Spokane AIA Architect Spotlight Lecture - Frank Barkow - Oct 27
Thursday, October 27, 2022
Spokane AIA Special Event
Award winning architect and co-founder of Berlin-based Barkow Leibinger, Frank Barkow, will be coming to Spokane to share his design process and philosophy as well as technologically innovative projects from around the world.
To register, see this link.
In 1993, Frank Barkow and Regine Leibinger founded their American-German office in Berlin. Today, it employs around 90 people. Over the years, the firm has developed numerous projects in Germany and abroad, the quality of which has been affirmed in publications and through the receipt of awards. The scope of Barkow–Leibinger’s projects ranges from public buildings and office buildings to residential and industrial interiors within existing buildings.
The central focus of the firm – building for medium- and large-scale companies – includes, in addition to drawing up long-term master plans for site development, the planning and realization of representative and functional buildings for production, logistics and administration (such as the company restaurant for the Trumpf company in Ditzingen). In recent years, "Tour Total", the German headquarters of the French mineral oil corporation located near Berlin's main train station, the Fellows Pavilion for the American Academy in Berlin, the Serpentine Summer House in London and the Trumpf Smart Factory in Chicago have, among other projects, been completed. Most recently completed were the Harvard ArtLab in Cambridge and the Sid Richardson Residential College at Rice University in Houston.
The office's self-understanding is characterized by relays between practice, research and teaching. Recently, all three areas have focused on the question of how digital manufacturing technologies and mechanically, mass-produced elements can be deployed in such a way that they not only complement architecture as surface or accessory, but also contribute to creating constructive, spatial structures. The materials-based research of the firm has been featured in several exhibitions, including (among others) at the Architectural Association in London, the 2008 and 2014 Venice Architecture Biennials, the 2012 Marrakech Biennial, the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial, as well as in a solo exhibition at Berlin's Haus am Waldsee in 2020.
In 2007, Barkow–Leibinger's work was awarded the Marcus Prize for Architecture. The company restaurant in Ditzingen received, among others, the DAM Prize for Architecture in Germany in 2009 and the Honor Award for Architecture from the American Institute of Architects in 2010. The "Smart Material House" in Hamburg received the Holcim Global Innovation Prize in 2012. Most recently, the Trumpf Smart Factory in Chicago received the 2018 German Steel Construction Award and the 2019 AIA Honor Award for Architecture. In addition, the Harvard Artlab received the 2019 BSA Honor Award for Design Excellence.
