Louise Harpman is a founding partner in the architecture and urban design firm Specht Harpman | Architecture (http://www.spechtharpman.com). A small company with rigorous standards for modern design, the firm’s award-winning work includes commercial, institutional and residential projects, as well as custom furniture. Specht Harpman was recognized in Wallpaper* magazine’s Architects’ Directory as one of the “top 50 up and coming architectural practices from around the world.” The firm has received four Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects and was a winner of the “Emerging Voices” competition sponsored by the Architectural League of New York. Twice a finalist in the prestigious PS1/MoMA "warm up" competition, the firm's designs were featured at the Museum of Modern Art's Architecture and Design gallery. Specht Harpman was named “Tastemakers” by House and Garden magazine and included as one of New York City’s “Top 100” architects by New York Magazine. The firm’s solar-powered, off-the-grid modular house, zeroHouse, has won a number of design awards and has been published in over 40 international books and magazines. Louise Harpman maintains a commitment to teaching as well as practice. She taught at the Yale School of Architecture for eight years, where she was the Studio Coordinator for the hallmark Yale Building Project and the Chair of the Admissions Committee. She left Yale to become Associate Dean at the University of Texas at Austin, where she also held the Harwell Hamilton Harris fellowship in architecture and served as the Director of the Professional Residency Program. While at Texas, she founded the DesignBuildTexas studio program, though which her students designed and built an affordable, energy-efficient house prototype, which was featured at the United States Green Building Conference and the AIA National Convention. At Gallatin, she teaches an advanced Architecture and Urban Design LAB course, an introductory design course called Good Design, and a graduate course in urban design at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, where she is an Associate Faculty member.
