STUDIO GANG
Biography
Architect Jeanne Gang (she/her), FAIA, is the founding principal and partner of Studio Gang. Her inquisitive, forwardlooking 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. Current projects are the mixed-use towers in Toronto, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and Honolulu are also underway.
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, St. Regis Tower, the International Venice Architecture Biennale, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Upcoming, O’Hare Global Terminal at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
PORTFOLIO
IL. 2016
Italy. 2021
Writers Theatre Glencoe,
Women in Architecture Rome,
2020
Beloit College Powerhouse Beloit, WI.
2019
Baleinopolis: The Secret Societies of Cetaceans Paris, France
PORTFOLIO
2023 Kresge College Renewal at the University of California Santa Cruz, CA. 2023
The St. Regis Chicago Chicago, IL.
O’Hare Global Terminal Chicago, IL. 2028
Tom Lee Park Memphis, TN. 2023
WSJ. Magazine has named Jeanne Gang its 2022 Architecture Innovator for her leading role in drawing on design’s ability to build public awareness and awaken change towards a more sustainable and equitable future.
“If Gang has a signature, it’s not stylistic but philosophical: Her architecture is an ongoing negotiation with nature,”
- writes Justin Davidson for New York Magazine.
HIGHLIGHTS
What if skyscrapers can be porous connectors, rather than barriers, for the public realm? As the Vista Tower (St. Regis Chicago) nears completion, The Wall Street Journal highlights the design features that make a supertall tower work at the scale of the neighborhood, calling it “easily the most important addition to the Chicago skyline in a generation—no small feat in America’s most celebrated architectural city.”
“For Jeanne, architecture is not just a wondrous object. It’s a catalyst for change,”
- writes Anna Deavere Smith in her Time 100 tribute.
We collaborate closely with our clients, expert consultants, and specialists from a wide range of fields to design and realize innovative projects at multiple scales: architecture, urbanism, interiors, and exhibitions.
The greenest buildings are those that already exist. The Beloit Powerhouse demonstrates how architects can be advocates for reuse, transforming a decommissioned powerplant into student center for recreation and health.
HIGHLIGHTS
We want to live in a world where people actively support one another as part of our planet’s greater network of living things. We believe that as architects, we have a critical role to play in creating places that support environmental resiliency, foster equity, equality, and justice, and empower historically marginalized communities.
In Her Own Words:
Jeanne Gang Leads the Way on Pay Equity
She closed the wage gap at Studio Gang, and in an op-ed for Fast Company she calls on others to do the same.
Advocacy
We believe unequivocally that Black lives matter and stand with those bravely taking action against systemic racial injustice. We believe that as architects, we have a critical role to play in creating safe places and processes that foster equity, equality, and justice and that empower historically marginalized communities.
In solidarity with other designers working to envision and realize a just future, we have signed onto the Design Justice Demands of the Design As Protest (DAP) Collective, an anti-racist, non-hierarchical, action-based collective of BIPOC designers dedicated to researching and advancing design justice in the built environment.
We encourage you to sign on, as well, and to make use of their Anti-Racist Design Justice Index and other resources and tools for guiding concrete action on these issues.
As architects dedicated to healthy and livable communities, and guided by scientific consensus and reason, we combat climate change through design and advocacy. We invite you to join us as a signatory of Architects Advocate and a signatory and Working Group member of US Architects Declare, a network of architects are ultimately organizing for radical change in the building sector around climate, social justice, and biodiversity.
We are also a signatory of the 1.5oC COP26 Communiqué issued by Architecture 2030, which calls on sovereign government leaders participating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 26) to match our commitment to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5oC carbon budget.
Culture
The heart of the Studio, the Shop is a lively, communal, hands-on space where each of us is encouraged to build, investigate, and explore. Crafted as much by hand as by sophisticated digital tools, our models are tools that push and elevate our designs.
Shop Bike to Work Week
Each year the Studio participates in the Active Transportation Alliance’s Bike to Work Week Challenge, winning first place in our category since 2011.
Each summer the Studio heads to Elkhorn, Wisconsin’s Camp Wandawega for camping and camaraderie. A Studio Gang tradition since 2012, our annual retreat features special guests who lead us in activities ranging from foraging to drum-making to all night star-gazing.
Camp Wandawega Annual Canoeing Trip
Our annual canoeing trip is another highly anticipated studio event, bringing Studio members together to canoe the Wisconsin River and camp overnight on the sand bar.
AWARDS
Architecture Honor Award, AIA New York, 2023 / 11 Hoyt
Architecture Merit Award, AIA New York State, 2020 / Rescue Company 2
Architecture Merit Award, AIA New York, 2020 / Solar Carve (40 Tenth Ave)
Honor Award, Distinguished Building, AIA Chicago, 2018 / University of Chicago Campus North Residential Commons
Great Places, AIA Illinois, 2018 / Aqua Tower
Honor Award, AIA Hampton Roads, 2017 / University of Chicago Campus North Residential Commons
Institute Honor Award, Interior Architecture, 2017 / Writers Theatre
Distinguished Building Citation of Merit, AIA Chicago, 2016 / City Hyde Park
Distinguished Building Citation of Merit, AIA Chicago, 2016 / Writers Theatre
Institute Honor Award, Architecture, 2016 / WMS Boathouse at Clark Park
Interior Architecture Award, AIA Chicago, 2016 / Writers Theatre
Divine Detail Award, AIA Chicago, 2016 / City Hyde Park
Divine Detail Award, AIA Chicago, 2016 / Writers Theatre
Daniel Burnham Award for Master Planning, AIA Illinois, 2016 / Technical team for Positioning Pullman
Divine Detail Award, Design Excellence Awards, AIA Chicago, 2015 / Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership
Distinguished Building Award, AIA Chicago, 2015 / Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership
Honor Award, AIA Illinois, 2015 / Northerly Island
Distinguished Building Citation of Merit Award, AIA Chicago, 2010 / Columbia College Chicago Media Production Center
Distinguished Building Citation of Merit Award, AIA Chicago, 2009 / Brick Weave House
Divine Detail Special Recognition Award, AIA Chicago, 2009 / Brick Weave House
Mies Van der Rohe Award, AIA Illinois, 2009 / SOS Children’s Villages Lavezzorio Community Center
Interior Architecture Citation of Merit Award, AIA Chicago, 2008 / Workspace 1212
Unbuilt Citation of Merit Award, AIA Chicago, 2008 / Architecture for Humanity Biloxi Pinecone House
Unbuilt Honor Award, AIA Chicago, 2008 / Zhong Bang Village
Divine Detail Citation of Merit Award, AIA Chicago, 2008 / SOS Children’s Villages Lavezzorio Community Center
Distinguished Building Citation of Merit Award, AIA Chicago, 2008 / SOS Children’s Villages Lavezzorio Community Center
Emerging Visions Award, AIA Chicago, 2006
Distinguished Building Honor Award, AIA Chicago, 2004 / Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theatre
Distinguished Building Citation of Merit Award, AIA Chicago, 2004 / Chinese American Service League Kam Liu Center
Distinguished Building Honor Award, AIA Illinois, 2004 / Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theatre
Distinguished Building Citation of Merit Award, AIA Illinois, 2004 / Chinese American Service League Kam Liu Center
Special Recognition, AIA Illinois, 2004 / Marble Curtain
150 Great Places in Illinois, AIA Illinois, 2004 / Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theatre
