After establishing Deborah Berke & Partners Architects (DBPA) in 1982, Deborah Berke set out to evolve her “philosophy of the everyday” — creating buildings that have presence and character and that rely on a discourse between a subtle hand and bold composition to become arresting architecture. With this formula for success, it didn’t take Berke long to become recognized internationally for her interior design work.
Berke’s work has transitioned to a larger scale over the past decade, distinguished by mixed-use, hospitality, retail and arts-related buildings. Especially adept at shaping architectural language using regional materials and building technologies, DBPA’s work is peppered throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia.
Reflective of DBPA’s commitment to an interdisciplinary roster of work, current projects include a combined museum/hotel/condominium development in Austin, Texas; a community arts center in NYC; a master plan for a college in Berlin; and several private homes.
A professor of architectural design at Yale University since 1987, Berke has also taught at the University of Maryland, the Rhode Island School of Design, the University of Miami,
Remaining faithful to the surrounding architecture in material and scale, the intimate 20-story Laureate takes the essence of New York’s greatest pre-war apartments and improves upon it.
and The Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, of which she was a Fellow. Of her numerous professional contributions, Berke was Chair of the Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University for six years and continues in her role as a Founding Trustee of the Design Trust for Public Space in New York City. She serves as a juror in numerous architecture and design award programs and continues to lecture throughout the country.
Berke is the co-editor, with Steven Harris, of The Architecture of the Everyday, published by Princeton Architectural Press in 1997. In fall 2008, Yale University Press published a book focusing on DBPA’s work — the first book on a contemporary American architect to be published by this esteemed academic press.
Berke is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, The City University of New York (M. Urban Planning in Urban Design), and in 2005 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, her alma mater.