As the architectural world navigates an era defined by rapid technological change, climate urgency, and shifting social paradigms, institutions across the globe are presenting a rich slate of exhibitions, festivals, and competitions. From major career retrospectives of Pritzker laureates to forward-thinking explorations of sustainable public realms and socialist-era design, this season’s programming highlights how the built environment continues to respond to historical legacies and future challenges alike. RECORD’s monthly roundup highlights the most anticipated upcoming and ongoing cultural events, providing a comprehensive look at the installations and conversations shaping contemporary architecture and design.
Upcoming Exhibitions
More with Less: Reimagining Architecture for a Changing World
Newcastle, England
April 22 – September 10, 2023
Led by renowned British architect Sir Terry Farrell, the newly established Farrell Centre serves as a public exhibition space and research hub dedicated to architecture and urbanism. Housed within a repurposed 19th-century department store in Newcastle, England, the center has chosen a timely theme for its inaugural exhibition. To address the escalating climate emergency, the center 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 innovative design installations. These works propose fresh spatial and material responses to environmental degradation, offering visitors a glimpse into sustainable futures. Further details can be found on the center’s official website.
Norman Foster
Paris
May 10 – August 7, 2023
In Paris, the Centre Pompidou is hosting the most extensive retrospective to date celebrating the prolific career of Pritzker Prize laureate Norman Foster. Spanning an impressive 23,000 square feet, the sprawling exhibition brings together architectural drawings, personal workbooks, and detailed physical prototypes encompassing nearly 100 projects executed over the past six decades. Highlights from the display include iconic structures such as the Carré d’Art in Nîmes, France (1993), the expansive Hong Kong International Airport (1998), and the remarkably futuristic Apple Park in Cupertino, California (2017). This landmark survey underscores Foster’s enduring impact on high-tech architecture and global urban landscapes.
Ongoing Exhibitions
Technoscape: The Architecture of Engineers
Rome
Through April 16, 2023
At the Museo Nazionale MAXXI in Rome, visitors can explore a compelling exhibition that investigates the intricate relationship between structural engineering—spanning both vernacular traditions and avant-garde innovations—and the pervasive integration of technology into daily life. Developed in partnership with various universities and research centers, the exhibition is divided into two distinct parts. The first segment features interactive installations and pavilions that demonstrate how modern scientific and technological sectors intersect with architecture, ranging from smart devices for urban management to the revival of low-tech, vintage assembly methods. The second part traces the evolution of structural engineering from the post-war era to the present day, casting a fresh lens on celebrated monuments such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Sydney Opera House.
Italian architect Andrea Branzi, renowned for cofounding the radical design studio Archizoom during the 1960s, is presenting his third solo exhibition with the Friedman Benda Gallery in Chelsea, New York. The showcase features three interconnected bodies of work titled Roots, Germinal Seats, and Buildings. Across these creations, Branzi places a deliberate emphasis on natural and repurposed materials, translating them into everyday household objects including chairs, cabinets, and atmospheric lamps that bridge conceptual art and functional design.
Aldo Rossi. Insulae
The Museum of Architectural Drawing is currently hosting an intimate yet expansive exhibition featuring over 110 works by the late Italian architect Aldo Rossi, many of which are being exhibited publicly for the very first time. The presentation is carefully curated into three thematic sections: Corpus Mediolanensis, Works for Berlin, and Insula. The final series, which gives the exhibition its title, comprises a fascinating collection of drawings by Rossi that drew direct inspiration from the classical architectural models of antiquity, revealing the deep historical underpinnings of his theoretical framework.
Himali Singh Soin: Static Range
Chicago
Through May 15, 2023
At the Art Institute of Chicago, artist Himali Singh Soin is staging her first solo exhibition in the United States. Titled Static Range, the multimedia project offers an immersive meditation on the history and prospective futures of nuclear landscapes. Encompassing poetry, music, video, textiles, ceramics, drawings, and an integrated therapeutic garden, the exhibition space was designed through a close collaboration between the artist and local Chicago architecture practice Future Firm, creating a multi-sensory environment that merges art with spatial design.
François Dallegret: Beyond the Bubble
New Haven
Through May 22, 2023
The Yale Architecture Gallery is currently showcasing the work of Montreal-based architect François Dallegret, a central protagonist of the 1960s and 1970s architectural avant-garde celebrated for his meticulous and imaginative designs for futuristic objects and spaces. Building upon the foundational 2011 exhibition GOD & CO: Beyond the Bubble, this comprehensive retrospective features drawings, physical objects, films, and ephemeral artifacts drawn from six decades of Dallegret’s restless creative practice, offering students and scholars a rare look into a visionary design mind.
Parall(elles): A History of Women in Design
Montreal
Through May 28, 2023
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is presenting a sweeping, large-scale exhibition that gathers close to 250 works created by American and Canadian women designers from the mid-19th century to the present day. Organized in collaboration with the Stewart Program for Modern Design, the exhibition situates these works within the complex social and political contexts that have influenced the professional trajectories of women designers over the past century and a half. The diverse array of objects ranges from delicate artisanal craft to ambitious industrial design, including ceramics, glass, metalwork, jewelry, textiles, furniture, consumer products, graphics, fashion, and sophisticated interiors.
