Florian Idenburg, principal of SO-IL and associate professor of practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, will deliver the Abend Family Lecture, titled To Be Determined.
Idenburg is a licensed architect with 17 years of professional experience. In 2008, he founded SO–IL with Jing Liu, an office that focuses on the development of new ideas and their viability in the world. Idenburg has led the firm to become one of the most recognized emerging practices in recent year around the world.
Prior to this, Idenburg served as associate at SANAA, the practice of Pritzker Prize winners Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, where he was charged with the design and realization of two internationally acclaimed museums: the Glass Pavilion at the Toledo Museum of Art and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. He is a strong team player who is able to tackle complicated projects in a collaborative and balanced manner.
Idenburg recognizes the merit of combining practice with academia, allowing cross-pollination to stimulate innovation. Through his endeavors, he has become a recognized voice in both worlds.
Idenburg is the 2010 recipient of the Charlotte Köhler Prize, an award from the Prince Bernhard Royal Cultural Fund in the Netherlands for exceptional talent, and a 2014 finalist for the Prix de Rome.
The Abend Family Visiting Critic was established with a gift from Stephen Abend in honor of Professor Emeritus Leslie Laskey. Visiting critics supported by this endowment are expected to present a lecture to students, faculty, alumni, and friends of the School, as well as to spend time with students and faculty in studios, seminars, and other activities that offer small-group engagement and interactive dialogue and critique opportunities.
