In 2026, after nearly 90 years, the Institute of Design was folded into Illinois Tech's School of Design & Society.
This website is an archive of the impactful and inspirational work produced by the ID community before that transition.

László Moholy-Nagy opened the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937, treating design as a discipline that was teachable, testable, and consequential. Nine decades on, its scope had widened from the things people use to the systems they depend on: hospitals, government agencies, classrooms, supply chains, digital platforms. Along the way, ID community members developed the published research, methods, and frameworks that designers rely on every day.

Chief among them is human-centered design: close attention to how people actually live, and advocacy for what that research reveals. It shaped designers who are comfortable with complexity and ambiguity: curious, rigorous, inclusive, and stubbornly optimistic about design's ability to change the systems that shape our lives.

To every one of them, who taught, studied, built, critiqued, and stayed late in the studio: thank you, and keep designing.

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Past Event

Bauhaus Ballet: Futura Fractals

September 21, 2019
5:00-7:00pm CST
IIT Institute of Design at Kaplan Institute
3137 South Federal Street 2nd Floor
Chicago, IL 60616
A custom performance of the Bauhaus-inspired ballet Futura Fractals by ID students and Hedwig Dance a week after they appear at Dessau.

Enjoy a custom performance of the Bauhaus-inspired ballet Futura Fractals by ID students and Hedwig Dance a week after they appear at Dessau. See a video and learn more about this project. Followed by a reception and refreshments.

Funding for this event has been generously provided by Steelcase.

Part of Bauhaus Live, a day-long celebration of Chicago's Bauhaus heritage, and Shapeshift 2019: Design @ Illinois Tech, presented by IIT Institute of Design and IIT College of Architecture. On the occasion of the Bauhaus centenary, the inaugural Shapeshift celebrates Bauhaus in Chicago. From September 16–28, 2019, we will explore our Bauhaus heritage, address our city’s key challenges, and host conversations about how we can build equitable and sustainable long-term solutions. Acknowledging Chicago’s and Illinois Tech’s leading roles in the development of 20th century modernism, Shapeshift celebrates Chicago and Illinois Tech as partners in reimagining the urban environment for the 21st century.

About IIT Institute of Design (ID)

Founded by László Moholy-Nagy as The New Bauhaus in 1937, IIT Institute of Design (ID) is known for pioneering human-centered design and systems design. Today we are home to the only US design school devoted completely to graduate students. But ID is more than a graduate school. We are an international community of learners and practitioners building responsible, cooperative, intelligent futures to address the biggest issues of our time. Learn more about ID at id.iit.edu.

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