# Studio Gang

Studio Gang is an American architecture and urban design practice with offices in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Paris. Founded and led by architect Jeanne Gang, the Studio is known for its material research and experimentation, collaboration across a wide range of disciplines, and focus on sustainability. The firm's works range in scale and typology from the 82-story mixed-use Aqua Tower to the 10,000-square-foot Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College to the 14-acre Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo. Studio Gang has won numerous awards for design excellence, including the 2016 Architizer A+ Firm of the Year Award and the 2013 National Design Award for Architecture from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, as well as various awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and AIA Chicago.

## Background

The firm was founded by Jeanne Gang in 1997.
One of the Studio's first built works, the Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theatre, was completed in 2003, and won praise from critics; the Chinese American Service League Kam Liu Center, finished the following year, garnered the firm additional accolades. Aqua Tower and the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo, both completed in 2010, significantly increased the Studio global profile, winning acclaim from architecture critics.
The Studio has played a significant role in reshaping urban landscapes with a focus on ecological restoration and environmental stewardship. Projects include the revitalization of Tom Lee Park in Memphis that reconnects people to the long-neglected riverfront; two boathouses on the Chicago River that opened up access to the river's edge; and the transformation of a former Chicago airfield, Northerly Island, into a public lakefront park and biodiverse habitat.
In 2023, the Studio completed several major cultural and educational projects, including the reimagination of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, an adaptive reuse project, which was praised as a "new architectural landmark", and the Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at The American Museum of Natural History in New York, described by the New York Times "a poetic, joyful, theatrical work of public architecture and a highly sophisticated flight of sculptural fantasy".
The Studio employs more than 140 people as of December 2023.

## Notable works
### Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History

The $465 million Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation opened in May 2023. The 230,000-square-foot addition includes six floors above ground, and one below. The Gilder Center welcomes visitors with a new, accessible entrance on Columbus Avenue that connects to central five-story atrium and creates more than 30 connections to the existing museum. The atrium's architecture is informed by natural form-making processes such as the movement of wind and water that shape geological landscapes. To achieve the continuous visual form, the atrium is constructed with shotcrete. The curvilinear façade contrasts with the earlier High Victorian Gothic, Richardson Romanesque and Beaux Arts structures, but its Milford Pink granite cladding is the same stone used on the Museum's west side.

### St. Regis Chicago

The St. Regis Chicago, formerly Wanda Vista Tower, is a 101-story, 1,198 ft (365 m) supertall skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. Construction started in August 2016, and was completed in 2020. Upon completion it became the city's third-tallest building at 1,198 ft (365 m), surpassing the Aon Center. It is the tallest structure in the world designed by a woman, and forms a part of the Lakeshore East development and overlooks the Chicago River near Lake Michigan. The building comprises three interconnected volumes of different heights. Truncated pyramids called "frustums" are stacked in an alternating sequence, right-side-up and upside-down, lending the design its flowing rhythm. The towers have 6 different shades of glass. Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin praised the tower as "a stirring work of skyline artistry...as if the waters of Lake Michigan had burst upward and transformed themselves into fluid, undulating tiers of glass." The tower has a notably smaller footprint than other supertalls in Chicago with a building height-to-core aspect ratio of 40-to-1.

### Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts

The redevelopment of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts (AMFA) involved a comprehensive transformation of the existing building and grounds, resulting in a 133,000-square-foot facility. Studio Gang's design reused and restored as many of the existing structures as possible, which spanned multiple eras and architectural styles dating back to 1937. The Studio's design introduced a distinctive central addition that unites the entire complex, and "blossoms" out at the north and south ends to create new entrances and social spaces for the community. The design provides a renewed identity for AMFA, while also establishing visual and physical connections to the surrounding park and the neighborhoods beyond.

## Selected projects
### Education and research

| Project | Location | Status | Year |
| The University of Chicago Center in Paris | Paris, France | Under Construction | 2022 |
| Kresge College Residential Buildings | Santa Cruz, CA | Completed | 2023 |
| Kresge College Academic Center | Santa Cruz, CA | Completed | 2023 |
| Beloit College Powerhouse | Beloit, WI | Completed | 2020 |
| University of Chicago Campus North Residential Commons | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2016 |
| Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College | Kalamazoo, MI | Completed | 2014 |
| Columbia College Chicago Media Production Center | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2010 |
| One Milestone West | Boston, MA | Under Construction | 2023 |
| David Rubenstein Treehouse | Boston, MA | Under Construction | 2023 |
| Spelman College Center for Innovation & the Arts | Atlanta, GA | Under Construction | 2024 |
| California College of the Arts | San Francisco, CA | Under Construction | 2023 |

### Nature, culture, and community

| Project | Location | Status | Year |
| Rescue Company 2 (New York City Fire Department) | New York, NY | Completed | 2019 |
| Northerly Island | Chicago, IL | Ongoing | 2017 |
| Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History | New York, NY | Completed | 2023 |
| Civic Commons | United States | Completed | 2016 |
| Eleanor Boathouse at Park 571 | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2016 |
| National Aquarium Strategic Master Plan | Baltimore, MD | Design concept completed | 2016 |
| Writers Theatre | Glencoe, IL | Completed | 2016 |
| PAHC Studio | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2014 |
| WMS Boathouse at Clark Park | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2013 |
| The Conservation Center | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2012 |
| Kaohsiung Maritime Cultural and Pop Music Center | Kaohsiung | Competition design completed | 2011 |
| Blue Wall Center | Greenville, SC | Design concept completed | 2010 |
| Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2010 |
| Taipei Pop Music Center | Taipei | Competition design completed | 2010 |
| Ford Calumet Environmental Center | Calumet City, IL | Design concept completed | 2008 |
| SOS Children's Villages Lavezzorio Community Center | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2008 |
| HafenCity Chicago Square | Hamburg | Design concept completed | 2006 |
| Chinese American Service League Kam Liu Center | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2004 |
| Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theatre at Rock Valley College | Rockford, IL | Completed | 2003 |
| Tom Lee Park | Memphis, TN | Completed | 2023 |
| Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts | Little Rock, AR | Completed | 2023 |
| Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival | Garrison, NY | In design | 2023 |

