Gunnar Birkerts

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, designed by Gunnar Birkerts, 1992–1994. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, 1973, (now: Marquette Plaza), in its original configuration.

Gunnar Birkerts (, January 17, 1925 – August 15, 2017) was a Latvian American architect who, for the most of his career, was based in the metropolitan area of Detroit, Michigan.

Some of his notable designs include the Corning Museum of Glass and the Corning Fire Station in Corning, New York; Marquette Plaza in Minneapolis, Minnesota; the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri; and the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela.

In 2014, the National Library of Latvia in Riga was completed to his design.

The Corning Fire Station facade and floor plan. The building has a strict form where small vehicles are placed in the narrow portion at the tip. All function spaces have been baked into the base of the triangle, such as changing rooms, storage room, dining room, dormitory and office, where all rooms are accessed via a wide corridor.

Biography

Birkerts was born and raised in Latvia, but escaped ahead of the advancing Soviet army toward the end of the Second World War. He graduated from the Technische Hochschule, Stuttgart, Germany, in 1949. He acknowledged being influenced by Scandinavian tradition and the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. and the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela.

In 1989, Birkerts was commissioned to design the new building for the National Library of Latvia in Riga, Latvia, which had great personal meaning for him.

Architectural work

Perkins+Will Rockford Memorial Hospital, Rockford, Illinois 1950

Eero Saarinen GM Tech Center, Warren, Michigan 1950–1955 Milwaukee County War Memorial Building, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1950–1955 Kresge Auditorium at MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1953 Concordia Senior College, Fort Wayne, Indiana 1953 Irwin Union Bank and Trust, Columbus, Indiana 1954

Minoru Yamasaki Lambert-St. Louis International Airport Main Terminal, St. Louis, Missouri 1956 Reynolds Metals Regional Sales Office, Southfield, Michigan 1959

Personal Work Cultural Center, Leopoldville, Belgian Congo, 1958 Technical University, Ankara, Turkey 1959

