Ralph Lerner (1949 – May 7, 2011) was an American architect, born in New York in 1949. He studied under
John Hejduk at
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...
.
Lerner then worked for
Ulrich Franzen
Ulrich Joseph Franzen (January 15, 1921 – October 6, 2012) was a German-born American architect known for his "fortresslike" buildings and Brutalist style.Vitello, Paul (14 October 2012)Ulrich Franzen, Designer of Brutalist Buildings, Dies at 91 ...
and
Richard Meier
Richard Meier (born October 12, 1934) is an American abstract artist and architect, whose geometric designs make prominent use of the color white. A winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1984, Meier has designed several iconic buildings ...
.
Lerner obtained a master's degree in architecture at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1975, and joined the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
faculty.
While based in Charlottesville, Lerner led his own firm, Ralph Lerner, Architecture and Urban Design.
From 1979 to 1980, Lerner taught at
Polytechnic of Central London
, mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength
, type = Public
, established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster
, endowment = £5.1 million ...
.
He returned to the United States for a position at Harvard, then accepted an associate professorship at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
in 1983.
Ralph Lerner Architect PC was established in Princeton the following year.
He was appointed dean of the
Princeton University School of Architecture in 1989, two years after becoming a full professor.
Lerner was designated George Dutton ’27 Professor of Architecture in 1994, and was succeeded as dean by
Stan Allen in 2002.
Lerner remained on the Princeton faculty until his 2008 resignation, to assume the deanship of the Faculty of Architecture at the
University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...
.
Lerner resigned from HKU in April 2011 for health reasons,
and returned to the United States. He died in
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...
, of brain cancer on May 7, 2011, aged 61.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lerner, Ralph
1949 births
2011 deaths
Architects from New York (state)
20th-century American architects
American university and college faculty deans
Academics of the University of Westminster
Princeton University faculty
Academic staff of the University of Hong Kong
University of Virginia faculty
Cooper Union alumni
Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni
Deaths from brain cancer in the United States
Deaths from cancer in New Jersey
American expatriates in Hong Kong
Architects from New Jersey
Architects from Virginia
American expatriates in the United Kingdom
American expatriate academics
Fellows of the American Institute of Architects