Chip off the old block: Rafael Pelli on his father César Pelli’s architectural legacy

Rafael was not fully aware of César’s stature in the architecture world until his father began gaining wider recognition in Los Angeles in the late 1960s and early 1970s, following landmark projects such as the Pacific Design Center (PDC) in West Hollywood, California.

By then, Rafael was already studying art at Yale University and had begun noticing more frequent mentions of César in the press.

“When he was offered the deanship of the architecture school at Yale in 1977, that was when I really became aware of how much his reputation had grown,” he recalls.

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Even so, it was only much later, following his father’s passing, that Rafael developed a deeper understanding of the ideas behind the PDC. When invited to speak at the building’s 50th anniversary, he undertook further research into its history, prompting a renewed appreciation of the architectural thinking and experimentation that had informed its design.

One of the most significant considerations was the construction technology available at the time. Advances in glass coatings, including the application of ceramic frit to the back of the panels before they were baked at high temperatures, made the building’s distinctive coloured glass façade possible. This was still relatively new technology, however, and presented challenges in quality control.

The way the panels were assembled also departed from conventional practice. Rather than relying on conventional metal mullions to frame the glazing, the design employed neoprene gaskets developed by an offshoot of an automotive company.

Minimal and almost invisible, these flat gaskets allowed the coloured panels to read as a more continuous surface, creating a markedly different appearance from the familiar grid of metal framing.

“The building, I learned, was very much informed by the evolving construction technology of the time,” Rafael says. “From his earliest buildings, he believed [they] should be informed by the current possibilities in construction technology, and he was always interested in how technology informs what you can build.”

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Beyond the exploration of new materials and construction methods, many of César’s architectural principles have continued to inform Rafael’s own approach to design, albeit through different expressions.

“He was very interested in shaping the building as an object, particularly in how tall buildings met the skyline and how their profile and silhouette against the sky was a responsibility,” Rafael elaborates. “I’m probably more interested in shaping the spaces within a building.”

One example is Godrej One, the headquarters of the Godrej Group in Vikhroli, just north of Mumbai. Completed in 2015, the 65,000-sqm building brought the group’s various businesses together under one roof for the first time.

The building’s complex programme called for a carefully considered circulation strategy: from a linear passage, visitors encounter diagonal views towards escalators rising to a monumental glass wall overlooking the landscape, as well as towards a lift connecting them to the uppermost levels—intersecting sightlines that allow for a succession of changing perspectives.

“The Godrej sequence is especially beautiful, and it’s a delight to walk into and through [the building],” Rafael says. “You feel like you’re constantly unfolding a rich visual narrative as you move into and up the building.”

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Yet Rafael is careful not to overstate the distinction. While César’s work was guided by a set of principles rather than a singular aesthetic vision, Rafael continues to draw on the same foundations, particularly in his interest in shaping spatial experiences and connecting buildings with their landscapes.

“Mind you, those were his interests too, so I wouldn’t put too strong a point on the difference,” Rafael smiles. “They’re similar principles with slightly different priorities.”

For all the differences in emphasis between their respective approaches, César and Rafael’s work ultimately stems from a shared belief in architecture’s responsibility to its surroundings.

Beyond shaping the experience within a building, both considered how it could contribute positively to the wider urban environment—a conviction that has increasingly informed Rafael’s approach to sustainable design.

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“My father was very focused on a building’s impact on the environment and the city around it,” Rafael reflects. “Since most of our work is urban, he felt like we were always designing a piece of the city, and would question how a building makes the city around it better, more vibrant, more interesting.”

César believed deeply in creating buildings that were responsible in every respect, from their structural and mechanical systems to their architectural design. For Rafael, sustainable design has become a more defining influence on his career, although he sees it as a natural extension of the principles his father upheld.

“From the beginning, I was very interested in how buildings can respond to their climates and environments,” he notes. “And how we can be more intelligent about the consequences of building—some obvious and some not so obvious.”

One of the clearest expressions of this interest emerged in a series of three residential buildings that Pelli Clarke & Partners designed in Battery Park City, New York.

Developed during the early 2000s, when sustainable design was still gaining traction in the property industry, The Solaire, The Verdesian and The Visionaire helped demonstrate the potential for more sustainable high-rise housing, addressing energy efficiency, indoor air quality, water conservation and material selection.

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The Solaire, completed in 2003, became the first high-rise residential building in the United States to receive LEED Gold certification. Its 27-storey form incorporated photovoltaic panels into the façade, while an on-site system treated and recycled wastewater for uses including toilet flushing and cooling. Dedicated fresh-air systems, low-emitting materials and planted roofs further addressed the quality of the indoor environment and the building’s wider resource consumption.

