Architecture & design
Gunnar Birkerts
1925–2017 · architect
Latvian-American modernist who worked for Saarinen and Yamasaki and ran his own firm from Birmingham, Michigan, for four decades.
- Born
Riga, Latvia- Died
Needham, Massachusetts
aged 92- Birth name
- Gunārs Birkerts
- Also known as
- Gunārs Birkerts
- Detroit years
- 1951–2000s
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Birkerts fled Latvia during World War II, studied architecture in Stuttgart and emigrated to the United States in 1949. After a short stint in Chicago he moved to the Detroit area in the early 1950s to work for Eero Saarinen, contributing to the General Motors Technical Center, and then became chief designer for Minoru Yamasaki, where he worked on the Reynolds Metals building in Southfield. In 1959 he began teaching at the University of Michigan, where he stayed until 1990, and in 1963 he founded Gunnar Birkerts and Associates in Birmingham. His Detroit-area work includes the 1300 Lafayette East apartment tower in Lafayette Park, Lillibridge Elementary School, the Fisher Administrative Center at the University of Detroit and the underground addition to the University of Michigan Law Library in Ann Arbor. Nationally he was known for the Corning Museum of Glass and the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and late in life he completed the National Library of Latvia in Riga (2014).
Highlights
- Worked on the GM Technical Center in Eero Saarinen's office
- Chief designer for Minoru Yamasaki in the 1950s
- Founded Gunnar Birkerts and Associates in Birmingham, Michigan (1963)
- 1300 Lafayette East (1963) in Detroit's Lafayette Park
- Designed the National Library of Latvia in Riga (2014)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1961–1963
1300 Lafayette East
His cooperative apartment tower in Lafayette Park, next to Mies van der Rohe's buildings.
Worked here · 1964–1966
Fisher Administrative Center, University of Detroit Mercy
Administration building he designed for the University of Detroit's McNichols campus.