Last week, University of Illinois alumna Carol Ross Barney received the 2023 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal at the A’23 Conference in San Francisco. Barney is the first living woman architect in AIA history and only the sixth Chicago architect — the first in 60 years — to receive the highest and most prestigious honor awarded by the AIA. Her firm, Ross Barney Architects, designed the beautiful Champaign Public Library in 2008, the Chicago riverwalk, and many other incredible buildings. Barney did an interview with the AIA to talk more about what the gold medal means for her as a woman and what it means for the city of Chicago.
