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To most observers, the career of Chicago architect Jeanne Gang might seem neatly divided into two chapters: before the Aqua Tower and after. In 2009 her boutique firm, Studio Gang, completed the 82-story Windy City skyscraper, whose ingenious rippling façade of irregularly shaped and spaced balconies made it—and her—an instant sensation. A series of prominent commissions followed, among them the current renovation of the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the construction of Solar Carve, a Manhattan office tower slated to be done next year.
"Tall buildings are usually the domain of more commercial firms," says Gang, who was awarded a MacArthur genius grant in 2011. "Aqua opened up a whole new building type to us." As the project proved, Gang and her team were more than ready for the big leagues. While the Aqua and the MacArthur award dramatically boosted Gang’s profile, her story is in fact one of continuity, marked by a fascination with urban spaces that has driven her since a young age. Growing up in the small town of Belvidere, Illinois, she reflects, "I realized early on that I was really compelled by dense built environments." She went on to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, later studying at ETH Zurich, in Switzerland, and at Harvard.
Whatever the commission, Gang says, her approach is all about finding thoughtful and exciting solutions to the demands of a specific setting. Solar Carve’s jagged 11-story silhouette—modeled after the sun’s angles of incidence at the site—minimizes the blockage of light to the adjacent High Line park. Another project, the newly finished Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership in Kalamazoo, Michigan, echoes surrounding buildings with its wood-and-masonry cladding. Themes like "material qualities, structure, placemaking," as Gang identifies them, remain at the core of her practice, no matter its increasing scale and scope.
Perhaps most emblematic of that commitment, and of her steadfast interest in environmental stewardship, is Gang’s master plan for Chicago’s Northerly Island, a man-made spit that extends out into Lake Michigan and formerly served as an airport. Her intervention (the first phase of which is set for completion in 2015) will open the 91-acre site to the public while remaking it into a haven for local wildlife. In one section an amphitheater will emerge directly from the landscape thanks to its striking green roof; other new features will include a forest, a prairie, and a reef—all devised to lure regional flora and fauna. It’s a scheme consistent with Gang’s description of a city as "a tapestry," a place of nature and culture, work and play. The role of the architect, she would argue, is to bring these factors together. For more information go to studioganget .
Click to view more images of of Jeanne Gang's Aqua Tower and Northerly Island projects . **