Deborah Berke is principal of Deborah Berke Partners, with whom she has created a distinct and lasting body of work. Deborah sets the creative direction for the practice and brings her design vision to each project, culminating in the firm beign named to the AD100 list for its residential work in 2022. The office's approach to architecture--informed by its pursuit of authenticity, love for the visual arts, and intellectual rigor-- pervades its design processes and projects.
In July 2016, Deborah became the first woman dean of the Yale School of Architecture, where she has been a professor since 1987. Deborah continues Yale’s long tradition of distinguished practitioners who have served as Dean, including Robert A.M. Stern, Cesar Pelli, and Paul Rudolph. With a passion for both the teaching and practice of architecture, she continues to direct the firm’s creative work.
Deborah is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a Trustee and Vice President of the Urban Design Forum, a James Howell Foundation Board Member, a member of the Yaddo Board of Directors, and a member of the Pritzker Prize jury. Over the past two decades, Deborah has also served as trustee and vice president of desigNYC, founding trustee of New York City’s Design Trust for Public Space, trustee of the National Building Museum, Chair of the Board of Advisors for the Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University, trustee of the Brearley School, and a vice president of the AIA New York Chapter. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (B.F.A. and B. Architecture) and The City University of New York (M. Urban Planning in Urban Design). In 2005, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design.
