Carrie Neill

Carrie Neill

Director of Communications, Carrie Neill, oversees editorial and multimedia projects about AS+GG’s projects and leads the firm’s communications and marketing efforts.

Carrie’s work aims to distill projects down to their core. Through extensive conversations with the design team, clients and consultants, she helps identify a project’s character and purpose in vision statements and storyboards for design presentations. She authors design statements for each project and regularly produces short films on the firm’s projects. Currently, she is working on two books about the work and ethos of AS+GG, and regularly contributes articles to journals and industry publications. She worked closely with internationally recognized graphic designers to implement the firm’s branding and managed the creation of the AS+GG website.

Carrie joined the firm at its inception in 2006 and has worked closely with the founding partners to develop a number of projects in the office, including authoring the firm vision statement.

She is currently working with AS+GG client The National Museum of Health and Medicine Chicago to implement their first local exhibit, leading the creation of presentation materials for both informational and curatorial content.

She is pursuing her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and has a novel in progress. Previously she worked in the marketing group at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, as well as at the Smart Museum of Art, WGN Radio and at the Festival de Cannes.

Education

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, Queens University of Charlotte, Expected 2013 (Low-Residency)
Bachelor of Arts, Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities with a focus on English Literature and Cinema/Media Studies, University of Chicago, 2003.

Affiliations

Steppenwolf Theatre Auxiliary Board of Governors, 2010-Present
Emerald City Theatre Board of Directors 2005-2008
Uptown Writer's Space, Member 2006-2008

Publications + Presentations

"A Call for Urban Doctors," Huffington Post 2011
"ATall Green Future," Tall Buildings and Sustainability, A CTBUH / Wiley Journal, 2008. Co-authored with Gordon Gill.
"Global Environmental Contextualism," Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat World Congress Journal, 2008. Co-authored Adrian Smith, FAIA, Gordon Gill, AIA and Robert Forest, AIA.
"Designing Sustainable Buildings," Urban Land, June 2007. Co-authored with Gordon Gill, AIA.
"Healthy Values", Urban Land Green, Spring 2007. Co-authored Robert Forest, AIA.
"Sustainable Architecture in Chicago: Works in Progress," Pearl River Tower installation. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, September 2006.

Carrie Neill on...

…design
I think successful design works at both universal and personal levels. Of course, great buildings achieve functional superiority and performance. But great design must also provoke delight; it must reach at something within each individual. The cause of such delight--what we find beautiful--is impossible to quantify, which is largely what draws me to it.

…where she finds inspiration
My job is to communicate the essence of the firm's work to the public- which often involves translating complex, highly technical concepts into straightforward prose. I'm inspired by a number of the great storytellers: James Joyce, Jane Austen, David Mamet, Aaron Sorkin, Anna Deveare Smith, Alice Munro.

…her favorite "moment" in architecture
The Reading Room at the British Museum. Or at The Library of Congress. Or Harper Library at the University of Chicago. Each is this phenomenal space for reflection and study, filled filled filled with books. For me, architecture is very much about an emotional response-- and each one of these places fosters a great sense of possibility.

…her favorite city architecturally
Paris. You can stand on the Left Bank, in front of Shakespeare & Company, the famous Lost Generation bookstore, and gaze up at Notre Dame and the flying buttresses. It's like being transported to a completely different place in time.

...what she admires about the collaborative design process
In our office, collaboration extends across all disciplines. I have the chance to work with every single person in the firm, which is really enriching.

...what she does when she's not writing about architecture
Reading, going to the theater (both live and the movies), writing fiction. I love exploring the multitude of ways we can tell stories.