Dezeen Competitions: The Chicago Architectural Club's Future of State competition tasks architects, designers, planners, artists, and students to envision the future of Chicago's State Street as a vibrant mixed-use civic corridor.

Participants are asked to develop bold proposals that address various challenges, such as retail revitalisation, housing, adaptive reuse, culture, public space and economic development.

Organiser: Chicago Architectural Club
Competition: Chicago Architectural Club 2026 Burnham Prize: The Future of State
Judges: 

• Carol Ross Barney, design principal and founder, Ross Barney Architects
• Elizabeth Blasius, historian, writer and partner of Preservation Futures
• Phil Enquist, architect, academic and former partner at Skidmore Owings & Merrill
• Eleanor Esser Gorski, CEO and president of Chicago Architecture Center
• Reed Kroloff, dean of the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology
• Anjulie Rao, journalist and critic
• Irene Sunwoo, John H Bryan chair and curator of Architecture and Design at The Art Institute of Chicago
• Ernest C Wong, founding principal of Site Design Group

Prizes: the first-place prize will receive $3,000,  the second-place prize will receive $2,000, and the third-place prize will receive $1,000. Exhibited projects will receive $100

Click here to enter ›

Competition overview

The Chicago Architectural Club's Future of State competition (the 2026 Burnham Prize) is an open international ideas competition that challenges architects, designers, planners, artists, and students to envision the future of Chicago's State Street as a vibrant mixed-use civic corridor.

Participants are asked to develop bold proposals that address issues such as retail revitalisation, housing, adaptive reuse, culture, public space, and economic development while reimagining State Street as Chicago's "Great Street" for the 21st century.

The competition is organised in partnership with World Business Chicago, Chicago Architecture Center, Chicago Loop Alliance, and the Loop Arts District, with winning and selected entries exhibited publicly and shared with civic and business leaders shaping the future of downtown Chicago.

The project that comes in first place will receive $3,000. Second place will receive $2,000, while third place will receive $1,000. Exhibited projects will receive $100.

Selected work will be featured in a public exhibition and programming, in partnership with the Chicago Architecture Center, and all teams whose projects are selected for exhibition will receive an honorarium for their contribution.

Winning entries will be shared with project partners as part of an ongoing dialogue about the future of State Street. At the discretion of the jury, one proposal may be selected for possible implementation, pending available funding through grant applications led by the Chicago Architectural Club in collaboration with the selected team.

Eligibility and judging criteria

Open to anyone worldwide. Individuals or teams of any size are invited to enter, and we encourage architects, designers, artists, planners, students, and interdisciplinary teams to submit.

Entries will be judged on their ability to identify key challenges and opportunities for State Street and present compelling, innovative, and actionable visions for its future as a vibrant mixed-use civic corridor.

Participants are not limited to a specific segment of State Street and may address any portion of the corridor – or the corridor as a whole – provided the proposal is clearly tied to the future of State Street and downtown Chicago.

How to enter

Participants can enter by submitting:

• a single, 24 by 36-inch board in portrait orientation
• a written statement not to exceed 500 words
• a separate identification document as outlined on the website

Submission deadlines

The competition registration deadline is 15 July 2026, while the submission deadline is 20 July.

Jury deliberations will take place in August, alongside the winner announcement.

The publication and exhibition prep of selected entries will take place from August to September, and the public exhibition and Arts Fest on State Street will take place on 17 October.

About the Chicago Architectural Club

The Chicago Architectural Club is a nonprofit organisation that promotes architectural thinking, design innovation, and public dialogue through competitions, exhibitions, publications, and educational programs that engage architects, designers, students, and the broader community.

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