Deborah Berke (born 1954) is an American architect and academic. She is the founder of TenBerke, formerly Deborah Berke Partners, a New York City-based architectural design firm. Berke is currently Dean and J.M. Hoppin Professor at the Yale School of Architecture, where she began teaching as an associate professor in 1987. At the time of her appointment in 2016, Berke became the first woman Dean of the school. In 2022, Deborah received the

AIA AIA or A.I.A. or Aia may refer to: Aia * Aia, a small town in the province of Gipuzkoa, Spain * Peñas de Aya, small mountain range in Oiartzun, Gipuzkoa * Aia, current Kutaisi, ancient capital of Colchis * Aia, another name for Aea (Malis), an ...

/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education. She was awarded the 2025

AIA Gold Medal The AIA Gold Medal is awarded by the American Institute of Architects conferred "by the national AIA Board of Directors in recognition of a significant body of work of lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture." It is the Ins ...

Award.

Life

Deborah Berke was born in 1954 in Manhattan, New York City, and raised in Douglaston, Queens. She traces her decision to become an architect to age 14, when she would explore Queens and study the borough's small-lot houses. Berke attended the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

, earning a BFA in 1975 and a BArch in 1977. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the school in 2005. For graduate studies, Berke attended the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

, earning a Masters in Urban Planning in Urban Design in 1984. In 2012, she became the first laureate of the Berkeley-Rupp Architecture Professorship and Prize. In 2024, she was awarded the 2025

Award.

Selected works

*1982, ''Rob Krier: Urban Projects, 1968-1982'' (with Rob Krier; Kenneth Frampton; Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies) *1984, ''Visual analysis'' (with University of Maryland, College Park. School of Architecture) *1985, ''32 buildings'' (with Mark McInturff; University of Maryland, College Park. School of Architecture) *1990, ''30 buildings'' (with Mark McInturff; University of Maryland, College Park. School of Architecture) *1997, ''Architecture of the Everyday'' (with Steven Harris) *2008, ''Deborah Berke'' (with Tracy Myers) *2016, ''House rules: an architect's guide to modern life''

Awards and honors

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, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

, elected 2022 *

/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education, 2022 *

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

, elected 2022 * Berkeley-Rupp Architecture Professorship and Prize, 2012

In popular culture

Berke is referenced extensively in the 2017 film ''Columbus'' by director Kogonada. The female protagonist, Casey, is a fan of her work, citing the regional branch of Irwin Union Bank designed by Berke as her third favorite building.

References

External links and additional reading

* *"A Working House: Studio/Guest House, Hillsdale, New York, Deborah Berke and Carey McWhorter, Architects." ''Architectural Record'' 181, no. 4 (April 1, 1993). *Gerfen, Katie, Deborah Berke, and Maitland Jones. 2017. “Rockefeller Arts Center at SUNY Fredonia, Fredonia, N.Y.: Deborah Berke Partners: A Classic I.M. Pei Arts Building Gets an Addition and Renovation by the Masters of Thoughtful Pragmatism.” ''Architect (Washington, D.C.)'', November, 164–75. *Interior Design. “Deborah Berke Partners Creates Contemporary Art Experience at the 21c Museum Hotel Chicago.” Accessed October 25, 2021. {{DEFAULTSORT:Berke, Deborah 1954 births Living people 20th-century American architects 21st-century American architects 20th-century American women 21st-century American women Fellows of the American Institute of Architects American women architects Place of birth missing (living people) Rhode Island School of Design alumni Yale School of Architecture faculty Yale University administrators City College of New York alumni