'shift' in focus: florencia rodriguez as artistic director of chicago architecture biennial 2025

chicago architecture biennial celebrates a decade

As the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) gears up for its tenth anniversary in 2025, it embarks on a reflective and transformative chapter in its history. This milestone coincides with the announcement of its sixth edition and its theme, Shift, together with a significant leadership shift — the appointment of Florencia Rodriguez as Artistic Director. Rodriguez, a respected critic, educator, and Director of UIC’s School of Architecture, brings a unique and refreshing perspective as the first Latina to hold this influential position. ‘It is of course a great honor, and I feel even more excited to have this role for CAB’s tenth-year anniversary,’ Rodriguez shares in an interview with designboom, noting the importance of this moment for both the Biennial and her own creative journey.

Florencia Rodriguez

a ‘shift’ with an optimistic spirit for 2025

Shift, the theme of the 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB), signals an exploration of architecture’s response to contemporary cultural forces. These include housing, migration, and ecological challenges. Rodriguez highlights that this edition will bridge the dichotomy between ‘abstraction and realism’ within the field and inspire deeper engagement. ‘This Biennial will bring together global examples of significant architecture that engages with these and other issues,’ she explains, aiming to introduce a platform for collective intellectual exchange. Through a wide range of formats — podcasts, global partnerships, and a participatory ‘Chicago Lab’ — Rodriguez imagines Shift to be a multidimensional repository of ideas that invites both experts and the public to redefine architecture’s role.

Rodriguez’s approach reinforces CAB’s legacy of sparking dialogue and redefining architecture’s public engagement. Over the past decade, the Biennial has drawn millions of visitors and inspired projects that resonate far beyond Chicago. ‘In this era of dispersion without universal canons, events such as CAB are crucial for fostering a global dialogue,’ she notes. This forward-thinking ethos will compliment the vibrancy of the city overall to promise a Biennial that celebrates the societal value of architecture while championing a more inclusive and proactive vision for its future. Read the full interview with Artistic Director Florencia Rodriguez below!

Carol Ross Barney, Ryan Gann, and the Dusable Park Design Alliance, Parallel Histories, CAB 5, image © Hall Merrick McCaugherty Photographers

dialogue with curator florencia rodriguez

designboom (DB): How does it feel to take on the role of the first Latina Artistic Director of the Chicago Architecture Biennial at such a historic moment for CAB, and what unique perspectives do you bring to this anniversary?

Florencia Rodriguez (FR): It is of course a great honor, and I feel even more excited to have this role for CAB’s tenth-year anniversary. This is the most significant event for architecture in the US and it represents a unique opportunity.

I have always worked towards opening dialogue and integrating the knowledge and experiences that come from a variety of dissimilar contexts. Even before founding PLOT in 2010, my career was built around efforts to put forward contemporary Latin American architecture while focusing on the North/South axis, and always advocating for new global perspectives that move away from colonial and obsolete canons.

In that sense, one of my main goals with this iteration of CAB is to strengthen what I like to think of as a network of reciprocal influences in which we can all learn from others both inside and outside of the field.

Vertical City, Chicago Cultural Center, CAB 2, image © Tom Harris

DB: The theme of CAB 6, ‘Shift,’ suggests a broad examination of architecture’s relationship with critical cultural forces like housing, migration, and ecology. What inspired this theme, and how do you hope it will shape new narratives or directions in the field of architecture?

FR: ‘Shift’ is responding to the great cultural transformations of our time, how they affect the field of architecture, and the role of design in shaping the world. As a critic and educator, I strongly believe in the capabilities of our design disciplines.

Many architecture schools or current theories seem to be struggling to put together a disciplinary agenda that incorporates those cultural forces you are referring to. The field is in transition (as it has been in the past), and in some spheres, it seems to be oscillating between abstraction and realism – or maybe we could use the words autonomy and engagement. I think architecture can and should operate in the space where these questions overlap.

SO—IL, Ana Pravcki, CAB 2, image © Tom Harris

FR continued: Thinking about the issues you just mentioned brings several related thoughts to mind: we know that the housing crisis has been the center of political campaigns all over the world; that climate change is affecting all industries and the way we think about material culture; and that many cities are dealing with the challenges of integration coming from migration or social disparity.

This Biennial will bring together global examples of significant architecture that engages with these and other issues and which will generate conversations and collective intellectual exchanges across different formats. The aim is to build a platform that acts like an intentional archive of the contemporary where we can discuss new narratives and directions that can inform critical thinking, decision making, pedagogies, and even policies.

The Buell Center, 100 Links, Chicago Cultural Center, CAB 5, image © Tom Harris

DB: CAB 6 will be centered around the Chicago Cultural Center, with a network of global projects forming a constellation of ideas. Can you share some insights into how this global-local approach will be reflected in the Biennial’s projects and public programs?

FR: I like to think of this Biennial as multilayered or multidimensional. Its physical presence at the Chicago Cultural Center and some satellite locations across the city will be strong. To complement this we are also building international partnerships and designing online formats and projects that will be expansive enough to gather a significant number of cases and voices.

FR continued: It will work as a repository of ideas that will be organized by theme to make them clearer and more easily accessible. There will be podcasts, videos, live streaming events, a series of publications, a global education network and other participatory platforms.

We are also working on a platform called ‘Chicago Lab,’ the goal of which will be to ensure that all these ideas and interactions between locals and visitors benefit the city in the long term.

Block Party 4, Outpost Office ground painting also visible, CAB 4, photo © Nathan Keay

DB: Over the past decade, CAB has engaged millions of visitors with forward-thinking projects and concepts. As you look ahead, what role do you envision for the Biennial in creating a continued global dialogue on architecture and urbanism in Chicago and beyond?

FR: Increasingly over the past few decades, biennials and other large-scale exhibitions have proliferated to become both relevant and powerful cultural events for moving ideas forward and affecting change in the field. In this era of dispersion without universal canons, events such as CAB are crucial for fostering a global dialogue.

Having the Biennial in a city as vibrant as Chicago produces a very interesting duality: it engages experts and the field of architecture as a whole, just as much as the general public. In that way, it is not only a critical tool, but it also celebrates the value of architecture in society by envisioning new roles for it. The city should benefit from these experiences in very concrete ways, and we are working to facilitate that.

DB: In an era where architecture is increasingly influenced by urgent issues such as climate change and social equity, what message do you hope the Biennial will convey to both the public and the architectural community about the future of design?

FR: Design is an optimistic field. We project and plan possible futures, and this Biennial is founded on that spirit. In a time of radical change, ‘Shift’ wants to learn from past and current experiences while exploring not only a change in focus or direction but also the redefinitions in the field’s substance and fundamentals. This Biennial advocates for the role of architects and designers in shaping a better, more just, built environment. And of course, let’s make sure we don’t leave out space for magic and beauty.

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