Jeanne Gang , born on March 19, 1964, is an American architect celebrated for her creative approach to environmental and ecological sustainability. After opening her firm, Studio Gang Architects, in 1997, she rose to the top of her field. Gang employs sustainable design techniques, such as using recycled materials, to conserve resources, decrease urban sprawl, and increase biodiversity. She is best known for her Aqua Tower, an 82-story mixed-use skyscraper in downtown Chicago. When completed in 2010, it was one of the tallest buildings in the world designed by a woman. Some of her other notable works include the SOS Lavezzorio Community Center (2008), the Nature Boardwalk at the Lincoln Park Zoo (2010), and the WMS Boathouse at Clark Park (2013), all in Chicago.

What does Jeanne Gang do as an architect?

Jeanne Gang is an American architect celebrated for her creative approach to environmental and ecological sustainability. Gang employs sustainable design techniques, such as using recycled materials, to conserve resources, decrease urban sprawl, and increase biodiversity. Gang is known for the Aqua Tower in downtown Chicago, an 82-story mixed-use skyscraper completed in 2010. The design incorporates expressive and purposeful design underpinned by Gang’s engineering skill. She prefers to source ideas and materials locally, matching the building to its context and fusing sustainable materials, inventive engineering, and structural economy to environmental awareness.

What are some famous buildings designed by Jeanne Gang?

Jeanne Gang is an American architect celebrated for her sustainable and innovative designs. Some of her notable works include: Aqua Tower: An 82-story skyscraper in Chicago, known for its undulating facade and sustainable design elements. St. Regis Chicago: (formerly Vista Tower) A 101-story skyscraper that is the third-tallest building in Chicago. SOS Lavezzorio Community Center: Located in Chicago. Nature Boardwalk at the Lincoln Park Zoo: Also located in Chicago. WMS Boathouse at Clark Park: Another Chicago-based project. Gang often incorporates sustainable materials and inventive engineering to match buildings to their context and promote environmental awareness.

How does Jeanne Gang use nature in her building designs?

Jeanne Gang is an American architect known for her innovative approach to environmental and ecological sustainability. She employs sustainable design techniques, such as using recycled materials, to conserve resources, decrease urban sprawl, and increase biodiversity. Gang is known as a "locavore" because she prefers to source ideas and materials locally, matching the building to its context and fusing sustainable materials, inventive engineering, and structural economy to environmental awareness. Examples of her work include the Nature Boardwalk at the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Aqua Tower in Chicago. The Aqua Tower incorporates an expressive and purposeful design underpinned by Gang’s engineering skill.

What makes Jeanne Gang’s architecture unique or different from others?

Jeanne Gang is an American architect celebrated for her innovative approach to environmental and ecological sustainability. She integrates sustainable design techniques, such as using recycled materials, to conserve resources, reduce urban sprawl, and enhance biodiversity. Gang is known for her Aqua Tower in Chicago, an 82-story skyscraper recognized as one of the tallest buildings designed by a woman when it was completed in 2010. The Aqua Tower features a rhythmic, undulating facade with external concrete terraces that provide solar shading and manage wind. Gang is known as a "locavore" who integrates beauty and utility through practical, assured, and expressive design.

How has Jeanne Gang influenced the future of architecture and city design?

Jeanne Gang has influenced architecture and city design through her innovative approach to environmental and ecological sustainability. Gang employs sustainable design techniques, such as using recycled materials, to conserve resources, decrease urban sprawl, and increase biodiversity. Gang is known for the Aqua Tower, an 82-story mixed-use skyscraper in downtown Chicago. Completed in 2010, it was one of the tallest buildings in the world designed by a woman. Other notable works include the SOS Lavezzorio Community Center (2008), the Nature Boardwalk at the Lincoln Park Zoo (2010), and the WMS Boathouse at Clark Park (2013).

Jeanne Gang

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Images & Videos

Jeanne Gang smiling at an event, wearing a black turtleneck with a dark backdrop featuring partially visible award text.

Jeanne Gang on the future of architecture

Looking up at the exterior of Aqua, a modern high-rise apartment building in downtown Chicago, featuring undulating, wave-like concrete balconies and blue-tinted windows.

Aqua Tower in Chicago, a tall skyscraper with undulating, wave-like balconies, designed by Jeanne Gang, rises above trees and surrounding buildings under a clear sky.

