We're looking up

Dear Reader,

Welcome to CAC@Home, our new mini magazine bringing design-centered stories and activities to your inbox every other Thursday—starting today. We created CAC@Home as a way to keep you close through this important period of spatial distancing. (I think you’ll agree social closeness remains key, even when we can’t come together in person.)

Each issue of CAC@Home will include video, reading material, fun for the family and more. At the end of each issue you will find The Latest: links to up-to-date information including when and how we expect to resume CAC offerings like programs and tours.

While the first few issues of CAC@Home feature stories from the CAC archives, we’re hard at work developing new content you’ll begin seeing soon. Where are the best walkable sites in your neighborhood? Which books and podcasts should be at the top of any design lover’s list? How are Chicago’s architecture, construction, engineering and design leaders responding to today’s unique challenges? What fascinating, architecturally significant homes are Chicagoans stuck inside for the time being? Stay tuned.

Please enjoy this debut issue and we’ll be back April 9 with another CAC@Home. Share your thoughts anytime via email at info@architecture.org. Until then: Be well, stay safe, keep looking up—and please wash your hands thoroughly.

Warmly,

Lynn J. Osmond
President and CEO
Chicago Architecture Center

WEST LOOP WALKING TOUR

Reconnecting with your neighborhood’s public artworks and open spaces is the best way to keep cabin fever at bay. CAC President and CEO Lynn Osmond shares a few preferred places for reflection in her neighborhood, for an easy West Loop walking tour.

TALL BUILDINGS AROUND THE WORLD ROOTED IN CHICAGO

Some of Chicago’s tallest buildings aren’t located in Illinois, or even in the United States. That’s because skyscrapers around the world can trace their roots—or rather their grillage—to Chicago.

SECRET SPACES ATOP CHICAGO

Explore this video from our archives about one of the city’s first observation decks: the Auditorium Building tower’s roof. Chicago’s highest perches have captured imaginations for more than a century—and each one has a story to tell. To the top!

WATCH

FOR THE FAMILY

FOR ELEMENTARY STUDENTS

How do skyscrapers stand up?

Study photographs of three famous Chicago skyscrapers under construction, act out the skyscrapers' structural systems and build a frame for a skyscraper.

DOWNLOAD

FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

Skyscraper poems

How did poet Carl Sandburg convey Chicago’s sky-scraping spirit? Read the poem, discuss poetry terms and write your own poem about one of Chicago’s first skyscrapers.

DOWNLOAD

ONE MORE THING

BUILDING QUIZ

Many of our tours highlight hotels that have added rooftop bars and gardens in recent years to entice customers with food, drink and spectacular views. What three terraces are these and at which hotels can they be found? We’ll reveal the answers in your next issue of CAC@Home.

Special thanks to Hy Speck, CAC docent class of 1995, for submitting this issue’s quiz.

THE LATEST

The CAC is committed to providing a safe experience for its entire community of members, staff, visitors, volunteers and tour attendees. Visit our COVID-19 information page for the latest updates.

Your support today is crucial to the stability of the CAC through this crisis. We hope we can count on you to make a gift—at any level that is comfortable for you—to help us weather this storm. Please consider supporting the CAC today with a tax-deductible donation, online at architecture.org/donate.

DONATE

Calendar Donate

The Chicago Architecture Center inspires people to discover why design matters.