Brad Cloepfil
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Brad Cloepfil (born 1956) is an American architect, educator and principal of Allied Works Architecture of
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
and
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. His first major project was an
adaptive reuse Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an existing building for a purpose other than which it was originally built or designed for. It is also known as recycling and conversion. Adaptive reuse is an effective strategy for optimizing the o ...
of a Portland warehouse for the advertising agency
Wieden+Kennedy Wieden+Kennedy (W+K; earlier styled ''Wieden & Kennedy'') is an American independent global advertising agency best known for its work for Nike. Founded by Dan Wieden and David Kennedy, and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, it is one of the l ...
. Since 2000, Cloepfil and Allied Works have completed cultural, commercial and residential projects including the
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is an art museum for contemporary art, located in St. Louis, Missouri. Known informally as the CAM St. Louis, the museum is located at 3750 Washington Boulevard in the Grand Center Arts District. The buildin ...
, the
University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...
, the Dutchess County Residence Guest House and the
Museum of Arts and Design The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the mus ...
. Recent and notable works include the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado, completed in November 2011, and the
National Music Centre The National Music Centre (NMC; french: Centre nationale de musique) is a non-profit museum and performance venue located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The centre's permanent building, branded Studio Bell, is located at 850 4th Street S.E. in Down ...
of Canada in Calgary, Alberta, which opened in July 2016.


Early life and education

Cloepfil was born in Portland, Oregon and earned his Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Oregon in Eugene. After working in the offices of
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...
, in Los Angeles, and
Mario Botta Mario Botta (born 1 April 1943) is a Swiss architect. Career Botta designed his first building, a two-family house at Morbio Superiore in Ticino, at age 16. He graduated from the Università Iuav di Venezia (1969). While the arrangements of spa ...
, in Switzerland, Cloepfil moved to New York to earn his advanced degree in architectural design. He received his Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture in 1985.


Career

After a decade of teaching and practice in New York, California and Oregon, Cloepfil founded Allied Works Architecture in Portland, Oregon, in 1994, and opened the New York City office in 2003. Cloepfil has designed and realized a wide range of projects around the world, including civic and educational institutions, arts organizations and museums, and private residences. He has received acclaim for his work on creative and cultural projects and for crafting powerful spaces for art and interaction. The recipient of numerous design awards, Cloepfil has held guest professorships at Columbia University,
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
,
Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
,
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
,
Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
, and the University of Oregon. He is also a frequent juror and lecturer at leading universities, arts organizations, and creative companies.


Projects

Allied Works is recognized for its cultural projects, among them the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado, which has been acclaimed for its approach to light and space in showcasing the creative vision of a single artist. Additional prominent arts and educational projects include the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; the Museum of Arts and Design in New York;
Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Cap ...
; the
University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...
;
Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (BTWHSPVA) is a state school, public secondary school located in the Arts District, Dallas, Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. Booker T. Washington HSPVA en ...
in the
Dallas Arts District The Arts District is a performing and visual arts district in downtown Dallas, Texas. It is located south of State Thomas; southeast of Uptown; north of the City Center District; west of Bryan Place; and east of the West End Historic Distric ...
; and the Schnitzer Center for Art and Design at the
Pacific Northwest College of Art The Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is an art school of Willamette University and is located in Portland, Oregon. Established in 1909, the art school grants Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees and graduate degrees including the Master of Fine ...
in Portland, Oregon. Allied Works has also designed and completed private residences, offices, and creative workspaces, such its design for Wieden + Kennedy Agency, which radically transformed an historic warehouse in Portland's
Pearl District The Pearl District is an area of Portland, Oregon, formerly occupied by warehouses, light industry and railroad classification yards and now noted for its art galleries, upscale businesses and residences. The area has been undergoing significan ...
into a world headquarters that has become a benchmark for adaptive reuse and workplace architecture; the Dutchess County Estate in Stanfordville, New York; and
Pixar Animation Studios Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
in
Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The resident population was 12,905 as o ...
. Major current projects include a U.S. Embassy Compound in
Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...
, Mozambique; the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus, Ohio; and studio and production spaces for Theory and Helmut Lang in New York City.


