This Chicago Event Defines the Architects and Artists You Need to Know Now

In 2015 the city of Chicago hosted the very first architecture biennial to take place in North America, a sprawling survey of all that was happening in the profession that attracted 530,000 visitors. Suddenly the second edition is right around the corner. Artistic directors and L.A.-based architects Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee have just today announced the more-than-100-firm lineup of this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial , which returns to the Chicago Cultural Center on September 16 with the title “Make New History.”

Much like in 2015, this edition of the biennial eschews superstar architects—no Norman Fosters or Frank Gehrys (although there will be Stanley Tigerman and Pritzker-winning Japanese firm SANAA ). Instead the roster comprises rising stars on par with New York’s SO-IL , Berlin’s Diébédo Francis Kéré , and other firms spread across four continents. Compared with the last biennial, however, this edition features a considerably tighter curatorial focus. The title “Making New History,” a riff on a 2009 work by artist Ed Ruscha, means “looking at old things in new ways,” according to Johnston. She and Lee started with the 130-year-old halls of the landmarked exhibition space.

The Chicago Cultural Center.

Participants have been commissioned to build architectural interventions that would make the cultural center more amenable to visitors. Caruso St. John , for example, is designing a room that evokes Gertrude Stein’s early-20th-century salon, modernized with wallpaper by German artist Thomas Demande. “A salon is less formal than a gallery,” says Johnston. “It’s a place to sit and chill.”

Having designed multiple exhibition spaces for their firm Johnston Marklee (including LACMA’s current Moholy-Nagy retrospective , the Menil Collection , and MCA Chicago ’s forthcoming respective expansions), the artistic directors made their audience a high priority. “We’re trying to think about the spatial experience of the exhibition, not making it purely about content,” says Lee. “Models and drawings are always representations of space, which today are so accessible on screens. We want to have an understanding of what it feels like to be in the space.”

Further incorporating Johnston Marklee’s interest in the intersection of architecture with art, artist-and-architect pairs, including Fiona Connor and Erin Besler, are currently working together on site-specific projects. Photographers, including James Welling, Luisa Lambri, and Marianne Muller, will also be paying homage to Chicago’s rich architectural heritage with portraits of a few of its historic buildings.

“History is built-up intelligence over the years,” says Lee. “We think this is a time architects can look at the future by looking to the past.”

The Chicago Architecture Biennial takes place September 16 through January 7.

A complete list of 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial participants is below.

51N4E (Brussels, Belgium; Tirana, Albania)

6A Architects (London, UK)

Ábalos+Sentkiewicz (Madrid, Spain; Cambridge, USA; Shanghai, China)

Adamo-Faiden (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

AGENdA agencia de arquitectura (Medellin, Colombia)

Aires Mateus (Lisboa, Portugal)

Ana Prvački and SO-IL (Los Angeles,USA; New York, USA)

Andrew Kovacs (Los Angeles, USA)

Angela Deuber Architect (Chur, Switzerland)

Ania Jaworska (Chicago, USA)

ArandaLasch and Terrol Dew Johnson (New York, USA; Tucson, USA)

Archi-Union (Shanghai, China)

Architecten de Vylder Vinck Taillieu (Ghent, Belgium)

Arno Brandlhuber and Christopher Roth (Berlin, Germany)

Atelier Manferdini (Venice, USA)

AWP office for territorial reconfiguration (Paris, France; London, UK)

Bak Gordon Arquitectos (Lisbon, Portugal)

Barbas Lopes (Lisbon, Portugal)

Barkow Leibinger (Berlin, Germany)

baukuh (Milan, Italy)

Besler & Sons LLC (Los Angeles, USA)

BLESS (Berlin, Germany)

BUREAU SPECTACULAR (Los Angeles, USA)

Caruso St John (London, UK)

Charlap Hyman & Herrero (Los Angeles, USA; New York, USA)

Charles Waldheim (Cambridge, USA)

Christ & Gantenbein (Basel, Switzerland)

Daniel Everett (Chicago, USA; Salt Lake City, USA)

David Schalliol (Chicago, USA)

