Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, 250 Marquette Avenue, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, MN. Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
In contrast to many prominent and accomplished architects of the twentieth century, Gunnar Birkerts never settled into a singular style or rigid set of motifs from which his projects were generated. He did not, as we say these days, “brand” himself. Instead, he worked in the manner of a small number of architects at the top of the profession, including Rafael Moneo, Renzo Piano, Eero Saarinen, Jorn Utzon, and Peter Zumthor, who find each project to be particular enough to demand architecture that is, if not wholly different from what he has done previously, at least worthy of a significant resynthesis of his many, closely held enthusiasms. Birkerts’s work was not a demonstration of the validity of a theoretical position, save that architecture is capable of meaningful expression and that his search for meaning led him to find practical solutions. His architecture was a demonstration of his process, of finding meaningful correspondences in form, in culture, of intuitive energy informed by professional craft. Nor did Birkerts specialize. He completed many types of buildings, but even as he designed several libraries and churches, but he did not narrow his inquiries and did not repeat himself.
This presentation, on the occasion of Birkerts’s 2025 centenary year, will attempt to capture something of the range of his fifty years of practice and, in particular, his commitment to generating buildings with his understanding of daylight. Martin Schwartz will discuss Birkerts’s works from his early exploration of daylight and structure in the University Reformed Church (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1963–1964) to his final project, in his homeland, the National Library of Latvia (Riga, Latvia, 1989–2014).
→ Gunnar Birkerts: Metaphoric Modernist (Edition Axel Menges, 2009).
It’s true—the title of this book identifies me as a Modernist. I accept the label. As a child of my times, my history, I cannot think of myself as being anything else. The Modern is in my blood; it was the Zeitgeist that shaped me, not just visually and artistically, but socially, intellectually, maybe even emotionally. I see the world through its lens. Everything meaningful built after I was born I consider Modern.
—Gunnar Birkerts1
North elevation, Alfred Nobel Library, Livonia Branch Library, Livonia, MI. © Martin Schwartz.
Interior, University Reformed Church, Ann Arbor, MI, 1963–1964. Photo by Balthazar Korab.
Interior view, lobby, and stair, Law Library Addition, University of Michigan, 1974–1981. © Martin Schwartz.
View from the west, National Library of Latvia, Riga, Latvia, 1989–2014. © Algimantas Bublyds.
Calvary Baptist Church, Detroit, MI. Photo by Balthazar Korab, Balthazar Korab collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Dance studio interior, Dance Instructional Facility, State University of New York (SUNY) at Purchase, NY, 1971–1976. © Gunnar Birkerts
Architecture must address not just the practical need for shelter, but also the human need for meaning. I consider metaphor and symbolism to be integral to my concepts, and I draw on my subconscious intuition for both. I see forms as both functional and meaningful. A building is serving its users and at the same time responding to its environment.
—Gunnar Birkerts2
Gunnar Birkerts at home, circa 2004. © Martin Schwartz.
Axonometric drawing of project with the unbuilt upper floors, Federal Reserve Bank, Minneapolis, MN, 1967–1973. Drawing by the office of Gunnar Birkerts.
Drawing of daylighting strategy and window design, IBM Building, Southfield, MI 1974–1979. Drawing by Gunnar Birkerts.
