Family can influence a designer both as a person and in their designs: having an architect for a father meant that Margaret McCurry was exposed to architecture from a young age. As you might expect from someone with such a background, her interiors reflect a sense of"grounded pragmatism":  design and looks are important, but so is practicality. When designing a room, she takes into consideration everything from cost to how long construction will take to sustainability.

Margaret McCurry received a bachelor's degree in Art History from Vassar College and a Loeb Fellowship in Advanced Environmental Studies from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. It might sound like a surprising combination for anarchitect/designer, but when one looks at McCurry's designs, it makes sense. She is not attempting to reinvent the wheel or forget about the past, butrather to "build on images of older homes." Her background in art history is perhaps behind her "appreciation for regional architecture" and attention to "historically appropriate details." McCurry's homes have a way of feeling historical and lived-in, yet modern and clean- though without being too polished. It's these factors that make them feel supremely comfortable, both physically and emotionally (there's a certain familiarity to her designs).

Though she is by far not the first nor the only designer/architect to be recognized for their work and contributions, Margaret McCurry's list of accomplishments is impressively far and wide-reaching. She has received a plethora of awards from the national AIA,the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), among others, and has had her works published in architectural and interior design magazines across the globe. In 1990, Margaret McCurry was inducted into the Interior Design Hall ofFame, and is currently a Director of the Harvard Alumni/ae Association and president of the Harvard Club in Chicago. Though even with all of these awards and leadership, perhaps the most interesting and unique thing she's done is the creation of the monograph Constructing Twenty-Five Short Stories, a "how-to book" of sorts, in which she tells the stories of how she showed twenty-five clients that "harmonious, well-proportioned environments" can improve their lives.

With her husband, Stanley Tigerman, Margaret McCurry operates the Tigerman McCurry architectural firm in Chicago. For more information on McCurry and Tigerman and the firm, check out their website (http://www.tigerman-mccurry.com/).