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Serge Ivan Chermayeff (October 8, 1900 - May 8, 1996) was a Chechen born, British architect, writer, and co-founder of several architectural societies, including the American Society of Planners and Architects.
The De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea
He was born in Grozny, Russian Empire (currently Chechen Republic), but moved to England at a young age where he received his education. He first started working as an interior designer for a firm in London. By 1930, he and the German architect Erich Mendelsohn briefly partnered to form their own architectural firm. They created some very important works in the British modernist movement, notably the De La Warr Pavilion and Cohen house and was a member of the MARS Group.
In 1940, Chermayeff emigrated to the United States where he joined Clarence W. W. Mayhew as associate architect, helping Mayhew design his own residence.[1] Chermayeff taught in 1940-1941 at the California School of Fine Arts.[2] In 1946, he was recommended by Walter Gropius to become the director of the Institute of Design in Chicago. He stepped down in 1951 when the institute merged with the Illinois Institute of Technology. Between 1952 and 1970 he would continue to teach at several universities including Harvard, Yale, and MIT. He retired in 1970.
He wrote several books, including Community and Privacy with Christopher Alexander in 1964 and The Shape of Community with Alexander Tzonis in 1971. He died in 1996 in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Chermayeff's architectural drawings, project records, photographs, correspondence, teaching and writing papers, and research files are held by the Dept. of Drawings & Archives at Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University.
His son Ivan Chermayeff is a prominent graphic designer and a founding partner of New York-based design studio Chermayeff & Geismar.[3]
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