T. Gunny Harboe, FAIA

In March of 2006 Gunny Harboe began his own architecture firm specializing in historic preservation and sustainable design. Prior to that he spent 17 ½ years at McClier (and Austin/AECOM) where he was responsible for all of the firm’s projects involving preservation, restoration, or rehabilitation of older structures of historic or architectural significance. He is a registered architect having received his M. Arch. degree from MIT, which included study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, Denmark. He also has a M.Sc. in Historic Preservation from Columbia University, and an A.B. in History from Brown University. In 1998 he completed the course in Architectural Conservation at ICCROM in Rome, Italy.

Mr. Harboe has gained a national reputation for his award winning work on the Rookery Building and Reliance Buildings. Both these projects received national Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Mr. Harboe was named a “2001 Young Architect” by the National AIA, and in 2002, he was made a member of the GSA’s National Register of Peer Professionals. His work has been recognized with over two dozen other awards and in 2010 he was named a Chicagoan of the Year by Chicago Magazine.

Mr. Harboe is very active in several professional organizations.He is a past member of the national board of the AIA, as a Regional Director from Illinois. He is also a Past President of AIA Chicago. His other volunteer activities include serving as current Vice President of the ICOMOS ISC on 20th Century Heritage, past Vice President of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois; and past Vice President of DOCOMOMO-US, where he currently remains a board member.

Mr. Harboe has given over 100 lectures all over the U.S. and a dozen different countries, and has published numerous articles about his work. In addition, he is an Adjunct Professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology in the College of Architecture where he teaches studio courses in design and preservation.

Recent projects include: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, Robie House, Unity Temple and Beth Sholom Synagogue; Mies Van der Rohe’s Crown Hall; Louis Sullivan’s Carson Pirie Scott Store; Holabird and Roche’s Marquette Building; and Holabird and Root’s Chicago Board of Trade Building and Lafayette Building, all National Historic Landmarks.

T. Gunny Harboe, FAIA