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Chicago Architecture Center: The Latest Architecture and News

Discover the Ongoing Exhibitions at the Chicago Architecture Biennial: CAB 5

Inaugurated on September 21st, 2023, The Chicago Architecture Biennial is a city-wide festival that will continue until the end of the year. Titled “This is a Rehearsal,” the event is set up as a love letter to Chicago, activating ongoing dialogue around and in the city. One month after the biennial started, events are still ongoing, with open houses, theater performances, and virtual conferences happening throughout this week.

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Chicago Architecture Biennial 2023 Extends Dates and Puts in Place a City Wide Program

The Chicago Architecture Biennial has unveiled a phased opening plan for its fifth edition, CAB 5: This is a Rehearsal. The inauguration of CAB 5 will be on September 21, 2023, with installations and programs held all over city sites. This will build up to a citywide opening celebration on November 1st when all exhibitions will be unveiled at the Chicago Cultural Center and the Graham Foundation. CAB 5 is curated by the collective Floating Museum, a group of artists, designers, poets, and educators focused on building connections between art, community, architecture, infrastructure, and public institutions.

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Thompson Center Design Competition Announces Winners

Thompson Center Design Competition Announces Winners - Featured Image
"Public Pool" by David Rader, Jerry Johnson, Ryan Monteleagre, and Matt Zelensek of Perkins&Will, Chicago. Image Courtesy of Thompson Center Design Competition

The Chicago Architecture Center and the Chicago Architectural Club have announced the three winning designs for the 2021 Chicago Prize Competition, which called for innovative adaptive reuse proposals that would grant a new life to the iconic Illinois Thompson Center. The winning proposals designed by Perkins&Will, Eastman Lee Architects, and Solomon Cordwell Buenz represent alternative visions for the future of the Postmodernist landmark.

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Chicago Architecture Center and Chicago Architecture Club Announce Seven Finalists of 2021 Thompson Center Design Competition

The Chicago Architecture Center and Chicago Architecture Club have announced the seven finalists of the Thompson Center Design Competition, which called for new and innovative visions for the Illinois Thompson Center designed by Helmut Jahn in 1984. The winning design proposal will be announced during the opening of the September 14 pop-up exhibition of finalists work at the Chicago Architecture Center, and will run through October.

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Chicago Architecture Center Celebrates Helmut Jahn's Legacy in a Retrospective Exhibition

The Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) has announced it will be holding an exhibition of one of Chicago's renowned architects Helmut Jahn, an architect who "melted and fragmented the mid-century modern grid into post-modern designs" in projects like the United Terminal at O'Hare, the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago, and many others around the world. The event will take place on July 23rd until October, and will be the first major limited-run exhibition in the new CAC Galleries since their inauguration in August 2018.

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The Chicago Architecture Center Opens in New Location

After their previous announcement back in January, the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) is officially open to the public this Friday, August 31st. Formerly known as the Chicago Architecture Foundation, the 20,000 square foot CAC opens in a new location at 111 East Wacker Drive. Featuring programs, exhibitions and tours, the center aims to be "home to everything architecture in Chicago." The CAC includes a range of custom designed spaces, from an architecture store and lecture hall to interactive exhibits.

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New Chicago Architecture Center to Open in 2018

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Courtesy of Chicago Architecture Foundation

The Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) has announced the creation of the Chicago Architecture Center, a new headquarters and experience center that will invite visitors to discover “Chicago’s architectural legacy and its role in shaping cities everywhere.”

Located within the Mies van der Rohe-designed 111 East Wacker Drive along the Chicago River, the 20,000-square-foot center will provide space for a variety of exhibitions and educational initiatives, including direct access to the Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise. The new interiors will be designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.