Tristan d'Estree Sterk

Tristan d'Estree Sterk, Chair of Architecture and Interior Architecture at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is a globally recognized leader for designing buildings that change shape in response to user needs and the natural environment. One of the top six practitioners working globally, Tristan's work focuses on the development and integration of intelligent control systems in buildings to produce new types of spaces and structures capable of responding to changing environmental conditions and fluctuating patterns of occupant use.

Published internationally and collected, his works are owned and shown by The Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago's permanent collection; The Miami Beach International Architectural Biennial; The XIII Architectural Biennial in Santiago, Chile; The Center for Architecture in New York City; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; and the Architecture League of New York. Among others, he holds the following awards: the American Institute of Architects' Dubin Family Young Architect of the Year award, American Institute of Architects' Design Excellence award (unbuilt), the Chicago Architectural Club's Emerging Visions Prize, the Schiff Fellowship, and research awards granted by the US Department of Energy and the Canadian Research Council and the Kalil Endowment for Smart Design.

His work features in articles by the popular press, with interviews and stories appearing in Wired, The Economist, CNN, The BBC, The Discovery Channel, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Popular Science, Newsweek, Zeit Wissen, The Sydney Morning Herald, Mark Magazine, and others.

Tristan has spoken publicly at invited events in Australia, Canada, England, Taiwan, and the United States.

The American Institute of Architects' Dubin Family Young Architect of the Year award, American Institute of Architects' Design Excellence award (unbuilt), the Chicago Architectural Club's Emerging Visions Prize, the Schiff Fellowship, and research awards granted by the US Department of Energy and the Canadian Research Council and the Kalil Endowment for Smart Design.

Wired, The Economist, CNN, The BBC, The Discovery Channel, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Popular Science, Newsweek, Zeit Wissen, The Sydney Morning Herald, Mark Magazine, Balkon Magazine.

The Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago's permanent collection; The Miami Beach International Architectural Biennial; The XIII Architectural Biennial in Santiago, Chile; The Center for Architecture in New York City; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; and the Architecture League of New York.

Tristan is an American-Canadian architect who grew up in London, Ontario, Canada. He moved to Chicago to teach, before which he worked in London, England (Mador + Horne); Vancouver, Canada (Peter Busby / Busby Perkins + Will); Chicago (SOM); and Boston (Carlos Zapata / Wood + Zapata). His early education was in architecture and its thermal performance—an area of excellence at the University of Adelaide, one of Australia's premier research universities.