Brigitte Peterhans (born Brigitte Schlaich) was a German American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, (born 27 August 1928 in

Sulz am Neckar Sulz am Neckar is a town in the district of Rottweil, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Neckar, 22 km north of Rottweil, and 19 km southeast of Freudenstadt. Sulz am Neckar came in the possession of the Hoh ...

, Germany – died 15 January 2021 in Stuttgart). Peterhans received her Diplom-Ingenieur in 1960 from the University of Stuttgart. Encouraged by

Myron Goldsmith Myron Goldsmith (September 15, 1918 – July 15, 1996) was an American architect and designer.David W. DunlaJuly 17, 1996 New York Times He was a student of Mies van der Rohe and Pier Luigi Nervi before designing 40 projects at Skidmore, Owings & ...

, she studied at the

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has pro ...

as a

Fulbright fellow The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

(1956-1957) where she received her Master of Architecture in 1962. She married the photographer and former

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 2 ...

teacher

Walter Peterhans Walter Peterhans (12 June 1897 – 12 April 1960) was a German photographer best known as a teacher and course leader of photography at the Bauhaus from 1929 until 1933, and at the Reimann School in Berlin under Hugo Häring. In the 1930s Peterha ...

in 1957, who at that time was teaching at the Illinois Institute of Technology. She is the sister of the structural engineer

Jörg Schlaich Jörg Schlaich (17 October 1934 – 4 September 2021) was a German structural engineer and is known internationally for his ground-breaking work in the creative design of bridges, long-span roofs, and other complex structures. He was a co-founde ...

.Holgate, Alan (1996
''The Art of Structural Engineering: the work of Jörg Schlaich and his team''
Fellbach: Edition Axel Menges. Retrieved 12 June 2017 As a student she was hired in 1958 by

Skidmore Owings and Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The firm ...

. She remained at SOM on and off for thirty three years, working with

Bruce Graham Bruce John Graham (December 1, 1925 – March 6, 2010) was a Peruvian-American architect. Graham built buildings all over the world and was deeply involved with evolving the Burnham Plan of Chicago. Among his most notable buildings are the ...

and

on domestic and international projects. Her career includes contributions to projects including Arab International Bank World Trade Center and Hotel, Cairo, Egypt, 1976-1978, 1985-1990; Artigas Foundation, Gallifa, Spain 1985-1989;

Baxter Travenol Baxter International Inc. is an American multinational healthcare company with headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois. The company primarily focuses on products to treat kidney disease, and other chronic and acute medical conditions. The company ...

Headquarters and Laboratories, Deerfield, Illinois, 1973-1980; Broadgate Exchange House, London, 1987-1990; Max Eyth Footbridge, Stuttgart, Germany, 1989;

Perimeter Center Perimeter Center is a major edge city in metro Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is centered on Perimeter Mall, the nucleus around which it has formed. Perimeter Center is located north of Atlanta proper, and lies within three cities: Dunwoody, ...

, Atlanta, Georgia, 1981-1986;

Sears Tower The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) ...

, Chicago, Illinois, 1970-1972, 1980. In 1973 Peterhans was made an associate at SOM, and an associate partner in 1979. She retired in 1990.

References

External links

2021, 29 Jan. “Remembering Brigitte Peterhans, Former SOM Associate Partner.” ''SOM'', 7 Sept. 2021, https://www.som.com/news/remembering-brigitte-peterhans-former-som-associate-partner/ “Brigitte Peterhans Obituary (2021) Chicago Sun-Times.” ''Legacy.com'', https://legacy.suntimes.com/us/obituaries/chicagosuntimes/name/brigitte-peterhans-obituary?pid=197516274 {{DEFAULTSORT:Peterhans, Brigitte 1928 births Living people People from Sulz am Neckar People from the Free People's State of Württemberg German emigrants to the United States 20th-century American architects American women architects Illinois Institute of Technology alumni 20th-century American women 21st-century American women