As a practice founded to harness the power of design to address the most pressing contemporary challenges, Studio Gang is rooted in an ethos of “actionable idealism” – a term that describes the firm’s goal to articulate big ideas while simultaneously looking for practical ways, in every project, to realize measurable positive change. In this sense, the field of ecology has been deeply influential to Studio Gang’s approach, which understands architecture as playing a key, connective role within a larger web of environmental and social networks.

Speaker: WESTON WALKER

Architect Weston Walker is a Design Principal and the Partner in charge of Studio Gang’s New York office. With nearly 15 years tenure at Studio Gang, Weston’s expertise spans scales and typologies, having designed cultural and educational institutions, complex civic buildings, and towers across the Americas. Currently, he is leading a major expansion of the American Museum of Natural History (now under construction), an Enterprise Research Campus, and Block F, the central building in the upcoming Mission Rock development in San Francisco. Under his leadership, the Studio has completed a diverse portfolio of projects in New York, including a new training facility for FDNY’s Rescue Company 2 in Brooklyn, a Neighborhood Activation Study to increase public safety through community design and problem-solving in New York City, and the award-winning Solar Carve Tower.

Weston is a graduate of Yale University, where he received his Master of Architecture and was awarded the AIA Henry Adams Medal. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Cornell University, graduating summa cum laude for his thesis work exploring systems of perception and meaning in both musical and architectural spaces.