Months after his death, a new retrospective of Helmut Jahn opens at the Chicago Architecture Center

A new exhibition exploring the life and illustrious career of the late Helmut Jahn has opened following the untimely death of the architect this year at the age of 81.

Jahn died in May after a bicycling accident in the Chicago suburbs.

His legacy will be remembered in a new retrospective titled Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture at the Chicago Architecture Center that culls together photographs, models, drawings, and other media from the architect’s five-decade career marked by standout projects like One Liberty Place and Thompson Center.

The retrospective comes at an opportune time for the CAC, which has been extremely vocal in its support for an ongoing effort to save the aforementioned Center. A recent city council ruling has provided room for a vertical expansion of the much-maligned property that Jahn himself supported. The project’s cost, as well as the steep price of maintaining the original facility, make the prospects of an adaptive reuse scheme unlikely, and the 17-story Center has been named as one of the world’s most endangered buildings as a result. 

The CAC recently combined with the Chicago Architectural Club in a call for redesign proposals of the Thompson Center for this year’s edition of the Chicago Prize Competition. Jahn’s retrospective is joined by other exhibitions examining net-zero building and imagining life in 2050.

Admission to the retrospective is included in museum ticketing, and it will remain on view until the end of October.