Berkeley-Rupp Architecture Professorship and Prize
Practice
Deborah Berke Partners Yale School of Architecture
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.[1][2] In 2022, Deborah received the
AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education.[3]
Life
Deborah Berke was born in 1954 in
Douglaston, Queens, New York City.[4] She traces her decision to become an architect to age 14, when she would explore Queens and study the borough's small-lot houses.[5] Berke attended the
Rhode Island School of Design, earning a BFA in 1975 and a
BArch in 1977. She was awarded an
honorary doctorate from the school in 2005.[6]
For graduate studies, Berke attended the
City College of New York, earning a Masters in Urban Planning in Urban Design in 1984.[7][8]
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.[14][15]
"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.