Florence Knoll
(1917-)
Birthplace
USA
While a student
at the Kingswood School on the campus of the Cranbrook Academy of
Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Florence Knoll Bassett
(neé Schust) became a protegée of Eero Saarinen. She
studied architecture at Cranbrook, the Architectural Association in
London and the Armour Institute (Illinois Institute of Technology
in Chicago). She worked briefly for Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer
and Wallace K. Harrison. In 1946, she became a full business and
design partner and married Hans Knoll, after which they formed
Knoll Associates. She was at once a champion of world-class
architects and designers and an exceptional architect in her own
right. As a pioneer of the Knoll Planning Unit, she revolutionized
interior space planning. Her belief in "total design" –
embracing architecture, manufacturing, interior design, textiles,
graphics, advertising and presentation – and her application
of design principles in solving space problems were radical
departures from the standard practice in the 1950s, but were
quickly adopted and remain widely used today. For her extraordinary
contributions to architecture and design, Florence Knoll was
accorded the National Endowment for the Arts' prestigious 2002
National Medal of Arts.
