Chicago Architecture Center Exhibits Entry Tickets
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Chicago Architecture Center Exhibits Entry Tickets Overview
The Chicago Architecture Center occupies a purpose-built riverfront space at 111 East Wacker Drive where Michigan Avenue meets the Chicago River. Founded in 1966 to preserve the historic Glessner House, the CAC has grown over five decades into the city's foremost institution for architectural education and exhibitions. The current space, opened in 2018, was specifically designed to showcase Chicago's built environment at its most immediate and accessible.
The centrepiece is the Chicago Architecture Model, the largest scale model of downtown Chicago ever constructed. It covers the central business district and surrounding neighbourhoods in extraordinary detail, with individual buildings identifiable and the full street grid and riverway system visible in relationship. Visitors can find specific buildings, trace the development of the skyline and understand the density of one of the world's great urban grids in a way that no amount of street-level exploration can replicate.
Permanent and rotating exhibitions cover Chicago's architectural history from the post-Great Fire rebuild of 1871 that gave birth to the steel-frame skyscraper, through the Prairie Style of Frank Lloyd Wright and the International Style towers of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, to contemporary sustainable design and the future of the city's built environment. The CAC also serves as the departure point for the acclaimed Chicago River Architecture Cruise and is open Friday through Monday only.
Know Before You Go
The CAC is open Friday through Monday only from 10 am to 4 pm; it is closed Tuesday through Thursday
The CAC is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's Day
The CAC is at 111 East Wacker Drive at Michigan Avenue Bridge accessible by CTA to Randolph or State Street
River Architecture Cruise tickets are sold separately and include discounted CAC admission
The river level entrance on Wacker Drive gives direct access alongside the Chicago River
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The CAC is open Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 10 am to 4 pm. It is closed every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It is also closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
The Chicago Architecture Model is the largest scale model of downtown Chicago ever constructed. It covers the central business district and surrounding areas in precise detail, showing individual buildings, streets and the river system in their actual relationships to each other.
Standard admission covers all permanent exhibitions, the Chicago Architecture Model and any rotating exhibitions running during your visit. The River Architecture Cruise is a separate ticketed experience but CAC admission is discounted with a cruise ticket purchase.
The CAC is at 111 East Wacker Drive at the corner of Michigan Avenue and the Chicago River in the Loop. The entrance is at river level on the south side of Wacker Drive. By CTA take the Red or Blue Line to State/Lake or the Green/Orange/Brown/Pink Line to Randolph.
Yes. The Chicago River Architecture Cruise departs from the CAC and is one of the most highly rated tours in the United States. Cruise tickets include discounted admission to the CAC exhibitions. Cruises run independently of CAC exhibition hours and can be booked directly.
The exhibitions cover Chicago's full architectural timeline from the post-Great Fire steel-frame reconstruction of 1871 through Louis Sullivan and the Chicago School, Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's modernism, postmodern work and current sustainable design. Special exhibitions change throughout the year.
Yes. The scale model and interactive elements of the permanent exhibitions engage children from approximately age 8 upward. The CAC runs family-friendly programming on select dates. Children under 5 enter free.
The CAC is closed every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as well as Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. It is only open Friday through Monday.
Location
Chicago Architecture Center, Chicago, United States111 East Upper Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 60601, United States
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