Archived Exhibitions
Browse past exhibitions from the Chicago Architecture Center.
Browse past exhibitions from the Chicago Architecture Center.
- Feb - Jun 2025
Architectural Head Games
A unique collection of architect-designed headpieces created for the 2024 Arts in the Dark Parade. Each piece was inspired by a favorite spatial moment in Chicago. - Sep - Jan 2025
Disrupters
Celebrating 50 Years of Chicago Women in Architecture - Apr - Apr 2025
ReCovered: Lawndale’s Urban Tree Canopy
A FREE pop-up exhibition in Lawndale exploring the role of trees in our city. Open select days April 4-26. - Jul - Nov 2024
The New Magnificent: Visions to Renew and Reconnect the Mag Miles
The Magnificent Mile employs and engages people from every corner of the city and generates significant tax revenue. What can be done to inject new life into Chicago’s premier shopping destination for the benefit of our recovering downtown? - Apr - Jan 2025
Loop as Lab: Reshaping Downtowns
Chicago’s Loop is at an inflection point, emerging from the pandemic on shaky footing but also with abundant opportunity. - May - Aug 2024
Highrises
Experience Art Deco buildings from a new point of view with Chris Hytha's unique photography - Mar - Apr 2023
Come Home: Missing Middle Infill Housing
Come Home: Missing Middle Infill Housing presents innovative ways of reimagining Chicago’s single-family home, two- and three-flat, rowhouse and six-flat typologies to better meet modern living. - Feb - Mar 2023
Builders (After Jacob Lawrence)
Throughout February 2023, the Chicago Architecture Center celebrated Black History Month with a suite of programming to thoughtfully engage in dialogue regarding Chicago's rich and complex relationship between Black and African Americans and the city's built environment. - Sep - Jan 2022
Thompson Center Ideas Competition
The iconic Helmut Jahn-designed State of Illinois Thompson Center is under threat of demolition. In this free pop-up exhibit in the CAC lobby, the global architecture community shows possible reuses that avoid the wrecking ball. - Jul - Dec 2021
Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture
Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture is a new exhibit honoring the late Chicago architect and style icon. Get to know this extraordinary man who will continue to inspire generations to come. - May - Jul 2022
Newhouse Architecture + Design Competition
The Newhouse Architecture + Design Competition showcases Chicagoland high school students who present design solutions to real-world problems. Named after late Illinois Senator Richard Newhouse (1924-2002), the annual competition celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2022. - Nov - Feb 2023
City in a Snow Globe
City in a Snow Globe presents a series of imagined worlds where Chicago’s downtown lakefront is alive with activity in the winter months. The exhibition asks visitors to imagine the possibilities of our beautiful public lakefront. - Feb - Mar 2023
Singer Pavilion: Honoring Legacy Through Adaptive Design
This exhibition presents innovative new ideas for activating the Singer Pavilion and surrounding Bronzeville Lakefront. Collegiate architecture programs at three schools reimagined how to use this historic building in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. - Nov - Jan 2024
Archetypes: A Designed Object Pop-Up Shop
As a seasonal extension of the CAC Design Store, the center’s entry space will be transformed into a gallery featuring prototypes, passion projects, and other one-of-a-kind items produced by the Chicago architecture and design community. - Apr - Jan 2024
Reframed: The Future of Cities in Wood
As cities seek to reduce carbon impact, one of humanity’s oldest construction materials is emerging as a promising solution to the sustainability challenges that modern construction presents. - Nov - Apr 2024
Systems
As an official venue for the 2023 Chicago Architecture Biennial, we presented an exhibition, Systems, together with Paris-based design studio ChartierDalix.
