- Serge Chermayeff
Serge Ivan Chermayeff (
October 8 1900 –May 8 1996 ) was a Chechen born, Britisharchitect , writer, and co-founder of several architectural societies, including the American Society of Planners and Architects.He was born in
Grozny ,Russian Empire (currentlyChechen Republic ), but moved toEngland at a young age where he received his education. He first started working as an interior designer for a firm inLondon . By 1930, he and the German architectErich Mendelsohn briefly partnered to form their own architectural firm. They created some very important works in the British modernist movement, notably the De La Warr Pavilion andCohen house and was a member of theMARS Group .In 1940, Chermayeff emigrated to the
United States where he would continue his architectural career and would take up teaching at several universities. In 1946, he was recommended byWalter Gropius to become the director of the Institute of Design inChicago . He stepped down in 1951 when the institute merged with theIllinois Institute of Technology . Between 1952 and 1970 he would continue to teach at several universities including Harvard, Yale, and MIT. He retired in 1970.He wrote several books, including "Community and Privacy" with
Christopher Alexander in 1964 and "The Shape of Community" withAlexander Tzonis in 1971. He died in 1996 inWellfleet, Massachusetts . Chermayeff's architectural drawings, project records, photographs, correspondence, teaching and writing papers, and research files are held by the Dept. of Drawings & Archives atAvery Architectural and Fine Arts Library atColumbia University .His son Ivan Chermayeff is a prominent graphic designer and a founding partner of New York-based design studio
Chermayeff & Geismar . [ [http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-ivanchermayeffandtomgeismar Ivan Chermayeff and Thomas Geismar] ]References
External links
* [http://www.artic.edu/aic/libraries/caohp/chermayeff.html Chicago Architects Oral History Project, The Art Institute of Chicago. Serge Chermayeff oral history]
* [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/archives/avery/chermayeff/ldpd.3464750.001.f.html Serge Chermayeff architectural records and papers, 1909-1980. Held in the Department of Drawings & Archives, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml?xml=/property/2003/01/02/pmast04.xml Master builders: Serge Chermayeff (1900–1996)]
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