Dan Wheeler drawing at SESC Pompéia, São Paulo. © Dan Wheeler.
“I have known Dan Wheeler for two decades, when I was a graduate student at UIC where Dan was teaching then and continues to teach now,” said Iker Gil, founder and editor in chief of MAS Context. “During his career of over four-decades and counting, he has designed remarkable buildings with varying budgets and needs, always showcasing his superb skills as a designer and deep care for the clients and users. He is an active participant of the design community and a great supporter and mentor to a new generation of architects in the city. It was a privilege to conduct his oral history and now donate it to the Chicago Architects Oral History Project so it can be in conversation with other architects who have contributed to Chicago’s built environment.”
On February 11, 2023, Iker Gil interviewed architect Dan Wheeler to record his oral history. The interview took place at Wheeler’s house in Chicago, Illinois. During the conversation, Dan Wheeler discussed his upbringing, his education, his ongoing remarkable career, key projects of Wheeler Kearns Architects, and teaching.
Architect Dan Wheeler is a founding principal of Wheeler Kearns Architects and a Professor of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Since 2002, he also has been a consulting architect and educator for the Rural Studio in Newbern, Alabama. Dan received his education at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), including two years of study in Rome. After becoming an associate and studio head at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in Chicago, where he worked between 1981 and 1987, he established his own practice. The work of Wheeler Kearns Architects spans project typologies, including private residences, multifamily housing, academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations. In each of them, one can find a unique level of attention, curiosity, optimism, and respect. As a testament to the quality of Wheeler Kearns Architects, the self-defined “collective practice of architects” has received two Chicago Chapter AIA Firm Awards—1996 and 2016—for overall significance and legacy of the practice. Dan’s contributions to the Chicago architectural community go beyond the boundaries of his firm and include serving as Interim Director for both the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and the UIC School of Architecture. He also writes, lectures, and mentors a new generation of architects. Dan is the recipient of multiple awards, including an NEA Traveling Fellowship in 1979, the Chicago Chapter AIA Young Architect Award in 1985, the AIA Fellowship in 1998, the Chicago Tribune’s “Chicagoan of the Year” in Architecture, along with Lawrence Kearns, in 2008, and the AIA Illinois Nathan Ricker Clifford Award for Architectural Education in 2017. In a career that spans more than forty years, Dan works to educate colleagues, clients, students, and himself about the never-ending potential for architecture to elevate everyday experience.
For more than twenty years, the Chicago Architects Oral History Project (CAOHP) documented the contributions of architects to Chicago during the twentieth century. The CAOHP was begun in 1983 under the auspices of the Art Institute’s Department of Architecture to record the life experiences of architects who shaped the physical environment in Chicago and surrounding communities. It was intended not only to fill an existing void in the literature but to go beyond the facts to explore motivations and influences, behind-the-scenes stories, and personal reflections. This collection of oral histories contains comprehensive life-review documents as well as shorter, focused interviews. These narratives explore the development of Chicago’s architecture and planning from the early 1900s to the present day. Included in the collection are Skidmore, Owings & Merrill partners and associates, students and colleagues of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, members of the Chicago Seven, principals of second- and third-generation architectural and engineering firms, and architects who defy classification.
In addition to conducting the interview, Iker Gil prepared a 111-page PDF transcription of the conversation, including related images, to match the design and format of previous oral histories included in the CAOHP. Funding to conduct Dan Wheeler’s oral history was provided by Iker Gil and Julie Michiels.