Dietmar Leyk studied architecture at the Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA) in London and at the Technical University in Braunschweig. He worked as project architect for Elia Zenghelis in London and Athens, and Daniel Libeskind in Berlin and Los Angeles. Dietmar Leyk taught and researched as assistant and interim professor at the ETH Zürich from 1996-2003 on a variety of issues concerned with the architectural and urban form. He published ‘ParaForm’, a research on morphological phenomena as a base for studying the interdependencies between architectonic fabric and metabolism of urban systems in order to establish models for the evaluation and improvement of their sustainable developments.

From 2005 until 2013, he was visiting professor at the Berlage Institute Rotterdam where he researched and taught about Knowledge Spaces –among others he questioned ‘How does Architecture Augment Creative Thinking?’ Dietmar Leyk teaches, publishes and lectures internationally. In 2010 he published ‘Working and Living in the City of Knowledge’.

Since 2000 Dietmar Leyk is founding director of Leyk Wollenberg Architects based in Berlin, accomplishing international projects in all scales. They received numerous prizes in international competitions and for their realised work, including the first prize for their project in the international competition for the Lecture Hall and Media Centre for the Technical University in Darmstadt/Germany.

Currently, Dietmar Leyk is the project leader of ‘The Grand Projet – Towards Adaptable and Liveable Urban Megaprojects’ and research scenario coordinator for ‘High-Density Mixed-Use Cities’ at the Future Cities Laboratory and co-principal investigator of the research project ‘The Future of Cities: New Urban Typologies’ at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).

Research

• Large Scale Urban Projects: Form, Programme, Performance and Management
• Adaptable and Liveable Urban Megaprojects
• High-Density Mixed-Use Cities
• High-Density Knowledge Spaces: From City to Room and Vice Versa.
• Campus Architecture
• Urban Morphology

Awards

• 1st Prize Lecture Hall- und Mediacenter Darmstadt, Germany, International Competition
• 1st Prize Magnolia Park - Apartments & Mercedes Benz Flagship Store, Bucharest, Romania, Invited Competition  
  
• 2nd Prize Museum of Contemporary Art and Planning Exhibition, Shenzhen, China, International Competition  
  
• 2nd Prize Israelitisches Cultuszentrum Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, Invited Competition 

Affiliation

Appointed Architect, Association of German Architects (BDA), Germany, 2013

Publications

• ParaForm. Morphologie der Region - Wie müssen morphologische Eigenschaften urbaner Systeme dekodiert und kodiert werden, damit sie in transdisziplinären Projekten für die Gestaltung urbaner Systeme eingesetzt werden können? Dietmar Leyk in: Netzstadt - Transdisziplinäre Methoden zum Umbau urbaner Systeme Baccini P. und Oswald F. (Hrsg.), 1997, VDF .Hochschulverlag Zürich
• Rethinking Culturally Relevant Architecture Education. Dietmar Leyk in: New Directions in Architecture Education, Berlin, Germany, 2015, ANCB The Metropolitan Laboratory & IAES
• What is good Architecture? Dietmar Leyk in: ARCHINESIA Volume 5, Jakarta, Indonesia, 2014, IAAW
• Working and Living in the City of Knowledge. Dietmar Leyk, Rotterdam,  The Netherlands, 2010, The Berlage Institute
• Embracing Difference: from Urban Scenarios to Critical Brief. Dietmar Leyk, in: Hunch No.: 13 Consensus, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2009, NAI Publishers

Education

• Dipl.Ing. Architect Technical University Braunschweig, Germany
• RIBA Part I Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA) London, Great Britain