Ralph Johnson
Ralph grew up on the South Side of Chicago, just down the street from Frank Lloyd Wright’s R.W. Evans House. He found the design of the house fascinating, and by the time he reached grade school, he had already decided to become an architect. Ralph, never one to stray from his goals, became the first in his family to go to college.
Ralph started his career by doing industrial architecture for Chicago’s famous stockyards. Though not a particularly glamorous job, he knew it would be a great learning experience—and he was right. From the stockyards, Ralph eventually went on to design some of the most iconic buildings in Chicago and around the world. He was inducted in 2015 into the prestigious National Academy of Design.
Outside of architecture, Ralph takes inspiration from minimalist art of the 1960s. He lives by the philosophy that the best thing anyone can do is learn from their toughest challenges.
