Creative Mornings with Jackie Koo

Jackie Koo is a Korean-American architect and the founder of her eponymous firm, KOO based in Chicago. KOO’s first constructed project, the 27 story theWit hotel on the corner of State and Lake in the loop, popularized the rooftop hotel bar in Chicago. She started this project from her dining room table at her home. KOO has grown into an award-winning, integrated Architecture, Interior Design, and Urban Planning practice and Jackie is one of a few minority woman architects leading a firm in the US. KOO’s recently completed notable projects include the Sable, the first hotel at Navy Pier, the Altgeld Family Resource Center and the interior renovation for the Old Cook County Hospital, which has transformed into a dual-branded Hyatt hotel and which earned her a “Chicagoan of the Year” award in 2020 for Architecture. She is currently designing SURGE, the first purpose-built esports stadium and virtual reality arena in the Midwest. Jackie received her undergraduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Chicago and her Master of Architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago where she hopes to complete the UIC Performing Arts Center someday.