The Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) has recently announced plans to build the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC). The 20,000-sf building will showcase Chicago’s architectural legacy and how it has helped to shape cities around the world.
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) will design the facility set for construction at 111 East Wacker Drive. The modern building will be located on the Chicago River, just above the dock for the Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise.
Visitors will enter the CAC and be greeted at a tour orientation center on the ground level. They will then be taken on an expert, docent-led tour or move on to view exhibition spaces designed by Local Projects, an exhibition and media design studio.
“We want the CAC’s exhibitions to actively engage audiences and encourage them to keep digging into the many stories and insights we have to share about architecture,” said Local Projects founder Jake Barton in a release.
Courtesy of CAF.
The CAC will comprise almost 10,000-sf of exhibition space that will house an expanded, interactive and digitally enhanced Chicago City Model Experience that will tell the story of Chicago. A City of Neighborhoods Gallery will focus on the varied stories of Chicago’s neighborhoods. Chicago is often considered the birthplace of the skyscraper, as such, the history of Chicago’s skyscrapers will be on full display in a permanent Tall Buildings and Innovation exhibit. This exhibit, located in a 26-foot, double-height exhibition space dubbed the Skyscrape Gallery, will tell the stories of famous skyscrapers in Chicago and around the world. The exhibits will include 3D, scale models, including the world’s largest 3D Chicago model as part of the Chicago City Model Experience. There will also be rotating temporary exhibits on display throughout the year.
In addition to the exhibition space, the CAC will include a lecture hall, a hands-on design studio, new retail space for the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s shop, and office space for the 70 CAF employees stationed in the new building. The design studio will host programs and classes for children and adults. Programs will include expanded scholarship-based summer camps for middle school students, a STEM-based program for girls, and free family festivals.
CAF is currently in the silent phase of a campaign to raise $10 million to establish the center and to expand education and public programs. The CAC is scheduled to open in summer 2018.
Related Stories
Museums | Dec 4, 2015
Calatrava’s Milwaukee Art Museum gets handsome addition by HGA
The lakefront addition gives visitors expansive views both inside and out.
Museums | Dec 3, 2015
SANAA’s design selected for Hungary’s new National Gallery and Ludwig Museum
After months of deliberation, the Japanese firm ultimately won the tie with Snøhetta.
Museums | Nov 23, 2015
Daniel Libeskind unveils design for new Lithuanian modern art museum
Located in the national capital of Vilnius, the Modern Art Center will be home to 4,000 works of Lithuanian art.
Museums | Nov 11, 2015
MVRDV designs a ‘disco ball’ for Rotterdam
Called the Collectiegebouw (Dutch for "collection building"), the building will make public the city’s extensive art collection, and give visitors a look at how museums work backstage, according to Fast Company.
Museums | Nov 10, 2015
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum breaks ground on Collections and Conservation Center
Designed by SmithGroupJJR, the David and Fela Shapell Family Collections and Conservation Center will provide long-term, secure preservation for evidence of the Holocaust.
Museums | Nov 6, 2015
Studio Gang designs sculpted science center for the American Museum of Natural History
The Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation will hold areas where visitors can engage with high-tech tools, such as gene mapping, 3D imaging, and big data assimilation and visualization, all to learn about the current state of scientific research.
Museums | Nov 4, 2015
George Lucas museum design by MAD Architects finally gets green light
The project will go ahead with its revised, smaller-scale design.
Museums | Oct 22, 2015
Kengo Kuma’s design for cultural museum in the Philippines evokes prehistoric cave feel
The Museum of Indigenous Knowledge in Manila, will house over 4,000 years of history.
Museums | Oct 20, 2015
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman Wilson House finds new home at Arkansas museum
Crystal Bridges Museum reconstructed the 61-year-old Usonian house and will open it to the public in November.
Museums | Oct 16, 2015
Renzo Piano will turn century-old Moscow power plant into art gallery
The idea is to take the GES2 power station, which was built between 1904 and 1907, and turn it into an exhibition space for the V-A-C Foundation, a Russian art organization.
