Chicago Biennial

The city tries to overcome its social and economic problems proposing itself as a laboratory of architectural research with the first Biennial of Architecture.

Curated by Joseph Grima and Sarah Herda, the Chicago Architecture Biennial is the first Biennial of the North America and is born considering this format as “a platform for the public to engage in a dialogue about what architecture means today and to interact with an amazing group of architects, artists, and designers from around the world.” Sarah Herda explains.

The inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial takes its title, “The State of the Art of Architecture,” from a 1977 conference organized by Chicago architect Stanley Tigerman, which invited leading American designers to Chicago to discuss the current state of the field. The 2015 Chicago Architecture Biennial expands the spirit and scope of this event. It invites 95 both emerging and established practices (like SelgasCano or Sou Fujimoto) from across the world to Chicago to demonstrate how advances in architectural design are tackling the most pressing issues of today.

The biennial is accompanied by a competition for a kiosk to be realized on the lake promenade, conceived as an opportunity for urban experimentation. The winning entry, designed by Yasmin Vobis, Aaron Forrest, Brett Schneider and titled “Chicago Horizon,” Ultramoderne’s kiosk is a quest to build the largest flat wood roof possible within a limited budget.  Using Cross-Laminated Timber, a new carbon-negative engineered lumber product, in the largest dimensions commercially available, the kiosk aims to provide an excess of public space for the Architecture Biennial and Chicago beachgoers.

Norman Kelley (Chicago, US), Chicago: How Do You See?, 2015. Photo by Steve Hall, © Hedrich Blessing. Courtesy of the Chicago Architecture Biennial
Studio Albori (Milan, Italy), Makeshift, 2015. Photo Tom Harris, © Hedrich Blessing. Courtesy of the Chicago Architecture Biennial.
SO-­IL (New York, United States), Passage, 2015. Photo Tom Harris, © Hedrich Blessing. Courtesy of the Chicago Architecture Biennial
Johnston Marklee (Los Angeles, US), House is a House is a House is a House, 2015. Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland) + Self-­Assembly Lab, MIT (Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States) Rock Print, 2015 Photo Tom Harris, © Hedrich Blessing. Courtesy of the Chicago Architecture Biennial
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects and NLÉ in Millennium Park. Photo by Steve Hall, © Hedrich Blessing. Courtesy of the Chicago Architecture Biennial


October 3, 2015 – January 3, 2016
The State of the Art of Architecture
Chicago Architecture Biennial
curated by Joseph Grima and Sarah Herda
Chicago