RECORD’s monthly roundup highlights the most anticipated upcoming and ongoing architecture exhibitions, urban design festivals, industry events, and open competitions shaping the global built environment.
Upcoming Exhibitions
As the architectural world continues to grapple with shifting global priorities, climate emergencies, and technological transformations, cultural institutions around the globe are rolling out major exhibitions that examine the past, present, and future of the built environment.
In Newcastle, England, the newly established Farrell Centre is opening its doors with a timely inaugural exhibition. Led by renowned British architect Sir Terry Farrell, the center functions as both a public exhibition space and a research hub dedicated to architecture and urbanism, thoughtfully housed inside a converted 19th-century department store. For its premier show, titled More with Less: Reimagining Architecture for a Changing World, the institution invited four distinct architectural practices—Dress for the Weather, McCloy + Muchemwa, Office S&M, and the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment—to develop site-specific installations. These works collectively propose fresh design responses to the escalating climate emergency, offering visitors a glimpse into sustainable futures. The exhibition runs from April 22 through September 10, 2023.
Meanwhile, in Paris, the Centre Pompidou is launching the largest retrospective ever dedicated to the prolific, six-decade career of Pritzker Prize laureate Norman Foster. Spanning an impressive 23,000 square feet, the expansive exhibition brings together original drawings, detailed workbooks, and intricate physical models and prototypes representing nearly 100 projects. Highlights from Foster’s remarkable portfolio include the Carré d’Art in Nîmes, France (1993), the monumental Hong Kong International Airport (1998), and the sleek Apple Park in Cupertino, California (2017). Visitors can explore the breadth of Foster’s structural innovations from May 10 until August 7, 2023.
Ongoing Exhibitions
In Rome, the Museo Nazionale MAXXI is currently hosting Technoscape: The Architecture of Engineers, an exploration of the complex relationship between structural engineering—spanning both vernacular traditions and avant-garde innovations—and the pervasive influence of technology in daily life. Developed in collaboration with academic institutions and research centers, the exhibition is divided into two compelling sections. The first features interactive pavilions and installations that demonstrate how scientific and technological sectors intersect with modern architecture, ranging from smart devices for urban management to the revival of low-tech, vintage assembly techniques. The second section charts the evolution of structural engineering from the post-war period to the present day, celebrating landmark structures such as the Centre Pompidou (Beaubourg) and the Sydney Opera House. The exhibition is on view through April 16, 2023.
In New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, the Friedman Benda Gallery is presenting its third solo exhibition dedicated to Italian architect Andrea Branzi, a key cofounder of the radical 1960s design studio Archizoom. Titled Contemporary DNA, the show features three brand-new bodies of work: Roots, Germinal Seats, and Buildings. Across these collections, Branzi places a strong emphasis on natural and reused materials, translating them into everyday household objects such as chairs, cabinets, and lamps.
At the Museum of Architectural Drawing, visitors can experience Aldo Rossi. Insulae, an exhibition showcasing over 110 works by the late Italian architect, many of which are being presented to the public for the first time. The exhibition is organized into three distinct sections: Corpus Mediolanensis, Works for Berlin, and the titular Insula, a series of drawings inspired by architectural models from antiquity.
In Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago is hosting Himali Singh Soin: Static Range, the artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States. The immersive, multimedia presentation investigates the histories and prospective futures of "nuclear" landscapes through a combination of poetry, music, video, textiles, ceramics, drawings, and a specially designed therapeutic garden. The exhibition space was meticulously crafted by Singh Soin in close collaboration with local architecture practice Future Firm, and remains on view through May 15, 2023.
At Yale University’s Architecture Gallery in New Haven, visitors can explore François Dallegret: Beyond the Bubble. Dallegret, a Montreal-based architect and central figure of the 1960s and 1970s architectural avant-garde, is celebrated for his meticulous designs for futuristic objects and spaces. Building upon the 2011 exhibition GOD & CO: Beyond the Bubble, this comprehensive display brings together drawings, physical objects, films, and archival ephemera spanning six decades of Dallegret’s creative practice through May 22, 2023.
