Resources
Classroom Lab Space
Located across the street from the Art Institute of Chicago, the Historic Preservation department includes a design studio with skylights, a conservation and materials laboratory with lecture space, a resource library, student lounge, and two dedicated lecture spaces, all housed in an enclosed two-floor unit with interior connecting staircase.
Roger Brown Study Collection
Preserved in SAIC alum Roger Brown's (BFA 1968, MFA 1970) former home and studio, RBSC is filled with objects from the far corners of the world of thing-making. The 1888 storefront building is a laboratory where students engage in the care, organization, interpretation and preservation of varied collections.
Ryerson & Burnham Libraries
The Ryerson & Burnham Libraries constitute a major art and architecture research collection serving The Art Institute of Chicago and scholars within the fields of art and architectural history with over 500,000 print titles, 100,000 auction catalogs, 1,200 current serial subscriptions, and extensive digital collections.
Landmark Illinois
Landmarks Illinois inspires people to save historic places that matter. Emerging from the fight to save the Chicago Stock Exchange Building, today Landmarks Illinois is a statewide nonprofit organization serving thousands of members, real estate professionals, property owners and policymakers.
Visiting Artists Program
An invaluable resource for SAIC students and the public alike, the Visiting Artists Program fosters a greater understanding and appreciation of contemporary art and culture through discourse. VAP arranges studio critiques and roundtable discussions for SAIC students, providing them with direct access to world-renowned speakers working across disciplines.
The William Bronson and Grayce Slovet Mitchell Lecture Series
The William Bronson and Grayce Slovet Mitchell Lecture Series brings together contemporary experts in the areas of architecture, design, and systems planning. The lecture series takes place in the LeRoy Neiman Center and it is always free and open to the public.
Architecture and Design Society
The Architecture & Design Society was created in 1981 as the support group for the Department of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago. The society’s general mission is to enhance the understanding and appreciation of architecture and design by making them accessible to a wider audience through a dynamic program of lectures, upper-level-member architectural tours and special events, and receptions and viewings of Department of Architecture and Design exhibitions.
Resources Available to all SAIC Students Include:
Libraries and Special Collections
Unique access to important libraries and special collections including a world-class museum.
Media Centers
The media centers provide audiovisual equipment and services to accommodate documentation, creation, instructional, and exhibition needs.
Gallery Spaces
The SAIC campus showcases a diversity of student artwork across multiple exhibition venues. Students can propose to exhibit their work in a variety of formats and locations.
Visiting Artists Program
Public lectures are presented by world-renowned visiting artists, designers, and scholars. Speakers meet with students through studio visits, roundtable discussions, seminars, and workshops.
Instructional Shops
From bedazzlers to sewing machines, from traditional wood/metalworking to CNC milling, the SAIC Instructional Shops are facilities that have the resources to help you realize your projects. The shops are equipped with a wide range of hand, power, and stationary tools.
What the City of Chicago has to Offer:
World class museums and galleries
Since the late 19th century, when the museum collection of the Art Institute was established as a study center for the School of the Art Institute, students have used the museum's vast holdings to inspire and inform their creative and scholarly practices. No other school of art and design can claim such a major museum as part of their campus.
Unparalleled architecture
A living laboratory of the study of late 19th- and 20th-century architecture, landscapes, and interiors—the development of the Chicago school of commercial architecture, the flowering of the Prairie style house, the progression of the City Beautiful movement in urban planning.
