YouSaid · the spoken record

Jeanne Gang

lines on the record: 63
first: 2026-04-30
most recent: 2026-04-30
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Yeah, absolutely. Every floor is a slightly different shape, which creates this visual of almost waves along the facade. But it's really made up of individual floor plates. And the reason why they are the way they are, which is irregular, I would say, like irregular organics curved, it allows people to see other people while they're on the facade when they're out on their balcony as opposed to trying to separate them off. So it feels more like you're on the porch or something as opposed to in a little box. So another thing that the irregularity does is to break up the wind pressure. So it doesn't build up speed. So it confuses the wind. And that way it makes it more comfortable for people to be on their balcony, even in a city.”
2026-04-30 · On with Kara Swisher · How Architecture Can Solve Big Social Problems with Jeanne Gang · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So that it could sustain life in it and added a boardwalk for people to use and a pavilion and just like it's just a really rich area full of nature. People love going there and it's right in the middle of the city. These days, I'm worried more about what's not in the city since cities are starting to be in a way more biodiverse than what's outside the city. Because of the way people's preferences for just monoculture lawns and things like that, and also just the way that the area around the outside of the city has become more occupied by logistics and data centers and things like that. And it's starting to really change the balance there. So maybe cities are actually kind of like a very important safety place for. Yeah, oh, that's interesting.”
2026-04-30 · On with Kara Swisher · How Architecture Can Solve Big Social Problems with Jeanne Gang · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I think one thing is people have Separated themselves from nature or not even considered ourselves animals, but we are. And so there's just that construct of separation between humans and animals. And so we've done that with our environments. We've paved things. We put trees in cities. We put them in small containers in the ground and don't let them connect to each other. So there's just a lack of understanding of how it all works together. We've designed out for whatever reason the relationships. So it's tried to bring them back together. Designing a place in the city, one of the places we designed was the nature boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo. So I don't really like zoos that much, but this is a zoo with no cages in it. And it's just an outdoor area that has a pond that we revamped so that”
2026-04-30 · On with Kara Swisher · How Architecture Can Solve Big Social Problems with Jeanne Gang · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When I think about relationships, I always think about ecosystems because we're part of a bigger web of life and we're just one part of it and there's many other parts of it, including the water and the air, but all the living things. So how can we make places that highlight that relationship, that let us have access to that? And so I've been really excited about working in cities where you can bring that to the fore or even in just a ordinary project how can you bring more awareness about the environment and set up a place where people can have that relationship.”
2026-04-30 · On with Kara Swisher · How Architecture Can Solve Big Social Problems with Jeanne Gang · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm a big observer of nature and I love, I learn a lot from it, and I am inspired by it. So I've always been thinking about why isn't there more biodiversity within cities because I think a lot of people born in cities or kids born in cities might not be exposed to that amazing wealth of biodiversity. So I think”
2026-04-30 · On with Kara Swisher · How Architecture Can Solve Big Social Problems with Jeanne Gang · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, there's definitely hidden figures within the architecture realm of women that have been practicing for a long time. And it's great to bring their stories forward too.”
2026-04-30 · On with Kara Swisher · How Architecture Can Solve Big Social Problems with Jeanne Gang · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think it was just with the constraints of each profession and architecture was set up in the way that it is, it has a certain, we do have to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public and people that use our buildings. And so there's roles like that, but there's other ways you can practice as well that are either scholarly research or activations or gorilla architecture, I guess you could say. You can do many things that help express what you believe in, what you care about It's just the profession itself had some constraints. I think that's what people were following. But now it's much more open. There's people doing a lot of really interesting things, I think. Maybe I was on the front end of that.”
2026-04-30 · On with Kara Swisher · How Architecture Can Solve Big Social Problems with Jeanne Gang · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, at that time, there weren't too many women run firms to work for. And also, and it wasn't just, it wasn't just because they're men. It's just like the model of it was very constraining. And I always thought of architecture as a medium, more like a medium that you can use to put projects into the world, working together with other clients and collaborators, but also just your own thoughts, which is what I was talking about with the river. I was thinking that architecture could be much more of a mode of expression, a way to be in the world, a way to act in the world. And that's just what I wanted to set up. And it just didn't exist, you know, so that's why I had to, and I looked forward to starting my own thing.”
2026-04-30 · On with Kara Swisher · How Architecture Can Solve Big Social Problems with Jeanne Gang · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So architecture is what brings people to that. It's the beauty of architecture, it's the ability of it to bring people together. Start to Spark that action. So with the river. We and some other architects did projects along the river to give access to Public, and we did these boat houses, designed boathouses that were for youth and boating groups, and they started to Engage with the river in new ways Realize it's like even if it's dirty, it's still. Hours, you know, and that helps to. Activate people toward being stewards, toward caring about it. So let's talk about your.”
2026-04-30 · On with Kara Swisher · How Architecture Can Solve Big Social Problems with Jeanne Gang · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Churning on people to accessing the river. I guess number one step for people. Was to appreciate that that is a resource. It's not just an industrial waterway. It's many things to people, animals, and so on. So this is a”
2026-04-30 · On with Kara Swisher · How Architecture Can Solve Big Social Problems with Jeanne Gang · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Pollutants. It was to save the drinking water of Chicago, but the pollutants ended up going all the way down into the Gulf of Mexico and causing other problems. So this idea of like, what could we do about this situation of the river? The subject of the thought. And then we worked with other not for profits on things to try to help envision what it could look like if we unreversed the river, what could it be? What would the potential be? What would the benefits be? And so it's a little bit like working scientifically with researchers and people that understand the animal and wildlife that live in the river, people that are saying engineering, infrastructure, and so on, and bringing those things together to kind of try to imagine what a different way could be. So that was the kind of Impetus of”
2026-04-30 · On with Kara Swisher · How Architecture Can Solve Big Social Problems with Jeanne Gang · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Toward each day, toward making that a reality, to make the cities we want to have, to make the world we want to live in. And so that's what it means for us. And I think in the work, it's really about looking for that connection between the immediate project and the longer goal. So one example is sometimes we do projects that are not a brief at all. It might be just something we want to do with our skills as architects is being able to help people visualize things and imagine things. Of the first examples I guess I could give is just that the Chicago River, which is a place, it's a resource, it's a river, it was reversed more than 100 years ago as an environment, it has become polluted, it causes flooding and all these things. And in that reversal actually had some negative impacts downstream as well.”
2026-04-30 · On with Kara Swisher · How Architecture Can Solve Big Social Problems with Jeanne Gang · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, that came about. I was trying to communicate why, I guess, why we do architecture. And oftentimes you receive a brief and it has the parameters of what you're supposed to design. But I found that sometimes there's a lot more opportunity to what the impact a project can have than just what's in that brief. This comes from the idea that We are idealistic. We want to make the world a better place and to improve the condition, but we also have to be realistic and actionable means that step by step we can get there, but we need to think about the long view and work.”
2026-04-30 · On with Kara Swisher · How Architecture Can Solve Big Social Problems with Jeanne Gang · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT