Pioneering Architect Jeanne Gang to Deliver 2010 Bethune Lecture at UB

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Jeanne Gang, founder and president of Studio Gang Architects and the lead designer of downtown Chicago's iconic Aqua Tower, will present the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning's 2010 Bethune Lecture on Dec. 1.

The lecture takes place at 5:30 p.m. in 301 Crosby Hall on UB's South Campus. It is free and open to the public.

The 82-story Aqua Tower, completed this year, houses a hotel, apartments, condominiums, parking, offices and one of Chicago's largest green roofs. Curved, outdoor terraces whose shapes differ from floor to floor give the high-rise its distinctive undulating appearance.

Aqua Tower, finished in 2010, is the tallest building in the world designed by a woman-owned firm. The sustainable high-rise achieved an American Institute of Architects (AIA) Chicago Distinguished Building Award and won the 2009 Emporis Skyscraper Award.

Other recent projects by the Chicago-based Studio Gang include a media production center for Columbia College Chicago that includes three large sound stages, along with teaching spaces for lighting, set-making, directing and animation classes. The celebratory façade of the building, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold structure, draws inspiration from the color bar test pattern that is iconic to the film industry.

Studio Gang also recently completed a rehabilitation of the South Pond at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. The project improves water quality, hydrology, landscape and accessibility to turn a dilapidated, man-made pond into a natural and sustainable ecological habitat. With a new boardwalk and pavilion, the site now functions as an outdoor classroom, demonstrating the co-existence of nature and urban surroundings. Studio Gang's pavilion has also won accolades. Inspired by the tortoise shell, the laminated structure consists of prefabricated, bent-wood members and a series of interconnected fiberglass pods that give global curvature to the surface.

The Bethune Lecture is an annual lecture made possible by the joint sponsorship of AIA Buffalo/Western New York and the UB School of Architecture and Planning. It celebrates the life and professional work of Louise Bethune. Bethune, an architect who worked in Buffalo, was the first woman to be elected as a member of the AIA.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.