Studio Gang

Today, we're looking back at 2024 - an incredible year of design, discovery, and connection at Studio Gang. 🏦 Projects 🏦 This year we celebrated the opening of five buildings, spanning more geographies and typologies than ever before. In Lexington, we completed the reuse of a tobacco warehouse into a new learning environment for the University of Kentucky College of Design. In San Francisco, we completed two projects: an expansion of California College of the Arts that featured innovative mass-timber pavilions; we also developed a new model of collaborative urban design, resulting on our new residential building Verde at Mission Rock. In Denver, we opened Populus, our first free-standing hotel. And just last month, our first project in France, The University of Chicago John W. Boyer Center in Paris, began welcoming students. We also broke ground on the Marlboro Agricultural Education Center in Brooklyn and Samuel H. Scripps Theatre Center in upstate New York and topped out on two buildings in Boston: the One Milestone West lab building, and the mass-timber David Rubenstein Treehouse for Harvard University. And Jeanne released “The Art of Architectural Grafting,” a book synthesizing a decade of practice and research on how architects can find creative inspiration in the environmental imperative to bring new life to older structures. 🏆 Recognition 🏆 We were honored to see our projects recognized widely, from the University of California, Santa Cruz Kresge College Expansion winning honors from The Architect's Newspaper's Best of Design Awards, AIA California, AIA San Francisco, and AIA Chicago to the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts taking home an Honor Award in Architecture from The American Institute of Architects (AIA)'s National program. Jeanne received the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award from ULI Chicago and was promoted to Officer of the Legion of Honor in France. 🥳 Studio Milestones 🥳 We gathered for our tenth year at Camp Wandawega, connecting and recharging in the great outdoors, while holding our most competitive table tennis tournament yet. We moved into a new office in New York and will start the year in a new space in San Francisco. We want to thank our wonderful clients, collaborators, and friends for making 2024 a year filled with creativity, exploration, and new successes. With more exciting projects and new on the horizon, we’re looking forward to 2025!

We’re seeking a full-time Business Development Director for Europe to join the talented team in our Paris office! This proactive and dynamic Director will help foster relationships with clients and collaborators, shape our growth strategy, and deepen our network in France and across Europe. If you’re a motivated professional with experience supporting design-forward architectural practices in Europe, we’d love to hear from you! Learn more: https://lnkd.in/egEvvGaM

We’re thrilled to welcome Joan Verbon as Studio Gang’s Chief Financial and Operations Officer! With nearly three decades of experience in architecture, engineering, and construction across North America and Europe, Joan brings a holistic approach to operations that helps ensure the Studio continues to realize its mission and support design excellence. Joan will oversee the Studio’s global operations and financial performance, balancing visionary design with efficient execution across all projects and offices. Welcome to the Studio!

The David Rubenstein Treehouse conference center is making progress in Boston! The building’s mass timber structure – the first of its kind for Harvard University – topped out last week. The wood was sourced from sustainably managed forests, contributing to the building’s target of ILFI Living Building Challenge Core Green Building and Materials Petal certifications. As Harvard University’s first campus-wide conference center, the Treehouse is designed to be a biophilic destination that energizes conversation and collaboration and embraces the outdoors and the surrounding community. Its wood columns and cross-bracing branch outward like a tree to support the top-level main conference space, the Canopy Hall, and frame great views of the surrounding treetops, the campus, and city beyond. This combination of natural materials and elevated views will help give visitors the joyful feeling of inhabiting the treetops. Stay tuned for more updates! #StudioGang #masstimber #constructionupdate

We’re proud of Gia Biagi as she embarks on an exciting new chapter in public service, joining Governor JB Pritzker's administration as Secretary of the Illinois Department of Transportation. During her time with us, Gia has laid a strong foundation for the Studio’s urbanism practice, and we look forward to continuing to do impactful work at this scale. Thank you, Gia, for your contributions, and all the best in this next adventure!

