Pioneer Information
Known as Barney, Voigt received his B.S. from the University of Illinois in 1939, before enrolling in the M.L.A. program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. His early work exposed him to some of the most significant practitioners of the time, including Christopher Tunnard and Dan Kiley. In 1942 and 1943, he taught Landscape Architecture and Botany at Black Mountain College, an experimental school in Asheville, North Carolina, which offered a Bauhaus-style curriculum across a broad range of disciplines. There he collaborated with Lawrence Kocher and Josef Albers to create a landscape plan for the campus.
Voigt, like many of his contemporaries, contributed to the defense effort during World War II. Working with the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, he helped develop site plans for atomic plants in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Voigt also lent his talents to the Office of Strategic Services and the Department of State. After the war’s conclusion he went to work for the National Capital Parks Planning Division. In 1950, he joined the office of architect Charles Goodman in Alexandria, Virginia. With the firm he completed his most significant work, including the Washington area subdivisions of Hammond Wood and Hollin Hills. Voigt’s work on the landscape at Hollin Hills was cut short in 1953 by his untimely death at the age of 37. Landscape architects Dan Kiley and Eric Paepcke completed the design.