Work Done while Faculty at The University of Michigan (Birkerts & Straub, Birkerts & Associates) Schwartz Summer Residence, Northville, Michigan 1960 1300 Lafayette East Cooperative Apartments, Detroit, Michigan 1961–1963 Lillibridge Elementary School, Detroit, Michigan 1962–1963 People's Federal Savings and Loan Branch, Royal Oak, Michigan 1962–1963 Marathon Oil Office Building, Detroit, Michigan 1962–1964 University Reformed Church, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1963–1964 Detroit Institute of the Arts Master Plan and South Wing, Detroit, Michigan 1964 Bald Mountain Recreation Facility, Lake Orion, Michigan 1964–1968 Fisher Administrative Center at the University of Detroit-Mercy, Detroit, Michigan 1964–1966 Travis Residence, Franklin, Michigan 1964–1965 Tougaloo College Master Plan, Tougaloo, Mississippi 1965 Tougaloo College Library and Dormitories, Tougaloo, Mississippi 1965–1972 Lincoln Elementary School, Columbus, Indiana 1965–1967 Freeman Residence, Grand Rapids, Michigan 1965–1966 Massey Ferguson North American Operations Offices Project, Des Moines, Iowa Unbuilt, 1966 Vocational Technical Institute Master Plan, Carbondale, Illinois Unbuilt, 1967 Alfred Noble Branch Library, Livonia, Michigan, 1967 Ford Pavilion at Hemisfair 1968, San Antonio, Texas 1967–1968 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Minnesota 1967–1973 Amsterdam City Hall Project, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1968 Corning Public Library Project, Corning, New York Unbuilt, 1969 Corning Public Library II Project, Corning, New York Unbuilt, 1969 Duluth Public Library, Duluth, Minnesota 1969–1979 IBM Corporate Computer Center, Sterling Forest, New York 1970–1972 Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas 1970–1972 Ford Visitors Reception Center, Dearborn, Michigan Unbuilt, 1971 Dance Instructional Facility for SUNY Purchase, Purchase, New York 1971–1976 General Motors Dual-Mode Transportation Study 1973–1974 Corning Municipal Fire Station, Corning, New York 1973–1974 Subterranean Urban-Systems Study, Graham Foundation Grant, 1974 Calvary Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan 1974–1977 IBM Office Building, Southfield, Michigan 1974–1979 University of Michigan Law Library Addition, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1974–1981 United States Embassy, Helsinki, Finland Unbuilt, 1975 Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York 1976–1980 University of Iowa College of Law Building, Iowa City, Iowa 1979–1986 Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament Renovations, Detroit, Michigan Unbuilt Scheme, 1980 Ferguson Residence (Villa Ginny), Kalamazoo, Michigan 1980–1983 Uris Library Addition at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 1980–1983 St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Columbus, Indiana 1980–1988 Anchorage Library, Anchorage, Alaska Unbuilt, 1981 Baldwin Public Library Addition, Birmingham, Michigan 1981 Minnesota State Capitol Expansion Project, St. Paul, Minnesota Unbuilt, 1983 Holtzman and Silverman Office Building, Southfield, Michigan 1983–1989 Minnesota History Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota Unbuilt, 1984 Bardha Residence, Birmingham, Michigan 1984–1989 Domino's Farms, Ann Arbor Township, Michigan 1984–1998 Oberlin College Conservatory of Music Library Addition, Oberlin, Ohio 1986–1988 Schembechler Hall for the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1986–1990 Papal Altar and Furniture, Pontiac, Michigan 1987 (Now housed at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Detroit) Novoli I, Florence, Italy Unbuilt, 1987 Domino's Tower, Ann Arbor, Michigan Unbuilt, 1987–1988 UC-San Diego Library Addition, San Diego, California 1987–1993 Ohio State University Law School Addition, Columbus, Ohio 1988–1993 Church of the Servant, Kentwood, Michigan 1988–1994 Torino I, Turin, Italy Unbuilt, 1989 Torino II, Turin, Italy Unbuilt, 1989–1990 Marge Monaghan House, Drummond Island, Michigan 1989–1990 Sports and Civic Stadium, Venice, Italy Unbuilt, 1989–1992 United States Embassy, Caracas, Venezuela 1989–1996 National Library of Latvia, Riga, Latvia 1989–2014

Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan Grasis Residence, Vail, Colorado 1990–1994 Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri 1991–1994 Marriott Library Addition at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 1992–1996 Novoli II, Florence, Italy Unbuilt, 1993 Juma Al-Majid Center for Culture and Heritage, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Unbuilt, 1993 Riga Central Market Restoration and Expansion, Riga, Latvia Unbuilt, 1995 Cellular Communications Tower at Domino's Farms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1995 Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Detroit, Michigan 1998–2003 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Public Library, San Jose, California 1998–2004 Kellogg Library at California State-San Marcos, San Marcos, California 2000–2004 The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, Riga, Latvia 2002–

Publications

Birkerts, Gunnar, Gunnar Birkerts – Metaphoric Modernist, Axel Menges, Stuttgart, Germany 2009; Birkerts, Gunnar, Process and Expression in Architectural Form, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK 1994; Birkerts, Gunnar, Subterranean Urban Systems, Industrial Development Division-Institute of Science and Technology, University of Michigan 1974 Kaiser, Kay, The Architecture of Gunnar Birkerts, American Institute of Architects Press, Washington DC 1989; Martin, William, Gunnar Birkerts and Associates (Yukio Futagawa, editor and photographer), A.D.A. Edita (GA Architect), Tokyo 1982 Gunnar Birkerts & Associates, IBM Information Systems Center, Sterling Forest, N.Y., 1972; Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1973 (Yukio Futagawa, editor and photographer), A.D.A. EDITA (GA Architecture), Tokyo 1974