Gunnar Birkerts
| Gunnar Birkerts | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 7, 1925 Riga, Latvia |
| Nationality | Latvian |
| Alma mater | Technische Hochschule, Stuttgart |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Children | Sven Birkerts |
| Awards | Fellow of the AIA |
| Practice | Birkerts and Straub, Birkerts and Associates |
| Buildings | Corning Fire Station, Corning Museum of Glass, Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank |
Gunnar Birkerts (Latvian: Gunārs Birkerts, born January 17, 1925 in Riga, Latvia) is a Latvian-American architect who, for most of his career, was based in the metropolitan area of Detroit, Michigan. Some of his designs include the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, 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. His latest project is the National Library of Latvia in 2014 in Riga, Latvia, the National Library called the Castle of Light whose architectural form references and draw inspiration from Latvian folklore.
Gunnar Birkerts was raised in Latvia but fled ahead of the advancing Russian army toward the end of the Second World War. He graduated from the Technische Hochschule, Stuttgart, Germany, in 1949. Birkerts came to the United States and worked initially for Perkins and Will, then for Eero Saarinen, and finally for Minoru Yamasaki before opening his own office in the Detroit suburbs.
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