Gertrude_Lempp_Kerbis
Gertrude Kerbis
American architect
Gertrude Lempp Kerbis (1926 – June 14, 2016) was an American modernist architect. Kerbis' education includes studying at Wright Junior College, University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois, Harvard University, and Illinois Institute of Technology.[1][2] She studied under and worked for several significant modernists of her day, including Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, and Carl Koch.[1][2] Kerbis worked at Skidmore, Ownings & Merrill and C.F. Murphy Associates before establishing her own firm, Lempp Kerbis, in Chicago 1967.[3][4] Her work entails that interior design can also be viewed as architecture and not just the aesthetic of a space.[3] She was a lead designer in several major works of American modernism, including the Lustron house for a MoMA competition, Mitchell Hall at the US Air Force Academy, the Seven Continents Restaurant at the O'Hare International Airport Rotunda, and the Skokie Public Library in Skokie, IL.[1] Kerbis founded the Chicago Women in Architecture group in 1973.[4] She was a member of the American Institute of Architects, and notably became an AIA Fellow in 1970.[1]