Retrotopia: Design for Socialist Spaces
Berlin
Through July 16, 2023
Exploring a largely overlooked chapter of design history, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin is exhibiting the vast body of work produced by architects and designers in the former Eastern Bloc throughout the Cold War. By displaying both realized projects and conceptual proposals imagined behind the Iron Curtain, the exhibition introduces western audiences to visionary figures who remained relatively unknown outside their regions. Among those highlighted are Czech architect Věra Machoninová, Estonian designers Sirje Runge and Bruno Tomberg, and German architect Lutz Brandt, demonstrating how socialist spaces fostered unique aesthetic and functional innovations.
Vanishing Points: Architectural Imagination in the Digital Universe
London
Through July 29, 2023
Curated by architect Hamza Shaikh at the Roca London Gallery, this exhibition bridges the gap between historical precedent and cutting-edge virtual technology. Shaikh places architectural drawings by modern masters such as Mies van der Rohe, John Hejduk, and Le Corbusier—sourced from the prestigious Drawing Matter archive—in direct dialogue with the latest digital experiments. The resulting display illustrates how contemporary digital architecture builds upon, expands, and reinterprets the foundational drawing traditions of the profession.
Garden Futures: Designing with Nature
Weil am Rhein, Germany
Through October 3, 2023
The Vitra Design Museum has mounted an exhibition designed by the Milan-based studio Formafantasma that critically examines the history and future trajectory of the modern garden. The showcase posits horticulture as a potent, radical arena for spatial and ecological experimentation. Spanning a broad thematic scope that encompasses contemporary community gardens, building-integrated green facades, and high-tech vertical urban farms, the exhibition features historical and contemporary contributions by prominent landscape architects Roberto Burle Marx and Mien Ruys, alongside artist Derek Jarman.
Events
Concéntrico 09
Logroño, Spain
April 27 – May 2, 2023
The city of Logroño in Spain is preparing for the ninth edition of its annual architecture and design festival, Concéntrico. Over the course of six days, the festival will activate the urban fabric with a diverse roster of temporary public installations, exhibitions, and public events. Participating designers will present conceptual proposals that actively engage with and celebrate the public realm, urban commons, and everyday civic life.
NYCxDesign
New York
May 18 – 25, 2023
New York City’s premier citywide festival, NYCxDesign, is returning for its 11th consecutive year. Drawing over 300,000 visitors from around the world, the event features a vibrant schedule of public talks, curated exhibitions, site-specific installations, and guided walking tours that highlight the breadth and dynamism of the city’s design community across all five boroughs.
Venice Architecture Biennale 2023
Venice
May 20 – November 26, 2023
One of the most anticipated events on the global cultural calendar, the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia is curated by Scottish-Ghanaian architect Lesley Lokko, founder of the Graduate School of Architecture in Johannesburg and the African Futures Institute in Accra, Ghana. Operating under the overarching theme "Laboratory of the Future," the Venice-wide exhibition features contributions by 89 official participants, with over half hailing from the African continent or the African diaspora, signaling a significant shift toward diverse perspectives in global architectural discourse.
BQE 2053: Towards a Decarbonized Sustainable Multi-Modal Transportation Network
New York
May 20, 2023
Capitalizing on newly available federal funding earmarked for vital infrastructure repairs, the Institute for Public Architecture is convening a free, one-day symposium in New York to examine creative reuse opportunities for the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE). Having suffered from decades of deferred maintenance, the highway corridor has become a focal point for urban debate. Four panel discussions held at the Harbor School on Governors Island will bring together policy-makers, domain experts, and community members from Brooklyn and Queens to deliberate on highway removal, the implementation of alternative transportation networks, community land trusts, and grassroots visions for the corridor’s future.
NeoCon
Chicago
June 12 – 14, 2023
Returning to Chicago’s Merchandise Mart for its annual gathering—a fixture of the design calendar since 1969—NeoCon will once again welcome commercial interior design professionals from across industries to explore cutting-edge product innovations. Spanning nearly one million square feet of exhibition space, this year’s fair will feature over 400 exhibiting companies, ranging from established global market leaders to emerging independent designers showcasing the future of workplace, hospitality, and institutional interiors.
Competitions
Architecture at Zero 2023
Deadline: June 15, 2023
Presented in part by AIA California, the Architecture at Zero 2023 competition is officially open for submissions, inviting visionary design proposals for an agricultural center located in Allensworth, California. As the first town in the state to be independently founded, financed, and governed by African Americans, Allensworth serves as a site of profound historical significance. The competition brief challenges both students and practicing professionals to craft decarbonized, equitable, and resilient design solutions that honor the historic town’s legacy while championing its ongoing aspiration to become a thriving destination for sustainable agriculture and Black history.
