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, New York, San Francisco, and Paris. She is known for apartment towers, first coming to wide attention with the Aqua Tower, which at the time of its completion was the tallest building in the world designed by a woman and has since been surpassed by the nearby St. Regis Chicago, also designed by Gang. She is also known for designing with an emphasis on sustainability and on social justice, and has designed a number of academic and public buildings.
Early life and education Gang was born in Belvidere, Illinois, where her father was the engineer for Boone County. She graduated from Belvidere High School in 1982, then earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Illinois in 1986; during her third year, she studied in Versailles, France at the École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Versailles. In 1993 she earned a Master of Architecture with Distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
In 1989, Gang was awarded an Ambassadorial Scholarship from the Rotary Foundation to study at ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology).
Career Gang worked with OMA/Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam and Booth Hansen in Chicago before establishing Studio Gang Architects in Chicago in 1997.
Gang has extensive built work in the Chicago area, beginning with the Starlight Theatre at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Illinois, a 1997 commission. In 2016, the Chicago Tribune named her one of its Chicagoans of the Year, and the following year Surface called her one of the most prominent Chicago architects of her generation. She was first widely recognized for the Aqua Tower (2010), her first skyscraper, which at the time of its completion was the tallest building in the world designed by a woman. The nearby St. Regis Chicago, also of her design, has since taken the title. She has also designed several academic buildings in the region, boathouses on the Chicago River, and the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo. In 2019, the team led by Gang won the international competition to design the new Global Terminal at O'Hare International Airport.
She has also completed several projects in New York City, including the Richard Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History Other major projects in the United States include the renovation and expansion of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock, the expansion of Kresge College at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the new campus for California College of the Arts in San Francisco, and the Center for Arts & Innovation at Spelman College in Atlanta.
Internationally, Studio Gang was selected in 2016 to design the new United States Embassy in Brasília, Brazil. The University of Chicago Center in Paris opened in 2024; Q Residences in Amsterdam, the firm's first project in Europe, was completed in 2022. Studio Gang's work has been widely honored, published, and exhibited.
Gang prioritizes ecologically sensitive design and also social responsibility. Her Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College is the first building designed specifically for social justice and uses cordwood masonry, which she found "an old-school hippie" to teach; and some of her community projects are low-budget, such as the SOS Children's Villages Lavezzorio Community Center, which used donated concrete. Among Studio Gang's planning projects is a guide to re-envisioning and improving the Civic Commons published in 2016.
Gang is a Professor in Practice of Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she has taught since 2011 and in 2017 was the John Portman Design Critic in Architecture. She has also been a visiting studio critic at the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, the Cullinan Visiting Professor at the Rice University School of Architecture, a visiting lecturer at the Princeton University School of Architecture, the Louis I. Kahn Junior Visiting Professor at the Yale University School of Architecture, and a studio critic at the Illinois Institute of Technology. She also lectures frequently. In 2016, she presented at the TED Women conference. On May 11, 2024, she delivered the commencement speech at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Publications In 2024, Gang published The Art of Architectural Grafting, which presents a 10-point program for adaptive reuse on the analogy of horticultural grafting. She co-edited Building: Inside Studio Gang (2012), a catalogue to accompany Studio Gang's solo exhibition at Art Institute of Chicago.Building: Inside Studio Gang Architects, Yale University Press: 2012, In 2011, Studio Gang published Reverse Effect: Renewing Chicago's Waterways, an advocacy publication to spur the revival of the Chicago River.Reverse Effect: Renewing Chicago's Waterways,
Awards Gang was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2009, became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 2017, and also in 2017 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2018, she was elected an International Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Gang received the Academy Award in Architecture of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2006 She was a 2011 MacArthur Fellow, the fourth architect to be selected, and was elected into the National Academy of Design in 2012. In 2013, she received the Jesse L. Rosenberger Medal by the University of Chicago, and she and Studio Gang were awarded the National Design Award for Architecture by the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. In 2014, she was one of five recipients in the inaugural year of the Architectural Record Women in Architecture awards. In 2015, she was awarded the Légion d'Honnaire by France. Gang was named the 2016 Architect of the Year by The Architectural Review, which cited the Arcus Center in particular. In 2017, she won the Public Humanities Award of the Illinois Humanities Council and the Marcus Prize for Architecture, and received the Louis I. Kahn Memorial Award of the Philadelphia Center for Architecture. In 2019, she was included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influentual people. In 2022, she won the ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development and was the first woman to receive the Charlotte Perriand Award, which recognizes architects whose work enhances the quality of life through design. Among specific buildings, the Aqua Tower was awarded a 2008 American Architecture Award by the Chicago Athenaeum, the 2009 Emporis Skyscraper Award, an Award of Excellence at the 2010 CTBUH Skyscraper Awards, and the 2011 Prix d'Excellence International Design Award of the International Real Estate Federation, and was a finalist for the 2010 International High-Rise Award; Mira won the jury award for unbuilt multi-unit residential buildings at the 2020 Architizer A+ Awards and four awards of excellence at the 2021 CTBUH Tall + Urban Innovation conference; and St. Regis Chicago won Best Tall Building by Height: 300–399 meters and two awards of excellence at the 2022 CTBUH Skyscraper Awards and a People's Choice Award and a certificate of merit from the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2023 (Studio Gang's design for the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts won an honor award at the same event).
