- Chicago
Last admission: 30 minutes before closing
Wheelchair accessible
It may be known as the Windy City or home of the deep-dish pizza, but Chicago is also the home of American Architecture, boasting 126 skyscrapers.
At the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC), walk through the city's past, present, and even future as you traverse two floors of fascinating Chicago-themed exhibits. From skyscrapers to reconstructed buildings in miniature and high-tech innovations, this is Chicago like you've never seen it before.
Explore exhibits themed around the city's wildly diverse neighborhoods and homes, learn about leading architects, and get a peek at up-and-coming projects.
The Chicago City Model Experience is the star attraction in the Chicago Gallery. This 3D model of Chicago features more than 4,000 buildings and interactive elements that tell amazing tales about the city. Since its debut in 2009, the Chicago Model has been an icon. Interactive touch screens allow visitors to orient themselves, search for buildings by architect or architectural style, and see data projected onto the model.
In the Building Tall exhibition, see how skyscrapers have influenced city plans and skylines through super-sized models of the world's tallest buildings. Join the race to the top and see how design and engineering innovations have us building higher, and higher, and higher! There's even a 40-foot-tall model of Saudi Arabia's Jeddah Tower, set to be the next world's tallest building.
Want to know more? Take one of the CAC's architecture tours led by an expert volunteer (not included), or attend a thought-provoking lecture. There's always something going on at Chicago's leading architecture center!