Encompassing a wide range of scales and typologies, her firm’s built work frequently foregrounds sustainable design like with the all-electric, mass-timber Brook Street Residence Halls at Brown University. In a similar vein, in 2022, Berke’s practice completed its largest project to date: a pair of residential colleges at Princeton that will be used by the university to reach a goal of carbon neutrality by 2046. Berke and her practice have also been recognized for championing adaptive reuse, a subject she writes about in impassioned detail in the 2023 book, co-written by Thomas de Monchaux, Transform: Promising Places, Second Chances, and the Architecture of Transformational Change. Whether it be resuscitating a derelict factory building in New Haven as a community-anchored arts incubator or giving second life to a landmarked 19^th-century Buffalo asylum as a swanky hotel, Berke sees old and often unloved buildings as being ripe for creative redeployment. In that mold, the firm’s work for 21C Museum Hotels has garnered acclaim for championing rehabilitation over the wrecking ball: auto assembly plants, warehouses, bank buildings, and faded historic hotels are all now buzzy boutique properties.

The Richardson Olmsted Campus in Buffalo. Photo © Christopher Payne/Esto

In addition to ambitious higher-ed housing schemes and reuse-centered hospitality projects, Berke’s firm has completed office towers in Indianapolis, residential high-rises in Manhattan, and a slew of single-family homes in locales ranging from Long Island to Fort Lauderdale. Notable institutional projects include the Lewis Law Center at Harvard Law School, the Rockefeller Arts Center at SUNY Fredonia, the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and 122 Community Arts Center. Although it is one of the firm’s smaller-scale commissions, Berke’s drive-through Irwin Union Bank (2006) in Columbus, Indiana, has an outsized reputation on-screen thanks to the 2017 dramatic film Columbus.

In 2023, Berke’s firm, operating as Berke and Partners since 2002, announced its relaunch as TenBerke. “. . . Since the very beginning, we’ve never had the—I’ll call it ‘imperial’ model,” Berke told RECORD. “I am not an empress. I am never the only one talking. That’s just not how we work. Nor is it how we present ourselves to the world or how we relate to our clients.”

Outside of the AIA (and RECORD), Berke has received various honors including the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award and the Berkeley-Rupp Prize. In 2022, she was elected to both the National Academy of Design and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Berke was appointed to the jury of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2019.

“Throughout her career, Berke has exemplified the power of architecture to transform lives and communities,” writes the AIA. “Her work, teaching, and advocacy collectively underscore a profound belief in design as a tool for social good, leaving an indelible mark on the field and inspiring a more inclusive and sustainable architectural future.”

As the latest Gold Medalist, Berke will be honored in June at the 2025 AIA Conference for Architecture & Design in Boston. In addition to the Gold Medal, the AIA has also announced California- and Texas-based LPA Design Studios as the 2025 recipient of the coveted Firm of the Year Award.