Chicago Architecture Biennial starts today: 8 highlights not to miss

The Chicago Architecture Biennial officially opens today for its 2025 edition. The latest theme, "Shift: Architecture in Times of Radical Change," features a program curated by UIC School of Architecture director Florencia Rodriguez. 

Events and exhibitions align with CAB 6’s focus on changes within architecture and other salient issues. Rodriguez has previously said that the event will be "an opportunity to gather global experiences, ideas, and projects that create an archive of contemporary architecture to inform decision making, education, debate, and collective thinking about the world we design."

A full slate of activities is taking place across Chicago from now until mid-February, including multiple exhibitions, tours, panel discussions, film screenings, product demonstrations, workshops, and celebrations. Sites activated on the opening day include the Chicago Cultural Center, Graham Foundation, Stony Island Arts Bank, a site-specific installation on the grounds of the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, and special performances throughout the day. Over 100 architects, designers, and creative practitioners will participate in the program.

"Shift: Architecture in Times of Radical Change" closes on February 28th. Be sure to follow our 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennal news tag.

To coincide with the opening, we have put together a small curated selection of what’s in store for the upcoming sixth edition.

Chicago Cultural Center Exhibition
Until February 28, 2026
78 East Washington St

At the Chicago Cultural Center, visitors will find a general introduction to SHIFT, as well as two of the Biennial’s central capsules: Inhabit, Outhabit and The Ordinary-EXTRA. The exhibition is organized around a series of thematic capsules: exhibitions and programs that each explore a particular idea, question, or mode of practice.

Graham Foundation Exhibition
Until February 28, 2026
4 W Burton Pl

At the Graham Foundation, Fragmented Manifestos brings together a constellation of moments in recent architectural history that emerged in response to periods of radical transformation—political, technological, and cultural. Participants include: Stan Allen; Diller Scofidio + Renfro; MOS and Tony Cokes; and Amancio Williams.

Stony Island Arts Bank Exhibition
Until November 30, 2025
6760 S Stony Island Ave

At the Stony Island Arts Bank, Melting Solids presents works by five architects and artists reimagining architecture not as fixed or monumental, but as impermanent, adaptive, and rooted in cultural memory. Participants include: Abigail Chang; Dominic Kießling; Laboratorio de Arquitectura and José Cubilla; Studio Jacob; and WAI Architecture Think Tank.

Griffin Museum of Science and Industry Exhibition
Until February 28, 2026
5700 S. DuSable Lake Shore Dr.

On the grounds of Jackson Park, site of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, TRACES is a site-specific installation of 10,000 dry-stacked bricks tracing the footprint of the Fair’s temporary Great Buildings. The work invites reflection on the Fair’s ambition and theatrical design, creating spaces without walls and mass without permanence. After the Biennial, the bricks will be reused, leaving no waste—only the memory of the experience.

Sunken Garden
Until September 29, 2025
40-50 W Schiller St

Sunken Garden is a site-specific group exhibition taking place in the courtyard of a 1922 Andrew Rebori–designed building in Chicago. The exhibition explores the poetic and political implications of the “sunken garden”—a lowered, sheltered space that becomes both refuge and metaphor. In situ works by Chicago-based artists engaged with architecture, ecology, and material innovation will recontextualize this private courtyard, challenging its boundaries and historical function.

Common Chicago at MAS Context
Until February 28, 2026
1564 N Damen Ave #204

Our relationship with the built environment is continuously evolving. Environmental challenges, economic and social inequalities, shifting living patterns, and polarizing politics all contribute to the constant reshaping of the physical spaces and intangible conditions that bring people together—or keep them apart. Within this shifting context, how can architects and designers help create common spaces that build stronger and more equitable communities? Common Chicago features projects by a spectrum of Chicago-based designers that address this question across a variety of scales and programmatic functions, including civic, institutional, housing, and open space.

Shakkei: Work by Mayumi Lake and Bob Faust at Elmhurst Art Museum
Until January 4, 2026
150 S Cottage Hill Ave, Elmhurst

Shakkei: Work by Mayumi Lake and Bob Faust marks the first major museum exhibition for Chicago-based artists Mayumi Lake and Bob Faust. Presented both independently and in collaboration, their work occupies the museum’s main galleries and the historic Mies van der Rohe–designed McCormick House on the museum’s campus. Featuring both new site-responsive installations alongside recent pieces, the exhibition invites viewers into a layered exploration of pattern, place, and cultural memory.

Living in the Shade: Open Space and Public Housing at National Public Housing Museum
Until November 9, 2025
919 S Ada St.

Living in the Shade explores the role of open space—large lawns and tenant gardens, paved paths and play spaces, shady seating areas and public art—in creating more livable, healthy, and thriving communities. The exhibit highlights the significant role of open space in the daily lives of millions of public housing residents who have called New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) developments home.