We are excited to announce the promotion of two new Principals, J. Arthur Liu, and Amy Lawlor! Since joining Studio Gang in 2015 as an early team member in our New York office, Arthur has been a trusted design leader on projects across the city and beyond, from 11 Hoyt to Fire Rescue 2, as well as contributing to broader Studio initiatives like our Sustainability Task Force. In his new role as Design Principal, he will oversee design teams and work closely with Jeanne to shape the design vision for projects. As leader of the Studio’s HR team, Amy has greatly advanced our Studio’s efforts to create an inclusive and equitable workplace. As Principal and Chief Human Resources Officer, she crafts policies that empowers every Studio member to be creative, active contributors to our design process. Together, they will play a central role in shaping the Studio's future and ensuring its continued success. Congratulations! 🎉

We’re honored to share that the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History has been recognized with The Architect's Newspaper Best of Design Award in the Cultural category! Thank you to the jury for recognizing our work on the Gilder Center, and our partners for helping create a wonder-filled space that improves functionality and visitor experience for the entire Museum campus. It’s been rewarding to see how the Center has been received by the Museum, its visitors, and the city over the past year. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e5iCC6vv #StudioGang #ANBoD

Kresge College's new residential buildings have received the Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Award in the Higher Education—Residential category! The curvilinear buildings respond closely to the language of the College’s 1960s design while evolving the architecture to embrace the surrounding redwood forest. A primary driver of the project’s design was a reconnection of the living and working spaces to the surrounding redwood forest. The new buildings provide visual and physical connections to the natural environment linking students, faculty, and staff more overtly to their ecosystems. Buildings, open spaces, and circulation were sited specifically to not only protect and connect with existing trees, vegetation, and topography but also to enable habitat continuity for the many nonhuman species inhabiting the campus and surrounding area. Thank you to the jury for recognizing the Kresge College expansion, and our partners for helping create a project that supports the College’s current needs and future goals! 📸: Jason O'Rear #StudioGang #architecture #masstimber University of California, Santa Cruz The Architect's Newspaper, TEF Design, Swinerton, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Sherwood Design Engineers, Introba, Atelier Ten, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH), Salter, Cheng + Snyder, Directional Logic, Jensen Hughes, TEECOM, HLB Lighting Design, Ricca Design Studios, JONI L JANECKI AND ASSOCIATES INC., Office of Cheryl Barton

Calling all architecture collectors and enthusiasts! The annual charity auction of Fondation Architectes de l'Urgence is here, presenting the chance to donate to a great cause while acquiring an original work created by a well-known international architect or artist. One of Jeanne’s early sketches of the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History is included among this year’s works. Proceeds will support Architectes de l’Urgence’s ongoing mission of providing emergency assistance, reconstruction, and community training efforts following natural, technological, or conflict-related disasters. Jeanne is honored to contribute to this meaningful cause, and we invite you to join the auction on December 3rd, in person or remotely, to support this important mission! Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eZixBvqT

A book can be a seed for collaboration, conversation, and change. 🌱 Published this spring by Park Books in English and French, Jeanne’s “The Art of Architectural Grafting” / “L’Art de greffer en architecture” proposes a fresh concept for bringing new life to older structures, inspired by the regenerative abilities of plants. Horticultural grafting is the ancient practice of connecting two plants—one old and one new—so they can grow and thrive as one, producing tastier fruit, heartier health, and more delightful foliage. In “The Art of Architectural Grafting,” Jeanne explores how this approach can apply to architecture, creating strategic building additions that sensitively expand on their originals to produce new usefulness and beauty for communities. The book is rooted in over a decade of Jeanne’s practice and research on the reuse of existing buildings and urban lands—including Studio Gang projects such as the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Beloit College Powerhouse, and Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History, which are all featured as case studies in its pages. It also draws on Jeanne’s research and teaching as a Professor in Practice at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where site visits, guest lectures, and workshops (including a hands-on plant grafting tutorial) have enriched her option studios on the environmental and cultural aspects of buildings’ reuse. As part of her research, Jeanne consulted many fascinating illustrated books on grafting and gardening—some as old as the 16th century—in botanical libraries such as Harvard’s Herbaria and the New York Botanical Garden’s Mertz Library. Grafting is something marvelous, and even magical, in these books, and their content as well as their spirit infused the project and helped inspire the talented team at Elektrosmog, the book’s graphic designers. Sharing the book through events in different cities has been so much fun, and we look forward to continuing the grafting dialogue in 2025! You can purchase your copy at your favorite bookstore, or through the links below. https://lnkd.in/emJsxTcK https://lnkd.in/emwXpgfu University of Chicago Press