As the new year unfolds, the architectural community is gearing up for a vibrant season of exhibitions, cultural events, and high-profile competitions. From major retrospectives celebrating decades of visionary work by renowned artists and designers to forward-looking showcases highlighting housing affordability and emerging talent, cultural institutions around the globe are opening their doors to explore the pressing issues and creative breakthroughs shaping the built environment.
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has announced a prominent new exhibition series designed to spotlight work from emerging architects who are driving innovation in the field. The inaugural presentation will direct attention toward 12 recently completed projects distributed across New York City. The participating firms representing the future of urban design include Adjaye Associates, nArchitects, and SO – IL, alongside prominent RECORD Design Vanguard 2022 winners CO Adaptive and Only If. To bring these built works to life for museum visitors, each featured project is accompanied by a newly commissioned video produced specially for the exhibition by Brooklyn-based filmmaker Hudson Lines.
Beyond New York, institutions across the United States and internationally are mounting significant surveys that examine the intersection of art, architecture, and social issues.
In Boston, the Institute of Contemporary Art is presenting a major survey dedicated to the work of New York-based artist and sculptor Simone Leigh. Spanning two decades of artistic production, the comprehensive exhibition brings together a diverse array of media, including sculpture, ceramics, video, and immersive installations. Notably, the presentation includes works from Leigh’s acclaimed 2022 Venice Biennale presentation, marking their first public exhibition in the United States.
Ongoing Exhibitions
The dialogue surrounding contemporary housing and community needs takes center stage in Bentonville, Arkansas, where the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is hosting an outdoor exhibition titled Architecture at Home. Running through January 31, 2023, the display features five distinct 500-square-foot prototypes intended to spark critical dialogue about the future of residential design. While the participating architecture firms—studioSUMO, LEVENBETTS, MUTUO, PPAA, and studio:indigenous—operate from various locations across the Americas, each team developed its prototype with a deep consideration of the specific housing needs, geographic challenges, and unique opportunities inherent to the Northwest Arkansas community.
In New York, the New Museum is currently presenting Theaster Gates: Young Lords and Their Traces, the first comprehensive survey exhibition of the Chicago-based artist and designer. Gates, who designed the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion, is recognized for an interdisciplinary practice that bridges sculpture, tar paintings, clay vessels, collaborative performance, and architectural installations. Curated by the museum’s artistic director, Massimiliano Gioni, alongside Gary Carrion-Murayari, the exhibition showcases works composed of salvaged materials and preserved historical objects that pay tribute to the radical thinkers, heroic figures, and everyday icons who have influenced Gates’s home city and the nation at large.
The exploration of environmental consciousness and green design is the focus of James Wines: Nature’s Revenge, currently on view at the Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago through February 11, 2023. As the founder and president of the New York-based studio SITE (Sculpture in the Environment), James Wines has spent decades designing and building over 150 architecture and environmental art projects worldwide. The gallery exhibition presents a curated selection of Wines’s drawings and conceptual works that point toward a speculative green architecture, featuring pen-and-ink drawings from the artist’s 30-year retrospective in Berlin alongside more recent creations.
Back in New York, the Center for Architecture is hosting New Practices New York, an exhibition that celebrates the winners of AIA New York’s 2020 competition of the same name. Six innovative local practices have been selected to represent the new vanguard of urban design: BRANDT: HAFERD, Bryony Roberts Studio, City-group, GRT Architects, New Affiliates, and ANY. Each firm has demonstrated a profound and active engagement with the city and its citizens through creative practice and research.
In Atlanta, the Museum of Design Atlanta is exploring the cultural phenomenon of Hip-Hop Architecture through the exhibition Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture. Curated and designed by architect Sekou Cooke—whose work was featured in MoMA’s landmark 2021 show Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America—the exhibition charts the evolution of a burgeoning design movement over the past 25 years. Featuring projects ranging from experimental installations to visionary building designs and urban development proposals, the exhibition presents a collective vision for alternative forms of architectural expression rooted in hip-hop culture.
Addressing one of the most pressing socio-economic challenges of our time, the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., is presenting A Better Way Home: The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge. The exhibition highlights the stories, strategies, and methodologies behind the six winning ideas of a nationwide grant competition initiated in 2019. Confronting the severe housing affordability crisis sweeping the United States, the $20 million competition asked participants how to break barriers to ensure universal access to safe and stable homes. The exhibition showcases six proposed solutions spanning resident services, financing, and construction, challenging traditional American approaches to housing development.
In Stockholm, ArkDes, Sweden’s national center for architecture and design, is celebrating the enduring impact of local visionaries through the retrospective Tham & Videgård—On: Architecture. Since Bolle Tham and Martin Videgård founded their practice in 1999, the firm has emerged as one of the leading architectural offices in Sweden, defining the aesthetic of contemporary Scandinavian design and earning numerous international accolades. The exhibition highlights major national projects such as the Kalmar Konstmuseum, the Treehotel in Harads, and the KTH School of Architecture in Stockholm, alongside international works like the Denfert art center in Paris.
Events
The events calendar kicks off with Modernism Week 2023 in Palm Springs, California, running from February 16 to 26. As an annual celebration of Midcentury Modern design and architecture, the festival encompasses more than 350 events spread across various locations throughout the region, offering participants home and garden tours, curated film screenings, and expert lectures. This year’s keynote presentation will be delivered by Thom Mayne, principal of the influential architecture firm Morphosis.
Later in the spring, Orlando will host Coverings, recognized as the largest international tile and stone exhibition and conference in the United States. Set for April 18 to 21, the event is expected to draw approximately 800 exhibitors representing over 30 countries. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore extensive displays of innovative tile and stone products while participating in specialized industry learning sessions and professional networking events.
Competitions
For emerging designers looking to make their mark, the Architectural League has launched its annual competition with the 2023 theme, Uncomfortable. Responding to the contemporary landscape of climate change, evolving labor practices, and challenging traditional hegemonies, the competition invites proposals that directly address the state of discomfort in modern design. Entrants must not be current students and must have graduated from a bachelor’s or master’s degree program within the past ten years. Submissions can be presented in any medium, encompassing both conceptual research and realized projects, with winners receiving a $2,000 cash prize.
