Chicago Architecture Center's logo
Chicago Architecture Center Homepage
UPCOMING

Here to Stay: Architecture After Arrival

How does a city build for permanence in an age of displacement? This is the question explored by three visionary architectural proposals in this exhibit.

Date

March 30 - May 22, 2026

Location

Usher Lambe Gallery

  • Watercolor painting for the inside of a building design. Mostly red and green in colorWatercolor painting for the inside of a building design. Mostly red and green in color

    Watercolor by Justin Ng.

The Exhibition

Created by architects (2025-2026 fellows) selected for the inaugural Princeton | Chicago Architecture Center Fellowship, these bold designs rethink how cities can welcome immigrants as essential civic infrastructure — worthy of Chicago’s architectural legacy. From community-centered landmarks to entirely new building types, the proposals imagine what a truly welcoming Chicago could look like. 

2025-26 Fellows

  • No image description available.No image description available.

    T.K. Justin Ng is the founder of Spaced Agency, where he led the design of the recently completed Small Business Innovation Hub and the expansion of historic Wo Hop Restaurant in New York’s Chinatown.

    Ng is also a painter whose work has been exhibited in New York and Boston, and whose sketchbooks have been published in Canada and Finland. Justin holds a Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and is a LEED Accredited Professional in Building Design and Construction. 

  • No image description available.No image description available.

    Yotam Oron is an architect, urbanist and researcher, and co-founder, with Sharona Cramer, of CO53, a New York–based practice working across scales and grounded in collaborative design. A graduate of the Yale School of Architecture, Oron’s award-winning thesis on collective land ownership and community-led development continues to guide his work toward more equitable urban futures.  

  • No image description available.No image description available.

    Leslie Ponce-Diaz is a Mexican-American aspiring architect whose work centers on educational spaces, regenerative design and cultural heritage as pathways to support communities and their environments. Ponce-Diaz holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design, with double minors in Nature Sustainability and Latin American Cultural Studies. She recently earned her Master of Architecture II from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she was a Dean’s Merit Scholar, the 2024 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow, and recipient of the 2025 GSD Rafael Moneo Rome Prize Award. Ponce-Diaz’s professional experience spans a range of collaborative and socially driven practices, including orizzontale in Rome, BNIM in Kansas City and both Studio Gang and Sweet Water Foundation in Chicago.  

  • Sponsored by

  • Exhibition Partner