Architectural Archives

Anne Grisold Tyng Collection (074), Architect, 1920-2011

Anne Griswold Tyng devoted her career to achieving a synthesis of geometric order, architecture, and human consciousness. A central figure in redefining modernism in the 1950-60's, Tyng wrote extensively on the subject of creative conflicts between men and women emphasizing her own transition from a muse to a heroine in search of an independent visible identity.

Born in China in 1920 to Episcopalian missionaries, Anne moved permanently to the United States in 1938 to study fine arts at Radcliffe College. Tyng continued her education at the Harvard Graduate School of Design where she studied architecture under Walter Gropius (1883-1969), Joseph Hudnut (1886-1968) and Marcel Breuer (1902-1981).  Upon graduation from Harvard in 1944, Tyng was employed in the New York office of architect Konrad Wachsmann (1944), as well as the industrial design firms of Van Doren, Nowland and Schladermundt (1944) and Knoll Associates (1944-45). Moving to Philadelphia in 1945, Tyng began working in the office of Louis Kahn, where she exerted a visible influence on Kahn's projects, most notably in his design for the Weiss Residence (1948-49), the Yale University Art Gallery (1951-53), the Philadelphia City Tower (1952-57) and the Trenton Bath House (1955-56).

After leaving Kahn's office, Tyng focused on research, writing and teaching.  Tyng taught at the University of Pennsylvania between 1968 and 1995, and earned a Ph. D. in 1975. 

The Anne Griswold Tyng Collection contains articles, lectures, interviews, and materials related to her career as an independent architect, an architect in the office of Louis I. Kahn, and a teacher at the University of Pennsylvania. The collection also includes personal papers, correspondence and materials related to her education and family.