In Montreal, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is presenting Parall(elles): A History of Women in Design. Organized in collaboration with the Stewart Program for Modern Design, this large-scale exhibition gathers nearly 250 works created by American and Canadian women from the mid-19th century to the present day. The works are contextualized against the social and political backdrops that influenced the careers of women designers over the past 150 years, encompassing a diverse array of media from artisanal craft to industrial design, including ceramics, glass, metalwork, jewelry, textiles, furniture, consumer products, graphics, fashion, and interior design through May 28, 2023.
In Berlin, the Museum of Decorative Arts is exhibiting Retrotopia: Design for Socialist Spaces. The exhibition explores the vast and often overlooked body of work produced by architects and designers behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. By highlighting both realized and conceptual spaces imagined by Eastern Bloc creators—including Czech architect Věra Machoninová, Estonian designers Sirje Runge and Bruno Tomberg, and German architect Lutz Brandt—the exhibition brings much-needed visibility to figures who remain largely unknown in the Western world. The show runs through July 16, 2023.
In London, the Roca London Gallery is hosting Vanishing Points: Architectural Imagination in the Digital Universe. Architect Hamza Shaikh curates a dialogue between contemporary virtual architectural explorations and historical precedents drawn from the Drawing Matter archive. Rare drawings by modern masters such as Mies van der Rohe, John Hejduk, and Le Corbusier are displayed alongside cutting-edge digital technologies, illustrating how modern virtual architecture directly extends the profession’s deep-rooted drawing traditions through July 29, 2023.
In Weil am Rhein, Germany, the Vitra Design Museum is presenting Garden Futures: Designing with Nature. Designed by Milan-based studio Formafantasma, the exhibition examines the history and potential future of the modern garden, framing horticulture as a radical medium for environmental experimentation and social incubation. Encompassing community gardens, green facades, and vertical urban farms, the show features notable contributions from landscape architects Roberto Burle Marx and Mien Ruys, alongside artist Derek Jarman, through October 3, 2023.
Events
Spring and summer bring a vibrant lineup of international festivals, symposia, and trade fairs celebrating the built environment.
In Logroño, Spain, the architecture and design festival Concéntrico 09 returns for its ninth consecutive edition from April 27 to May 2, 2023. The six-day festival animates the city with a dynamic roster of events, temporary installations, and exhibitions that challenge participants and visitors to rethink and celebrate the public realm and civic life.
In New York City, NYCxDesign returns for its 11th annual celebration from May 18 to 25, 2023. The premier urban design festival draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to explore a diverse calendar of public talks, neighborhood exhibits, site-specific installations, and guided walking tours across the five boroughs.
In Italy, the highly anticipated Venice Architecture Biennale 2023 opens its doors on May 20, running through November 26, 2023. The 18th edition of the prestigious exhibition is curated by Scottish-Ghanaian architect Lesley Lokko, founder of the Graduate School of Architecture in Johannesburg and the African Futures Institute in Accra. Under the guiding theme "Laboratory of the Future," this year’s citywide showcase features contributions from 89 official participants, with more than half hailing from Africa or the African diaspora.
Also in New York on May 20, 2023, the Institute for Public Architecture is hosting a free, one-day symposium titled BQE 2053: Towards a Decarbonized Sustainable Multi-Modal Transportation Network. Capitalizing on newly available federal infrastructure funding, the event gathers experts, policymakers, and community members from Brooklyn and Queens at the Harbor School on Governors Island. Four dedicated panels will explore urgent questions surrounding highway removal, alternative transit systems, community land trusts, and grassroots visions for the future of the decaying Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
In Chicago, the commercial design industry will converge for NeoCon, running from June 12 to 14, 2023. Operating continuously since 1969, the annual trade fair spans nearly one million square feet of exhibition space, showcasing commercial interior design innovations from more than 400 leading companies and emerging designers alike.
Competitions
For designers looking to make an impact through visionary proposals, current open competitions offer significant platforms for innovation.
The Architecture at Zero 2023 competition, presented in part by AIA California, is currently inviting design submissions with a deadline of June 15, 2023. The brief calls for forward-thinking architectural proposals for an agricultural center in Allensworth, California—the historic first town in the state to be founded, financed, and governed by African Americans. Placing a strong emphasis on decarbonization, social equity, and environmental resilience, the competition encourages students and professionals alike to design proposals that honor and advance the community’s enduring aspiration to serve as a hub for sustainable agriculture and Black history.
