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Established in 1977, Pelli Clarke Pelli is a full service architectural practice of some 80 persons. The firm has worked with corporate, government and private clients to design major public spaces, museums, airports, laboratories, performing arts centers, academic buildings, hotels, office and residential towers and mixed-use projects.
The number of commissions the firm accepts is carefully limited to ensure a high degree of personal involvement by the principals. Cesar Pelli & Associates seeks to produce the best possible building for each circumstance. The work of Cesar Pelli is not constrained by a personal style or a signature that would limit his architecture; instead, it tries to celebrate the unique characteristics of each project. With this approach, the firm has designed several exceptional buildings in the United States and abroad.
The AIA awarded Pelli Clarke Pelli its 1989 Firm Award in recognition of standard setting work in architectural design and Cesar Pelli received the Gold Medal from the AIA in 1995.
Cesar Pelli | Fred W. Clarke | Rafael Pelli
Cesar Pelli was born in Tucumán, Argentina. In 1977 he became Dean of the School of Architecture at Yale University and established Cesar Pelli & Associates in New Haven, Connecticut Mr. Pelli's work has been widely published and exhibited, with eight books dedicated to his designs and theories.
In 1995, the AIA awarded Cesar Pelli its Gold Medal. In 1991, the AIA selected Mr. Pelli as one of the 10 most influential living American architects. In 1989, the AIA awarded Pelli Clarke Pelli its Firm Award. Cesar Pelli has received over 100 awards for design excellence and is the only architect to receive a Connecticut State Arts Award.
Mr. Pelli wrote the book Observations for Young Architects (Monacelli Press 1999) as a distillation of his thoughts on a profession he loves.
One of the founding members of Pelli Clarke Pelli, Fred Clarke is Collaborating Design Principal in the studio. In 1977, he joined Mr. Pelli in establishing the firm in New Haven, Connecticut. He has served as Collaborating Lead Designer on many of the firm's significant projects, covering a wide range of programs and locations.
A career-long teacher, Fred Clarke has been on the faculty of the Architecture Schools of the University of California at Los Angeles and at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He has also served as Visiting Critic in Architecture at Yale University and continues as Guest Critic at several major universities.
He has lectured internationally and has been the Keynote Speaker and Guest Lecturer at numerous conferences and exhibitions. Mr. Clarke has chaired design juries and panels for many professional organizations, including the Urban Land Institute and the American Institute of Architects.
In 1992, Mr. Clarke was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. In 1997, he became a First Class Registered Architect in Japan, a member of the Japan Institute of Architects and a Fellow of the Philippine Institute of Architects. He received a Fellowship from the MacDowell Colony in 1998.
Rafael Pelli first joined Pelli Clarke Pelli from 1979 to 1981; in 1989, he rejoined the firm. Mr. Pelli is the Principal of the firm's New York office which was established in the summer of 2000.
He is a Member of the US Green Building Council and lectures extensively on the the firm's sustainable building design efforts. He has taught at Harvard University's Career Discovery Architecture Program, served as Guest Critic for design reviews at the Yale University School of Architecture, the University of Cincinnati, the Parsons School of Design in New York City and the Southern California Institute for Architecture. He received a Bachelor of Arts in 1978 from Yale University and a Master of Architecture in 1985 from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
The work of Pelli Clarke Pelli has been internationally recognized with over 100 awards for design excellence, including over 40 design awards from National, Regional and local chapters of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The AIA awarded Cesar Pelli the 1995 Gold Medal, which recognizes a lifetime of distinguished achievement and outstanding contributions. In 1991, Cesar Pelli was selected as one of the 10 most influential living American architects. In 1989, Pelli Clarke Pelli was the recipient of the AIA's Firm Award.
Detailed List of Awards (Printable)
Cesar Pelli Buildings and Projects 1965-1990. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1990.
Cesar Pelli. Essays by Esther McCoy, Cesar Pelli, John Pastier, Gavin Macrae-Gibson. Tokyo: A+U Publishing Co., Ltd., 1985.
Crosbie, Michael J. Cesar Pelli: recent themes.Basel, Switzerland: Birkhäuser, 1998.
Ojeda, Oscar Riera, ed. National Airport Terminal: Cesar Pelli of the "Single Building Series - Process of an Architectural Work". Introduction by Paul Goldberger. (Gloucester, Massachusetts: Rockport Publishers, 2000).
Pelli, Cesar. Observations for Young Architects. New York, New York: Monacelli, 1999.
Pelli, Cesar and Michael J. Crosbie. Petronas Towers.West Sussex, Great Britain: Wiley-Academy, 2001.
Pelli, Cesar. "Pieces of the City." Architectural Digest (August 1988): 29-36.
Pelli, Cesar. "Skyscrapers." Perspecta 18,The Yale Architectural Journal (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1982): 134-70.
Selected Bibliography (Printable, 36 page Microsoft Word Document - 208 kb)
Cesar Pelli Retrospective
National Building Museum
Washington DC
September 2001 - February 2002
Cesar Pelli: Building Designs 1965 - 2000
Yale School of Architecture
September - November 2000
Skyscrapers. The New Millenium
Curated by Art Institute of Chicago
October 2000 - August 2002
San Francisco, Washington DC, New York
Bilbao: The Transformation of a City
Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
At the End of the Century: One Hundred Years of Architecture
Curated by The Museum of Contemporary Art - Los Angeles
July 1998 through September 2000
Tokyo, Mexico City, Cologne, Chicago, Los Angeles
Cesar Pelli: Architecture of Response
Delphi Research Inc., Tokyo, Japan
1994
Retrospective on Cesar Pelli
College of Architecture Gallery, University of North Carolina-Charlotte
September-November 1992
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