Vincent George Kling (May 9, 1916 – November 23, 2013) was an American architect who co-founded the architectural practice KlingStubbins.

Biography

Kling was born in East Orange, New Jersey on May 9, 1916. He was the son of a builder and joined his father's construction firm in high school. He earned his B.A. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and M.Arch. from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. He enlisted in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

after the Japanese

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

and served in the Atlantic fleet's naval force until the end of war. He joined Skidmore, Owings & Merrill after the war and later set up his own practice, which became the largest architectural firm in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. He was the principal architect and planner for

's Penn Center.

Projects

Penn Center, Philadelphia Penn Center is the heart of Philadelphia's central business district. It takes its name from the nearly five million square foot office and retail complex it contains. It lies between 15th and 19th Streets, and between John F. Kennedy Boulevard ...

Five Penn Center Five Penn Center is a 36-story highrise in Center City Philadelphia. It is part of the Penn Center complex designed by Edmund Bacon. The building was one of the tallest in the city until the high rise building boom of the late 1980s and early 19 ...

, Philadelphia * Centre Square, Philadelphia *

Dilworth Park Dilworth Park is a public park and open space along the western side of City Hall in Center City, Philadelphia. The park opened to the public on September 4, 2014. History Dilworth Park opened in September 2014. It is named in honor of Richa ...

, Philadelphia *

Love Park LOVE Park, officially known as John F. Kennedy Plaza, is a public park located in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The park is nicknamed LOVE Park for its reproduction of Robert Indiana's 1970 ''LOVE'' sculpture which overlooks the pla ...

, Philadelphia *

Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is a theatre, dance and world music venue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It helped to popularize the works of composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass; the Center has also hosted shows by performer ...

* Lankenau Medical Center *

Philadelphia Mint The Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia was created from the need to establish a national identity and the needs of commerce in the United States. This led the Founding Fathers of the United States to make an establishment of a continental national ...

building * AT&T Headquarters

Basking Ridge, New Jersey Basking Ridge is an unincorporated community located within Bernards Township in the Somerset Hills region of Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the population for the ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA) 07920 w ...

(1971-1974) *

Concordia University Ann Arbor Concordia University Ann Arbor (CUAA) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is a campus of Concordia University Wisconsin, a private Lutheran university in Mequon, Wisconsin. Its campus sits on the banks of the Huron River, about ten minutes outside downtow ...

campus * Harriton High School campus

Awards

Kling was awarded the Frank P. Brown Medal by the

Franklin Institute The Franklin Institute is a science museum and the center of science education and research in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is named after the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin. It houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memori ...

in 1982. He was also the recipient of the

Samuel F. B. Morse Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...

Medal from the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kling, Vincent 1916 births 2013 deaths Columbia College (New York) alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Architects from Philadelphia Skidmore, Owings & Merrill people