She has received honorary doctorates from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbia College Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
Personal life Gang is married to Mark Schendel.
Projects
Education and research ProjectLocationStatusYearThe University of Chicago Center in ParisParis, France2022Kresge College Residential Buildings, University of California, Santa CruzSanta Cruz, California2023Kresge College Academic Center, University of California, Santa CruzSanta Cruz, California2023Beloit College PowerhouseBeloit, Wisconsin2020University of Chicago Campus North Residential CommonsChicago, Illinois2016Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo CollegeKalamazoo, Michigan2014Columbia College Chicago Media Production CenterChicago2010One Milestone West, Harvard University Enterprise Research CampusAllston, Boston, MassachusettsUnder construction2023David Rubenstein Treehouse, Harvard UniversityAllston, BostonUnder construction2023Spelman College Center for Innovation & the ArtsAtlanta, Georgia2024California College of the ArtsSan Francisco, CaliforniaTwo of three buildings completed2023
Nature, culture, and community ProjectLocationStatusYearRescue Company 2 (New York City Fire Department)New York City2019Northerly IslandChicago, IllinoisOngoing2017Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural HistoryNew York City2023Eleanor Boathouse at Park 571Chicago2016National Aquarium Strategic Master PlanBaltimore, MarylandDesign concept completed2016Writers TheatreGlencoe, Illinois2016PAHC StudioChicago2014WMS Boathouse at Clark ParkChicago2013The Conservation CenterChicago2012Kaohsiung Maritime Cultural and Pop Music CenterKaohsiung, Republic of ChinaCompetition design completed2011Blue Wall CenterGreenville, South CarolinaDesign concept completed2010Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park ZooChicago2010Taipei Pop Music CenterTaipei, Republic of ChinaCompetition design completed2010SOS Children's Villages Lavezzorio Community CenterChicago2008Chinese American Service League Kam Liu CenterChicago2004Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theatre at Rock Valley CollegeRockford, Illinois2003Tom Lee ParkMemphis, Tennessee2023Arkansas Museum of Fine ArtsLittle Rock, Arkansas2023Hudson Valley Shakespeare FestivalGarrison, New YorkUnder construction2023 O'Hare Global TerminalChicago In design 2024
Towers
ProjectLocationStatusYearOne DelisleToronto, Ontario, CanadaPre-construction2026St. Regis ChicagoChicago, Illinois202211 HoytNew York City2021One Hundred Above the ParkSt. Louis, Missouri2020Solar Carve (40 Tenth Avenue)New York City2019Solstice on the ParkChicago2018MiraSan Francisco, California2017City Hyde ParkChicago2016ShorelandChicago2014Recombinant House (Garden in the Machine)Cicero, IllinoisDesign concept completed2012Aqua TowerChicago2010Vancouver PairVancouver, British Columbia, CanadaDesign concept completed2010Hyderabad O2Hyderabad, IndiaDesign concept completed2008Zhong Bang VillageShanghai, ChinaCompetition design2003Q ResidencesAmsterdam, Netherlands2022
Planning ProjectLocationStatusYearNeighborhood Activation to Increase Public Safety through Community-Empowered Design and PlanningChicago, Illinois2021River Edge Ideas LabChicago2017Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice Neighborhood Activation StudyNew York City2018Neighborhood Schools Reuse ConceptMemphis, Tennessee2018Civic CommonsUnited States2016Port District Planning StudyMilwaukee, WisconsinDesign proposals2015HafenCity Hamburg, GermanyDesign proposals2006
Exhibitions ProjectLocationInstitutionYearDimensions of Discovery: Environments for LearningParis, FranceGalerie Archilib2023Studio Gang Mock-UpsChicago, Illinois2022Good News: Women in ArchitectureRome, ItalyMaxxi Museum2021A Different Future in the MakingChicago2020Baleinopolis: The Secret Societies of CetaceansParis, FranceDorée Tropical Aquarium2019Stage BuoysChicagoChicago Architecture Biennial2017HiveWashington, D.C.National Building Museum2017Working in AmericaChicago2016Thinning IceMiami, FloridaDesign Miami2014Changes of PhaseChicagoThodos Dance Chicago2014EXPO ChicagoChicago2012 –2014Building: Inside Studio Gang ArchitectsChicagoArt Institute of Chicago2012–2013Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream at the Museum of Modern ArtNew York CityMuseum of Modern Art2012Baseball in the CityChicagoArt Institute of Chicago2004Marble Curtain Washington, D.C.Masonry Variations, National Building Museum2003–2004