The celebrated American architect Jeanne Gang is the founding principal of Studio Gang, an architecture and urban design practice in Chicago and New York. In this talk organized in collaboration with MAXXI, Jeanne will discuss the design process for recent and upcoming projects of various types and scales that use materiality to forge connections between cities, people, and the environment. These projects include the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, which was built using a vernacular method that embodies the participatory ideals of the center; an expansion of New York’s American Museum of Natural History that uses the liquid qualities of concrete to echo geological processes, resulting in a flowing central space for exhibition, education, and exploration; the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo, a restored urban habitat and landmark pavilion in Chicago; and Writers Theatre, which uses wood in tension to create a transparent performance and gathering space that embraces its community.

This event, a collaboration with MAXXI Architettura, is part of the Light On series curated by Pippo Ciorra, senior curator of architecture at MAXXI. The lecture will be held in English.

Jeanne Gang is the William A. Bernoudy Architect in Residence at the American Academy in Rome in the fall 2017.