Leers, Andrea

Andrea Leers

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Education

  • Wellesley College, 1964, BA/MA Art History, Phi Beta Kappa
  • University of Pennsylvania, 1966, M.Arch

Affiliations/Firms

  • Leers, Weinzapfel Associates Architects, Inc.
  • AIA membership years: Boston Society of Architects, 1979 -

Keywords

Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire

Biography

Career in Architecture

Over the past 20 years, Andrea Leers has built a design firm which has been identified in  national and international exhibitions and publications as a prominent design leader. Because design distinction is informed by continual inquiry and discovery, Ms. Leers has also maintained an active design teaching role, and has pursued ongoing funded research into the architecture of Japan.

Ms. Leers began independent architectural practice in 1970, four years after graduation from the University of Pennsylvania Fine Arts Graduate program led by Louis I. Kahn. In 1982, she was joined by partner Jane Weinzapfel and together they built the present 25-person firm. From its inception, the firm was committed to design excellence in the public realm, and many of the firm’s design awards honor such projects.

From 1975 to 1978, Ms. Leers taught design at Harvard University Graduate School of Design; in 1980, she was invited by Dean Cesar Pelli to teach at Yale University School of Architecture where she continued for eight years; she has been Visiting Critic as well at MIT and University of Pennsylvania. The continuous intellectual challenge and test of ideas in the academic setting informs her own work and promotes design evolution and experiment.

Since 1979, Leers has been involved in research and design in Japan. She has received several national grants including the prestigious National Endowment of the Arts/Japan-US Friendship Commission Design Arts Fellowship in 1982. The grant provides for extended residency and research in Japan. She is currently at work on a book entitled Welcome to the West: Japans Grand Resort Hotels. Through published articles and lectures in this country and Japan, she is actively engaged in promoting cross-cultural and international exchange and understanding of the profession.

Press and Awards

Women in Design Award of Excellence (2003)

Institutional Affiliations

  • Visiting Critic at Harvard Grad School of Design, Dept of Architecture 1975-78. 1990
  • Critic in Architecture at Yale University School of Architecture 1981-83, 1988
  • Adjunct Associate Professor at Yale University School of Architecture 1984-87