Jeanne Gang (born March 19, 1964) is an American architect and the founder and leader of Studio Gang (established in 1997), an architecture and urban design practice with offices in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Gang was first widely recognized for the Aqua Tower, the tallest woman-designed building in the world at the time of its completion. Aqua has since been surpassed by the nearby

St. Regis Chicago The St. Regis Chicago, formerly Wanda Vista Tower, is a 101-story, supertall skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. Construction started in August 2016, and was completed in 2020. Upon completion it became List of tallest buildings in Chicago, the city ...

, also of her design. '' Surface'' has called Gang one of Chicago's most prominent architects of her generation, and her projects have been widely awarded.

Biography

Raised in

Belvidere, Illinois Belvidere is a city in Boone County, settled on the Kishwaukee River in far northern Illinois, United States. Known as the 'City of Murals', Belvidere is home to several public art installations throughout the North and South State Street hist ...

, Gang graduated from Belvidere High School in 1982. She went on to earn her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in Architecture from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Unive ...

in 1986 and a Master of Architecture with Distinction from the

Harvard Graduate School of Design The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urba ...

in 1993. In 1989, Gang earned an Ambassadorial Scholarship from the

Rotary Foundation The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely b ...

to study at

ETH Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , a ...

(Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). She also studied at the École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Versailles -ENSAV-, in Versailles, France. Prior to establishing Studio Gang in 1997, she worked with OMA/

Rem Koolhaas Remment Lucas Koolhaas (; born 17 November 1944) is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. He is often cited as a r ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. A 2011 MacArthur Fellow, Gang and her Studio were awarded the 2013 National Design Award for Architecture from the

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile (New York City), Museum Mile. It is one of 19 museums that fall under the ...

. Gang was named the 2016 Woman Architect of the Year by the

Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism ...

. In 2017, she was honored with the Louis I. Kahn Memorial Award ( Philadelphia Center for Architecture) and Fellowship in the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and was also elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

. In 2018, she was elected an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), a lifetime honor. Currently a Professor in Practice at the

(GSD), Gang has also served as the John Portman Design Critic in Architecture and a visiting critic at the GSD (2017 and 2011), a visiting studio critic at the

Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) is the architecture school of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. It is regarded as an important and highly prestigious architecture school.

(2015), the Cullinan Visiting Professor at

Rice University School of Architecture Rice School of Architecture, also referred to as ''Rice Architecture'', is a small undergraduate and graduate institution located within the international research university, Rice University in Houston, Texas. The graduate and undergraduate progr ...

(2014), a visiting lecturer at the

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

School of Architecture (2007), the Louis I. Kahn Junior Visiting Professor at

Yale University School of Architecture The Yale School of Architecture (YSOA) is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University, and is generally considered to be one of the best architecture schools in the United States. The School awards the degrees of Master of Arc ...

(2005), and a studio critic at the

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has pro ...

. Gang lectures frequently throughout the world. In 2016, she presented at the TEDWomen conference.

Work

Gang's built work in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

area includes the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

Campus North Residential Commons, Writers Theatre, City Hyde Park, the WMS Boathouse at Clark Park and Eleanor Boathouse at Park 571 on the

Chicago River The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). Though not especially long, the river is notable because it is one of the reasons for ...

, Northerly Island, Aqua Tower, the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo, the

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduat ...

Media Production Center, and the SOS Children's Villages Lavezzorio Community Center, among others. In 2014, Gang and her Studio completed the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at

Kalamazoo College Kalamazoo College, also known as Kalamazoo, K College, KC or simply K, is a private liberal arts college in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Founded in 1833 by Baptist ministers as the Michigan and Huron Institute, Kalamazoo is the oldest private college in ...

. Her current projects under construction include 40 Tenth Avenue in New York's Meatpacking District and Rescue Company 2 for the

New York City Fire Department The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services ...

, as well as Vista Tower and Solstice on the Park in Chicago. Her studio is currently engaged in projects such as the Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History; a new United States Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil; high-rise towers in Toronto and Amsterdam; a unified campus for California College of the Arts in San Francisco; the expansion and renovation of the

Arkansas Arts Center The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA), formerly known as the Arkansas Arts Center, is an art museum located in MacArthur Park, Little Rock, Arkansas. The museum is undergoing an expansion and renovation. During this time, it is closed to the ...

; and the Center for Arts & Innovation at

Spelman College Spelman College is a private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman r ...

. Studio Gang's work has been honored, published, and exhibited widely. In 2018, the Studio presented the installation ''Stone Stories'' as part of the United States Pavilion exhibition ''Dimensions of Citizenship'' at the

Venice Architecture Biennale Venice Biennale of Architecture (in Italian Mostra di Architettura di Venezia) is an international exhibition of architecture from nations around the world, held in Venice, Italy, every other year. It was held on even years until 2018, but 202 ...

; in 2017, the Studio was selected to design the

National Building Museum The National Building Museum is located at 401 F Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is a museum of "architecture, design, engineering, construction, and urban planning". It was created by an act of Congress in 1980, and is a private non-profit i ...

's Summer Block Party installation; in 2012, the Studio was featured in the solo exhibition ''Building: Inside Studio Gang Architects'' at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mil ...

; and in 2011, the Studio participated in the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, ...

exhibition ''Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream''. The Studio's work has also been shown at the

Chicago Architecture Biennial The Chicago Architecture Biennial is an international exhibition of architectural ideas, projects and displays. It seeks "to provide a platform for groundbreaking architectural projects and spatial experiments that demonstrate how creativity and i ...

(2015 and 2017) and Design Miami (2014). Gang has authored two books—''Reveal'' (2011), the first publication on the Studio's work and process, and ''Reverse Effect: Renewing Chicago's Waterways'' (2011), which imagines a greener future for the Chicago River. She co-edited the

exhibition catalogue ''Building: Inside Studio Gang Architects'' in 2012. In 2018, Gang unveiled designs for the Arkansas Art Center, a $70 million art museum and nature conservatory in Little Rock, Arkansas. The project has been described as a "museum in a forest." On March 27, 2019, Chicago Mayor

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and diplomat who is the current United States Ambassador to Japan. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served two terms as the 55th Mayor of Chicago from 2011 ...

announced that the design team led by Gang, Studio ORD, had been selected as the winner of an international design competition for the new $2.2 billion Global Terminal at

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop busines ...

. The project is scheduled to begin in 2023.

Projects

* One Delisle, Toronto (pre-construction) * California College of the Arts San Francisco Campus * MIRA, San Francisco * One Hundred Above the Park, St. Louis (completed 2020) * Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History (to be completed 2020) *

(completed 2020) *

40 Tenth Avenue 40 Tenth Avenue (originally referred to as Solar Carve) is an office building in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan in New York City. The structure is adjacent to the High Line. Planning and development The building was first proposed in 201 ...

(completed 2020) * Rescue Company 2 (to be completed 2018) * Solstice on the Park (completed 2018) *

Campus North Residential Commons (completed 2016) * Writers Theatre (completed 2016) * City Hyde Park (completed 2016) * Eleanor Boathouse at Park 571 (completed 2016) * Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at

(completed 2014) * WMS Boathouse at Clark Park (completed 2013) * Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo (completed 2010) * Aqua Tower (completed 2010) *

Media Production Center (completed 2010) * SOS Children's Villages Lavezzorio Community Center (completed 2008) * Chinese American Service League Kam Liu Center (completed 2004) * The Bengt Sjostrom Theatre, home of the Starlight Theatre at Rock Valley College (completed 2003)

Awards and honors

*World's Most Influential Architect,

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on M ...

, 2019 *Winner of the Marcus Prize for Architecture presented by Univ of WI and the Marcus Corp. Foundation, 2017 * Louis I. Kahn Memorial Award, Philadelphia Center for Architecture, 2017 *Fellowship, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, 2017 *Elected into the

, 2017 *Public Humanities Award, Illinois Humanities, 2017 *Architect of the Year, Women in Architecture Awards, ''

'', 2016 *Chicagoans of the Year, ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'', 2016 *Chevalier dans l’Ordre national de la Légion d’Honneur, 2015 *Honorary Doctorate,

, 2014 *New Generation Leader, Women in Architecture Awards, ''

Architectural Record ''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. "The Record," as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important historical record of the unfolding debates in ...

'', 2014 *National Design Award for Architectural Design,

, 2013 *Jesse L. Rosenberger Medal,

, 2013 *Honorary Doctorate,

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum an ...

, 2013 *Elected into the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

, 2012 * John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow, 2011 *Fellow,

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to ...

, 2009 *Academy Award in Architecture,

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headq ...

, 2006 *Rave Award Nominee, ''

Wired Magazine ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San F ...

'', 2004 *Chicagoans of the Year, ''

'', 2004 *Design Vanguard, ''

'', 2001

Bibliography

* ''Reveal'' (2011),

Princeton Architectural Press Princeton Architectural Press is a small press publisher, specializing in books on architecture, design, photography, landscape, and visual culture, with over 1,000 titles on its backlist. In 2013, it added a line of stationery products, includin ...

, * ''Reverse Effect: Renewing Chicago's Waterways'' (2011), * ''Building: Inside Studio Gang Architects'' (2012),

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univer ...

, * ''Studio Gang: Architecture'' (2020),

Phaidon Press Phaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional o ...

Biography

Work

Projects

Awards and honors

Bibliography

Notes

External links and additional reading