Chana Haouzi
Assistant Professor
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Bio
Chana Haouzi is an architect, educator, and curator whose work expands access to architecture and demonstrates the role of design in advancing the public good. She is the founder of Architecture for Public Benefit, a mission-driven benefit corporation that extends the traditional reach of architectural practice by partnering with nonprofits, cultural organizations, public agencies, and community-based organizations.
Under Chana’s leadership, Architecture for Public Benefit has been recognized by The Architect’s Newspaper as Best New Firm, Midwest, exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale and the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and received the 2023 AIA Chicago Foundation’s Roberta Feldman Architecture for Social Justice Award and multiple AIA Chicago Design Excellence Awards. The firm’s work spans libraries, youth spaces, cultural institutions, exhibitions, community design processes, and mission-driven spaces for organizations including the Music Box Foundation, Chicago Architecture Center, Scitopia Chicago, Justice4Housing, the Boston Public Library, and YouthBuild Boston.
Chana is assistant professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has taught architecture and design at the University of Chicago, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Illinois Chicago, Northeastern University, and Harvard University. Her teaching focuses on socially engaged design, civic life, and empowering students to use architecture as a tool to understand and transform their communities.
In addition to her practice and teaching, Chana served as Associate Curator of the 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennial, SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change. She founded and leads the Arts in the Dark Architects Guild, bringing architects together to celebrate their craft and love for Chicago through a public parade experienced by more than 100,000 people. In 2026, she was named to Newcity’s Design 50 for her role in shaping Chicago’s architecture and design culture. She has also been recognized by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of the 40 Under 40 and received a 2022 American Institute of Architects National Young Architects Award.
Chana holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and a Master of Architecture from McGill University, as well as a Master in Architecture II from Harvard University. She is a licensed architect and serves on the boards of the Chicago Architectural Club and the Association for Community Design.