Dean’s Lecture Series:
Jeanne Gang
Studio Gang Architects
7 October 2014
Carrillo Gantner Theatre,
Sidney Myer Asia Centre,
University of Melbourne
In, On, Around, and Beyond: Expeditions in the Contemporary City
In the third and final ABP Dean’s Lecture of 2014, Jeanne Gang will explore how today’s cities must cope with vast industrial-era spaces after those uses have lapsed. Through the lens of some of her firm’s most recent and noteworthy projects, she will propose how architectural practice might be refocused to help reimagine these territories and initiate transformation. Jeanne will also speak to her longstanding interest in the new ways that cultural and science-based aspects of natural systems can aid in defining the city.
MacArthur Fellow, Jeanne Gang, FAIA, LEED AP is the founding principal of Studio Gang Architects, a Chicago-based collective of architects, designers, and thinkers practicing internationally. Jeanne uses architecture as a medium of active response to contemporary issues and their impact on human experience. Each of her projects resonate with its specific site and culture while addressing global themes such as urbanization, climate, and sustainability. Her award-winning work includes the 82-story Aqua Tower (2009 Emporis Skyscraper of the Year); the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership; the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo; and the Solar Carve Tower, a commercial high-rise that abuts the High Line park in Manhattan.
Jeanne has won numerous honours including a MacArthus Fellowship, an Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League of New York, and the 2013 National Design Award from the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. In 2009 she was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
A distinguished alumna of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Jeanne has taught at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Rice, and IIT, where her studios have focused on cities, ecologies, materials, and technologies. In 2011, Jeanne self-published Reverse Effect: Renewing Chicago’s Waterways, a collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council that explores a radically greener future for the Chicago River and the Great Lakes. Her work has been published and exhibited widely, most notably at the International Venice Biennale, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago, where her firm’s first solo exhibition, Building: Inside Studio Gang Architects, set record attendance during its run from September 2012 to February 2013.
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