Gold Medal

Carol Ross Barney awarded the 2023 AIA Gold Medal

December 07, 2022
CRB 2023 Gold Medal Home Page 21

The Board of Direc­tors and the Strate­gic Coun­cil of the Amer­i­can Insti­tute of Archi­tects (AIA) are hon­or­ing Car­ol Ross Bar­ney, FAIA, with the 2023 Gold Medal.

The Gold Medal hon­ors an indi­vid­ual whose sig­nif­i­cant body of work has had a last­ing influ­ence on the the­o­ry and prac­tice of architecture.

Carol Ross Barney 3 B

Car­ol Ross Bar­ney, FAIA, Hon. ASLA has been in the van­guard of civic space design since found­ing Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects in 1981. With a career that spans fifty years, Car­ol has made sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to the built envi­ron­ment, the pro­fes­sion, and archi­tec­tur­al edu­ca­tion. From her ear­ly days in the Unit­ed States Peace Corps plan­ning Nation­al Parks in Cos­ta Rica to col­lab­o­ra­tions with pub­lic agen­cies design­ing civic spaces that are sus­tain­able, Car­ol has relent­less­ly advo­cat­ed that excel­lent design is a right, not a priv­i­lege.
 

Her body of work, being almost exclu­sive­ly in the pub­lic realm, rep­re­sents these aspi­ra­tions and occu­pies an unique place with­in the panora­ma of con­tem­po­rary architecture.

Carol’s projects vary in type and scale, but always uphold a deep com­mit­ment to the qual­i­ty of life. This com­mit­ment man­i­fests into spaces that enrich the met­ro­pol­i­tan expe­ri­ence; build­ings that are envi­ron­men­tal stew­ards, embody­ing and show­cas­ing sus­tain­abil­i­ty; and spaces that inspire young, curi­ous minds to learn, invent, and break boundaries.

An unri­valed archi­tect for the peo­ple, Bar­ney exudes design excel­lence, social respon­si­bil­i­ty, and gen­eros­i­ty. Through­out all of her work, she has endeav­ored to make the world a bet­ter place.

 2023 AIA Gold Medal Press Release

Phi­los­o­phy
The work of Car­ol exudes a lack of pre­tense about often for­got­ten build­ings and infra­struc­ture, the lifeblood of our cities, to be unit­ed through design.

To date she has real­ized a remark­able suc­ces­sion of com­pelling projects. Each takes on a honed process of giv­ing voice to all mem­bers of a com­mu­ni­ty. It is the abil­i­ty to lis­ten with inten­tion to the his­to­ry, con­text, and aspi­ra­tions of a com­mu­ni­ty first, and then respond. It is a sto­ry, told through design, about fair­ness, equi­ty, and inspi­ra­tion. 
 

By cre­at­ing a place for peo­ple and ideas to come togeth­er, archi­tec­ture becomes a medi­um for expe­ri­ences to be shared and mem­o­ries to be made.

IMG 4148 BW web
Chicago Public Schools Competition 2001

Edu­ca­tor and Men­tor
Car­ol’s com­mit­ment to edu­ca­tion has embed­ded a gen­er­a­tion of archi­tects with her phi­los­o­phy of design­ing for peo­ple while dri­ving the impor­tance of adapt­ing sus­tain­able systems.

Research top­ics have been inter­re­lat­ed to active explo­rations; water trans­porta­tion, equi­table mixed-used devel­op­ments, mate­r­i­al inno­va­tions such as heavy tim­ber, and float­ing mar­kets. Her pop­u­lar design stu­dio at IIT has gar­nered inter­est from a wide cross sec­tion of stu­dents in Archi­tec­ture, Urban­ism, & Land­scape Architecture.

Select­ed Teach­ing Expe­ri­ence:
Adjunct Pro­fes­sor, IIT, 1993-present
Pel­li Dis­tin­guished Lec­tur­er, UIUC, 2022
Bruce Goff Chair of Cre­ative Archi­tec­ture, OU, 2002
Adjunct Assis­tant Pro­fes­sor of Archi­tec­ture, UIC, 1976 – 1978

Equi­ty in Prac­tice and Design
At the fore­front for equi­ty in the archi­tec­tur­al pro­fes­sion, Car­ol has long sought to move beyond her gen­der as a con­tribut­ing fac­tor or hin­drance to suc­cess. But it’s not enough just to blaze the trail, Car­ol con­tin­u­al­ly teach­es, men­tors, and empow­ers young archi­tects to con­tribute their ideas and designs to progress the pro­fes­sion. Her focus on social jus­tice and pub­lic good has attract­ed a ded­i­cat­ed group of archi­tects to her studio.

IMG 6693 BW edit
Carol Ross Barney 8 BW

Envi­ron­men­tal Stew­ard­ship
Car­ol has a deep com­mit­ment to sus­tain­able design, whether or not a project pur­sues indus­try Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions. Pair­ing envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship, ener­gy per­for­mance and design excel­lence is the chal­lenge. Her build­ing designs take these con­tra­dic­to­ry ideas and put them in harmony.

Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects has been a leader of sus­tain­able design strate­gies, long before it was fash­ion­able, inte­grat­ing a belief in plan­e­tary stew­ard­ship. We know that mak­ing build­ings sus­tain­able for the envi­ron­ment, the com­mu­ni­ty, our clients, and the world is the sin­gle exis­ten­tial chal­lenge of our time.

Design­ing Democracy

Car­ol believes that excel­lent design is a human right.

Archi­tec­ture must be wel­com­ing and inclu­sive; invit­ing all com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers to come together.

