LEBBEUS WOODS

1940-2012

2001–2012 Professor of Architecture, The Cooper Union, New York, NY

1988–2012 Co-founder and Director, Research Institute for Experimental Architecture

1988–1997 Professor of Architecture, The Cooper Union, New York, NY

1985–2010 Visiting Professor, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC; Kansas State
University, Manhattan, Kansas; University of Houston, Houston, TX; Southern
California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Los Angeles, CA; Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA; The Bartlett School of Architecture, University
College London, London, UK; Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO;
Columbia University, New York, NY; European Graduate School, Saas-Fee,
Switzerland

1985–1995 Visiting Lecturer, Architectural Association, London, England; Clemson

University, Clemson, South Carolina; Tulane University, New Orleans, LA;
Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Frankfurt, Germany

1964–1968 Eero Saarinen and Associates / Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates

1960–1964 University of Illinois, Architecture

1958–1960 Purdue University, Engineering

1940 Born in Lansing, MI

Public Collections
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, NY
Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France
Getty Research Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), Vienna, Austria
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY

Awards
American Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Award
American Institute of Architects Award for Design
American Institute of Architects Honors for Design
Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design
New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow
New York State Council on the Arts Architecture Grant
Progressive Architecture Award for Design Research

Solo Exhibitions
2023 Lebbeus Woods: Ecologies, 1984-1990 (upcoming), Friedman Benda,
Los Angeles, CA

2016 Lebbeus Woods: Zagreb Free Zone, Room East, New York, NY

2014 Lebbeus Woods, On – Line, Tchoban Foundation, Museum for Architectural

Drawing, Berlin, Germany
Lebbeus Woods: Architect, The Drawing Room, New York, NY

2013 Lebbeus Woods, SCI-Arc Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Earthwave installation, designed by Lebbeus Woods and Christoph A Kumpusch,
Traction Triangle at Bloom Square, Los Angeles, CA
Lebbeus Woods: Architect, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San
Francisco, CA

2012 Lebbeus Woods: Early Drawings, Friedman Benda, New York, NY

2006 Sarajevo2006, National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Bosnia

and Herzgovina

2005 System Wien, Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna, Austria

2004 Lebbeus Woods: Experimental Architecture, Heinz Architecture Center, Carnegie

Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA

2002 The Storm, Houghton Gallery, The Cooper Union, New York, NY

2000 Terrain, Henry Urbach Architecture Gallery, New York, NY

Seismicity, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Lebbeus Woods: Works 1980-2000, Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, University of the
Arts, Philadelphia, PA

1999 Lines of Flight, Henry Urbach Architecture Gallery, New York, NY

1998 Lebbeus Woods: Solohouse to Witte Dame, MU Art Foundation, Eindhoven, The
Netherlands

1997 Horizon Houses, University of North Carolina School of Architecture Gallery,

Charlotte, NC

1996 Lebbeus Woods: Havana Projects, ROM Gallery for Architecture, Oslo, Norway
The House That Is a Fragment of Itself, Curve/Tolarno Gallery, Melbourne,
 Australia

1995 Aerial Paris, Turner/Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Bay Area Projects: Inhabiting the Quake, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,
San Francisco, CA
Lebbeus Woods: Drawings, Kohn Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Wall, Sala Montcada, Barcelona, Spain

1994 Freespace Projects, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, NY
Freespace Architecture, IZM Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1993 Secrets of the White Box, Rice University, Farish Gallery, Houston, TX
War and Architecture / Rat I Arhitektura, Olympic Museum Sarajevo, Bosnia and
Herzgovina

1992 Terra Nova: Drawings and Models of Lebbeus Woods, MIT List Visual Arts
Center, Cambridge, MA

1991 Berlin-Free-Zone, Aedes Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Architecture Is a Political Act, Gund Hall Gallery, Harvard University, Cambridge,
MA
Centric 44: Lebbeus Woods, University Art Museum, California State University,
Long Beach, CA
Lebbeus Woods: Architecture, Galerie Dessa, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Zagreb-Free-Zone, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb, Croatia

1989 Terra Nova. Fenster Galerie, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

1988 Underground Berlin, The Art and Architecture Exhibition Space (2AES), San
Francisco, CA
Projects, Stadelschule, Frankfurt am Main; University of Kentucky,
Lexington, KY; University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC; SCI-Arc, Santa
Monica, CA.

