Bernard Cywinski

Who is Bernard Cywinski?

Bernard J. Cywinski FAIA was a prominent American architect and teacher, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His works include the Liberty Bell Center at Independence National Historical Park and the G. Wayne Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He was a founding partner and principal of the architectural firm, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, one of Philadelphia's highest-profile firms.

Cywinski was raised in Trenton, New Jersey. He graduated from Columbia College at Columbia University and the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

In 1979, he merged his architectural firm with that of Peter Bohlin, who was based in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The merged company would be called Bohlin Cywinski Jackson. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Cywinski and Bohlin had a mutual interest in sketching, though Cywinski used a mechanical pencil while Bohlin used a traditional pencil. Within the firm, Cywinski concentrated largely on projects and affairs at the firm's Philadelphia headquarters, while Bohlin designed projects farther from the city.