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New wave architect borders on sculptorR.E. REIMER Daily News Staff WriterMost Newporters are pretty blase when it comes to unique Victorian and colonial architecture in the City-by-the-Sea. But many vital and vibrant changes in building design have been taking place here since the turn of the century.The Art Association of Newport will open an exhibition Saturday, which is guaranteed to jolt viewers from complacency. The exhibit will feature the drawings and models of George Ranalli, one of the new wave architects who has been intimately responsible for some of Newport’s changes.Ranalli, 33, is a graduate of Pratt Institute and the School of Design at Harvard. He is on the faculty at the Yale School of Architecture.He’s been hailed as a genius by contemporary critics of architecture, and he has published internationally and exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum and the Centre Pompidou. He has received an award for excellence in design from the N.Y. State Association of Architects.“He’s what we call a very visionary and philosophical architect,” Marve Cooper, director of exhibitions at the Art Association, said.Ranalli’s work focuses on isolated pieces, whichenvironmentwork breaks away from standard architecture and approaches sculptural. As Cooper said, Ranalli’s architecture really has to be seen. It can’t really be talked about.”Collectors items in themselves, Ranalli’s drawings and models are “extraordinarily large,” Cooper said. His drawings are not really drawings of just architecture. They're beautiful things in their own right, and are often shown just for themselves.”Ranalli has designed the Frehley House in Stratford, Conn. In that case, he had to design a spectacular home that would guarantee privacy for its owner and still offer a great deal of open space inside. The owner is Paul Frehley of the rock group Kiss.”Ranalli designed a modern-day castle complete with moat, but minus the drawbridge. The entrance to the home is through a tunnel under the moat. The house has everything a rock star could want including baths, a steamroom, drying rooms, terraces, a master bedroom, a sitting salon and...a burial chamber.Cooper said that Ranalli belongs to a group called architects of transition.”“These new architects don’t adhere to any ofthe dogmas of modern architecture,” Cooper said. “They think of modem architecture as dead. And in their work are influences of many cultures or references to other styles of architecture.”Ranalli’s innovative designs will be used for the Callender School on Third Street, due for completion this May.leaving the outer structure of the school intact, Ranalli has designed six apartments to fit inside, giving the appearance of a building within a building. The apartments themselves are multilevel mazes. The price tag on the condominium units ranges from $81,500 to $149,000.“To have Ranalli design for you is not like having just another architect,” Cooper said, it's like being a patron of the arts.” The Callender School project is being developed for clients Mr. and Mrs.William Boggs of New York.To open his exhibit at the Art Association this Saturday Ranalli will give a gallery talk at 4:30 p.m., followed by a reception. Also on display in the Corridor gallery will be photographs taken by Robert Meservey for the original edition of the “Architectural Heritage of Newport. Rhode Island.”
Newspaper Details
Newport Daily News
Newport, Rhode Island, US
Tue, Mar 11, 1980
Page 5
Full Page
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