SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change

Led by Artistic Director Florencia Rodriguez, SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change signals the opportunity and need to change direction—an invitation to think with others and to set new grounds for the interpretation and design of our built environments. The exhibition is organized around a series of thematic capsules: exhibitions and programs that each explore a particular idea, question, or mode of practice.

At the Chicago Cultural Center, visitors will find a general introduction to SHIFT, as well as two of the Biennial’s central capsules: Inhabit, Outhabit and The Ordinary-EXTRA.

SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, presents works reflecting on architecture’s capacity to respond to global challenges. Participants include BURR; Jason Campbell / ellProjects; DAVIDSON RAFAILIDIS; Firat Erdim; EXTENTS; Ignacio Galán, David Gissen, Alessandro Orsini, and Nick Roseboro; Tamara Kostianovsky; LA DALLMAN; Nicolas Dorval-Bory Architectes; On Architecture; project:if; R&R STUDIOS; RADDAR; David Ramis; Sayler/Morris; Berndnaut Smilde; Space Popular; Studio Sean Canty; Aura Venckunaite; Oscar Zamora and Michael Koliner

Inhabit, Outhabit surveys more than thirty collective housing projects—from refugee camps to experimental urban developments—that explore how architecture shapes modes of dwelling in times of displacement and transformation. Participants include: APPARATA; b+ (bplus.xyz); Balparda Brunel Oficina de Arquitectura; BETA office for architecture and the city; Breathe Architecture; Bureau SLA and ZakenMaker; Centro Cooperativista Uruguayo; Skarn Chaiyawat, Rina Shindo, and Witee Wisuthumporn; Mariano Clusellas; E2A / Piet Eckert und Wim Eckert Architekten; FAR frohn&rojas; French 2D; Hardel Le Bihan Architectes; HHF Architects; Kashef Chowdhury/URBANA; José Cubilla; Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA); Lütjens Padmanabhan Architekt*innen; MASS Design Group; Max Nuñez Arquitectos; Michael Maltzan Architecture; Oshinowo Studio; Plan Común; PRODUCTORA; Sam Chermayeff Office; SO–IL; TEN; URBANUS (Liu Xiaodu, Meng Yan); Urko Sánchez Architects

The Ordinary–EXTRA showcases projects that use imagination, layering, and texture to uncover beauty and meaning in everyday spaces, challenging the divide between the ordinary and the extraordinary. Participants include: 11 x 17; adamo-faiden; FORMA; Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork; gru.a; Kwong Von Glinow; Sean Lally; Objects of Common Interest; Cristóbal Palma; Paradigma Ariadné

Together, these exhibitions transform the Chicago Cultural Center into a place where architecture is both reimagined on a global scale, and rediscovered in the familiar spaces of daily life.