Résumé

Pran had a long, varied and influential career, divided into four main periods: an early career in Chicago, IL, c. 1963-1982, a second phase practicing and teaching in New York, NY, 1982-1996, a 15-year tenure working in Seattle and through NBBJ's wordwide offices, 1996-2011, and, finally, a return to New York from 2011-2017. All of this time was bookended by childhood and late life in his native Oslo, Norway.

A term used frequently used to describe Pran was "relentless," suggesting his great energy and focus, perhaps verging on obsession. Only a relentless individual could have developed (and kept track of) such a broad and far-flung résumé.

Project Designer, Nils Holter, Architect, Oslo, Norway, 1961-1963. Holter was a well-known, and long-lived (born 03/22/1899-d. 08/30/1995) Norwegian architect, practicing in Oslo.

Project Designer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Architect, Chicago, IL, 1963-1966.

He worked for various firms in Chicago, IL, 1966-1969.

Senior Design Architect/Design Leader, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), Architects, Chicago, IL, 1973-1977.

Director of Design and Associate, Schmidt, Garden and Erikson, Architects, Chicago, IL, 1977-1982.

Director of Design and Associate Partner, Grad Partnership, Newark, NJ, 1982-1984. (The Grad Partnership dissolved in 2010.)

Director of Design, Russo-Sonder, Architects, New York, NY, 1984-1986. (Russo-Sonder Architects merged with Perkins and Will, Architects, based in Chicago, IL, in 12/1989.)

Design Leader, Eli Attia, Architect, New York, NY, 1986.

Design Partner and Senior Vice President, Ellerbe Becket, Architects, New York, NY, 1986-1996. According to Thomas Fisher, writing in Progressive Architecture, 10/1991: "Peter Pran and Carlos Zapata in Ellerbe Becket's New York office and Mehrdad Yazdani in its Los Angeles office have grafted onto this solid, service-oriented firm a level of design experimentation that is almost unprecedented in such a large operation." At this time, Pran also worked in the firm's other offices in Minneapolis, MN, Kansas City, MO, and Washington, DC.

Design Partner, NBBJ Architects, Seattle, WA, 1996-02/2011. At this time, Pran also worked in the firm's offices in Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA, Columbus, OH, New York, NY, as well as London, UK, Beijing, China, and Shanghai, China.

Partner, Peter Pran + H. Architects, New York, NY, 02/2011-2017. On his Linkedin.com page, he wrote of his last firm: "I am placing my extensive experience and expertise in our new company, continually focusing on innovative, visionary, exciting, sustainable and leading-edge designs. We look forward to building good and strong relationships with client and other companies." (See Linkedin.com, "Peter Pran," accessed 04/16/2018.)

Teaching

Assistant Professor of Architecture, Washington State University (WSU), Pullman, WA, 1969-1973.

Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, 1973-1981.

Visiting Professor of Architecture, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, 1981-1982.

Visiting Professor of Architecture, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy, 1984.

Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Newark, NJ, 1982-1986.

Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Architecture New York Institute of Technology, Westbury, NY, and New York, NY, 1985-1991.

Visiting Professor of Architecture, Kanto Gakuin University, Yokohama, Japan, 1992.

Visiting Professor of Architecture, Royal Danish Academy, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1993.

Distinguished Rose Morgan Visiting Professor of Architecture, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 1997.

Visiting Professor of Architecture, University of Washington, Seattle (UW), Seattle, WA, 1999.

Visiting Professor of Architecture, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 2000.

Visiting Professor of Architecture, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2002.

Professor of Architecture, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 2003-2010.

Visiting Professor of Architecture, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 2004 and 2005.

Pran served on student critique juries at the following universities: Columbia University, Harvard University, Yale University, Tulane University, Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design, University of Washington, Cornell University.

Professional Activities

During his long and varied career, Pran became a Registered Architect in the States of NY, WA, MI, and WI, and in the countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. His registration in the Scandinavian countries enabled him to practice throughout the EU.