Dellekamp Arquitectos (Mexico City, Mexico)

Design With Company (Chicago, USA)

Diego Arraigada Arquitectos (Rosario, Argentina)

DOGMA (Brussels, Belgium)

DRDH (London, UK)

ENSAMBLE STUDIO (Madrid, Spain; Boston, USA)

Éric Lapierre Architecture (Paris, France)

Estudio Barozzi Veiga (Barcelona, Spain)

fala atelier (Porto, Portugal)

Filip Dujardin (Ghent, Belgium)

Fiona Connor and Erin Besler (Los Angeles, USA; Auckland, New Zealand)

First Office (Los Angeles, USA)

formlessfinder (New York, USA)

Frida Escobedo (Mexico City, Mexico)

Gerard and Kelly (Los Angeles, USA; New York, USA)

Go Hasegawa (Tokyo, Japan)

HHF Architects (Basel, Switzerland)

Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (Chicago, USA)

J. MAYER H. und Partner, Architekten and Philip Ursprung (Berlin, Germany)

James Welling (New York, USA)

Jesús Vassallo (Houston, USA)

Jorge Otero-Pailos (New York, USA)

June14 Meyer-Grohbrügge & Chermayeff (New York, USA; Berlin, Germany)

Karamuk * Kuo Architects (New York, USA; Zurich, Switzerland)

Keith Krumwiede (New York, USA)

Kéré Architecture (Berlin, Germany)

Kuehn Malvezzi (Berlin, Germany)

Luisa Lambri (Milan, Italy)

Lütjens Padmanabhan Architekten (Zurich, Switzerland)

Made In (Geneva, Switzerland; Zurich, Switzerland)

MAIO (Barcelona, Spain)

Marianne Mueller (Zurich, Switzerland)

Marshall Brown (Chicago, USA)

MG&Co. (Houston, USA)

MONADNOCK (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)

MOS (New York, USA)

Norman Kelley (Chicago, USA; New York, USA)

Nuno brandåo costa arquitectos Ida (Porto, Portugal)

OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen (Brussels, Belgium)

PASCAL FLAMMER (Zurich, Switzerland)

Patrick Braouezec (Paris, France)

Paul Andersen and Paul Preissner (Chicago, USA; Denver, USA)

Pezo Von Ellrichshausen (Concepción, Chile)

Philipp Schaerer (Zurich, Switzerland)

PRODUCTORA (Mexico City, Mexico)

REAL Foundation (London, UK)

Robert Somol (Chicago, USA)

SADAR+VUGA (Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Sam Jacob Studio (London, UK)

SAMI-arquitectos (Setubal, Portugal)

SANAA (Tokyo, Japan)

Sauter von Moos (Basel, Switzerland)

Sergison Bates (London, UK; Zurich, Switzerland)

Serie Architects (London, UK; Zurich, Switzerland)

SHINGO MASUDA+KATSUHISA OTSUBO Architects (Tokyo, Japan)

Stan Allen Architect (New York, USA)

Studio Anne Holtrop (Muharraq, Bahrain; Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Studiomumbai (Mumbai, India)

Sylvia Lavin (Los Angeles, USA)

T+E+A+M (Ann Arbor, USA)

Tatiana Bilbao Estudio (Mexico City, Mexico)

Tham & Videgård Arkitekter (Stockholm, Sweden)

The Empire (Verona, Italy)

The Living (New York, USA)

The Los Angeles Design Group (Los Angeles, USA)

Thomas Baecker Bettina Kraus (Berlin, Germany)

Tigerman McCurry Architects (Chicago, USA)

Toshiko Mori Architect (New York, USA)

UrbanLab (Chicago, USA; Los Angeles, USA)

Urbanus (Shenzhen, China; Beijing, China)

Veronika Kellndorfer (Berlin, Germany)

WELCOMEPROJECTS (Los Angeles, USA)

Work Architecture Company (New York, USA)

Zago Architecture (Los Angeles, USA)

ZAO/standardarchitecture (Shanghai, China)

*Listed alphabetically by firm name or first

name.