Wieden+Kennedy Building

Allied Works' first major commission for the
Wieden+Kennedy Wieden+Kennedy (W+K; earlier styled ''Wieden & Kennedy'') is an American independent global advertising agency best known for its work for Nike. Founded by Dan Wieden and David Kennedy, and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, it is one of the l ...
Building was awarded after the co-founder
Dan Wieden Dan Gordon Wieden (; March 6, 1945 – September 30, 2022) was an American advertising executive who co-founded ad firm Wieden+Kennedy. A native of Oregon, he coined the Nike tagline "Just Do It." Early life Wieden was born in Portland, Oregon, ...
sought out the designer of a local Portland bar called Saucebox, which was one of Cloepfil's early tight-budget projects. The project transformed an abandoned 1908 warehouse into the headquarters for an international advertising agency. In a state of extreme disrepair after decades as a sealed cold-storage facility, Wieden had doubts of ever moving in there, but Cloepfil convinced him that it was worth the effort. The Allied Works design turned the dark warehouse into a light-filled, open structure with new concrete and reclaimed Douglas-fir juxtaposed against the existing masonry and heavy timber frame. This project earned him several other projects from Wieden and would prove to be instrumental in further commissions.


Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis

Cloepfil's firm was selected in a 1999 design competition for the
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is an art museum for contemporary art, located in St. Louis, Missouri. Known informally as the CAM St. Louis, the museum is located at 3750 Washington Boulevard in the Grand Center Arts District. The buildin ...
over world-renowned architects such as
Peter Zumthor Peter Zumthor (; born 26 April 1943) is a Swiss architect whose work is frequently described as uncompromising and minimalist. Though managing a relatively small firm, he is the winner of the 2009 Pritzker Prize and 2013 RIBA Royal Gold Medal. E ...
,
Herzog & de Meuron Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd.,
" Herzog & de Meuron. Retrieved on 11 October 2012. "Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd. R ...
, and
Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a re ...
. The museum was sited next to an existing
Tadao Ando is a Japanese autodidact architect whose approach to architecture and landscape was categorized by architectural historian Francesco Dal Co as "critical regionalism". He is the winner of the 1995 Pritzker Prize. Early life Ando was born a few m ...
building for the Pulitzer Foundation and completed in 2003. The program of the museum was open-ended in the model of European Kunsthalls and does not own a collection. Describing his approach, Cloepfil said "I wanted a space that is energized on its own terms but also would be inspirational for artists. In a noncollecting context, you hope that artists are intensely motivated to generate work for the space."


Seattle Art Museum expansion

When the Seattle Art Museum expansion committee was seeking an architect, Terry Riley — the chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern art in New York — suggested that they consider Brad Cloepfil based on the work done on Wieden+Kennedy. In 2002, the Seattle Art Museum selected Allied Works for the expansion project, which more than doubled the museum's space, accommodated
Robert Venturi Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century. Together with h ...
's original design in 1991, and also included offices for
Washington Mutual Washington Mutual (often abbreviated to WaMu) was the United States' largest savings and loan association until its collapse in 2008. A savings bank holding company is defined in United States Code: Title 12: Banks and Banking; Section 1842: Def ...
until the museum expands again. Allied Works was selected over other finalists
Polshek Partnership Ennead Architects LLP (/ˈenēˌad/) is a New York City-based architectural firm. The firm was founded in 1963 by James Polshek, who left the firm in 2005 when it was known as Polshek Partnership. The firm's partners renamed their practice in mi ...
and Cooper, Robertson & Partners.


