Gunnar Birkerts: The Work Speaks for Itself

Abstract

Gunnar Birkerts was the last twentieth-century architect of international acclaim to have practiced out of the Detroit, Michigan region of the United States. This text was written as an introduction to my essays and building descriptions in the book, Gunnar Birkerts, Metaphoric Modernist, published in 2009 by Edition Axel Menges. These observations and descriptions of a few of Birkerts’ buildings, were deleted from the final book publication. Birkerts died in 2017. I have updated this essay to reflect the passage of time and the occasion of his centenary in January 2025.