Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1946 Luxembourg

Year of Migration to the UK: 1968

Biography

Architect, architectural theorist, urban planner and critic of modernist architecture, Léon Krier was born in the City of Luxembourg, Luxembourg on 7 April 1946. His older brother was the Luxembourgish architect, sculptor, theorist and urban designer, Rob Krier (1938–2023). In 1968, Léon Krier commenced his studies at the University of Stuttgart in Germany, while his architectural career begun with an initial interest in modernist figures such as Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. However, during his time at Stuttgart he reassessed these modernist principles and came to view them as lacking depth. By 1968, he had dropped out of university and immigrated to London to work in James Stirling's architectural office. He then moved to Berlin for two years to work with the architect, Josef Paul Kleihues, known as the ‘poetic rationalist’, before returning to Stirling.

Since the late 1970s, Krier has emerged as a leading figure among modern traditional architects and urban planners. As an early detractor of architectural modernism, particularly its functional zoning and the resulting spread of suburbanism, he has been a vocal proponent for reviving classic Renaissance planning, organically developed city models, and an expansion rooted in the polycentric city approach. Krier champions New Classical architecture (a movement that advocates for the use of Neoclassical architecture) and New Urbanism (an urban planning approach that advocates for eco-friendly practices through the development of neighbourhoods designed for walkability). Indeed, Krier’s teachings have significantly impacted the New Urbanism movement, influencing practices both in the USA and Europe. While Krier is recognised for championing classical architecture and reviving traditional European city designs, his career has also seen transitions and an embracing of Modernist rationalism with a methodology that mixes vernacular and classical elements. Krier is best known for two master plans: Poundbury, an urban expansion to Dorchester, in Dorset in England, commissioned by the Duchy of Cornwall and the former Prince of Wales (now HRH King Charles III); and Paseo Cayalá, a project which involved extending Guatemala City in central America with four new urban quarters. In Poundbury, Krier implemented his New Urbanism concepts, focusing on classical architecture and creating a design centred around the community.

Krier has often been viewed as a controversial figure in certain quarters.. Deyan Sudjic, formerly Director of the Design Museum, London, drew attention to his sympathy for the aesthetics of Nazi architecture (Sudjic, 2010). Krier also wrote a book about the prominent Nazi architect, Albert Speer, arguing that war criminals can be great architects (Krier, 1985). As a riposte to his critics, Krier stated: ‘The present-day ethical blindness to the consequences of global industrialisation resembles that of the Germans towards the consequences of the Third Reich’s racist policies. We consume goods that may be produced by slave labour, use machinery that may ruin conditions of life on the planet,’ (Krier quoted in Eisenman, 2013).

Krier’s influence has also extended beyond architectural practice to education. During the early 1970s, he lectured on architecture and city planning at the prestigious Architectural Association and the Royal College of Art, London. Between 1976 and 2016, Krier served as a visiting professor at various American universities, including Princeton, Yale, Virginia, Cornell, and Notre Dame. He held the position of the inaugural director of the SOMAI, the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Architectural Institute in Chicago, from 1987 to 1990. He then shifted to industrial design, collaborating with Valli e Valli - Assa Abloy and the Italian furniture company Giorgetti. Krier’s debut book on New Urbanism, Rational Architecture (1978) won acclaim for his insightful and, at times, humorous sketches. In his subsequent publication, Architecture: Choice or Fate (2007) republished as The Architecture of Community in 2009, Krier offered a critical analysis of Modernism’s approach to visual design, advocating for varied and richly textured urban environments, and emphasising the need for diversity in both form and scale. Krier’s contributions to architecture have been recognised with several awards. In 2003, he was honoured with the Driehaus Architecture Prize, a significant achievement in the field of classical and traditional architecture. Following this, in 2006, he received the CNU Athena Medal, while in 2017 he was appointed as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (RVO), an honour bestowed by the British monarch in recognition of distinguished personal service to the monarchy. Léon Krier spent about twenty years in England and now mostly lives in the south of France. In the UK public domain, the V&A in London holds some of his sketches.

Related books

Léon Krier et al., The Architecture of Community (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2009)
Léon Krier, Drawing for Architecture (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2009)
Celia Scott, 'The Two Heads of Leon Krier', AA Files, No. 57, 2008, pp. 17-19
Léon Krier, The Architectural Tuning of Settlements (London: Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment, 2008)
Léon Krier, Architecture Choice or Fate (London: Papadakis Publisher, 2007)
Michelle Thompson-Fawcett, 'Leon Krier and the organic revival within urban policy and practice', Planning Perspectives, Vol. 13, No. 2, 1998, pp. 167-194
Demetri Porphyrios, Richard Economakis and David Watkin, Leon Krier: Architecture and Urban Design, 1967-1992 (London/New York: Academy Editions/St. Martins Press, 1992)
Léon Krier, Albert Speer: Architecture 1932-1942 (Bruxelles: Archives d'Architecture Moderne, 1985)
Léon Krier and Anthony Vidler, Rational Architecture (New York: George Wittenborn Incorporated, 1978)

Public collections

Related organisations

Architectural Association (lecturer )
Royal College of Art (lecturer )
Royal Victorian Order (member)

Selected exhibitions

Timeless Architecture (group show), Centro Centro, Madrid (2021)
Endless House: Intersections of Art and Architecture (group show), MoMA, New York (2016)
A Sentimental Journey (group show), Plus One Gallery, London (2016)
3D City (group show), Yale School of Architecture, New Haven (2002)
Ricardo Bofill and Leon Krier: Architecture, Urbanism, and History (dual exhibition), MoMA, New York (1985)
Architectural Drawings for the Reconstruction of the European City: 1967-80 (group show), Max Protetch Gallery, New York (1981)
The Presence of the Past (one of the designers of the exhibition space), Venice Architectural Biennale, Venice (1980)
Roma Interrotta (group show), Trajan's Market, Rome (1978)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Leon Krier]

Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.

Leon Krier architect