CONVERSATIONS
Alberto Alfonso Architect
Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement PHOTO/DAVID BLY
BY CINDY COCKBURN Award-winning architect Alberto Alfonso works on projects that take him around the globe, from Tampa to Tibet. Fasten your seat belt St. Pete: he’s designing a $90 million jewel called the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. The five-story, 137,100-square-foot building will house private collector Rudy Ciccarello’s Two Red Roses Foundation’s extensive collection of furniture, pottery, tile, metalwork, lighting, photography and other decorative arts from the American Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Ciccarello is personally financing the construction of the museum. Under construction since 2015, it will be complete by the summer of 2019 with a grand opening in the fall. We already admire the designer’s work with The Chihuly Collection at the Morean Arts Center. Alberto has been working on this new venture for over five years. His love of architecture developed at an early age as he was raised in the house of an architect: his father Carlos E. Alfonso, Sr. began his career in Havana, Cuba, and fled the country with his family in 1960 to begin a successful practice in Tampa. Cuban born, Alberto was educated at The University of Florida where he received his M.A. in 1983. Five years later, he, his brother Carlos, and partner Angel Del Monte, founded Alfonso Architects. The company has now grown to a studio of 35. His creativity is endless and he is passionate about all of the arts, an accomplished painter in his own right. How did you initially hear about the new museum project? I received an email from Rudy Ciccarello describing the project and asking me to visit with him in Palm Harbor. We hit if off immediately from the first meeting. He’s Italian, brilliant, and loves the arts, like I do. We had great chemistry from day one. Where did you get the inspiration from? From the get go, Rudy and I were in agreement
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StPeteLifeMag.com
September/October 2018