James Ingo Freed

Known for a range of buildings from the somber United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to the sprawling Jacob Javits Convention Center, architect James Ingo Freed’s projects are some of the most recognizable constructions in modern times. German-born, Freed came to the US at 9 years old, where he would later earn his degree in architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. From there, he would go on to later serve as the dean at his alma mater and was a notable member of the Chicago Seven—a group of first-generation postmodern architects in Chicago. Although working most of his career in New York, Freed’s work reached across the world thanks in part to his internationalist and modernist styles, which he would work on as part of his firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. In addition to his academic roles, teaching at Cooper Union, Cornell, Columbia University, Yale and RISD, Freed was also awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1995.