Herb Greene studied architecture under the direction of Bruce Goff (1904–1982), one of the nation’s most original architects and influential architectural educators. During and after school, Greene worked for Goff preparing numerous presentation drawings, which are now part of the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection. Greene also worked for architect John Lautner (1911–1994), who was one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s original apprentices. Following the retirement of Goff in 1957, Greene taught architecture at the University of Oklahoma for six years in order to continue his teacher’s legacy. During this period, Greene also designed and built houses of significant historic interest before moving to Lexington, Kentucky, where he continued to work and teach for eighteen years.

In 1961, Greene designed and built his Prairie House in Norman, Oklahoma. The idiosyncratic and innovative architecture of Greene’s Prairie House caused an international sensation and was published in Life and Look magazines, Progressive Architecture (St. Martin’s Press), and numerous journals throughout Europe and Japan. Greene’s residential work, following Goff’s architectural philosophy, is an expression of the client’s existential qualities (personality and physiognomy), as well as conditions related to site, region, and the nature of materials. In addition to architectural work, Greene makes collage paintings as an exploration of existential philosophy and the power of images on the human psyche.

After his retirement from teaching in 1982, Greene moved to Berkeley, California where he continues to write, paint, and promote his concept for building with artists. In 1981, Greene published the book Building to Last: Architecture as Ongoing Art (Architectural Book Publishing, 1981), which advocates incorporating the work of artists and crafts people into architecture in order to increase perceptual richness and history in an architectural form. Greene’s architectural drawings are in The Art Institute of Chicago’s collection alongside works by Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Bruce Goff, and other works in the “Prairie Tradition.” Greene’s collage paintings are also in The Art Institute of Chicago’s collection, as well as numerous private collections across the United States. Greene’s writing has been widely published, including his books Mind & Image (The University Press of Kentucky, 1976), Painting the Mental Continuum: Perception and Meaning in the Making (Berkeley Hills Books, 2003), and Generations: Six Decades of Collage Art and Architecture Generated with Perspectives from Science (Oro Editions, 2015).

1953 B.Arch., University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

1964-82 Professor of Architecture, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

1965-70 Junior Architect, C.A. Coleman, Lexington, KY

1957-63 Assistant Professor of Architecture, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

1954-57 Associate Architect, Joseph Krakower, Houston, TX

1950-53 Associate Architect, Bruce Goff, Norman, OK

1950-51 Associate Architect, John Lautner, Los Angeles, CA

1981-1983 Villa Blanca Farm, Lexington, KY

1977 Cook Residence, Louisville, KY

1968 Furches House, Murray, KY

1968 Lovaas Residence, Lexington, KY

1966 French Residence, Versailles, KY

1965 Unitarian Church, Lexington, KY

1962 Cunningham Residence, Oklahoma City, OK

1960-1961 The Prairie House, Norman, OK

1959 Joyce Residence, Snyder, OK

1957 Lyne Residence, Houston , TX

1954 Southwest Bell Offices, Houston, TX

2021 Herb Greene: Existential Generation, MAINSITE Contemporary Art, Norman, OK

2020 Painting the Continuous Present: Bruce Goff & Herb Greene, Price Tower Arts Center, Bartlesville, OK

2020 Renegades: Bruce Goff and the American School of Architecture, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

2018 Renegades: Bruce Goff and the American School of Architecture at Bizzell, University of Oklahoma, Bizzell Memorial Library, Norman, OK

2016 Herb: Greene Generations, Firehouse Art Gallery, Berkeley, CA

2003 Herb Greene, A Solo Exhibition, Toki Gallery, Berkeley, CA

2000 The Organic Tradition, Chicago, IL

1991 The Continuous Present of Organic Architecture, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH

1979 Transformations in Modern Architecture, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

1977 Herb Greene, Florence Duhl Gallery, New York, NY

1975 Herb Greene, Living Arts and Science Center, Lexington, KY

1974 Herb Greene, University of Kentucky, Fine Arts Gallery, Lexington, KY

1973 Prairie Architecture, Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, WI

1970 Herb Greene, Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY

1967 Environmental Architecture, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO

1966 United States Information Agency, International traveling exhibition University of Arkansas, Fine Arts Gallery, Fayetteville, AR

1965 Illinois Biennial, Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, IL

1965 Modern Architecture USA, Museum of Modern Art, Graham Foundation, New York, NY

Anna Berger and Thad Kusmierski , Private Collection

Bart Prince, Private Collection

The Chicago Institute of Art, Permanent Collection, Chicago, IL

Fogg Museum, Collection of Significant Architecture, Harvard, Cambridge, MA

Gloria and Dennis Robinson, Private Collection

Jerri Bunebrake, Private Collection

Jim Gresham, Private Collection

Robert A. Bowlby, Private Collection

Tom Greenberg, Private Collection

William Murphy, Private Collection

Generations: Six Decades of Collage Art and Architecture, Generated with Perspectives from Science, Oro Editions, 2015

Painting the Mental Continuum: Perception and Meaning in the Making, Berkeley Hills Books, 2003

Building to Last, Architecture as Ongoing Art, Architectural Book Publishing Company, 1981

Mind and Image: An Essay on Art and Architecture, The University Press of Kentucky, 1976

1975 NEA Grant: Armatures/Urban Studies

1971 University of Kentucky Research Foundation Grant: Experiments with polyurethane foam

1966 University of Kentucky Research Foundation Grant: Painting combined with photography

2019 American School Symposium, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

2017 Creating_Making the Prairie House, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

2016 University of California, San Francisco, CA

2010 Taliesin East, Art and Architecture of Herb Greene, Spring Green, WI

2002 University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK

2000 University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

1982 San Francisco Center for Architecture and Urbanism, San Francisco, CA

1981 University of Cincinnati School of Architecture, Cincinnati, OH

1981 Wisconsin Society of Architects, 50th Annual Convention, Madison, WI

1980 Washington University, St. Louis, MO

1980 Organic Architecture and Energy Conference, Phoenix, AZ

1979 Louisiana Technical University, Graduate Student Studio, Ruston, LA

1979 United Kingdom Architecture Association, London, England

1979 Kingston Polytechnic University, South West London, England

1979 Oxford University, Oxford, England

1979 Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow, Scotland

1979 Cambridge University, Cambridge, England

1979 University of California, Berkeley, CA

1979 California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, CA

1979 Miami University, Oxford, OH

1978 Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

1967 Indiana A.I.A., Indianapolis, IN

1967 Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS

1967 Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, WI

1966 Mississippi A.I.A., Jackson, MS

1964 University of Indiana, Midwest Art Conference, Indianapolis, IN

1963 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Albuquerque, NM