As the global architecture and design community navigates a rapidly shifting landscape defined by environmental pressures, housing crises, and evolving cultural narratives, cultural institutions worldwide are launching a fresh wave of exhibitions, events, and competitions. From major museum retrospectives honoring boundary-pushing artists and master designers to forward-looking showcases highlighting emerging talent and grassroots movements, the upcoming and ongoing programming offers a comprehensive look at the forces shaping the built environment today.
New Exhibitions
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has announced a significant new exhibition series designed to spotlight the work of emerging architects who are driving innovation within the field. For its inaugural presentation, the series will highlight twelve recently completed architectural projects spread across New York City. The featured works come from a dynamic roster of architecture practices, including Adjaye Associates, nArchitects, SO – IL, alongside RECORD’s Design Vanguard 2022 winners CO Adaptive and Only If. To deepen the visitor experience, each featured project will be accompanied by a newly commissioned video produced specially for the exhibition by Brooklyn-based filmmaker Hudson Lines.
In Boston, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston is presenting the first comprehensive survey exhibition dedicated to the acclaimed New York-based artist and sculptor Simone Leigh. Spanning two decades of prolific production, the landmark exhibition showcases a diverse array of media, including sculpture, ceramics, video, and immersive installation. Notably, the presentation features key works from Leigh’s celebrated 2022 Venice Biennale presentation, marking their first time being exhibited to the public in the United States.
Ongoing Exhibitions
Across the United States and internationally, a robust slate of ongoing exhibitions continues to examine pressing social, ecological, and cultural questions in design.
In Bentonville, Arkansas, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is hosting an outdoor exhibition titled Architecture at Home. The display features five distinct 500-square-foot residential prototypes engineered to spark critical dialogue about the future of contemporary housing. Developed by an array of architecture firms based throughout the Americas—including studioSUMO, LEVENBETTS, MUTUO, PPAA, and studio:indigenous—the prototypes were carefully crafted with deep consideration for the specific housing needs, unique challenges, and distinct opportunities inherent to the Northwest Arkansas community.
In New York, the New Museum is currently presenting Theaster Gates: Young Lords and Their Traces, marking the first major museum survey exhibition for the celebrated Chicago-based artist and designer. Gates, who designed the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion, employs an interdisciplinary practice that bridges sculpture made from salvaged materials, tar paintings, clay vessels, collaborative performance, preserved historical photographs and objects, and large-scale architectural installations. Curated by the museum’s artistic director, Massimiliano Gioni, alongside Gary Carrion-Murayari, the exhibition brings together a curated selection of Gates’s work that pays direct homage to the radical thinkers, heroic figures, and everyday icons who have profoundly shaped both his home city of Chicago and the broader American cultural fabric.
Meanwhile, Chicago’s Rhona Hoffman Gallery is presenting James Wines: Nature’s Revenge. As the founder and president of the New York-based studio SITE (Sculpture in the Environment), James Wines has spent decades designing and constructing over 150 architecture and environmental art projects across the globe, consistently centering his career on green design and pointed commentaries on environmental issues. The gallery exhibition presents a curated selection of Wines’s drawings and works pointing toward a speculative green architecture, including a series of pen-and-ink drawings originally featured in the artist’s 30-year retrospective in Berlin, alongside a selection of his more recent creative explorations.
At the Center for Architecture in New York, the New Practices New York exhibition showcases the visionary work of the six winning firms from AIA New York’s 2020 biennial competition of the same name. The selected practices—BRANDT: HAFERD, Bryony Roberts Studio, City-group, GRT Architects, New Affiliates, and ANY—were recognized for representing the next generation of innovative design firms in the city, each demonstrating a profound and active engagement with the urban fabric and its citizens.
In Atlanta, the Museum of Design Atlanta is exploring the cultural roots and spatial expressions of an influential design movement through Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture. Hip-Hop Architecture represents a burgeoning design movement driven by a loosely organized coalition of creators who integrate the tenets and ethos of hip-hop into their approaches to the built environment. Curated and designed by architect Sekou Cooke—whose influential work was previously featured in MoMA’s 2021 exhibition Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America—the exhibition features a robust selection of work spanning the past 25 years. The projects range from experimental installations to visionary building designs and urban development proposals, collectively presenting an alternative vision for architectural expression and professional practice.
Addressing one of the most critical socio-economic crises facing the nation, the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., is hosting A Better Way Home: The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge. The exhibition highlights the compelling stories and innovative approaches behind the six winning ideas of the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, a nationwide grant competition initiated in 2019. Responding directly to the housing affordability crisis sweeping the country, the $20 million competition challenged participants with a fundamental question: how can we break down systemic barriers to ensure everyone has access to an affordable home where they can live and thrive? The exhibition showcases six proposed solutions—two in each of the core categories of resident services and support, financing, and construction—that actively challenge conventional American approaches to housing development and provision.
In Stockholm, ArkDes, Sweden’s national center for architecture and design, is presenting a major retrospective dedicated to the influential local firm Tham & Videgård. Since Bolle Tham and Martin Videgård founded their practice in the Swedish capital in 1999, the office has grown to become one of the country’s leading architectural forces, fundamentally shaping the visual identity of contemporary Swedish architecture while garnering widespread international acclaim. The comprehensive exhibition highlights key domestic projects such as the Kalmar Konstmuseum, the striking Treehotel in Harads, and the KTH School of Architecture in Stockholm, alongside notable international commissions like the Denfert art center in Paris.
Events
The global calendar also features prominent professional gatherings and public celebrations of design heritage.
In Palm Springs, California, the annual Modernism Week returns as a comprehensive celebration of modernist design and architecture. The multi-day festival features more than 350 individual events distributed across various iconic locations throughout the region, offering participants an extensive array of home and garden tours, documentary screenings, and specialized lectures. This year’s prominent keynote presentation will be delivered by Thom Mayne, principal of the renowned architecture firm Morphosis.
In Orlando, Florida, the industry will gather for Coverings, recognized as the largest international tile and stone exhibition and conference in the United States. The upcoming event is slated to host approximately 800 exhibiting companies hailing from over 30 countries. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore expansive displays of cutting-edge tile and stone products while engaging in a robust schedule of industry learning sessions and professional networking opportunities.
Competitions
For emerging practitioners seeking to make their mark, the Architectural League has officially launched its annual call for entries for the Architectural League Prize 2023, centered around the theme of "Uncomfortable." Operating against the complex backdrop of global climate change, evolving labor practices, and the ongoing challenge to traditional cultural and professional hegemonies, the competition is actively seeking conceptual or realized proposals from young designers that meaningfully respond to states of physical, social, or systemic discomfort.
Entrants must not be current students and must have graduated from a bachelor’s or master’s degree program within the last ten years. The competition accepts entries across any design medium, whether purely conceptual or fully realized in the built world. Selected winners will each receive a cash prize of $2,000 to support their ongoing creative practice and research endeavors.
