Saratoga

In projects ranging from doorknobs to residences to office buildings, George Ranalli experiments with a distinctive brand of ornamentation, a machine-cut, linear vocabulary that suggests computer age manufacturing processes and geometries. For New York City's public housing agency, he uses glass-fiber-reinforced-concrete (GFRC) lintels and copestones, and buff-grey cement panels with routed joints indoors, to imbue a new community center with layers of meaning and visual interest. The 5,000 square-foot facility - set on the plaza of a typical 1960's superblock next to an 18-story mixed income housing slab - expands the program of city-sponsored recreation by linking to an existing recreational center on the tower's first floor with a long hall, perforated by doors and windows. The office of George Ranalli, Architect opened in 1977 in New York City. Currently, the office is located in the Garment District in Manhattan. Over the past 27 years, the firm has worked on projects such as large scale urban designs, houses in the landscape, additions, renovations, restorations of major landmark buildings, and new constructions in New York, and other states in the U.S., as well as international projects. George Ranalli is currently the Dean of the School of Architecture, Urban Design & Landscape Architecture at the City College of New York. ILLUSTRATIONS: 75 colour & 20 b/w photographs & 12 illustrations