The Chicago Architecture Biennial has announced the citywide partner sites and organizations for the 2021 edition of the event. The sites and organizations will host installations, present programs, and collaborate with contributing designers from the Biennial’s opening date on September 17th, 2021.

The partnerships form part of Biennial Artistic Director David Brown’s vision for The Available City, which asks how design can identify new forms of shared space in urban areas through collective engagement. Brown selected the partner organizations to highlight a range of innovative approaches and ideas that can transform vacant space into community resources. The partnerships include a former elementary school being turned into a business and technology incubator, a 2-mile stretch of abandoned railways turned into a nature trail, and site-specific installations along the Chicago River.

The shortlist of CAB 2021 partner sites and organizations is listed below. Follow the latest news on the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial on our dedicated landing page here.

• Overton Elementary School in Bronzeville and Washington Park Development Group is partnering with contributor Borderless Studio. Overton has been activated as part of the Creative Grounds project, which seeks to repurpose closed public school buildings through community-led and inclusive processes.
• Community Christian Alternative Academy (CCA Academy) will build on a CAB Youth Studio workshop in 2019, in which Brown and 2021 contributor design firm The Bittertang Farm worked with CCA Academy students to workshop ideas for outdoor learning spaces.
• Grow Greater Englewood, which creates programs that support sustainable food economies and green businesses in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, is developing a 2-mile stretch of abandoned elevated railway line in Englewood into a nature trail. For the 2021 Biennial, a group of local architects, artists, and community leaders including Anton Seals, Bweza Itaagi, Andres Hernandez, and Eric Hotchkiss will partner with 2021 contributor Tokyo-based architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow to design the entryway to the trail, the 58th Street Plaza, so that it encourages gathering, connectivity, and commerce, and can be a safe, inviting, and peaceful space for community residents.
• ProjectHOOD, an organization based in the Woodlawn neighborhood, offers job training, essential resources, and tools to empower community members to become peacemakers, problem solvers, leaders, and entrepreneurs. Biennial contributors Chicago-based partners Norman Teague and Ebere Agwuncha of Norman Teague Design Studios and architect Negin Moayer from BNMO Design will join Pastor Corey Brooks Sr. of ProjectHOOD to construct an installation for a vacant lot along the commercial corridor on the 6600 block of South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The installation will highlight local artists and provide a space for performances as part of a long-term project to raise funds to complete the building of a permanent ProjectHOOD Community Center.

• El Paseo Community Garden, a NeighborSpace site in Pilsen, will partner with 2021 contributors Netherlands-based firm Studio Ossidiana and Ohio-based Outpost Office to develop site-specific installations that embrace the balance between the civic and the domestic. El Paseo serves as a public green space with a mission to strengthen environmental stewardship and civic engagement while protecting equitable green space on behalf of the community.
• Under the Grid and 2021 contributor, Open Architecture Chicago, are partnering on a proposed 15-block greenway under the Chicago Transit Authority's Pink Line between Kedzie and Kildare that seeks to provide a safe, fun, and engaging route through the community, bringing much-needed vibrancy to the area. Miami-based design contributor Studio Barnes is developing an installation on a hard surface lot managed by the Westside Association for Community Action (WACA) that will promote play and social gatherings and serve as a space for performances and programming.
• Southbank Park in the South Loop, sponsored by Lendlease, will partner with PORT, a public realm and urban design practice based in Chicago and Philadelphia, on a site-specific installation that responds to the history of the Chicago River.