To speak of John Hejduk (1929–2000) is to delve into one of the most restless and poetic minds of 20th-century architecture. An architect, educator, artist, and thinker, Hejduk proposed a deeply symbolic vision of built space, where each form carries memory, emotion, and story.

The Architect as Educator

For more than three decades as dean of The Cooper Union in New York, Hejduk marked a turning point in the teaching of architecture. His approach was experimental: for him, designing was not just about solving problems, but also about formulating questions from form.

His publication, Education of an Architect (1971) , was revolutionary: it presented student work not as technical exercises, but as autonomous, conceptual pieces, charged with artistic intent. Under his direction, Cooper Union became a laboratory of ideas that questioned the boundaries of the discipline.

Forms that evoke

Unlike many of his contemporaries, who focused on functionality or technological spectacularity, Hejduk worked with geometries charged with symbolism. Towers, walls, cylinders, and volumes became artifacts of memory, not objects of visual consumption.

His architecture did not seek to camouflage itself in the city: it appeared as constructed poetry. Hejduk wove relationships between architecture, painting, and literature, tracing a narrative where space could be as expressive as a verse or a drawing.

Iconic Projects: Between Paper and Material

Although much of his work remained on paper—drawings, watercolors, and models—some projects were built and materialized his symbolic universe:

• Wall House #2 (Groningen, Netherlands): Conceived in the 1970s and built posthumously in 2001, this work connects habitable capsules through a central wall. It is an exploration of time, fragmentation, and everyday life.

• Kreuzberg Tower and Wings (Berlin, 1988): a social housing building where each volume becomes a face, a mask, or an urban entity. Its austere geometry conveys a profound expressiveness.

• Jan Palach Ensemble (Prague, 1991–2016): Comprising the House of the Suicide and the House of the Mother of the Suicide, this memorial honors Jan Palach with an architectural language of mourning, resistance, and memory.

Other projects, such as the Chapel of the Labyrinth in Florida, were never built, but demonstrate the same conceptual rigor: introspective journeys, essential forms, and a use of space as an emotional experience.

An Architecture That Narrates

Hejduk's true legacy is not measured in square meters built, but in an attitude toward design: thinking of architecture as a language, as a carrier of symbols. For him, drawing was a narrative medium, not just a tool of representation. His strokes contained worlds.

Beyond Style: A Methodological Legacy

John Hejduk did not leave a "school" in stylistic terms, but rather a way of understanding design as research. His work invites us to rethink what it means to build: not just to raise walls, but to create meaningful spaces, capable of generating collective memory and individual introspection.

In an era where the ephemeral dominates many architectural narratives, his work continues to remind us that space has a voice, and that every form can be a story.