We believe sustainability is not an added attribute of design; it is fundamental to practicing architecture with purpose and accountability. Guided by a commitment to positive impact, we integrate urban responsibility, innovative engineering, and high-performance building systems to create architecture that enhances how people live, work, and connect. Environmental performance should be inseparable from human comfort, well-being, and the quality of experience, both within buildings and across the public realm. The success of any design is measured not by its attributes or accolades, but by the impact it has on those who inhabit it.
At the Japan Post external louvers filter direct sunlight on the east and west façades while allowing ambient daylight to fill the space, and a vented twin-shell façade opens the interior to natural air and ventilation.
Sustainable design is therefore an inherent part of the process, not a feature or visual statement. Through innovative façades, structural, material, lighting, mechanical, and landscape strategies, we craft buildings that respond to both environmental conditions and user needs, delivering meaningful outcomes for all.
Our approach is holistic and forward-looking. Every component and system contributes to long-term performance, resilience, and environmental impact. Certifications such as LEED and WELL provide valuable guidance but are not endpoints. By treating buildings like living organisms—incorporating biophilic principles and natural systems—efficiency becomes an outcome of thoughtful design rather than a target. Our focus extends beyond compliance to visionary strategies that reduce carbon emissions, optimize lifecycle performance, and ensure lasting relevance.
At Bayer Headquarters we use daylight to enhance well-being and spatial satisfaction, shaping façades to make light manageable and useful. Transparency and visual connection foster both connection to the exterior and interconnection within the space.
At Margot & Harold Schiff Residences we employ lightweight, efficient building techniques that leverage secondary materials to reduce reliance on new materials.
This philosophy reflects our belief in architecture that is both pragmatic and aspirational. Through close collaboration with clients and consultants, we balance innovation with responsibility, nature with context, and performance with experience. The result is architecture that delivers measurable impact today while remaining adaptable, engaging, and enduring for generations to come.
Ideas/
Exhibitions
Life + Architecture: Helmut Jahn exhibition at the Chicago Architecture Center
The exhibition, “Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture,” showcased significant designs from Jahn’s illustrious career, including notable projects like the crystalline Michigan City Public Library and the striking James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. It also highlighted transformative designs, including the Sony Center in Berlin and the construction of the Pritzker Military Archives Center in Wisconsin, which was still ongoing at the time of the exhibition.
Debuting at the Chicago Architecture Center nearly one year after Jahn’s passing, the posthumous exhibition featured photography, models, and sketches that shed light on Jahn’s collaborative design and engineering process. Additionally, images from Jahn’s family archives, videos, and recollections from those who knew and worked with Jahn emphasized his dramatic flair and zest for life.
Process Progress/ Retrospective exhibition at Neues Museum in Nuremberg
“Helmut Jahn: Process Progress” — an international exhibition by the Neues Museum in Nuremberg and Die Neue Sammlung (the International Design Museum, Munich) — showcased the comprehensive body of work by Helmut Jahn. The exhibition focused on Jahn’s open approach to architecture, characterized by two overarching concepts: process, representing work process, and progress, signifying advancement. It presented Jahn’s dynamic portfolio, spanning from his early works in Chicago to contemporary “mega big buildings” in Qatar, China, Japan, and Korea, and also explored Jahn’s visionary projects for ideal cities in the Emirates and large-scale shopping centers in China.
Despite the scale of these projects, Jahn’s personal touch was incorporated throughout the exhibition, through drawings that were executed on small paper blocks or notebooks. The exhibition also displayed architectural models, primarily made of Plexiglas, and featured photographs of Jahn’s works captured by photographer Rainer Viertlböck.
Helmut Jahn’s return to Nuremberg after 46 years provided a comprehensive overview of Jahn’s career, showcasing both built and forthcoming projects and exploring his belief that “the future is never wrong.”
1000M was honored with a 2025 American Architecture Award, presented by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in collaboration with The European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and Metropolitan Arts Press, a program established in 1994 to recognize outstanding new buildings, landscapes, and planning projects by leading American architects and…
Rebuilding Das Center (formerly Sony Center) with Berliners in mind
When Oxford Properties invited us to help reimagine the 25-year-old Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz, it represented both a homecoming and a transformation. Once a bold symbol of Berlin’s post-reunification ambition, the district had become more spectacle than city. Together, we set out to change that—to transform a top-down master plan into a place that…
1000M, EDEN Tower and Pritzker Military Archives Center have won Gold Awards for the Global Future Design Awards hosted by the Architecture Press Release.
1000M Balances Striking Design With Sustainable Performance
1000M’s high-performance glazing, efficient mechanical systems, smart building controls, and water-saving fixtures reduce energy use and resource consumption while maximizing comfort. Recently earning Two Green Globes, a distinction shared by only three other tall multifamily buildings in Chicago, the tower sets a benchmark for sustainable, high-rise living.
Chicago Yimby Features Thompson Center Construction Progress
The transformation of the Thompson Center into the new Google HQ in The Loop continues, as the new glass skin continues to wrap around the building’s skeleton. As is well known by now, the Prime Group is renovating the former state office building, with a deal in place to sell it to Google upon completion. Google plans…
1000M was honored with a 2025 American Architecture Award, presented by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design in collaboration with The European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and Metropolitan Arts Press, a program established in 1994 to recognize outstanding new buildings, landscapes, and planning projects by leading American architects and…
1000M, EDEN Tower and Pritzker Military Archives Center have won Gold Awards for the Global Future Design Awards hosted by the Architecture Press Release.
Eden Tower Receives an International Architecture Award Honorable Mention
Eden Tower received an International Architecture Award Honorable Mention, sponsored by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
Pritzker Military Museum and Library Named World Architecture Festival Finalist
Pritzker Military Museum and Library will go on to compete LIVE at the festival in Miami, November 12-14, 2025, where we will present the project to the esteemed judging panel.
Award‑Winning EDEN Tower Boldly Blends Nature and Architecture
Award-winning EDEN Tower boldly fuses nature and architecture, with more than 2,000 square meters of living walls climbing its 98-meter façade. Recognized with CTBUH’s Best Tall Building Under 100 Meters Award, the 29-story residential tower introduces a new generation of sustainable high-rise living to Frankfurt’s city center. Jahn and Sempergreen, which developed the green wall…
Integrated by Design: Realizing Jahn’s Vision for the Pritzker Military Museum and Library
Emerging from the landscape of Sturtevant, Wisconsin, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library stands proud as a testament to Jahn’s enduring philosophy of integrated design. Built to accommodate the expanding collections of Chicago’s Pritzker Military Museum & Library, the project brings together architecture, technology, systems, and construction to create architecture of integrity, furthering our firm’s…
Looking back on 40 years of the James R. Thompson Center
2025 will mark 40 years since the Thompson Center first opened as the State of Illinois Center. Although it sparked much conversation and debate at the time, it proved to be a game changer for our firm — a building that allowed us to test new ideas and push the boundaries of what a government building should be. A building for the people, by the people.
