Design Observer :: Join the Discussion http://places.designobserver.com/feature/massimo-vignelli-oppositions-skyline-and-the-institute/15508/ en-us Design Observer Group 2010-09-16T17:25:40-05:00 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0
When it came time to apply for college, I had terrible board scores — but refused to apply to a "safety" school, figuring that if I didn't get in anywhere, I'd just work another year at the Institute and reapply. That's what it was like back then: part atelier, part think-tank, filled with these deeply engaged people.

Because I was only 17 when I worked there, I did everything from running errands to answering phones. Once, I was sitting in the gallery when Claes Oldenberg walked in. And I will never forget the time I was taking tickets at the door for some evening event, and I failed to recognize Robert Stern, scanning the guestlist for his name to check off. His surname seemed to me then, as now, particularly apt as he screamed at me: "STERN!"

I did get into college, but spent two of the next four summers working at the Institute: first for Andrew MacNair, later for Peter Eisenman — but what I remember most of all was the running between the institute and the Vignelli office, delivering text and photos and God knows what else to Lorraine Wild as she sat patiently laying out those glorious pages of Skyline.

As my time to graduate and enter the work force drew near, I was panic-stricken: but I remember this palpable moment in which I thought: if I can work every day in an environment like this — with designers and architects and Luxo lamps and books and magazines and exhibits — I might just be okay.]]> Jessica Helfand http://places.designobserver.com/feature/massimo-vignelli-oppositions-skyline-and-the-institute/15508/#comments 2010-09-16T17:25:40-05:00 Suzanne Frank http://places.designobserver.com/feature/massimo-vignelli-oppositions-skyline-and-the-institute/15508/#comments 2010-09-16T16:32:26-05:00