The Verdesian followed in 2006, and The Visionaire completed the series in 2008—both achieving LEED Platinum status.

The Verdesian incorporated a natural gas-fired microturbine to reduce electricity demand and recover waste heat for domestic hot water, alongside photovoltaic panels integrated into its mechanical bulkhead. Meanwhile, The Visionaire—distinguished by its curved, interlocking forms and a glass and terracotta façade—incorporated high-performance glazing, natural ventilation and energy-efficient cooling systems to reduce energy consumption.

“It’s an exciting challenge and a mammoth enterprise, because we’re dealing with fields of knowledge that are constantly evolving,” he says. “The field has advanced enormously since Pelli Clarke & Partners designed some of the first LEED Gold and Platinum buildings in the country, and there’s so much potential today to create increasingly intelligent designs.”

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Pelli Clarke & Partners recently oversaw the completion of César’s final project, the Lola Mora Cultural Center in his home country of Argentina. The civic building pays tribute to the eponymous artist, who had to leave Argentina for much of her career, and whose story held particular meaning for the Argentine architect.

Having known Lola Mora since he was a child growing up in Tucumán, César leapt at the chance to celebrate an artist who was born in the same city, but who was not sufficiently recognised in her time.

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“By then he was quite advanced in years and had stopped working on most projects in the office, keeping an interest in only two or three,” Rafael recalls. “This was really his pet project, but he devoted a lot of energy and attention to it, working with talented Argentinian architects in our office to conclude the design and execute the building.”

Located in Jujuy, near Tucumán, the centre welcomes visitors through a narrow passage that extends across a natural ravine on a bridge. Engineered to minimise disturbance to the terrain, the approach transitions from a confined entrance into a more expansive interior, creating a deliberate sense of arrival.

Incorporating renewable energy systems and rainwater management, the building was conceived in the shape of a wide chisel—an instrument used in stone carving, the medium of Mora’s work—the centre features a roof that cantilevers from a central, wood-clad core, while a floor-to-ceiling glazed façade wraps around a column-free gallery.

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Here, the surrounding forest and distant mountains become part of the viewing experience, framing the sculptures against the natural landscape. The six Carrara marble works by Mora—The Lions, Liberty, Progress, Work, Peace, and Justice—were originally commissioned for the Palace of the Argentine National Congress in Buenos Aires for its inauguration in 1906.

Not only that, the landscape design for the 1.3-hectare site was undertaken by Balmori Associates, the practice founded by César’s late wife and Rafael’s late mother, Diana Balmori. Its strategy places emphasis on the existing native vegetation, weaving the architecture among the trees rather than clearing the site to accommodate a conventional building footprint.

“You can’t fully understand the building without understanding how it sits in its landscape,” Rafael says.

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Rafael always knew that any project in Argentina held special meaning for his father, who welcomed the opportunity to return and contribute to the country’s culture and urban built environment. The Lola Mora Cultural Center, however, carried an added significance as a civic building, a typology César held in great regard and considered particularly important to get right.

“It also honoured an Argentinian artist he had tremendous respect and admiration for, and it held particular meaning for him to help tell her story,” he says.

The project also presented a unique opportunity to bring together Argentinian art, architecture and landscape design—its significance extended beyond the cultural centre itself, forming part of a wider history of excellence in the country’s design heritage.

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For Rafael, the significance of the project became most apparent when the building was finally complete.

“My father always felt buildings have a life of their own,” he muses. “He loved to see them open and full of people, and he felt you couldn’t understand how good a building is until you see it being used, full of people.”

“It felt fitting that he could finish his career on a beautiful public building with civic purpose, near where he was born,” Rafael beams.

As the architectural world marks what would have been César Pelli’s 100th birthday, his legacy is naturally measured through the buildings that have shaped skylines around the world.

Yet, for Rafael, his father’s influence extends well beyond architecture—it is found in the people he inspired, the relationships he nurtured, and the values he brought to his work.

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“He was a lifelong teacher with great compassion for people, and he even considered teaching full-time,” Rafael reflects. “He cared deeply about people—including those I haven’t seen in 30 years, who still come up to me to talk about the impact my father had on them.”

César’s instinct to bring out the best in others extended across generations and professions, from the young students he mentored to clients and designers in our office, as well as prime ministers and presidents.

Rafael recalls how his father thoroughly enjoyed conversations about articulating intentions and ideas, hearing different perspectives and engaging with others in discussion.

“Those human qualities—interacting with people with cheerfulness, respect and intelligence—are things you cannot capture in the buildings he created,” he concludes. “They are the qualities I most treasure and think about in my own career, and which really informed our office and the work that came from it.”

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