David Chipperfield studied at Kingston School of Art and the Architectural Association in London. After graduating he worked at the practices of Douglas Stephen, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster. David Chipperfield Architects was established in 1984 and the practice currently has over 200 staff at its offices in London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai. The practice has won numerous national and international competitions and many international awards and citations, including the Stirling Prize in 2007 and the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture — Mies van der Rohe Award in 2011.
David Chipperfield was elected a Royal Academician (RA) in 2008. The following year he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany — the highest tribute that can be paid to individuals for service to the nation — and in the UK New Year Honours 2010 was named Knight Bachelor for services to architecture in the UK and Germany. David Chipperfield received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture in 2011, awarded in recognition of a lifetime’s work.
Significant projects that have opened in recent years include the renewed Neues Museum, which was completed in 2009 following twelve years of delicate work rebuilding the war-ravaged structure and restoring the unique interiors on a sensitive site. The City of Justice in Barcelona, and the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Alaska also opened the same year.
In 2010, the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany was opened as part of the region’s European Capital of Culture 2010 celebrations. Other projects opened in 2010 include the ‘Kaufhaus Tyrol’ department store in Innsbruck, Austria, the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai, China, and a laboratory building for Novartis in Basel, Switzerland. Most recently the practice completed two projects in the UK in 2011 — the Turner Contemporary in Margate, Kent and The Hepworth Wakefield in North Yorkshire – as well as the Peek & Cloppenburg flagship store in Vienna, Austria.
Current projects include the James Simon Gallery — a new entrance building to Berlin’s Museum Island; the expansion of the Saint Louis Art Museum; a new MBA building for the HEC Paris School of Management, France; the extension of the Kunsthaus Zurich in Switzerland and a new gallery for the Colección Jumex in Mexico City. Current projects in London include Elizabeth House, a new office building near Waterloo, and the five star Hotel Café Royal on London’s Regent Street which is due to open in 2012.
