Ann Lui

Ann Lui is a founding principal of Future Firm, a Chicago-based architecture and design research practice. Future Firm serves clients who are changemakers in their fields, including non-profits, arts and culture organizations, and community-led developers. Notable projects include South Side Community Art Center, Revolution Workshop, and the Korean Art Gallery at the Art Institute of Chicago. Future Firm was awarded the 2026 Emerging Voices prize from the Architectural League of New York and was named Best Small Firm | Midwest in 2025 by The Architect’s Newspaper. 

Beginning fall 2026, Lui is the incoming Director of Undergraduate Architecture Studies and an Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Chicago. Her scholarly work explores the intersections of professional practice and equity in the built environment. She was co-curator of Dimensions of Citizenship, the 2018 U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. She co-edited Public Space? Lost and Found (2015) and Log 54: Coauthoring (2022). She was recently awarded the Richard H. Driehaus Community Impact Award in 2025. She is a member of the Steering Committee for the Metropolitan Planning Council’s Zoning and Land Use assessment and the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund’s Advisory Committee.