Barkow Leibinger Architects, a Berlin-based firm headed by the husband and wife team of Frank Barkow and Regine Leibinger, has been selected as the winner of the second annual Marcus Corporation Foundation Prize. Awarded by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning, the prize recognizes “emerging talent in architecture.”
In making their selection, the jury noted that firm’s architecture can be defined as the constant interplay between practice, research, and teaching. Barkow Leibinger is known for its use of industrial materials and innovative glass technologies. Its Trutec office building in Korea, for instance, features a facade of highly reflective, staggered glazed panels that resemble a shattered mirror.
Barkow and Leibinger will give lectures at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning in the spring of 2008; they will also lead a graduate studio there. Their firm was selected from a pool of 26 international nominees. The jurors were Ralph Johnson, FAIA, national design director, Perkins + Will; Hugh Pearman, editor of the RIBA Journal; Susan Szenasy, editor-in-chief of Metropolis Magazine; Robert Greenstreet, dean of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning; and Steven Marcus, CEO of the Marcus Corporation Foundation.