AIA Chicago Announces Studio Gang as Recipient of 2026 Firm Award

Studio Gang, a leading global architecture and urban design firm founded in Chicago nearly thirty years ago, has been named the 2026 recipient of the prestigious AIA Chicago Firm Award. This distinguished honor recognizes outstanding achievements and excellence in the body of work produced by a firm over a period of time, the distinctive characteristics of a firm and its operations, and the ongoing contributions of the firm to the advancement of the architectural profession.

“Studio Gang embodies all this award was created to celebrate and honor,” said AIA Chicago’s Executive Director Jen Masengarb, Assoc. AIA. “Over nearly thirty years, they have demonstrated what it looks like when design excellence and genuine care for community go hand in hand. The firm’s culture and core values are reflected in their thoughtful public engagement, design rigor, technical innovation, and environmental stewardship. Studio Gang is deeply rooted in Chicago, while also having a global impact on the way our profession sees its responsibility to people, place, and the planet.”

Founded and led by architect Jeanne Gang, FAIA,—a MacArthur Fellow who has been named one of TIME Magazine’s most influential people in the world—Studio Gang is an architecture and urban design firm with more than 130 architects, designers, and planners. Since establishing their Chicago office in 1997, the Studio has expanded organically to three additional cities: New York, San Francisco, and Paris. Jeanne’s leadership is augmented by the Studio’s seven additional Partners, who collectively oversee the firm’s portfolio and four offices. Juliane Wolf, AIA, Design Principal and Partner, leads the firm’s Chicago office.

Across all scales and typologies, Studio Gang uses design to create and strengthen connections between people, communities, and the natural world. Driven by the belief that architecture can help address the most pressing challenges facing our planet and society today, the Studio seeks out ways for design to effect change and make progress towards a brighter future—a practice they call “actionable idealism.” Each project is guided by Jeanne Gang’s motto of “start with what’s there,” resulting in architecture that draws upon the existing positive qualities of its context to create beauty, increase functionality, and foster inclusivity.

Extending beyond the firm’s award-winning portfolio, Studio Gang’s strong sense of social and environmental responsibility also shapes the firm’s culture and engagement with the profession and wider public. The Studio’s collaborative and creative working environment has fostered internal equity initiatives, including a one-on-one mentorship program and an employee-led Equity Action Task Force, which developed a progressive parental leave policy adopted by the firm. A prominent voice within the profession and beyond, Jeanne Gang has continued to bring attention to urgent issues such as pay inequity, climate change, and bird safety through exhibitions, publications, and other forms of thought leadership and civic engagement.

In making the award, the jury noted that “Studio Gang’s impact and legacy extends well beyond individual projects, encompassing global influence on sustainable design, public engagement, and the evolution of architectural practice.”

“Chicago has one of the richest architectural legacies of any American city, and AIA Chicago has played an important role in supporting this history and culture. Their advocacy for architects and the profession for more than 150 years has helped make Chicago a great place to design, to practice, and to build,” said Jeanne Gang, FAIA, Founding Partner, Studio Gang. “Being recognized by AIA Chicago as part of this legacy is an incredible honor. Even as we’ve grown to become an international firm, Chicago remains in our DNA, and deep inside our heart and soul.”

The jury also noted that Studio Gang’s “conceptual rigor, technical innovation, and environmental leadership of the work actively shapes public discourse, cities, communities, and the future of the design industry.”

“We’re so proud to call Chicago our home and be part of its strong architecture community,” said Juliane Wolf, AIA, Design Principal and Partner leading Studio Gang’s Chicago office. “We’ve had the honor to help shape this city through designs that range from boathouses along the riverfront and restored ecological habitats in the heart of the city, to skyscrapers that have redrawn the skyline. To have this work and our firm celebrated with AIA Chicago’s Firm Award is a special moment for us.”