When Infrastructure Meets Design at the Chicago Architecture Biennial

The Chicago Architecture Biennial has become a global platform for new ideas about how we build, adapt and shape the world around us. Its sixth edition, SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, marks the tenth anniversary of the event and expands its scope across the city. Led by Artistic Director Florencia Rodriguez, SHIFT invites designers and audiences to reconsider established norms and to imagine alternate paths forward. With more than 100 projects by architects, artists and designers from 30 countries, the Biennial examines questions tied to housing, ecology, material innovation and the systems that support daily life.

Within this landscape of ideas, one installation stands out by using ADS N-12 Dual Wall Pipe as the primary design material. Located inside the Chicago Cultural Center, the display encourages visitors to rethink the role of infrastructure in the built environment, particularly systems that typically operate out of sight.

The installation was developed by architects Kristy Balliet and Kelly Bair, both recognized for their ability to merge conceptual design with spatial experimentation. Balliet now teaches at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles, while Bair serves on the faculty at the University of Illinois School of Architecture. Earlier in their careers, both lived and taught in the Midwest, where they became familiar with ADS products and were drawn to the geometry and structural clarity of N-12 pipe. The Biennial provided the right context to explore that interest through a public, design-driven installation.

ADS provided N-12 pipe for the project, giving the architects the freedom to build a series of sculptural and functional forms. Long, continuous runs of pipe stretch across the gallery as seating and connective elements. Stacked pipe creates vertical anchors within the space, while a large circular table rests on a field of N-12, inviting visitors to gather, observe and interact. The installation reveals the pipe’s material qualities rather than concealing them, showing how a product designed for stormwater management can offer presence, character and structure in an architectural setting.

SHIFT challenges visitors to consider how design responds to cultural, social and environmental transitions. By elevating stormwater infrastructure into a design conversation, this installation reinforces the idea that the materials protecting communities from shifting rainfall and changing site conditions are essential components of our shared future. For those walking the Biennial, it offers a direct, tactile encounter with N-12—an opportunity to see how infrastructure supports the spaces we use every day.