Q2 2026 President's Report

LETTER FROM THE CEO & PRESIDENT

Dear Board Members, Volunteers and Staff, 

As Chicago Architecture Center’s 60th anniversary year progresses, we continue to celebrate Chicago’s past, while engaging the present and inspiring a better future through design. 

This summer, Chicago captured the world's attention with the opening of the Obama Presidential Center. I was honored to moderate the opening weekend Forum conversation with the Obama Presidential Center's design team where lead architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, landscape architect Matthew Bird and Home Court architect Renauld Deandre Mitchell explored the vision, challenges and collaboration behind one of the most significant civic projects of our generation. Their insights reinforced the power of design to shape communities and create meaningful public spaces. We look forward to returning to the Obama Presidential Center campus for our Designing Futures Gala on September 16. 

Flyway City: Architecture for a Flourishing Ecosystem, our ambitious new exhibition co-curated and designed by Jeanne Gang and Studio Gang, is now open in the Skyscraper Gallery. What began as a conversation between Jeanne and me — “What would it look like to design buildings and cities that take wildlife and ecological performance into account from the start?” — has evolved into a compelling exploration of the relationship between architecture, ecology and urban life. Paired with Chicago’s Living Habitat, curated in partnership with Openlands, these exhibitions invite visitors to imagine a future in which our built and natural environments both thrive. Together, they exemplify our mission to inspire people to discover why design matters. 

In commemorating America’s 250th birthday, Chicago has a unique story to tell. As the birthplace of the skyscraper and with Daniel Burnham’s visionary Plan of Chicago, our city helped define the modern American city. Chicago’s innovations in architecture, engineering, planning and public space have defined how subsequent generations of Americans live, work and move through urban environments. We are proud to have helped tell this story through extensive media coverage and a series of public programs connected to America 250, including our Historic Route 66 By Bus tour and an upcoming global campaign with Brand USA to promote Chicago as the “city of architecture.” 

Education remains at the heart of the CAC’s work. This spring, we celebrated the accomplishments of participants in Chicago Community Planning Academy, Girls Build!, Teen Fellows and Teen Saturday Studios while welcoming all Chicagoans to Family Day. Summer programs kicked off in June with Girls Build! camp and the 44th annual Newhouse Architecture & Design Competition. 

Looking ahead, we are excited to bring Chicago’s architectural story to even broader audiences. In August, select models from our Skyscraper Gallery will go on long-term display in O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 5, introducing visitors from around the world to the Chicago Architecture Center and the city of architecture. Later this fall, we will open a new CAC satellite location in the historic Marquette Building. This storefront will serve as a natural starting/stopping point for select tours among some of the earliest skyscrapers in Chicago. 

I would like to welcome our new Board officers: Chair Andreason Brown, Vice Chair Robert Rivkin and Secretary Danielle Tillman. At the same time, we thank past Board Chair Jenny Niemann for her leadership and welcome her into her new role as Chair of the Governance Committee, and Catherine Odelbo for her continued service as Treasurer.

Thank you for your continued support, enthusiasm and belief in our mission.  

With appreciation,

Eleanor Esser Gorski, AIA

CEO & President

Chicago Architecture Center