Good design is demo­c­ra­t­ic, pro­tect­ing and cre­at­ing healthy and sus­tain­able envi­ron­ments for the earth’s people.

Chicago Riverwalk 21

Chicago Riverwalk Chicago, Illinois

Oklahoma City Federal Building 20

Oklahoma City Federal Building Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Lincoln Park Zoo Visitor Center 01

Lincoln Park Zoo Visitor Center Chicago, Illinois

Infra­struc­ture of Hope

Typ­i­cal­ly, design­ing infra­struc­ture is not even con­sid­ered architecture.

Infra­struc­ture plays a vital role in the con­nec­tiv­i­ty and effi­cien­cy of our cities. And its design con­tributes to the qual­i­ty of urban life.

With a grow­ing port­fo­lio of projects sit­u­at­ed on these ​“fringes of archi­tec­ture”, Car­ol has con­tin­ued to tack­le increas­ing­ly com­plex cul­tur­al, social, and spa­tial chal­lenges; trans­form­ing every­day moments into design opportunities.

Railyard Park 32

Railyard Park Rogers, Arkansas

Cermak Mc Cormick Place Station 13

CTA Cermak McCormick Place Station Chicago, Illinois

Morgan Station CTA 5

CTA Morgan Street Station Chicago, Illinois

3 ORD Multi Modal Terminal Ross Barney Architects Kendall Mc Caugherty c Hall Merrick 1217 021

O’Hare International Airport Multi Modal Terminal Chicago, Illinois

OSU Chiller Ross Barney Arch Brad Feinknopf Photo 9835 01 SNOW

The Ohio State University South Campus Chiller Plant Columbus, Ohio

Repair­ing the World

Carol’s embrace of sus­tain­abil­i­ty is inspired by her ser­vice with the U.S. Peace Corps for the Nation­al Parks of Cos­ta Rica where she worked on the restora­tion of nat­ur­al ecologies.

With a remark­able suc­ces­sion of projects at all scales and uses, and whether or not it received a LEED cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, each project embeds sus­tain­able prin­ci­ples. It is this eth­i­cal belief that a project should improve the world and teach the com­mu­ni­ty about envi­ron­men­tal stewardship.

Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation 33

Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation Synagogue Evanston, IL

Ross Barney 09 Swenson Civil Engineering

UMD Swenson Civil Engineering Building Duluth, Minnesota

Mc Donalds Chicago Flagship 30

McDonald’s Global Flagship Chicago Chicago, Illinois

Mc Donalds Global Flagship 13

McDonald’s Global Flagship at Walt Disney World Buena Vista, Florida

About the Gold Medal:
The Gold Medal hon­ors an indi­vid­ual whose sig­nif­i­cant body of work has had a last­ing influ­ence on the the­o­ry and prac­tice of architecture.

Jury:
Nathaniel Hud­son, AIA, Chair, For­m­Grey Stu­dio, Reno, Nev.
Joseph Ben­jamin, AIA, Lake | Fla­to, San Anto­nio
Arathi P. Gow­da, AIA, ZGF Archi­tects, Wash­ing­ton, D.C.
Anne Hicks Har­ney, FAIA, Long Green Specs, Man­asquan, N.J.
Jaime Tor­res Car­mona, AIA, Canopy/​architecture + design, Chica­go
Andrew Tyley, RIAI, RSHP for­mer­ly Rogers Stirk Har­bour + Part­ners, Lon­don, Unit­ed King­dom
Melodie Yashar, ICON, Austin, Texas

From the Press:
Arch­Dai­ly: ​“An Unri­valed Archi­tect for the Peo­ple”, Car­ol Ross Bar­ney Receives the 2023 AIA Gold Medal
Archi­tect Mag­a­zine: Car­ol Ross Bar­ney Wins 2023 AIA Gold Medal
The Archi­tec­t’s News­pa­per: AIA awards 2023 Gold Medal to Car­ol Ross Bar­ney
Archi­tec­tur­al Record: Car­ol Ross Bar­ney Wins the 2023 AIA Gold Medal
Archi­tec­tur­al Record DESIGN:ED Pod­cast: Con­ver­sa­tions with Lead­ing Pro­fes­sion­als — Car­ol Ross Bar­ney
Chica­go Sun-Times: River­walk design­er brings home the gold, wins architecture’s high­est award
City­Lab: Con­struc­tion Paper: Car­ol Ross Bar­ney Wins US Architecture’s High­est Hon­or
Dai­ly Her­ald: ​‘An unri­valed archi­tect for the peo­ple’: For­mer North Shore res­i­dent wins AIA’s high­est hon­or
Dezeen: ​“Unri­valed archi­tect for the peo­ple” Car­ol Ross Bar­ney wins 2023 AIA Gold Medal
ENR Mid­west: Five Min­utes with Car­ol Ross Bar­ney
IIT COA News: Fac­ul­ty Mem­ber Car­ol Ross Bar­ney wins Pres­ti­gious AIA Gold Medal
Office Insight: AIA Gold Medal to Car­ol Ross Bar­ney for archi­tec­ture ​“that bet­ters dai­ly life“
The Plan: AIA Gold Medal 2023 to Car­ol Ross Bar­ney
WTTW: Chica­go Archi­tect Behind River­walk, CTA Sta­tions and Eye-Catch­ing McDon­alds Designs Award­ed Pres­ti­gious Medal (Video Interview)

For addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion about Ross Bar­ney Archi­tects, please con­tact:
Lau­ra Saviano, Mar­ket­ing Prin­ci­pal
las@r‑barc.com

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