1987–1988 Centricity. Aedes Galerie, Berlin, Germany; Stuttgart Association of

Architects Galerie, Stuttgart, Germany; University of Siegen,
Siegen, Germany; Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, NY

1987 Cyclical Cities, Rom Galerie, Oslo, Norway; Skala Galerie, Copenhagen

1985 Origins. Archictural Association, London, UK; Van Rooy Galerie, Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Architecture: The Mythic Journey, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN

1984 CENTERS: Three Public Building Projects, Storefront for Art and Architecture,
New York, NY

1982 AEON: The Architecture of Time, Express/Network Gallery, New York, NY;
University of Illinois School of Architecture, Champaign-Urbana, IL
Group Exhibitions
2017 Second Life, Slought Foundation, Philadelphia, PA

2012—2013 Field Conditions, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

2011 Light Pavilion, MAK Center, Los Angeles, CA

2010 New Works from the Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San
Francisco, CA

2009 Drawings from the Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

2008 Cut: Revealing the Section, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San
Francisco, CA
246 and Counting: Recent Architecture & Design Acquisitions, San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

2007 Envisioning Architecture, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

System Error: War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, Palazzo delle Papesse,
Siena, Italy

2006 Future City, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK

The Olympics Snow Show, with Kiki Smith, Turin, Italy
Summer Show, Royal Academy of Art, London, UK

2005 Visionary Drawings, Henry Urbach Architecture Gallery, New York, NY

2004 Envisioning Architecture, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

The Snow Show, with Kiki Smith, Rovaniemi, Finland
Bosnian Chronicles, Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany
Firmament, with Kiki Smith, Henry Urbach Architecture Gallery, New York, NY

2003 M_ARS: Kunst und Krieg, Neue Gallery, Graz, Austria

The Snow Show Venice, Palazzo Zorzi, Venice, Italy

2002 Whitney Biennial 2002, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Ce qui arrive/Unknown Quantity, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain,
Paris, France

2001-2002 Organic/Inorganic, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

2000 Types And Prototypes: Selections from the Permanent Collection, San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Design Culture Now, National Design Triennial, Cooper-Hewitt National Design
Museum, New York, NY
Seven Hills: Images and Signs of the 21st Century, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin,
Germany
1999 Metaforms: Deconstructivist Positions in Architecture and Art, Kunsthalle,
Dusseldorf, Germany
Archipelago: Sperimentale Architettura 1959-1999, Palazzo Fabroni, Pistoia, Italy

1998 The Havana Projects, Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria
Architecture at the End of the Century, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los
Angeles, CA

1997 Irresistible Decay, Getty Research Institute for the Arts and Humanities, Los
Angeles, CA

1996 Architecture Again: The Havana Projects, MAK Center for Architecture, Los
Angeles, CA

1995 Chrysler Awards Exhibition, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San
Francisco, CA
Manifestos, Centro nacional de Concervacion, Havana, Cuba

1994 Kyoto Future City Art Museum, Sabie Cultural Institute, Tokyo, Japan
A+A+WOODS, Art and Architecture Gallery, Yale University, New Haven, CT

1993 At the Edge of Chaos: New Images of the World, Louisiana Museum of Modern
Art, Copenhagen, Denmark

1992 Theory and Experimentation, Royal Institute of British Architects, London, UK

1990 RIEA: The First Conference, Aedes Galerie, Berlin, Germany

1989–1990 Paris: Architecture et Utopie. Pavilion de l’Arsenal, Paris, France; Kunsthalle,

Berlin, Germany

1989 Kunstlerhauser. Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

1988–1991 Berlin: Denkmal oder Denkmodell? Kunsthalle, Berlin, Germany; Pavilion de

l’Arsenal, Paris, France; Bern Museum of Art, Bern, Switzerland; Krakow
Museum of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland; Kiev Fine Arts Museum, Kiev, Ukraine;
Moscow Society of Architects, Moscow, Russia

