The office of George Ranalli has designed products, objects and accessories for over thirty years. Each architectural or interior project has had some additional furniture, cabinetwork or accessory as an essential ingredient of the larger design. In this way the architecture is first experienced by hand as an extension of the overall idea of the project. Craft, material and form are interwoven into a careful blend of artistry and beauty that fulfills the finest aspects of each and every object. These everyday artifacts also sustain on their own and have inhabited many other interior and architectural designs of notable designers. These design artifacts have developed a rich craft and design vocabulary, which ties this work to the origins and roots of the longer craft tradition in decoration, ornament and design.

• Foreword by James Wines
• Illustration by Mi Tsung Chang
• Edited by Oscar Riera Ojeda

Contributors Biographies

George Ranalli, FAIA is an American architect based in New York. A graduate of Pratt Institute (’72 B.Arch.) and Harvard Graduate School of Design (’74 M.Arch.), Mr. Ranalli is known for his innovative design practice, and coherent, elegant work, at every scale, attuned to history and surroundings. Since 1977, George Ranalli Architect has set the standard of care for the practice and profession of architecture. For 40-years, Mr. Ranalli has created a diverse body of work, ranging from civic masterplans and cultural projects to private residences and product design. Mr. Ranalli is recognized in hundreds of publications, gallery and museum exhibitions, and collections, around the world, and he has received dozens of awards for excellence. A rigorous scholar, Mr. Ranalli has advanced the profession through systematic teaching, research, and practice; this month, issuing his fifth book, In Situ, Oscar Riera Ojeda Publications. An academic leader, Mr. Ranalli taught for 25-years at fine schools, most notably, a professor of architecture and college fellow at Yale University. After educating thousands of students, Mr. Ranalli took on the Deanship at City College; presiding for the past 16-years over a renaissance of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture. According to the renowned historian of architecture William J.R. Curtis, Mr. Ranalli has “set in place a value system for teaching the art of architecture.”

James Wines was educated at Syracuse University, where he studied art history, sculpture and literature, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1956. He is the founder and president of SITE, the former Chair of Environmental Design and Parsons School of Design and currently a Professor of Architecture at Penn State University. At both Parsons and Penn State he has worked on the development of graduate and professional programs in architecture. He has given lectures at more than one thousand colleges, universities and conferences in twenty-four countries, and written many essays for books and magazines in the USA, Europe and Asia. His book DE-ARCHITECTURE was published in 1987 by Rizzoli International and, in 2000, Taschen Verlag in Germany released his book GREEN ARCHITECTURE. During the past decade, there have been twenty-two monographic books and museum catalogues produced on Mr. Wine’s projects for SITE and their related models and drawings. He has designed more than one hundred and fifty architecture, landscape, interior and exhibition projects for both private and municipal clients. Winner of twenty-five art and design awards, including the 1995 Chysler award for Design Innovation, he is also the recipient of fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Kress Foundation, The American Academy in Rome, The Guggenheim Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Graham Foundation, The Ford Foundation, and the Pulitzer Prize for Graphics. He lives and works in New York City, exhibits with the Max Protetch Gallery and frequently travels abroad for projects, research, lectures and writing assignments.