Diane Legge Recognized as 2022 Chicago Women in Architecture Foundation Lifetime Achievement Awardee

Established in 2017, the CWAF Lifetime Achievement Award honors distinguished architects who have profoundly impacted the profession, positively contributed as members of CWA, and have supported issues faced by women architects throughout their career. This year, the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Awardee is Diane Legge, FAIA, ASLA, NCARB, an architect, landscape architect, and urban planner with over 50 years of experience across the United States and Asia.

Legge was trained at Wellesley College, Stanford University School of Engineering, and Princeton University where she received her Master of Architecture degree. She joined SOM Chicago in 1976 and became the first woman partner of SOM in 1982. From 1990-2010, she was the owner and principal of DLK Civic Design, a woman-owned design practice. In 2010 Legge joined CallisonRTKL in Shanghai, China and later opened the CRTKL office in Hong Kong, before returning to the US in 2019. Legge’s projects in Chicago include the reconstruction of Wacker Drive, Arlington International Racecourse, McCormick Place North, and the Harold Washington CTA Station.

ABOUT THE AWARD

Established in 2017, the Chicago Women in Architecture Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award honors distinguished women who have positively contributed as a member of Chicago Women in Architecture and have supported issues faced by women architects throughout their careers. Award recipients are nominated and selected by CWA and CWAF as recognition of the awardee’s impact on the lives and careers of others in the architecture community, inspiring new generations of women to engage with CWA and the field of architecture. Previous awardees are Cynthia Weese, FAIA; Roula Alakiotou, FAIA; Linda Searl, FAIA; and Kathryn H. Anthony, PhD.

ABOUT CWA AND CWAF
CWA is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit membership organization founded in 1974 to establish community, mentorship, visibility, and advocacy for women working in the field of architecture and related professions. Through the ongoing efforts of the entirely volunteer-led organization, this mission is realized by offering educational, professional, and social networking events; organizing and sponsoring lectures in partnership with like-minded organizations; and awarding annual scholarships to women architecture students in their final year of study.

In 2003, CWAF was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Today, CWAF continues its support of CWA initiatives by raising funds to expand scholarship offerings as well as fundraising for events and special projects that further the careers for women in and around the field of architecture.