Spencer McNeil, AIA NCARB is a Chicago-based educator and registered architect with ten-plus years of experience in the architecture and interior design industry across a variety of project types including residential, retail, commercial, and hospitality at a range of scales from residential interiors and retail build-outs, to large developments and supertall towers. His practice and research is focused on working with existing conditions, exploring the interaction and abstraction of reference and context to adapt spaces and structures for new uses. Ongoing projects include collaboration with Norman Kelley.
Practicing in Chicago, Spencer also serves as a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and has taught previously at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He has worked for Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill in Chicago, with Norman Kelley, including their entry to the 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial, and with BairBalliet on their entries to the 2016 Venice Biennale and the 2018 Moma PS1 Young Architects Prize. He previously worked for architect Ernesto Santalla in Washington, DC. Spencer received a Master of Architecture from UIC, where he received the Alpha Rho Chi Medal of Merit, and a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from Knox College. At UIC, Spencer was an editor for the student-run publication, Fresh Meat Journal. His work has been published in Wallpaper*, AN Interior, and Dezeen, and in conjunction with the writing of Sam Jacob, and exhibited at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
Registered Architect in Illinois and Texas
The Architect's Newspaper | Claudia Yoon, "Norman Kelley transforms the architecture and design galleries at the Art Institute of Chicago with a modular system," 12/6/24
Azure Magazine | Eric Mutrie, "Chicago’s Norman Kelley Puts the Glass Brick in “Bricks and Mortar,” 10/22/24
Wallpaper* | Ellie Stathaki, "Chicago coffee cart adds contemporary minimalism to Kenzo Tange building," Dec 2022
AN Interior | Alaina Griffin, "Above and Below," Fall/Winter 2022
@ Norman Kelley | Dezeen | Jenna McKnight, “Norman Kelley refreshes lobby in postmodern Chicago skyscraper,” 6/1/22
e-Flux Architecture | Sam Jacob, "Rendering: The Cave of the Digital," Feb 2018
@ UIC | Fast Company | Mark Wilson, "How 10 Architects Used The Same Box Of 1,200 White Lego," 3/18/16
resume | work sample available upon request