User:Thatgirlinnyc/Hugh Hardy

Architect Hugh Hardy, whom the late Brendan Gill called "the Stanford White of our fin de siecle" http://www.jazzinspired.com/archive_h-j.shtml

History Hugh Hardy was born in Majorca, Spain in 1932 of American parents. He graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Architecture and with an Master of Fine Arts. After serving with the engineering corps of the United States Navy, he worked as the Architectural Assistant to Jo Mielziner in New York.

In the course of their work Hardy-Holzman-Pfeiffer progressed from small commissions to major civic monuments. The partners emphasized additive growth, transformation and restoration within their designs. The first works of the partners exhibit this collage idea and display an early form of eclecticism.

HHPA use a wider range of materials and architectural styles than their predecessors within the International group. The group generates buildings based a symbolic interpretation of Americana. HHPA borrows from the industrial images of prefabricated components and from the vernacular images of roadway culture and pop art including signs, neon, and lights. What began as camp has slowly developed into a new architectural style.

The firm collages their mixture of styles by colliding forms or superimposing one plan idea onto another. They use shifted grids and diagonals to break free from the box-like character of International architecture and to produce a more informal and humanistic architecture.

References Muriel Emmanuel. Contemporary Architects. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980. ISBN 0-312-16635-4. NA 680-C625. p342-344.

http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Hardy-Holzman-Pfeiffer.html

Self-proclaimed generalists in a world of increasing specialization, Hugh Hardy, Malcolm Holzman, and Norman Pfeiffer have been practicing architecture and interior design as HHPA since 1967. Examining the firm's project roster confirms their assertion.

Best known, perhaps, for work with educational institutions that include Middlebury College, Wellesley College, Boston University and the University of Nebraska, Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates maintains an active client list in the genre and is currently part of the think tank for Christopher Whittle's intriguing and controversial Edison Project. The firm has achieved equal prominence for expertise in renovation/restoration work, giving new life to the Andrew Carnegie mansion as the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, transforming Brooklyn Academy of Music's derelict Majestic theater into an unorthodox reincarnation and injecting a healthy dose of glamour into Rockefeller Center's fading Rainbow Room, while creating a surrounding complex of restaurant, bar and club spaces. The HHPA project list also cites an impressive compendium of theaters and performing arts centers, museums and galleries, libraries and research facilities, cultural and religious institutions, public works and residences.

While the scope of HHPA's work may be awe-inspiring, the work itself is meant to be anything but intimidating. In fact, a particular strength of firm designers is their ability to create spaces for participatory enjoyment. Abstract volumes devoid of the human element are simply not part of the vocabulary. The firm revels in its heterogeneity, its emphasis on the exploration of materials and the sense of discovery and surprise integral to each project.

Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer has offices in New York and Los Angeles, the latter established in 1987 under Pfeiffer's direction. The partners are Fellows of the AIA. Of the firm's numerous awards, principals are particularly proud of the 1988 Bard citations for both the BAM theater and Rainbow complex and for the 1981 AIA Architectural Firm Award. http://www.interiordesign.net/hof/11200-Hugh_Hardy.php

Projects Lincoln Center Hugh Hardy has designed a new black box theater that will be perched on the roof of Lincoln Center Theater's Vivian Beaumont Theater with a terrace overlooking Lincoln Center. The new theater, called LCT3, will feature the work of emerging playwrights, directors, and designers, and will be aimed at new audiences.

LCT3 will house a 131-seat theater and dressing rooms, as well as rehearsal and office space and an outdoor terrace surrounded by a green roof. The theater will be named the Claire Tow Theater, in honor of the wife of longtime LCT Board Member Leonard Tow.

Construction is scheduled to begin in March, with a completion date of late 2011 or early 2012. It is anticipated that performances in the Beaumont and Newhouse auditoriums will not be interrupted during the building process.

Hardy's history with the Lincoln Center facility dates back to its construction in the early 1960s when he worked as an assistant to scenic designer Jo Mielziner, who was collaborating with Eero Saarinen on the design of the Vivian Beaumont. http://www.theatermania.com/new-york/news/02-2010/lincoln-center-theater-to-build-hugh-hardydesigned_24702.html