Drawn Here: Joan Soranno of HGA in Conversation with Renée Cheng

Specializing in the design of cultural institutions, Joan Soranno, a vice president at Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc. (HGA), has garnered critical acclaim for projects both near her base in Minneapolis and those farther afield. Her designs range from the elegantly proportioned, light-filled sanctuary of the Bigelow Chapel in New Brighton, Minnesota, to the dynamically poised forms that comprise the Barbara Barker Center for Dance at the University of Minnesota and the new University of Alaska Museum of the North in Fairbanks. Soranno will converse with Renée Cheng, head of the department of architecture at the University of Minnesota.