Jeanne Gang discussing Chicago's Aqua Tower

City Hyde Park Apartments in Chicago, a modern building with geometric, angular balconies and large windows, designed by Studio Gang Architects.

The St. Regis Chicago skyscraper, a tall blue glass tower with a distinctive stacked, offset design, rises above surrounding buildings in downtown Chicago.

Interior of the Richard Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History, featuring organic, cave-like concrete forms, skylights, and visitors walking through open, multi-level spaces.

Quick Facts

Born:: March 19, 1964, Belvidere, Illinois, U.S. (age 62)

Founder:: Studio Gang Architects

Notable Works:: Aqua

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Jeanne Gang

American architect

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Jeannette L. Nolen

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History

Top Questions

Who is Jeanne Gang?
Jeanne Gang, born on March 19, 1964, is an American architect celebrated for her creative approach to environmental and ecological sustainability. After opening her firm, Studio Gang Architects, in 1997, she rose to the top of her field. Gang employs sustainable design techniques, such as using recycled materials, to conserve resources, decrease urban sprawl, and increase biodiversity. She is best known for her Aqua Tower, an 82-story mixed-use skyscraper in downtown Chicago. When completed in 2010, it was one of the tallest buildings in the world designed by a woman. Some of her other notable works include the SOS Lavezzorio Community Center (2008), the Nature Boardwalk at the Lincoln Park Zoo (2010), and the WMS Boathouse at Clark Park (2013), all in Chicago.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What does Jeanne Gang do as an architect?
Jeanne Gang is an American architect celebrated for her creative approach to environmental and ecological sustainability. Gang employs sustainable design techniques, such as using recycled materials, to conserve resources, decrease urban sprawl, and increase biodiversity.

Gang is known for the Aqua Tower in downtown Chicago, an 82-story mixed-use skyscraper completed in 2010. The design incorporates expressive and purposeful design underpinned by Gang’s engineering skill. She prefers to source ideas and materials locally, matching the building to its context and fusing sustainable materials, inventive engineering, and structural economy to environmental awareness.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What are some famous buildings designed by Jeanne Gang?
Jeanne Gang is an American architect celebrated for her sustainable and innovative designs. Some of her notable works include:
- Aqua Tower: An 82-story skyscraper in Chicago, known for its undulating facade and sustainable design elements.
- St. Regis Chicago: (formerly Vista Tower) A 101-story skyscraper that is the third-tallest building in Chicago.
- SOS Lavezzorio Community Center: Located in Chicago.
- Nature Boardwalk at the Lincoln Park Zoo: Also located in Chicago.
- WMS Boathouse at Clark Park: Another Chicago-based project.
Gang often incorporates sustainable materials and inventive engineering to match buildings to their context and promote environmental awareness.
4 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How does Jeanne Gang use nature in her building designs?
Jeanne Gang is an American architect known for her innovative approach to environmental and ecological sustainability. She employs sustainable design techniques, such as using recycled materials, to conserve resources, decrease urban sprawl, and increase biodiversity. Gang is known as a "locavore" because she prefers to source ideas and materials locally, matching the building to its context and fusing sustainable materials, inventive engineering, and structural economy to environmental awareness. Examples of her work include the Nature Boardwalk at the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Aqua Tower in Chicago. The Aqua Tower incorporates an expressive and purposeful design underpinned by Gang’s engineering skill.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What makes Jeanne Gang’s architecture unique or different from others?
Jeanne Gang is an American architect celebrated for her innovative approach to environmental and ecological sustainability. She integrates sustainable design techniques, such as using recycled materials, to conserve resources, reduce urban sprawl, and enhance biodiversity. Gang is known for her Aqua Tower in Chicago, an 82-story skyscraper recognized as one of the tallest buildings designed by a woman when it was completed in 2010. The Aqua Tower features a rhythmic, undulating facade with external concrete terraces that provide solar shading and manage wind. Gang is known as a "locavore" who integrates beauty and utility through practical, assured, and expressive design.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How has Jeanne Gang influenced the future of architecture and city design?
Jeanne Gang has influenced architecture and city design through her innovative approach to environmental and ecological sustainability. Gang employs sustainable design techniques, such as using recycled materials, to conserve resources, decrease urban sprawl, and increase biodiversity.

