Keynote: Roberto de Leon

Roberto de Leon is a partner and co-founder of de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop (DPAW),a collaborative design studio focusing on public projects with a cultural, civic or not-for-profit basis.His work is recognized for its contextual sensitivity, innovation in material applications, and the holistic integration of sustainable strategies rooted in regional specificity. His research operates at a range of scales and environments - both urban & rural – while exploring relationships between local & global building traditions. Roberto holds a Master In Architecture from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts In Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley.

DPAW’s working methodology draws inspiration from regional traditions of craft and fabrication, placing an emphasis on the potential of conventional materials and construction methods.Through an immersive process of research & investigation, the studio cultivates an understanding of contextual specificity as a nuanced relationship between place, time and local culture. In implementing this approach, the Workshop purposefully embraces a design rigor aimed at simplicity and precision, with the underlying premise that innovation necessarily equals economy.

Since its founding in 2003, the strength of the firm’s work has been recognized through many honors and awards, including selection for the 2010 Design Vanguard by Architectural Record and the 2011 Emerging Voices by the Architectural League of New York, each honor ‘recognizing design firms or individuals with a distinct design voice that has the potential to influence the discipline of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design’. The studio has garnered three national American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honor Awards, twenty-three AIA Chapter Awards and over thirty international design awards. Roberto’s work through DPAW has been published in many design magazines and books nationally and abroad, and has been exhibited at several international venues including the 2021 Venice Biennale, the 2012 & 2014 Istanbul Design Biennial, the 2011 Beijing International Design Triennial, and WOOD 2010 in Smaland, Sweden.

In 2016, Roberto was elevated to The College of Fellows of The American Institute of Architects.

Spotlight News / Articles / Videos

-Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/deleonprimmer/)

-"Seeing Double: Roberto de Leon and M. Ross Primmer on Their Two A+Award-Winning Projects" by Paul Keskeys

  (https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/industry/a-q-a-de-leon-primmer/)

-The Owsley Brown II History Center has been awarded a 2022 AIA National Architecture Award by the American Institute of Architects.

   (http://deleon-primmer.com/news)