Louis D. Astorino


Louis D. Astorino is an architect in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who was architect of several high-profile buildings in his home town and is the first American architect to design a building in the Vatican.

Biography

Astorino was born in Pittsburgh to a family of mixed Italian and Serbian origin. His Serbian cousins influenced Astorino's upbringing and career choice. and received a bachelor's degree from Penn State College of Arts and Architecture in 1969. In 1972, he started his own firm, L. D. Astorino & Associates. It was later named Astorino.
He was introduced to the international stage in 1996 when Gateway Clipper Fleet founder John E. Connelly introduced him as a prospective architect for the Domus Sanctae Marthae that Pope John Paul II wanted to build to house cardinals during the selection of popes. Connelly was offering to finance the project. Astorino's design was rejected but he was kept on as supervisory architect. He later designed the adjoining Chapel of the Holy Spirit. Astorino's firm designed the new Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, completed in 2009 at a cost of $622 million.
In December 2014 Astorino's firm was acquired by CannonDesign which is based in Buffalo, New York.
Louis, who has a brother Dennis, is of Serbian origin through his mother.

Projects