The cultural calendar for architecture and design is set to launch an expansive season of exhibitions, public events, and competitive opportunities, offering a comprehensive look at the forces shaping the built environment. From groundbreaking new museum series highlighting emerging innovators to retrospective surveys of master architects and radical historical movements, institutions around the world are curating spaces for critical dialogue on housing, environmental sustainability, and cultural identity.
Leading the charge this season, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has announced a new exhibition series designed to showcase the work of emerging architects who are redefining innovation in the field. The inaugural showcase highlights 12 recently completed projects across New York City, spotlighting contributions from prominent architecture practices such as Adjaye Associates, nArchitects, SO – IL, alongside Architectural Record’s 2022 Design Vanguard winners CO Adaptive and Only If.
Adding a dynamic multimedia dimension to the physical structures, each project featured in the MoMA series is accompanied by a newly commissioned video produced specially for the exhibition by Brooklyn-based filmmaker Hudson Lines. The collaboration seeks to bridge the gap between built form and cinematic interpretation, offering visitors a deeper narrative context for how these contemporary structures interact with their urban surroundings.
Beyond New York, institutions across the United States and internationally are exploring pressing contemporary themes, ranging from the legacy of housing affordability to the intersection of music and the built environment.
Upcoming and Major Exhibitions
The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston is currently presenting the first comprehensive survey exhibition dedicated to the work of New York-based artist and sculptor Simone Leigh. Spanning two decades of artistic production, the expansive exhibition brings together a rich array of sculpture, ceramics, video, and architectural installation. Notably, the presentation includes works from Leigh’s celebrated 2022 Venice Biennale presentation, where she represented the United States and explored deep-seated colonial histories, making these powerful works viewable for the first time in a U.S. museum setting.
In Bentonville, Arkansas, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is running its outdoor exhibition, "Architecture at Home," which invites public discourse on the future of contemporary domestic space. The exhibition features five distinct 500-square-foot residential prototypes. Developed by a diverse group of architecture firms from across the Americas—including studioSUMO, LEVENBETTS, MUTUO, PPAA, and studio:indigenous—the structures were thoughtfully designed to respond directly to the specific housing needs, geographic challenges, and socio-economic opportunities unique to the Northwest Arkansas community.
Meanwhile, the New Museum in New York is hosting "Theaster Gates: Young Lords and Their Traces," the first major survey exhibition for the acclaimed Chicago-based artist and designer. Gates, who designed the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion, employs an interdisciplinary practice that traverses salvaged material sculptures, tar paintings, clay vessels, collaborative performances, preserved historical archives, and large-scale architectural installations. Curated by the museum’s artistic director, Massimiliano Gioni, alongside Gary Carrion-Murayari, the exhibition pays homage to the radical thinkers, everyday cultural icons, and heroic figures who have profoundly influenced the fabric of Chicago and the broader American landscape.
In Chicago, the Rhona Hoffman Gallery is examining the pioneering environmental career of James Wines with an exhibition titled "James Wines: Nature’s Revenge." As the founder and president of the New York-based studio SITE (Sculpture in the Environment), Wines has spent decades completing over 150 architecture and environmental art projects globally, consistently placing green design and sharp commentary on ecological issues at the forefront of his practice. The gallery presentation highlights a selection of drawings and works pointing toward speculative green architecture, including pen-and-ink drawings drawn from the artist’s 30-year retrospective in Berlin alongside more recent creative explorations.
Back in New York, the Center for Architecture is displaying "New Practices New York," an exhibition celebrating the winners of AIA New York’s 2020 biennial competition. The showcase focuses on six emerging and innovative local practices—BRANDT: HAFERD, Byrony Roberts Studio, City-group, GRT Architects, New Affiliates, and ANY—all of which have demonstrated a profound, active engagement with the city’s urban fabric and its citizens.
In Atlanta, the Museum of Design Atlanta is presenting "Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture." Exploring a burgeoning design movement driven by a network of practitioners who utilize the ethos and history of hip-hop to inform their approach to the built environment, the exhibition features a canon of work developed over the past 25 years. Curated and designed by architect Sekou Cooke—whose work was also prominently featured in MoMA’s 2021 landmark exhibition, The Legacy of Racism in the Making of Cities and Communities—the showcase presents experimental installations, building designs, and ambitious urban-development proposals that collectively envision alternative forms of architectural expression.
Washington, D.C., is also hosting a crucial dialogue on housing through the National Building Museum’s exhibition, "A Better Way Home: The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge." The display highlights the stories and methodologies behind the six winning initiatives of a nationwide $20 million grant competition initiated in 2019. Confronting the severe housing-affordability crisis sweeping the nation, the competition challenged participants to break down systemic barriers to ensure equitable access to stable homes. The exhibition showcases solutions spanning resident services and support, innovative financing, and new construction techniques, challenging traditional American paradigms of housing development.
Internationally, Stockholm’s ArkDes, Sweden’s national center for architecture and design, is presenting a major retrospective on the work of Tham & Videgård. Since Bolle Tham and Martin Videgård founded their Stockholm practice in 1999, the firm has grown into one of the country’s leading architectural offices, defining contemporary Swedish design internationally. The exhibition highlights landmark domestic projects such as the Kalmar Konstmuseum, the Treehotel in Harads, and the KTH School of Architecture in Stockholm, alongside international ventures like the Denfert art center in Paris.
Events
The events calendar features major gatherings celebrating regional modernism and global material innovations. Modernism Week 2023 in Palm Springs, California, is set to return with more than 350 events spread across the desert city, offering neighborhood home and garden tours, curated films, and public lectures. The highly anticipated keynote presentation for this year’s festival will be delivered by Thom Mayne, principal of the influential architecture firm Morphosis.
In Orlando, Florida, the industry will gather for Coverings, recognized as the largest international tile and stone exhibition in the United States. The upcoming conference is projected to host approximately 800 exhibitors representing over 30 countries, providing design professionals with expansive displays of stone and tile products, alongside targeted educational sessions and cross-industry networking opportunities.
Competitions
For emerging designers looking to make an impact, the Architectural League has launched its annual competition under the provocative title "Architectural League Prize 2023: Uncomfortable." Against the backdrop of escalating climate change, shifting labor practices, and the challenging of traditional power structures, the competition calls for speculative or realized proposals that directly engage with the state of discomfort in the contemporary built environment.
Eligible 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 are welcome in any medium, and selected winners will be awarded a cash prize of $2,000 to support their ongoing practice and critical research.
