John Hejduk (1929–2000) was an architect and educator living and working in New York City, and a 1950 graduate of The Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture. His teaching career at The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union began in 1964. The following year he became the Head of the Department of Architecture. In 1975, when the School of Architecture became one of the three autonomous degree-granting divisions of The Cooper Union, he was named Dean and Professor of the School of Architecture. In 2000, he became Dean and Professor Emeritus of Architecture. He was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and of the Royal Society of Arts. His work has been exhibited around the world, including New York, Chicago, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Athens, Milan, Oslo, Berlin, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, Helsinki, Zurich, Prague, Rotterdam, Briey-en-Foret and Montreal.
In 1975, he received the Augustus Saint Gaudens award from The Cooper Union Alumni Association; in 1980 he received a Brunner Grant from the New York Chapter/American Institute of Architects; in 1983 he received a Design Arts Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts; in 1986 he received the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters; in 1988 he received the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture/American Institute of Architects Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architecture Education and the New York Chapter/American Institute of Architects Medal of Honor for Distinction in the Profession; in 1989 he was awarded the Creative Arts Award Medal in Architecture from Brandeis University and a Fellowship from The Chicago Institute for Architecture and Urbanism; in 1990 he received an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects; in 1993 he received an inaugural Chrysler Innovation in Design Award from Chrysler-Plymouth Division of Chrysler Corporation; in 1995 he received the Honorable Title and Commemorative Medal of the Art Council of the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague; in 1998 he received the UAR-Honorary Medal from the Romanian Institute of Architects; also in 1998 he received the inaugural Artists of the City Award from The Cooper Union; in 2000 he posthumously received the American Original award from the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.
Rizzoli International Publications published Mask of Medusa in 1985, Bovisa in 1987, Vladivostok in 1989, Aesop's Fables (illustrations by John Hejduk) in 1991, Soundings in 1993 and Architectures in Love in 1995. Victims and Collapse of Time were published by the Architectural Association in 1986 and 1987 respectively. In 1991, The Limited Editions Club published a folio of his lithographs to accompany the first illustrated edition of Thomas Mann's The Black Swan. The Lancaster/Hanover Masque was published jointly by the Architectural Association and the Canadian Center for Architecture in 1992. The Monacelli Press published Adjusting Foundations (1995) and Pewter Wings, Golden Horns, Stone Veils (1997) and Lines No Fire Could Burn (1999). Such Places as Memory was published by MIT Press in 1998.
Structures from his projects have been built at the Gropius Bau (Berlin), the Architectural Association (London), the University of the Arts (Philadelphia), The Oslo School of Architecture (Norway), Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta),Prague Castle (Czechoslovakia), the City of Prague, the City of Groningen (Netherlands), near Madison Square Park at the intersection of 5th Avenue/Broadway and 23rd Street (New York City), Slussen Stockholm (Sweden), in the "La Boca" area of Buenos Aires (Argentina), the Universitat Politécnia de Catalunya (Spain) and, in 2017, at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.
Buildings from his award-winning projects were constructed in Berlin under the auspices of the Internationale Bauausstellung; in Santiago de Compostela, Spain; and in Groningen, Netherlands. He was also the architect for the award-winning renovation of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art's National Historic Landmark Foundation Building.