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Jeanne Gang

Age: 50

Occupation: Principal, Studio Gang Architects

This will be the year that Chicagoans start associating the city’s only female starchitect with something besides Aqua, the undulating tower that has riveted the international design community since the late 2000s. Last October, to effusive praise in the architectural press, this MacArthur “genius” unveiled a sleek boathouse integral to Rahm’s facelift for the Chicago River. Meanwhile, crews began moving dirt on both Gang’s ambitious Northerly Island reboot and the City Hyde Park, a mixed-use development that aims to transform 53rd Street.