### Towers

| Project | Location | Status | Year |
| One Delisle | Toronto, ON | Pre-construction | 2026 |
| St. Regis Chicago | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2022 |
| 11 Hoyt | New York, NY | Completed | 2021 |
| One Hundred | St. Louis, MO | Completed | 2020 |
| Solar Carve (40 Tenth Avenue) | New York, NY | Completed | 2019 |
| Solstice on the Park | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2018 |
| MIRA | San Francisco, CA | Completed | 2017 |
| City Hyde Park | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2016 |
| Shoreland | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2014 |
| Recombinant House (Garden in the Machine) | Cicero, IL | Design concept completed | 2012 |
| Aqua Tower | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2010 |
| Vancouver Pair | Vancouver, BC | Design concept completed | 2010 |
| Hyderabad O2 | Hyderabad | Design concept completed | 2008 |
| HafenCity Crane Tower | Hamburg | Design concept completed | 2006 |
| Zhong Bang Village | Shanghai | Competition design completed | 2003 |
| Q Residences | Amsterdam | Completed | 2022 |

### Exhibitions

| Project | Location | Status | Year |
| Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts | Little Rock, AR | Completed | 2023 |
| Dimensions of Discovery: Environments for Learning | Paris, France | Completed | 2023 |
| Studio Gang Mock-Ups | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2022 |
| Good News: Women in Architecture | Rome, Italy | Completed | 2021 |
| A Different Future in the Making | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2020 |
| Baleinopolis: The Secret Societies of Cetaceans | Paris, France | Completed | 2019 |
| Stage Buoys | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2017 |
| Hive | Washington, D.C. | Completed | 2017 |
| Working in America | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2016 |
| Thinning Ice at Design Miami | Miami, FL | Completed | 2014 |
| Changes of Phase for Thodos Dance Chicago | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2014 |
| EXPO Chicago | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2012 –2014 |
| Building: Inside Studio Gang Architects at the Art Institute of Chicago | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2012 –2013 |
| Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream at the Museum of Modern Art | New York, NY | Completed | 2012 |
| Baseball in the City at the Art Institute of Chicago | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2004 |
| Marble Curtain at the National Building Museum | Washington, D.C. | Completed | 2003 |

### Planning

| Project | Location | Status | Year |
| Enterprise Research Campus Plan | Boston, MA | Completed | 2022 |
| Kresge College Expansion at the University of California, Santa Cruz | Santa Cruz, CA | Completed | 2019 |
| Neighborhood Activation to Increase Public Safety through Community-Empowered Design and Planning | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2021 |
| River Edge Ideas Lab | Chicago, IL | Completed | 2017 |
| Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice Neighborhood Activation Study | New York, NY | Completed | 2018 |
| Memphis Riverfront Concept | Memphis, TN | Completed | 2017 |
| Neighborhood Schools Reuse Concept | Memphis, TN | Completed | 2018 |
| Port District Planning Study | Milwaukee, WI | Completed | 2015 |
| Civic Commons Philadelphia | Philadelphia, PA | Completed | 2016 |

## Selected awards

* 11 Hoyt Receives Honor at 2023 AIA NY Design Awards
* Institute Honor Award, Interior Architecture, AIA Awards, 2017 / Writers Theatre
* Daniel Burnham Award for Master Planning, AIA Illinois, 2016 / Technical team for Positioning Pullman
* Divine Detail Award, Design Excellence Awards, AIA Chicago, 2016 / Writers Theatre
* Interior Architecture Award, Design Excellence Awards, AIA Chicago, 2016 / Writers Theatre
* Distinguished Building Citation of Merit, Design Excellence Awards, AIA Chicago, 2016 / Writers Theatre
* Divine Detail Award, Design Excellence Awards, AIA Chicago, 2016 / City Hyde Park
* Distinguished Building Citation of Merit, Design Excellence Awards, AIA Chicago, 2016 / City Hyde Park
* Institute Honor Award, Architecture, AIA Awards, 2016 / WMS Boathouse at Clark Park
* Architizer A+ Firm of the Year, 2016
* Award for Excellence in Design, Thirty-third Annual Design Awards, Public Design Commission, New York, 2015 / Rescue Company 2
* Distinguished Building Award, Design Excellence Awards, AIA Chicago, 2015 / Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership
* Divine Detail Award, Design Excellence Awards, AIA Chicago, 2015 / Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership
* Honor Award, AIA Illinois, 2015 / Northerly Island
* Distinguished Building Citation of Merit, Design Excellence Awards, AIA Chicago, 2014 / WMS Boathouse at Clark Park
* National Design Award, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
* Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction Acknowledgement Prize North America, 2011, for the Ford Calumet Environmental Center
* Distinguished Building Honor Award, AIA Chicago, 2011, for the Nature Boardwalk, Education Pavilion and South Pond Transformation at Lincoln Park Zoo
* Most Compassionate Architectural Firm, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), 2009
* Skyscraper of the Year Award, Emporis, 2009, for the Aqua Tower
* Emerging Visions Award, AIA Chicago, 2000 & 2006
* Neighborhood Development Award, 3rd place, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, 2005, for the Chinese American Service League