SHIFT drives 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennial
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"Variations in Mass Nos. 5, 6, 7." Photo: Carrie Shepherd/Axios
Now in its tenth iteration, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, known as "North America's largest international survey of contemporary architecture and design," is underway across the city and suburbs, all free and open to the public.
Driving the news: CAB runs through Feb. 28, 2026.
- "A Mies Space for Senses" is the newest CAB exhibition, opening Thursday at Illinois Institute of Technology's Galvin Tower with an installation by Luftwerk.
Flashback: Born from the City of Chicago's 2012 Cultural Plan, the first Biennial launched in 2015 to celebrate the city's rich architectural history that continues to be at the forefront of design.
- CAB has showcased more than 500 projects from 40 countries since it started.
State of play: This year's theme, "SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change" features work at five main venues — Chicago Cultural Center, Graham Foundation, Stony Island Arts Bank, Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, and, beginning next month, 840 N. Michigan Ave.
What they're saying: "Architecture is fundamentally about engaging with change — understanding it, responding to it, and proposing ways to improve the conditions we inhabit," CAB artistic director Florencia Rodriguez said in a statement.
- "In that sense, architecture and design are inherently optimistic disciplines — not because they naively accept the status quo, but because they trust in the power of imagination and knowledge to shape more equitable, meaningful futures."
Zoom in: "Inhabit, Outhabit" at the Cultural Center projects videos of 29 different housing developments from across the globe to re-examine traditional housing models to address housing shortages.
- "Variations in Mass Nos. 5, 6, 7" by Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, also at the Cultural Center, is inflatable red brick walls that rise and deflate to give the visitor a changing sense of place.
The intrigue: Many participants applied the theme of "Shift" by reimagining existing spaces in Chicago, including a new playground at Midway Plaisance or an interactive game to reconsider the many uses of the public library, part of a series of artworks and models at MAS Context in Wicker Park.
What's next: "Ecologies" opens Nov. 5 a CAB's newest venue, 840 N. Michigan Ave., along with several others slated to open next month across the city.