Chicago Architecture Center

The Chicago Architecture Center is a nonprofit cultural organization devoted to architecture and the idea that design and the built environment have a crucial part to play in enriching humanity. Situated on the site of the city’s historic Fort Dearborn in a landmark Mies van der Rohe building, the CAC’s home is a public-facing celebration of the city and its wondrous architecture. But its functions don’t stop there: it also serves as office space, a retail shop, lecture halls, and an interactive exhibit space for the public to explore.

Morlights brought its wide-ranging expertise in lighting to both the architectural and exhibit spaces at CAC headquarters, while building in flexibility for the organization’s future needs. Taking a cue from van der Rohe’s legendary precision and attention to detail, the fixtures are aligned with ceiling tracks and emergency lights, complimenting the clean Miesian profile of the 2-story space.

The lighting design for the Chicago Model exhibit, a large-scale, 3-D architectural model of the city featuring over 4,000 individually modeled buildings, helps visitors experience the story of the city’s architecture. Time-code locked to the exhibit’s video and audio, lighting is used to highlight specific neighborhoods and represent data points throughout the program.

Drawing on our experience with and passion for both architectural and museum lighting, Morlights was able to create a modern, clean design that marries perfectly with this historic space — and enables a variety of preconfigured space configurations, providing flexible functionality for their varied programming. Despite challenging budget constraints, our balance of illuminating the space for visitors while highlighting current galleries embraces the original architecture as well as future exhibits.

“Architectural greatness is at the heart of Chicago. Working with the CAC to tell the story of the city’s architectural heritage wasn’t just an honor, it was an exercisein civic pride.”