Contract Magazine - April 2017 - 18

PHOTOGRAPHY: MACKENZIE STROH

EDITORIAL

A Legend Remembered with an Enduring Legacy
"Good day!" greeting. He was unabashedly enthusiastic and positive,
As I edit a magazine focused on interior architecture and design,
and he held court with his disarming good nature. In a personal
my background in urban design and planning remains important
to me-it's all related. In this issue, I am pleased to present six hospitality and meaningful way, he connected with me-as a young editor lacking
his experience and stature-and anyone else he encountered. In life
interiors that are inextricably connected to context, from the Four
there are people who influence you, even if the moment is brief and
Seasons Kyoto in Japan to a premier lounge for Eurostar within Gare
it is primarily about their way of being. Hugh Hardy was one of those
du Nord in Paris. These interiors are all about placemaking, offering
people for me.
broader lessons for readers, no matter the project typology within
At contractdesign.com/hughhardy, you'll see a link to the superb
which you are currently designing.
1999 CBS Sunday Morning segment about Hardy that aired on the
This issue focuses on the impact of place, and remembering
occasion of the reopening of Radio City Music Hall. The segment is even
New York architect Hugh Hardy is apropos. The architecture and
more striking to see today because it begins with a dramatic view
design profession lost a legend when Hardy died on March 17 at age 84.
of the original Twin Towers. Hardy had completed the last renovation
At the 2003 Interiors Awards, presented by Contract, Hardy was the
of Windows on the World in 1996.
second recipient of the Legend Award. He launched three firms over
In 1982, Hardy turned an old movie house into the Joyce Theater,
the course of his career, beginning with Hugh Hardy & Associates
a home for dance in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan. His design
in 1962, followed by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates in 1967
literally breathed new life into the building, and the Joyce has continued
and H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture in 2004. He had remained
its exuberant dance programming for decades. On March 15, Hardy
active as a founding partner of H3.
In the city of New York alone, few architects have left as significant attended a dance performance with his wife Tiziana. And within that
theater he lost consciousness, following a fall while exiting a taxi earlier
of an impression on civic life as Hardy. As a young designer under Jo
Mielziner and Eero Saarinen, he worked on the Vivian Beaumont Theater, that evening. He died two days later.
Hugh Hardy will be missed, and his legacy lives on.
which opened as part of the Lincoln Center in 1965. Hardy reconceived
Bryant Park and renovated the New Victory and New Amsterdam
Sincerely,
Theaters-each essential elements in reviving 42nd Street. In 1999,
he oversaw the dramatic refresh of Radio City Music Hall, returning
the grand interior to its original glory. His portfolio included the Brooklyn John Czarnecki, Assoc. AIA, Hon. IIDA
Editor in Chief
Academy of Music, which has contributed to dramatically enlivening
the heart of Brooklyn. And again, at Lincoln Center, he designed
Visit contractdesign.com/editorial to read all of Editor in Chief
the Claire Tow Theater that opened in 2012. And Hardy was director
John Czarnecki's editorials
emeritus of the Municipal Art Society of New York. In The New York
Times in 1995, Julie Iovine wrote, "There is scarcely a cultural icon
in the city with which Mr. Hardy has not been involved." What a legacy!
But Hardy's legacy went beyond his work. I had the pleasure
to meet him on a number of occasions in various contexts: years
ago when I was an editor at Architectural Record, a decade ago
when I was the acquisitions editor at the publisher Wiley for his book
on the design of performing arts architecture, and more recently
when Contract presented H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture with
an Interiors Award for the DiMenna Center for Classical Music and
also published the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.
What was striking about Hardy was that he was perhaps the most
joyful architect I have encountered, entering a room with a hearty
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Contract Magazine - April 2017

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