AIA Chicago, the second largest local chapter of The American Institute of Architects, announced that Adrian Smith, founding partner of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) and former partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, will receive the 2025 AIA Chicago Lifetime Achievement Award.
Smith will be honored at Designight 2025, AIA Chicago’s signature awards program honoring Chicago architects’ global design achievements, which will be held at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park on Thursday, Sept. 18.
Over the last 55 years, first as design partner at SOM then as founding partner at his own firm, AS+GG, Smith has been instrumental to the design and realization of Chicago’s most iconic structures and public spaces, transforming the skyline and positively shaping everyday life. Smith’s work has been guided by a civic duty to give back to the city and its people. As an advocate for the public in his projects, he has strived to ensure that Chicago’s world renown destinations are designed for the benefit of local communities, such as the revitalization of Lakeshore East from an abandoned freight yard into a thriving neighborhood that is 40% open space and centered around a six-acre park; Millennium Park, which welcomes over 25 million visitors every year; and the re-establishment of the historically significant State Street, the heart of the Chicago Loop.
Smith has designed over 20 projects in Chicago, including: Neiman Marcus on Michigan Avenue; Olympia Center; NBC Tower; AT&T and USG Center; 3 First National; Trump International Hotel and Tower; Continental Branch Bank on State and Dearborn; the European
Galleries at The Art Institute of Chicago; The East Entry and the overall Master Plan for the Field Museum of Natural History. His international portfolio includes buildings and master plans in Bahrain, Brazil, China, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Canada, England, Germany, Guatemala, Indonesia, Korea, Egypt, Israel, Chechnya, Kuwait, Mexico, and throughout the United States.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is nominated by the AIA Chicago general membership and selected by the AIA Chicago Board of Directors.
