Jeanne Gang to receive the 2026 Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture

Jeanne Gang has been named the 2026 recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture, one of the University of Virginia’s highest external honors. 

Awarded jointly by the University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the medal recognizes figures whose work reflects the wide-ranging ambitions of its namesake. Fellow recipients this year were U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts (in Law) and PBS television show host and professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. (in Citizen Leadership).

Gang now joins a distinguished roster of past medalists that includes Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, I.M. Pei, Frank Gehry, Toyo Ito, Zaha Hadid, and, in recent years, Francis Kéré, Walter Hood, Kate Orff, and Andrew Freear. 

The honor recognizes Gang’s broad contributions to the built environment, particularly her emphasis on architecture as a means of strengthening connections between people, communities, and ecological systems.

Recent notable projects include the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation in New York, the Populus Hotel in Denver, along with major institutional and public works such as the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Tom Lee Park in Memphis, California College of the Arts' campus expansion complex, and the David Rubenstein Treehouse at Harvard University. Across these projects, her Chicago-based firm Studio Gang has advanced research into material systems, biodiversity, and low-carbon construction strategies.

"I see Architecture as a medium for interpreting and acting in the world for positive change," Gang noted in her acceptance statement. "Architecture is indeed an Art, and it can also be a potent response to the climate crisis and to societal fracture by seeking both greener ways to build and renew, and by bringing people together around our shared humanity." 

"Joy and delight through design is what inspires people to carry the momentum for change forward," she added.

Jeanne Gang will mark the occasion with a public lecture at UVA on April 14.