Jeff Kipnis

• Name — Jeffrey Kipnis • Born — 1951 • Birthplace — Georgia, United States • Field — Art history, Architectural history, Architectural theory

Although neither educated nor trained as an architect, Kipnis first came to prominence in architectural circles through his association with architects Bahram Shirdel and Peter Eisenman (and their joint collaboration with French philosopher Jacques Derrida). Kipnis received a master's degree in physics from Georgia State University in 1981. In 1989, he co-taught his first graduate studio in architecture with Catherine Ingraham at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He soon joined the faculty of the Knowlton School of Ohio State University, where he was a professor of architecture until retiring in 2022. In 2006, Kipnis was awarded an honorary diploma by the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London, in recognition of his contributions to the discipline of architecture as a teacher, critic, and theorist. Other honors include the AIA (Georgia Chapter) Bronze Medal for Service to Architecture (1985), a Professional Development Award from the Architectural Society of Ohio Foundation (1992), and an Ohio State University Distinguished Research Award (2005). Kipnis has been a visiting professor at Princeton University, Columbia University, the Southern California Institute of Architecture, the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and a guest professor of Urban Strategies at the Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna. He taught at the Architectural Association from 1992 to 1995, where he was the founding director of the Graduate Design Program. He also curated Architecture and Design exhibitions at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. As a critic and theorist, Kipnis's work has been published in numerous journals, including Assemblage, El Croquis, Architectural Design, Harvard Design Magazine, Log, and Quaderns.

During the 1990s Kipnis collaborated with the Iranian architect Bahram Shirdel on the design of influential projects such as the Scottish National Museum, Montreal Urban Design 1990-2000, and Place Jacques Cartier. Kipnis also collaborated with architects Reiser + Umemoto (RUR Architects) on the Kansai-kan National Diet Library and the Water Garden in Columbus, Ohio, which won a 1998 Progressive Architecture Design Award.