Keynote: John Ronan, FAIA

John Ronan, FAIA, will discuss topics of materiality, place, and innovation via selected projects from his Chicago-based firm’s portfolio, including the Poetry Foundation, IIT Innovation Center, Chicago Park District Headquarters, Independence Library & Apartments and design for the Fallen Journalists Memorial on the Mall in Washington D.C.

John Ronan, FAIA, is an architect, writer, and educator based in Chicago and Founding Principal of John Ronan Architects where he serves as Lead Designer.

Known for his abstract yet sensuous work exploring materiality and atmosphere, John holds a Master of Architecture degree with distinction from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan. His work has been exhibited internationally and covered extensively by the international design press. He has lectured widely and there are three publications on his firm’s work. John’s writings have appeared in books, architecture journals and Poetry magazine, and his firm is the recipient of numerous honors, including multiple National AIA Architecture Awards. In 2016, his firm was one of seven international finalists for the Obama Presidential Center and his Poetry Foundation building was included in Architectural Record’s list of the best 125 buildings of the past 125 years. In 2017 John received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Award and in 2024 his firm was named winner of the competition to design the Fallen Journalists Memorial on the Mall in Washington. He is currently the John and Jeanne Rowe Endowed Professor of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture.

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