FAMILY LEGACY FROM CU TO ROME From the classrooms of Ithaca to the historic streets of Rome, Roberto Einaudi has remained close to the university where he
trained as an architect and where his father taught for many years. The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell, established in 1961, bears his father’s name. Einaudi (B.Arch. ’61) was a founder of the Cornell in Rome Program and was its first director from 1986 to 1995. He also found the program its first base of operations in the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, belonging to one of Italy’s princely families. “At the very beginning, one of the primary needs of the college was trying to make the whole thing work,” he said during a 20th-anniversary celebration and reunion of program alumni held last March in Rome. “We hired a young woman, Anna Rita Flati, who had worked with me since she was 18 years Heneghan of Heneghan Peng Architects (HParc), old at the architectural firm of Brown, Daltas, and Associates.” along with Adams Kara Taylor Engineers, won the That hire is part of Einaudi’s legacy to the Rome program—Flati has been a mainstay throughout competition to design a footbridge at the heart its history and serves as its administrative director. of Olympic Park for the London, England games Einaudi is a member of a prominent family in Italy whose influence extends from agriculture and in 2012. The team beat out a field of 46 overall publishing to economics, banking, and national and international politics. His grandfather, Luigi Einaudi competitors and then a shortlist of six designers (1874–1961), was an economist and the second president of the Italian Republic from 1948 to 1955. and engineers. His father, Mario, was an educator and antifascist who emigrated to the United States in the 1930s and The bridge—which will have a total width of first came to Cornell during World War II. more than 180 feet—will span the River Lea and “My father was a professor of political science at Messina University in the 1930s,” Einaudi said in will be centrally located near the Olympic stadium, an interview conducted earlier this year at his home next to Campo di Fiore in Rome. “When the Fasaquatics center, and basketball arena. cist Party made it obligatory to pledge allegiance to the Fascists, my father refused to do so and came The jury praised HParc’s concept designs to the United States.” which made the bridge a spectacle in games Roberto was born in New York City in 1938, while his father was teaching at Fordham University. mode by using the landscape for color and “In the middle of the Second World War, he was called to Cornell to teach the US officers who were activity. After the games, the structure can be going to the campaign in Italy, so they would know something about the country they were going to, in transformed to leave two footbridges linked by a 05 order to be able to relate to the Italians as a liberation force.” central blade-like walkway, offering views over the While his father taught government, Einaudi joined Cornell as an architecture student in 1956. “It was a return to Ithaca,” he explained, “because I had river and Carpenters Lock, a unique 1930s historic left Ithaca for three years to go to Phillips Exeter Academy.” structure on the River Lea waterway. “I was, as a young boy, very good in mathematics, and I loved to draw,” he said. “So when I discussed with my parents what my future was, I said, ‘I Director of infrastructure and utilities for the might become an artist.’ And they replied, “Since you have the virtue of being good both in drawing and in the technical fields, why don’t you try architecOlympic Delivery Authority Simon Wright said, “The winning team impressed the design jury with ture?’ It was a very good suggestion.” Einaudi’s first job in an architecture firm came in 1957, when he worked with Louis I. Kahn in Philadelphia. He has lived and worked in Rome since their understanding of the need to plan games 1962. Today he is a partner and architect in Studio Einaudi in Rome, which he founded in 1977. The studio specializes in design and supervision of museand legacy together. Their designs will help us ums and exhibits, restoration of historic buildings, and urban projects in historic and archaeological centers including Rome and Naples. lock-in legacy now by designing a bridge that Significant projects by the studio have included La Sapienza/the Museum of Classical Art, the museum at Casa di Goethe, the Capitoline Museums, meets games-time needs but which also leaves and renovations of Palazzo Massimo alla Colonne and the American Academy in Rome’s Villa Aurelia and main building. behind a striking structure in the heart of the He has also been a visiting lecturer and critic at institutions in the United States, Australia, and Europe. Olympic Park for future generations to enjoy.” Currently, Studio Einaudi is responsible for the excavation, restoration, and reuse of an ancient Roman theater buried under the modern city of NaPeng and Heneghan said, “We are thrilled to have won this competition, particularly after being ples—“unveiling the stratifications of history in a manner that the visitor will be able to experience the site as if on a time machine,” Einaudi said. His work in preserving the past also extends to his own family history. “I’m writing a book looking into the family back to the 1600s, and going through faced by such incredible opposition. We hope that the time when modern Italy was slowly being formed,” he said. our design will form an important element within A farm near Dogliani, which his grandfather established, is part of the legacy. “The house and land bought by my grandfather in 1897 [is] where we still the spectacle of the London 2012 Games and as make the family wine, where we have the family home,” he added. a striking element of the enhanced connections Einaudi is organizing an exhibit in Rome to commemorate the 60th anniversary next year of his grandfather’s election to the presidency, concurrent the Olympic Park will create in legacy.” AAP with a project “to translate Luigi Einaudi’s writings into English to make them available in the Anglo-Saxon world,” he said. 01 Jim Zver. Summer #11. (2003). 9-5/8" x 16-1/2". Collage. In early 2007, Einaudi was nominated president of Fondazione Luigi Einaudi di Roma. “[It was] first set up in 1962, immediately after the death of my 02 Cover of Diane’s Matyas’s recently published children’s grandfather,” he said. Another foundation, the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi in Turin, maintains a research library of more than 225,000 volumes, formed around the donation by book. 03 From Rebecca Thompson’s The Phoenix in Phoenix, AZ. the Einaudi family of his grandfather’s library of 70,000 books, Einaudi said. His family also remains involved with the Einaudi Center at Cornell. The center and the Institute for European Studies receive support from Einaudi’s Photos provided. brother, Luigi, through the San Giacomo Charitable Foundation. The resources are being used by the Einaudi Center for its Foreign Policy Initiative. Luigi 04 Heneghan Peng Architects. Olympic Park footbridge Einaudi has been a Bartels World Affairs Lecturer at Cornell and is a former US Ambassador to the Organization of American States.AAP design for 2012 London, England games. 05 Robert Einaudi. Photo provided.
CORNELL architecture/art/planning NEWS 04—spring 2008