The Chicago Architecture Biennial—the largest exhibition of contemporary architecture in North America—is back in action next week, bringing architecture-related programming to venues and museums across the city. For the unfamiliar: Every two years, the Biennial transforms Chicago into a global hub of architecture and design. This edition’s theme is the apropos “SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change,” convening over 100 projects by architects, artists and designers across 30 countries—each piece engaging with the cultural, social and environmental fluxes shaping our world.
The theme serves as a launchpad for free exhibitions, events, panel discussions and activations that will ripple across 60-plus venues citywide between now and February 2026. While paying tribute to the city’s existing buildings, the biennial envisions what Chicago might look like in the future by considering lessons from the city’s past and contemporary designers’ wildest dreams of what's yet to come. If you’re not sure where to start, take a look at some of the key things to see and do during the Chicago Architecture Biennial, which runs from September 19 through February 28, 2026.
The best Chicago Architecture Biennial programming
SHIFT Chicago Cultural Center Public Tour
Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E Washington St
Sept 20 at 11am, Sept 21 at 1pm
Join Chicago Architecture Biennial's 2025 Artistic Director Florencia Rodriguez and members of the Biennial team for a guided walkthrough of this year’s exhibitions. Beginning in the Chicago Cultural Center's Michigan Avenue Galleries, the tour highlights key installations and exhibitions scattered throughout the building.
“Sunken Garden”
40–50 W Schiller St
Sept 19–29
“Sunken Garden” is a site-specific group exhibition that will activate the otherwise private courtyard of a grand Lincoln Park building designed by Chicago school architect Andrew Rebori (think massive grids of plate windows and minimalist—almost austere—ornamentation). Through several commissioned works, “Sunken Garden” reimagines the private courtyard concept, challenging its boundaries and assumed function as it relates to broader communities.
With Discotecture: Altered States
Chicago Cultural Center Exhibit Hall, 78 E Washington St
Sept 21 at 11am
During this panel discussion, scholar and critic Ivan L. Munuera and award-winning design studio TAKK will use nightlife as a lens to explore architecture’s role in shaping daily life. Nightclubs are framed as experimental scaffolding where bodies, technologies and cultures ebb and flow, clash and mesh. The conversation will also probe broader questions around architecture's role in fostering new forms of community participation and expanding the meaning of togetherness in an increasingly isolating world.
Munni Market
Devon Ave and Artesian Ave
Sept 20 7–10pm
This nighttime pop-up market brings the vibrant spirit of South Asian night markets to Chicago’s Devon Avenue, a bustling cultural corridor primarily known as “Little India.” With a curated selection of local artisans and vendors selling textiles, ceramics and more—highlighting both South Asian heritage and its global influences—the corner of Devon and Artesian Avenues will transform into a transitory hub where art, culture and community intersect. For those eager to contribute: there will also be free arts and crafts activities for shoppers.
A Collective Conversation on Latin American Contemporary Architecture
Graham Foundation, 4 W Burton Pl
Sept 20 2–3:30pm
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month—and marking the Chicago Architecture Biennial’s first Latin American Artistic Director—this panel convenes several leading figures in Latin America’s architecture and design fields. Through the lens of their current projects and concepts, panel participants will delve into the diverse contexts and imaginative approaches that fuel Latin America’s architecture, offering attendees a new understanding of the Global South’s vision for the future.
In the Making: A Public Art Journey Through Washington Park
The Arts Lawn, 37 E Garfield Blvd
Sept 19 6–8pm
Explore Washington Park’s Public Art Corridor by trolley and learn about the intersections of art, memory and justice. The route’s first stop will be at the foot of Amanda Williams’s hotly anticipated Other Washington sculpture, a new addition to the Chicago Monuments Project. The tour’s path will carve through Washington Park, stopping at key sites where artists, activists and architects will share their works-in-progress. Throughout the evening, enjoy activities on the Arts Lawn, including printmaking, guided story-gathering activities and more.
Tengo Lincoln Park en mi Corazón: Young Lords in Chicago
DePaul Art Museum, 935 W Fullerton Ave
Sept 11–Feb 8
This multimedia exhibit chronicles the Young Lords Organization journey as they navigated gentrification and urban renewal in Lincoln Park, which displaced Chicago’s Puerto Rican community throughout the 1950s and ’60s. Through archival materials, historical artifacts, photography, murals and prints, the exhibit charts the Young Lords’ transformation from street gang to prominent civil rights organization.