Museum of Arts and Design

Also in 2002, Cloepfil won the redesign of
Edward Durell Stone Edward Durell Stone (March 9, 1902 – August 6, 1978) was an American architect known for the formal, highly decorative buildings he designed in the 1950s and 1960s. His works include the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City, the Museo de A ...
's 2 Columbus Circle for the
Museum of Arts and Design The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), based in Manhattan, New York City, collects, displays, and interprets objects that document contemporary and historic innovation in craft, art, and design. In its exhibitions and educational programs, the mus ...
over architects
Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...
, Toshiko Mori Architects, and Smith-Miller & Hawkinson Architects. Interest in landmarking this building began in 1996, soon after the building turned thirty years old and became eligible for landmark designation. In this year,
Robert A. M. Stern Robert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A. M. Stern (born May 23, 1939), is a New York City–based architect, educator, and author. He is the founding partner of the architecture firm, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, also known a ...
included it in his article "A Preservationist's List of 35 Modern Landmarks-in-Waiting" written for ''The New York Times''. When the building was vacated by the NYC Convention and Visitors Bureau in 1998 it was neglected, and remained unoccupied until the right to redevelop the building was awarded to the American Craft Museum (now known as the Museum of Arts and Design). Years later, plans to alter the building were called the erasure "of a rare American modernist." Cloepfil used the same massing and geometric shape as dictated by the city zoning regulations, and carved channels into the structure to bring in natural light. The redesigned building replaced the original white
Vermont Marble Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the n ...
with a glazed terra-cotta and glass facade. The aim behind the design was to underline the iconic presence of this 10-storey building and respond to the needs of the institution that will occupy it. The terra-cotta and glass covering evokes the principal theme of the collection, a look at different traditions in contemporary craft practice. The tiles were developed in collaboration with Dutch ceramics company Royal Tichelaar Makkum with a custom glaze by artist Christine Jetten. The redesign of 2 Columbus Circle generated considerable attention and debate within the local community and architectural press, including opinion pieces written by
Nicolai Ouroussoff Nicolai Ouroussoff (russian: Николай Владимирович Урусов; born October 3, 1962) is a writer and educator who was an architecture critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' and ''The New York Times''. Biography Born in Cambridg ...
,
Ada Louise Huxtable Ada Louise Huxtable (née Landman; March 14, 1921 – January 7, 2013) was an architecture critic and writer on architecture. Huxtable established architecture and urban design journalism in North America and raised the public's awareness of the ...
,
Paul Goldberger Paul Goldberger (born in 1950) is an American author, architecture critic and lecturer. He is known for his "Sky Line" column in ''The New Yorker''. Biography Shortly after starting as a reporter at ''The New York Times'' in 1972, he was assign ...
,
Witold Rybczynski Witold Rybczynski (born 1 March 1943) is a Canadian American architect, professor and writer. He is currently the Martin and Margy Meyerson Professor Emeritus of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania. Early life Rybczynski was born in Ed ...
and
Justin Davidson Justin Davidson (born in Rome, Italy, in 1966) is a classical music and architecture critic. In 1983, he graduated from the American Overseas School of Rome, where his mother was an English teacher. Davidson began his journalism career as a loc ...
.


Clyfford Still Museum

In 2007, Cloepfil and Allied Works won the competition to design the
Clyfford Still Clyfford Still (November 30, 1904 – June 23, 1980) was an American painter, and one of the leading figures in the first generation of Abstract Expressionists, who developed a new, powerful approach to painting in the years immediately follo ...
Museum, which is adjacent to
Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect. He is known for the design a ...
's design of the
Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums between t ...
. The museum opened to the public in 2011. The lower level houses the education, archive and storage spaces. In the upper level galleries, the visitor moves through a series of nine distinct volumes where they encounter the work of Clyfford Still. The galleries respond to the evolving character of Still's art, changing scale and proportion, while varying the intensity of light. The museum is recognized as a successful implementation of contemporary architecture and an icon for the city of Denver.


''Case Work'' exhibition

In 2016, the
Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums between t ...
hosted a temporary exhibit called "Case Work: Studies in Form, Space & Construction", which showcased the design process used for the neighboring Clyfford Still Museum and other major works by Allied and Cloepfil. After Denver, the exhibit is planned to show at the
Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum becam ...
and then embark on a two-year international tour. Dean Sobel, director of the Clyfford Still Museum, is curator of the exhibit. In Portland, "Case Work" will be on view from June 4 through September 4, 2016.


Other activities

* Drawing Center, Member of the Board of Directors


Awards

* ''World Architecture News'', Civic Buildings Award (finalist), 2014, National Music Centre of Canada * ''Architect Magazine'', Progressive Architecture (P/A) Award, 2014, National Music Centre of Canada *
American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...
, New York Chapter, Honor Award in Architecture, 2012, Clyfford Still Museum * Travel & Leisure Awards, Best New Museum, 2012, Clyfford Still Museum * American Institute of Architects, National Chapter, Honor Award in Architecture, 2011, University of Michigan Museum of Art * American Institute of Architects, New York Chapter Honor Award, 2009, Dutchess County Estate – Guest House * 5th Annual Business Week/Architectural Record Awards, 2001, Wieden+Kennedy World Headquartershttp://info.aia.org/aiarchitect/thismonth/1101stories/1101bwar.htm Business Week / Architectural Record Awards, 2001


References


External links


Official firm website of Allied Works Architecture



Allied Works Architecture / Brad Cloepfil: Occupation on Gregory R. Miller & co. website



Missing the Marble at 2 Columbus Circle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cloepfil, Brad Living people 1957 births Architects from Portland, Oregon University of Oregon alumni Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni