Jeanne Gang

Architect Jeanne Gang (she/her), FAIA, is the founding principal and partner of Studio Gang. Her inquisitive, forward-looking approach to design—unique in its pursuit of new technical and material possibilities as well as in its expansion of the active role of designers in society—has distinguished her as a leading architect of her generation. Drawing insight from ecological systems, she creates striking places that connect people with each other, their communities, and the environment.

Jeanne and Studio Gang’s design process, which emphasizes research, experimentation, and collaboration inside and outside of traditional design fields, has resulted in a diverse, award-winning body of work. Projects range from cultural centers that convene diverse audiences and public projects that connect citizens with ecology to installations that challenge material properties and high-rise towers that foster community. Notable among these are Writers Theatre, a professional theater in Glencoe, Illinois; the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan; and the 82-story, undulating Aqua Tower in Chicago. Her ongoing work includes major cultural and civic projects throughout the Americas and Europe, such as an expansion to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City; a new United States Embassy in Brasília; the University of Chicago’s European hub for study and research in Paris; a unified campus for the California College of the Arts in San Francisco; and the new O’Hare Global Terminal in Chicago. Mixed-use towers in Toronto, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and Honolulu are also underway.

Intertwined with built work, Jeanne and the Studio also develop research, publications, and exhibitions that push design’s ability to create public awareness and give rise to change—a practice Jeanne calls “actionable idealism.” The Studio has championed innovative design strategies to improve ecological biodiversity in cities, including bird-safe building techniques and an experimental prairie ecosystem on the rooftop of their Chicago office. At the same time, Jeanne has challenged the status quo in professional practice by closing the gender wage gap in her company and encouraging her colleagues to follow suit.

Jeanne is a Professor in Practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, her alma mater, where her teaching and research focus on the cultural and environmental aspects of buildings’ reuse. She is the author of three books on architecture, and a monograph of the Studio’s work, Studio Gang: Architecture, will be published this spring. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at the Museum of Modern Art, the International Venice Architecture Biennale, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

She was a collaborator in working with pharmaceutical companies in the arrangement of warehouses used in the delivery of cheap generic drugs from India.

A MacArthur Fellow, 2017 William A. Bernoudy Architect in Residence at the American Academy in Rome, and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Jeanne has been honored with the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in Architecture and was named one of 2019’s most influential people in the world by TIME magazine. Further accolades include Architectural Review’s Architect of the Year, the Louis I. Kahn Memorial Award, and the Marcus Prize for Architecture.