Gwathmey, Charles (1938- )

US architect. He came to prominence in the 1970s, his designs marking a revival of the international style of the French architect Le Corbusier. He is best known for his designs for private residences and university buildings.

Main works By the early 1970s he had helped to form the New York Five, a group of architects who sought a return to the basic principles of Le Corbusier. In 1971 he began a partnership with Robert Siegel (1939- ), their works from that time being inextricably linked. They include the Cogan House, East Hampton, New York (1971-72); the Taft House, Cincinnati, Ohio (1978-81); the School of Agriculture Building, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York (1984-90); an addition to the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York (1985-92); and the Disney Convention Center, Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida (1989-92).

Life Gwathmey was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and then at Yale University. His teachers included Louis Kahn and Robert Venturi. He opened his own practice in 1964, his first commission being the Gwathmey House and Studio, Amagansett, New York (1965-67), which he designed with Richard Henderson, his partner until 1970. Gwathmey has taught at Yale, Princeton, and Harvard universities, and the University of California in Los Angeles.

Later works Although their early works clearly show an indebtedness to the rationality and functionalism of Le Corbusier, Gwathmey and Siegel increasingly responded to contemporary developments, their subtle use of colour and freer forms taking them beyond the strict principles of the international style. This growing flexibility is most evident in their work on the Guggenheim Museum (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright 1942-60), their additions, sensitive to the distinctive character of the building, being praised for originality and subtlety.