Design
Why Deborah Berke Loves Building in America’s Mid-Sized Cities
The architect and dean of the Yale School of Architecture speaks to CityLab about her work, her industry, and the cities she loves working in.
“I probably spend more time in places like Indianapolis, Louisville, Columbus, and Lexington than any other New Yorker you know,” Deborah Berke says inside the library of her firm’s office in Manhattan’s Flatiron District.
The Queens-raised architect has been running her own practice, Deborah Berke Partners, for over 30 years now, with a body of work that leans surprisingly heavy on the mid-sized cities of America’s Midwest and East Coast. Most of these projects leave a distinguishing modern mark on handsome 19th-century buildings through design interventions that give new uses and new energy to old spaces.