Interview: Linda McCracken-Hunt, architect

After a 42-year career — during which she founded one of the state’s first women-owned architecture firms and impacted some of the Twin Cities’ most notable buildings — Linda McCracken-Hunt has retired from her architecture career. She started her career after graduating from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Architecture in 1978. She spent time at Cuningham Architects; Architectural Alliance, now Alliiance; and Ankeny Kell Architects, and then returned to the university where she was eventually appointed university architect. McCracken-Hunt left the university to join Studio Five Architects, a firm that she co-owned with her husband, Tom Hunt. Her most recent employer, JLG Architects, called her a “pioneer” of women-owned architect firms. With Studio Five, she led teams that worked on the university’s Recreation and Wellness Center expansion, Phillips Community Center and Aquatics Center project, and U.S. Bank Stadium construction. She also provided owner representation services to the Regions Hospital expansion, Elmer L. Andersen Human Services Building and Penfield Apartment projects. JLG Architects acquired Studio Five in 2016, and McCracken-Hunt joined as a principal architect. Here, her projects included Frogtown Community Center and the Eau Claire City Hall. Throughout her career, she also served in several positions with the American Institute of Architects and received membership to its College of Fellows in 2009. The award is considered one of the highest honors in the profession. Out of all the projects that McCracken-Hunt has impacted, community centers are her favorite, as she told reporter Kelly Busche in this episode of Beyond the Skyline.