Bernd Baron von Keyserlingk, was born in Beslau, Silesia, Germany, in 1939, to ancient Baltic noble family, his mother being Maria Bertha, Countess of Stolberg-Stolberg.  He studied architecture at the Technische Universität Berlin, graduating in 1969. His joint thesis, on the topic of a juvenile detention centre for Berlin-Charlottenburg, is retained in the TU Berlin Architekturmuseum. Later that same year he appears to have travelled to Zimbabwe, where he is noted as visiting the Town Planning Department for what was then Southern Rhodesia, studying vernacular housing and touring some of the Salisbury townships. In 1970 he is recorded as attending the postgraduate programme at the Architectural Association’s (AA) Department of Development and Tropical Studies, in London. Following completion of his studies, Keyserlingk appears to have worked across numerous countries in Africa, documented as practicing in Nairobi (1974), Kaduna (1978) and Dar es Salaam (1984). After the fall of communism, he settled in East Berlin and his practice played an active role in the redevelopment of Leipzig, where he was to die in tragic canoeing accident in 1996.

Sources

• Architectural Association Student Register, 1970-71. AA Archives
• Borstel, J, Irrgang, T, Keyserlingk, B von, Molitor, M., Winkler, B. ‘Juvenile Detention Center, Berlin-Charlottenburg. TU Berlin Architekturmuseum, Inv. Nr. 71459
• Annual Report of the Chief Town Planning Officer, Southern Rhodesia, Town Planning Department, 1969, p9
• Tanzania Telephone Directory, 1984. East African Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, 1984, p146
• Mallaby, Christopher. Living the Cold War: Memoirs of a British Diplomat. United Kingdom: Amberley Publishing, 2017. 
• “Kunstwerk Des Monats 2018 - Paul-Benndorf-Gesellschaft Zu Leipzig E.V.,” Paul, accessed February 11, 2025, https://www.paul-benndorf-gesellschaft.de/kunstwerk-des-monats-2018.html.