Dirk Denison Dirk Denison

Dirk Denison has been a professor for more than 30 years at the IIT College of Architecture and is the Director of the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize. He also runs his own award-winning firm, Dirk Denison Architects, based in Chicago's West Loop.

During his time at the College of Architecture, Professor Denison has strived to foster a recommitment to the university's urban setting and architecturally significant campus. His studios often focus on research and redevelopment of the 35th Street Corridor, and his seminars focus on reactivating spaces on the IIT campus. Professor Denison served as the Supervising Campus Architect for over 11 years, redesigning spaces such as the McCormick Student Village and Perlstein Hall. His office created a framework for the trajectory of IIT's future development, and most recently won the 2023 Engineering News-Record Midwest Regional Best Projects Award for his renovation of Bailey Hall, Cunningham Hall, and Carmen Hall. An in-depth study of Professor Denison’s residential work, Dirk Denison 10 Houses, was published in 2018, highlighting his fundamental belief that the best architecture is the result of a great conversation with a client.

Under Professor Denison’s direction and with sponsorship by IIT, the biennial Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) recognizes the best built works in the Americas and brings together world-renowned architects every year to celebrate excellent design in S.R. Crown Hall.