Ralph Lerner, architect and former dean of the School of Architecture at Princeton University, died in Princeton on Saturday, May 7, following a long battle with brain cancer.
A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Lerner resigned as dean at the University of Hong Kong Department of Architecture for health reasons and returned to the United States earlier this year.
— blog.archpaper.com
5 Comments
I had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with Lerner a few years ago. He was the dean of the Hong Kong University and our P. Scott Cohen led GSD studio collaborated with an HKU studio.. thus of course Lerner was compelled to engage, essentially meaning he took the opportunity with great pleasure to level his critiques at Scott and the GSD via the students. I did not at all take this to be negative, the brusque bluntness of the very directed criticism was not only refreshing but always on point. I remember vividly a comparative metaphor that he used to describe his sentiments on his schools (princeton and HKU) vs. the GSD specifically... He referred to his schools as small wiley motorboats able to change direction with rapidity thus providing great degrees of potential flexibility to adapt and stay current, whereas the GSD is more like a giant cruise ship or air-craft carrier that though "big and important" simply cannot turn in time... Its sluggish whereas Princeton is dextourous
(previous comment was accidentally submitted before finished.) Anyways, Ralph will be missed in the discipline. He was always interested in progress and relevancy. His critiques were rigorous and thoughtful. He was a great teacher and architect.
A great loss.
JeffryBurchard,
That's so funny. PSC once told me the exact same story, except in his version, the small dynamic motorboat would always be encircling the "big and important" ship.
@ballyhoo,
Yeah I heard that version from PSC also. Though Lerner's story was probably a bit more correct, I have to say. This metaphor always did come up when those two were in the same room.
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