Suitcase Magazine — "Chicago: The Second City’s Second Coming"
‘At a time when America is fighting for its place in the world, Chicago is reassessing its foundations – and its architects are a fundamental part of this change. We pull up outside Studio Gang on Division Street, where the architect Jeanne Gang is based. Listed in this year’s TIME 100 list, Gang has won the bid to design the new global terminal at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. For context, Gang’s scintillating Aqua in Downtown Chicago is the tallest building ever built by a woman. Now she’s building an even taller one.
However, phallic structures in the sky are certainly not the ultimate objective for Gang, who views architecture as “a catalyst for change”. Her Polis Station concept, launched at Chicago’s inaugural Architecture Biennial, fused police stations with civic recreational centres in an attempt to improve the way civilians interact with law enforcement. Testing the idea in one of Chicago’s most violent neighbourhoods, Gang Studio added a basketball court to the 10th District police station in North Lawndale. Gang has also designed boathouses which filter run-off organically to help revive the polluted Chicago River. Whether aimed at “honeybees or humans”, the studio’s projects are always viewed as places for habitat, and the airport will be no different. In what will be the first US terminal to have both domestic and international terminals come together, its design is another indicator of the city’s desired cohesiveness.’
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Jeanne Gang Named to TIME 100
Jeanne Gang named among 100 most influential people of 2019 by TIME Magazine.
“For Jeanne, architecture is not just a wondrous object. It’s a catalyst for change. Her sleek, woody boathouses are helping to revive the polluted Chicago River by filtering runoff organically. Her Polis Station concept aims to improve the way civilians interact with law enforcement by fusing police stations with civic recreational centers.”