1987 Zauber der Medusa. Kunstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria

DMZ, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, NY

1986 Vision der Moderne. Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt am Main,

Germany
Via New York, Sloan Gallery, Mexico City

1985 Architecture: The Mythic Journey, The Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis,
IN
1984 Adam’s House in Paradise, Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, NY

1983 Juxtapositions, PS1, New York, NY

1980 Young Architects, Yale University School of Architecture Gallery, New Haven, CT
Tribune Tower Competition – Late Entries, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Chicago, IL
New Americans, Villa Trajan, Rome, Italy

Select Press

2020
Reiner-Roth, Shane. “Getty Research Institute Acquires Collection of Drawings and Sketches by
Lebbeus Woods,” The Architect’s Newspaper, January 20, 2020.

2014
Howarth, Dan. “Tchoban Foundation exhibits fantastical drawings by Lebbeus Woods,” dezeen,
August 7, 2014.

Goodman, Jonathan. “Lebbeus Woods: Architect,” The Brooklynrail, June 5, 2014.

2013
“Remembering Lebbeus Woods”, Modern Magazine. Spring 2013.

Woodward, Richard B. “A Man Outside His Time,” The Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2013.

Wallace, Lewis. “Lebbeus Woods: The Architect Who Dared to Ask ‘What If?’,” Wired, February
15, 2013.

2012
Kimmelman, Michael. “Lebbeus Woods”. New York Times Magazine, December 30, 2012

Olsberg, Nicholas. “Lebbeus Woods (1940-2012)”, The Architectural Review, November 23,
2012.

Denari, Neil M. “En memoria de Lebbeus Woods 1940-2012”. PLOT, November 7, 2012.

Yardley, William. “Lebbeus Woods, Architect Who Bucked Convention, Dies at 72.” New York
Times, October 31, 2012.

2011
Minner, Kelly. "Lebbeus Woods Refuses to Work in China until Ai Weiwei is Released."
ArchDaily, April 3, 2011.

2008
Ouroussoff, Nicolai. “An Architect Unshackled by Limits of the Real World.” New York Times,
August 24, 2008.
2007
Dickinson, Elizabeth Evitts. “Four Architects Receive Awards from Academy for Arts & Letters.”
[Link]. May 7, 2007.

Manaugh, Geoff. “Without Walls: An Interview with Lebbeus Woods.”

[Link], October 3, 2007.

The Museum of Modern Art. MoMA Highlights since 1980. New York: Museum of Modern Art,
2007.

2006
Hamilton, William L. “Slopeside at the Olympics, Designing with Frozen Fingers.” New York
Times, February 2, 2006.

Ouroussoff, Nicolai. “Middle-East Pieces.” New York Times, May 21, 2006.

2005
Sorkin, Michael, “Into the Woods.” Domus, January 25, 2005.

2004
Flom, Lorrie. “The Reality of Experimental Architecture: An Interview with Lebbeus Woods.”
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. Carnegie Online, July/Aug 2004.

2002
Giacoppo, Pierantonio. “Whitney Biennial—A World Apart.” [2002?]

2000
Muschamp, Herbert. “Ideazapoppin’: Images Fly at Cooper-Hewitt.” New York Times, March 10,
2000.

1999
Muschamp, Herbert. “Peeling Off Architecture’s Tranquil Skin.” New York Times, June 19, 1999.

1998
Magnuson, James I. “A Mechanism for Parity: Lebbeus Woods's Freespace as a New Pattern of
Urbanism.” Utopian Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, 1998.

1995
Betsky, Aaron. Subjects & Objects: The Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design. San
Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1995.

1994
Muschamp, Herbert. “Visions of Community with Roots in the 60’s.” New York Times,
September 4, 1994.

1992
du Pont, Diana C. Terra Nova: Drawings and Models by Lebbeus Woods. Cambridge, MA: MIT
List Visual Art Center, 1992.
1991
du Pont, Diana C. Centric 44: Lebbeus Woods. Long Beach: University Art Museum, 1991.

Cook, Peter, and Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, eds. New Spirit in Architecture. New York: Rizzoli,
1991.

Thomsen, Christian W., Experimentelle Architektur der Gegenwart. Cologne: Dumont, 1991.

Sorkin, Michael. Exquisite Corpse: Writings on Architecture. “Brave New Worlds.” London:
Verso, 1991.

1990
Betsky, Aaron, Violated Perfection: Architecture and the Fragmentation of the Modern. New
York: Rizzoli, 1990.

Thomsen, Christian W., “Lebbeus Woods, RIEA and its Berlin Exhibition of Experimental
Architecture”, A+U Architecture and Urbanism, October 1990.

Thomsen, Christian W., Literarchitektur. Cologne: Dumont, 1990.

1988
Feireiss, Kristin, Berlin—Denkmal oder Denkmodell? Architektonische Entwürfe für den
Aufbruch in das 21. Jahrhundert. Berlin: Ernst & Sohn, 1988.

Giovannini, Joseph. “Currents: Visionary’s Dream City on Paper.” New York Times, February
18, 1988.

Lee, Linda. “In a Tiny Storefront, Big Design Ideas Grow.” New York Times, October 27, 1988.

Thomsen, Christian W., “Vision für Berlin: Lebbeus Woods' Underground Berlin,” Ambiente 11,
1988.

Literature

Woods, Lebbeus, ed. Morphê: MRGD. Springer, June 27, 2008.

______. Lebbeus Woods: System Wein. Hatje-Cantz, February 2006.

______. The Storm and the Fall. Princeton Architectural Press, February 2004.

Woods, Lebbeus and Tracy Myers, ed. Lebbeus Woods: Experimental Architecture. Carnegie
Museum of Art, September 2004.

Woods, Lebbeus. Gr(o)und: Workshop 2002. Springer, July 2003.

______. Histaormina: Workshop 2001. Springer, July 2002.

______. Earthquake! A Post-Biblical View. Springer, November 2001.

______. Lebbeus Woods. Boyut, 2000.

______. Lebbeus Woods: La Paret. Fundacion La Caixa de Pensiones, December, 1998.

______. War and Architecture. Princeton Architectural Press, December, 1997.

______. Radical Reconstruction. Princeton Architectural Press, 1997.

______. Galleryworks: Farish Gallery. Farish Gallery, 1993.

______. Lebbeus Woods: Anarchitecture Architecture Is a Political Act (Architectural

Monographs, No. 22). Wiley and Sons, October, 1992.

______. The New City. Touchstone, August, 1992.

______. “Lebbeus Woods Anarchitecture: Architecture is a Political Act”, Architectural

Monographs No. 22. Academy Editions, 1992.

______. Free-zone-Berlin: ein Projekt für das Zentrum der Metropole: Ausstellung, AEDES
Galerie und Architekturforum, February, 1991.

______. “Terra Nova.” A+U Architecture and Urbanism, August, 1991.

______. “Terra Nova”, in Architecture in Transition, ed. by P. Noerver. Munich: Prestel, 1991.

______. “Berlin Subterraneo.” ARDI, Barcelona, March/April 1990.

______. Lebbeus Woods: Terra Nova. Gingko, December 1990.

______. “Experimental Architecture: A Commentary.” Avant Garde: Journal of Theory and

Criticism in Architecture and the Arts, Denver, 1989.

______. Onefivefour. Princeton Architectural Press. December, 1989.

______. A Dark Traveling. Avon Books, April, 1989.

______. “Brave New City: Lebbeus Woods’ Underground Berlin.” Interview 19, January, 1989.

______, Michael Sorkin, and Michael Webb. Temple Island: A Study. Architectural Association,
1987.

______. Centricity: architekturphilosophische Visionen. AEDES Galerie und Architekturforum,

Berlin, 1987.

______. Origins. Architectural Association, 1985.

______. Centers: Three Public Building Projects. Storefront Gallery for Art and Architecture,
1984.

______. Aeon, the Architecture of Time. International Network for Art and Architecture, 1982.

______. Einstein Tomb. Pamphlet Architecture, #6, 1980.

______. Architecture-sculpture-painting. Augustän-Xenon Press, 1980.

______. Odysseus Wall Drawing. Augustän-Xenon Press, 1979.

______. Lebbeus Woods. Augustän-Xenon Press, 1976.