Carol Ross BARNEY

Carol Ross Barney, FAIA, HASLA, the distinguished 2023 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal recipient, is a visionary architect, urbanist, mentor, and educator, and has relentlessly advocated that excellent design is a right, not a privilege. Through her unwavering dedication to design of public buildings and spaces that elevate our daily lives, she has produced distinctive structures and places that have become cultural icons.

Her work has earned over 200 major national and international awards, including the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, fourteen National American Institute of Architects Honor Awards, two AIA COTE Top Ten Project Awards for sustainability, Fast Company Innovation awards, ULI Global Award for Excellence, Prix Versailles/UNESCO/UIA Award, and more than 45 AIA Chicago Awards. Notable projects include the design of the Oklahoma City Federal Building, replacing the bombed Murrah Federal Building, the Chicago Riverwalk, flagship restaurants for McDonald's in Chicago and Disney World, NASA Aerospace Communications Facility, Railyard Park in Rogers, Arkansas, O’Hare International Airport Multi-Modal Terminal and the Searle Visitor Center at the Lincoln Park Zoo. 

Carol is a graduate of the University of Illinois and served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica planning national parks. She has taught an advanced Design Studio at the Illinois Institute of Technology for over thirty years.