• Through Friday, May 21, the CAC Box Office and Design Store are now open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10am–4pm.
• Guests can also explore our new exhibit—Hyper Green High-Rises: Towards a Zero-Energy Skyscraper—in the John and Kathleen Buck Atrium.
• Beginning May 22, the CAC Box Office, Design Store and galleries will be open Thursday through Monday from 10am–5pm.

This program is supported by a gift of the Gary family in memory of Myra Gary and in honor of the Docents’ 50th Anniversary.

This program is offered in conjunction with the CAC’s upcoming exhibit, Housing for a Changing Nation, sponsored by a generous gift of AARP Illinois and the AARP Foundation.

What's Next? Designing the Future City is generously supported by Sandra Helton and Norman Edelson.

CELEBRATE THE Newhouse Winners

Congratulations to the 39th Annual Newhouse Architecture + Design competition winners! Teens researched and designed projects to support three INVEST South/West neighborhoods. We are especially proud of the participants’ creativity and perseverance during a challenging school year.

This year’s overall grand prize is shared by two projects. Nick Lorenzen (Lyons Township High School, La Grange) designed an energy-independent, multi-family home for the Austin neighborhood that balances affordability with aesthetics. A team of students including Alex Hoffman, Jasmin Hernandez and Nina Morrelly (Bennett Day School, Chicago) designed a community garden—and associated promotional pieces to engage youth—for the Englewood neighborhood.

Additional winners include: 1st Prize, Architecture Division: Samuel Minin (Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire). 2nd Prize, Architecture Division: Casius Palacio (Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, Chicago). 3rd Prize, Architecture Division: Andrew Emmerson and Owen Mathes (Loyola Academy, Wilmette). 1st Prize, Construction Division: Joyce Lin (Whitney Young Magnet High School, Chicago). 1st Prize: Open Design + Build: Will Cassady (Loyola Academy, Wilmette). 2nd Prize: Open Design + Build: Wynton Wright, Aaron Latman, Lucas Bouchie (Homewood-Flossmoor High School, Flossmoor). 3rd Prize: Open Design + Build: Reagan Butler (Loyola Academy, Wilmette).

Helmut Jahn, 1940–2021

Art Gensler, 1935–2021

CAC and the entire design community mourns the loss of two titans of architecture, Helmut Jahn and Art Gensler. Though these men took different approaches to the art of building, each had immeasurable influence.

Jahn was a brave and independent Modernist who dabbled in Postmodernism and blazed a trail all his own. An expressive genius with steel and glass, his buildings inspired new trends in architectural design. This includes his United Terminal at O’Hare, the J.R. Thompson Center and Post Tower in Germany, which combined a double skin, sky gardens and natural ventilation to become the most sustainable high-rise of its era. Post Tower is also a great representation of “archi-neering,” a term Jahn coined to describe the marriage of architecture and engineering in his design process. In recent years, Jahn continued to innovate with subtle works that elevated the humble campus dorm (IIT’s State Street Village), the mechanical building (South Campus Chiller Plant at the University of Chicago), supportive housing (the Margot & Harold Schiff Residences) and even the suburban office park (the former HA-LO Headquarters in Niles).

Gensler founded the world’s largest architecture firm, with 5,000 employees in 50 cities. A selfless and pragmatic leader, when once compared to Ayn Rand’s heroic Howard Roark character, his retort was, “You’ll never see an ‘Art Gensler’ building.” In the 1960s, Gensler wisely targeted areas of practice, like corporate interiors, that other large firms had neglected. Success brought an expanded portfolio, and soon the firm was designing airports, stadiums, hospitals, Apple stores, global supertalls like Shanghai Tower and everything in-between.

The legacies of Jahn and Gensler are certain to endure in Chicago and around the world. To learn more, read Jahn’s New York Times obituary, Gensler's Architectural Record obituary or watch Jahn's 2017 CAC talk.

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