Gang is known for the Aqua Tower, an 82-story mixed-use skyscraper in downtown Chicago. Completed in 2010, it was one of the tallest buildings in the world designed by a woman. Other notable works include the SOS Lavezzorio Community Center (2008), the Nature Boardwalk at the Lincoln Park Zoo (2010), and the WMS Boathouse at Clark Park (2013).
2 Britannica Sources
1. Jeanne Gang
2. Woman-Made: 13 Architects You Might Not Know: Jeanne Gang
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Jeanne Gang (born March 19, 1964, Belvidere, Illinois, U.S.) is an American architect known for her innovative responses to issues of environmental and ecological sustainability. She employed sustainable design techniques—such as the use of recycled materials—to conserve resources, decrease urban sprawl, and increase biodiversity. She is perhaps best known for her Aqua Tower, an 82-story mixed-use skyscraper in downtown Chicago that, when completed in 2010, was one of the tallest buildings in the world designed by a woman.

Education, early career, and Studio Gang

Gang earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1986, and in 1989 she studied urban design—an interdisciplinary program combining landscape architecture, urban planning, architecture, and engineering—as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial scholar at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. She earned a master’s degree in architecture in 1993 from Harvard University and was subsequently employed as a project architect and lead designer (1993–95) at Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas’s Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam, Netherlands. In 1997 she opened her own firm, Studio Gang Architects, in Chicago.

Aqua Tower and early projects in Chicago

In 2004 architect and developer James Loewenberg invited Gang to design Aqua Tower. The building’s curved concrete balcony overhangs, arguably its most notable feature, were designed to serve a dual purpose: they lend Aqua strong visual interest through their evocation of rippling water, and they diffuse strong winds, allowing balconies to be placed on every floor and all four sides of the building—a feat of skyscraper engineering. At the time of its completion, Aqua also had one of Chicago’s largest green roofs. Though that building quickly became Gang and her firm’s best-known project, the firm’s other projects were many and varied. Chiefly built in (but not limited to) Chicago, those projects ranged from private homes (Brick Weave House [2009]) and educational facilities (Columbia College Chicago Media Production Center [2010]) to exhibition spaces (Expo Chicago [2012]) and other outdoor structures (the Nature Boardwalk at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo [2010]).

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Hagia Sophia. Istanbul, Turkey. Constantinople. Church of the Holy Wisdom. Church of the Divine Wisdom. Mosque.

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Projects from the 2010s

Gang was in high demand throughout the 2010s. In Chicago she designed two boathouses along the Chicago River (2013 and 2016); transformed the former site of an airport into a public park (Northerly Island; 2015); and built a number of residential towers (2016 and 2018) on or near the University of Chicago campus. Farther afield, Gang used cordwood to clad the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (2014) on the campus of Kalamazoo College, Michigan; created a light-filled space for the Writers Theatre (2016) in Glencoe, Illinois; and built a firehouse and training facility (2019) in Brooklyn, New York. Often mindful of a building’s impact on its environs, Gang designed a skyscraper (2019) in New York City with a curved faceted exterior that allows sunlight to reach the High Line, the public park adjacent to the building.

Projects from the 2020s

Gang’s completed works from the 2020s included a string of residential skyscrapers in such cities as San Francisco (2020), Honolulu (2022), and Brooklyn (2022). She also refashioned a former coal-burning power plant into a student union (2020) at Beloit College, Wisconsin. While the construction of the St. Regis Chicago (2022; formerly Vista Tower), the third tallest building in the city at the time, remade the urban skyline, the building was considerate of pedestrian traffic at the ground level. The skyscraper’s central volume was raised to provide a thoroughfare between the Chicago River and other outdoor facilities. In 2023 Gang opened her extensions for two different museums: the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Little Rock, and the American Museum of Natural History, New York. For both projects, Gang was tasked with providing better circulation between a series of diverse historical buildings. For the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, she united the structures using a pleated canopy, and for the American Museum of Natural History, she constructed a cavernous atrium.

Other projects from the 2020s

Gang’s firm participated in the Venice Biennale in 2004 and 2012 and received the Emporis Award in 2009 for the best new skyscraper of the year. In 2006 Gang received the Arts and Letters Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in 2011. In 2013 Studio Gang Architects received the Architecture Design Award—awarded to an individual or a firm for “exceptional exemplary work in public, commercial, or residential architectural design”—from Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

Gang wrote Reveal: Studio Gang Architects (2011), which traces the firm’s projects and method of operation, Reverse Effect: Renewing Chicago’s Waterways (2011), and Studio Gang: Architecture (2020).

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