Jeanne Gang

JOB DESCRIPTION
Architect

CURRENT PROJECTS
We’re in design on the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership in Michigan; City Hyde Park and the Writers’ Theatre in Chicago; a Mexico City high-rise; the MoMA exhibition Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream; and a book, Reverse Effect: Renewing Chicago’s Waterways.

WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO?
Curiosity

FIRST STEP ON PROJECT
Assemble the team, dive into research, and visit the site.

LAST STEP ON A PROJCT
Projects never end. After a building is finished, work continues on energy monitoring, post-occupancy studies, or just giving tours.

HOW DO YOU BREAK A CREATIVE BLOCK?
Divert the mind or body.

EDUCATION
Master of Architecture, Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Bachelor of Science, University of Illinois; Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, ETH Zürich

WORLD-SAVING MISSION
Making cities ecological and exciting

DREAM TEAM
My MoMA team collaborators

OFFICE CHAIR
A recycled Saarinen executive armchair by Knoll (on rollers, of course)

FAVORITE TCHOTCHKE
Tensegrity model

MOST USEFUL TOOLS
Scissors

BOOKMARKS
Nytimes.com

BEST PLACE TO THINK
Model shop

SOMETHING OLD
Gray infrastructure

SOMEHTHING NEW
Green infrastructure

FAVORITE SPACE
Grand Canyon

GUILTY PLEASURE
Orange foods like Doritos

UNDERRATED
Making

OVERRATED
Branding

LEARNED THE HARD WAY
Never Ass+u+me

COMMAND-Z (UNDO)
Fifty percent of calendar items

DREAM JOB
A project in Rio

Jeanne Gang: The Art of Nesting