Memberships

Member, American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Member, Norske arkitekters landsforbund (MNAL).

Member, Architectural League of New York.

Juries

Pran served on juries convened for AIA Chapter Design Awards: Los Angeles (3 times), San Diego, Orange County, Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, IA, VA, Washington DC, Philadelphia, PA, Dallas, TX, (Chair in 2010) and Cleveland, OH.

He served on an architectural jury for the New Art and Media Cultural Center, Karsruhe, Germany, 1993.

He also served on design juries for the NIAE in Paris, France, Canadian Bi-Annual Awards, and Canadian Design Awards.

Pran was a jury member for the 100-story World Business Center Competition, Busan, South Korea, 02/2007.

Pran spoke at an architectural symposium in Bucharest, Romania, and served on a design jury at the architectural school there in 07/2008 and 07/2009.

Exhibitions

Pran had a drawing exhibited in “Unbuilt Chicago," an exhibiition at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 2004-2005.

He displayed drawings of the Akerselva Atrium and Sail Building, Singapore, in the Russian International Architecture Exhibit, Moscow, Russia, 10/15-18/2009.

Professional Awards

Recipient, American Institute of Architects (AIA), Illinois Chapter (AIAIL), Service Honor Award, 1976.

Recipient, Graham Foundation Grant, Chicago, IL, 1976.

Recipient, Graham Foundation Grant, Chicago, IL, 1981.

Recipient, AIA, National Honor Award, Deloitte and Touche Headquarters.

Recipient, AIA, New York Chapter, 12 Design Honor Awards, 1990-1996.

Recipient, Progressive Architecture, 3 Design Honor Awards.

Fellow, American Institute of Architects (FAIA), 2001.

Recipient, AIA, National Design Honor Awards, Telenor Headquarters, 2004 with NBBJ.

Recipient, FIABCI Prix d’Excellence Award, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2004.

Won 12 international design competitions, c. 2007-2017.

Recipient, MIPIM Highest Award for Best New Building in Asia, 2008.

Recipient, MIPIM Hong Kong Annual International/Asia Awards Fall, First Prize, 2008.

Recipient, Buenos Aires Architecture Biennale Award, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2009.

Recipient, FIABCI Prix d’Excellence Award, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2010.

Archives

The Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, Canada, has preserved some drawings by Pran.

College

B.Arch./Dipl. Architecture, Oslo Arkitekthögskole University (AHO), Oslo, Norway, 1961.

M.Arch., Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago, IL, 1969.

Relocation

Peter Pran was a man of the world, who must have spent more time in passenger jets than any other man of his generation. He was born and died in Oslo, Norway, passing away at age 81. Between these two stays in Oslo, he attended IIT with Mies van der Rohe in the mid-to-late 1960s, and went on to take a large number of teaching and professional positions across the US. Pran spent the period 1966-1982 working in Chicago, IL, and obtained his first professorial job at Washington State University in Pullman, WA, where he stayed for four years, 1969-1973.

After 1982, the architect focused much of his time in and around New York, NY, both working and teaching.

By 1996, Pran accepted a position with the Seattle firm NBBJ, that had offices in New York and around the world. Much of his largest-scale work of this period occurred in Asia.

At the end of his career, he returned to New York, where he worked in his own practice between 2011 and 2017.

Parents

His parents were Christian Andreas Pran and Catharina Bjerve.

Spouse

Pran married twice, the first time to painter Clevon Joann Edgerson (born 1944-d. 12/25/1997) on 04/10/1970. The Chicago Public Library maintained an arist file on her.

His second marriage was to Siri Hunnes Blakstad. Blakstad was a Professor of Architecture and Planning at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which had its main campus in Trondheim, with branches in Ålesund and Gjøvik.

Biographical Notes

Pran became a naturalized US citizen in 1977.

• Oslo, Østlandet Norway (Architect's Birth)
  Oslo, Østlandet Norway

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• Oslo, Østlandet Norway (Architect's Death)
  Oslo, Østlandet Norway

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