Max Abramovitz

Max Abramovitz (* May 23, 1908 in Chicago, Illinois; † 12 September 2004 in Pound Ridge, New York ) was an American architect.

Life

The son of Romanian immigrants studied at the University of Illinois (Bachelor, 1929) and at Columbia University in New York (Master, 1931) and from 1932 to 1934 at the École supérieure national des beaux -arts de Paris. From 1935 was associated with the architecture studio of Wallace K. Harrison, from 1940 as a partner under the studio name of Harrison, Abramovitz & Fouilhoux ( with André Fouilhoux ), from 1945 under the name of Harrison & Abramovitz. He was partly involved in academic teaching: 1931/32 and 1937/38, at Columbia University and New York University, from 1938 to 1942 at Yale University. He got in 1945 the cross of the Legion of Honour ( Legion of Merit ) for the construction of airfields in China during the Second World War. In addition, he has won numerous architectural awards, including three times the Honorary Award of the American Institute of Architects (AIA; 1953, 1956, 1959). He was since 1970 an honorary doctorate from the University of Illinois.

Architecture

Abramovitz is considered one of the most important representatives of the post-war architecture. He stands for functional architecture in the wake of the Bauhaus.

Important buildings (selection)

• Employees at the UN headquarters, New York (as deputy director ) ( 1953)
• Growing at Rockefeller Center, New York ( 1955)
• Brookly Aquarium ( 1957)
• Wachovia Bank Building, Charleston, North Carolina ( 1958)
• Rockefeller Center: Time & Life Building (1960 )
• Central Intelligence Agency, Langley (1961 )
• Philharmonic Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York ( 1962)
• Assembly Hall, University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign ( 1963)
• Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Building, Hartford (1964 )
• Beth Zion Temple, Buffalo ( 1966)