Ralph E. Johnson received his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Illinois and his Master of Architecture from Harvard University. He began his career at Stanley Tigerman’s office and then joined Perkins+Will in 1976, where he currently serves as its National Design Director and is a member of its Board of Directors.  His projects have been honored with more than 75 design awards, including eight national Honor Awards and numerous regional Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects and a Progressive Architecture Design Award. He was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 1995.

Mr. Johnson’s work has been exhibited extensively.  The Los Angeles Federal Courthouse and the Augustinho Neto University Campus were featured in the “Big and Green” Exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. in 2003.  He was also one of the chosen exhibitors in The Art Institute of Chicago’s “10 Visions” Show in 2004 and the Los Angeles Federal Courthouse was included in the exhibit “New Federal Architecture, the Face of A Nation” at the Octagon in Washington, D.C. in 2004.  His work has also been exhibited at the Chicago Architecture Foundation, the I-Space Gallery of the University of Illinois, the Sao Paolo Biennale and the Paris Biennale.

He participated in the “Emerging Voices” lecture series, and the Young Architects Forum, both sponsored by the Architectural League of New York and received the Plym Traveling Fellowship.  He has lectured at numerous universities and was a visiting critic at the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and the Illinois Institute of Technology.  He is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Illinois Institute of Technology School of Architecture and a member of the Committee on Architecture of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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