Michael Sorkin will be remembered not only as an architect and urban planner, but also as a lecturer and architecture critic. He died due to complications from COVID-19.
He was the author of many issues and articles focusing on the subject of contemporary architecture and design. In his reflections, he was primarily concerned with urban development problems.
The Michael Sorkin Studio, which he founded in New York, focused on urban design. He created a number of projects carried out around the world, including in the US, China, Turkey, Italy, Germany and Taiwan. The architect developed the master plan for the New City in Chungcheong, South Korea, the master plan for the Brooklyn Waterfront or the "28+" barrier proposal in New York.
In the 1980s, Michael Sorkin worked as a critic for The Village Voice magazine and authored many articles and books. He also served as deputy director at the Institute for Urban Design and vice president of the Urban Design Forum in New York. In 2013, he was awarded the Design Mind Cooper Hewitt Award, Smithsonian Design Museum.
He has devoted much of his work to students. He has taught at Harvard University (1992; 2015), the South Carolina Institute of Architecture (1988-90; 2014), the University of South Florida (2011), Wuhan University (2007), the University of Michigan (2006), North Carolina State University (2003), Auburn University (2003), the University of Utah (2001), the University of Texas atAustin (2000), the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (1993-2000), the State University of New York at Buffalo (1999), the Pratt Institute (1999), the University of Minnesota (1999), the University of Nebraska (1992), Yale University (1990), the University of Colombia (1990-91), at Cooper Union (1983-1993), at the University of Illinois at Chicago (1986-87), and in recent years at The City College of The City University of New York.
