As the global architecture and design community navigates a rapidly shifting landscape defined by climate urgency, technological evolution, and social equity, institutions around the world are rolling out an ambitious slate of exhibitions, festivals, and competitions. From major retrospectives honoring twentieth-century masters to forward-looking explorations of sustainable urbanism, the cultural calendar offers a comprehensive look at how design shapes the built environment. Below is a curated overview of the most anticipated upcoming and ongoing exhibitions, major international events, and high-profile competitions shaping the conversation this season.
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 Farrell Centre has established itself as a dynamic public exhibition space and research hub dedicated to architecture and urbanism. Housed in a former nineteenth-century department store in Newcastle, the center is launching its inaugural exhibition with a sharp focus on the climate emergency. Four distinct architectural practices—Dress for the Weather, McCloy + Muchemwa, Office S&M, and the Hub for Biotechnology in the Built Environment—have been commissioned to create site-specific installations. These works propose radical new design responses to environmental degradation and resource scarcity, offering visitors a glimpse into sustainable material futures.
Norman Foster
Paris (May 10 – August 7, 2023)
The Centre Pompidou in Paris is hosting the largest retrospective to date dedicated to the prolific career of Pritzker Prize laureate Norman Foster. Spanning an impressive 23,000 square feet, the comprehensive exhibition brings together original drawings, detailed workbooks, and physical prototypes representing nearly one hundred projects spanning six decades. Among the masterworks featured are the Carré d’Art in Nîmes, France (1993), the monumental Hong Kong International Airport (1998), and the sleek Apple Park in Cupertino, California (2017). The exhibition offers an unprecedented look into the systematic, high-tech methodology that has defined Foster’s global practice.
Ongoing Exhibitions
Technoscape: The Architecture of Engineers
Rome (Through April 16, 2023)
Currently on view at the Museo Nazionale MAXXI in Rome, Technoscape: The Architecture of Engineers investigates the profound relationship between structural engineering—spanning both vernacular traditions and avant-garde innovations—and the pervasive integration of technology into modern living and working spaces. Developed in close collaboration with academic institutions and research centers, the exhibition is divided into two thematic sections. The first features interactive pavilions and installations that demonstrate the contemporary intersection of architecture and scientific sectors, ranging from smart city management systems to the deliberate revival of low-tech, vintage assembly techniques. The second section traces the evolution of structural engineering from the post-war era to the present day, highlighting iconic achievements such as the Centre Pompidou and the Sydney Opera House.
Italian architect Andrea Branzi, celebrated for co-founding the radical design collective Archizoom during the 1960s, is presenting his third solo exhibition with the Friedman Benda Gallery in Chelsea, New York. The showcase features three distinct bodies of work titled Roots, Germinal Seats, and Buildings. Across household objects including chairs, cabinets, and lamps, Branzi places a strong emphasis on natural and reused materials, continuing his lifelong critique of orthodox functionalism and industrial standardization.
Aldo Rossi. Insulae
At the Museum of Architectural Drawing, an ongoing exhibition displays more than 110 works by the late Italian architect Aldo Rossi, with many pieces being exhibited publicly for the very first time. The comprehensive presentation is organized into three distinct sections: Corpus Mediolanensis, Works for Berlin, and Insula. The final series, which gives the exhibition its title, comprises a profound collection of drawings by Rossi that drew direct inspiration from classical architectural models of antiquity, underscoring his enduring fascination with typology and historical memory.
Himali Singh Soin: Static Range
Chicago (Through May 15, 2023)
Marking her first solo exhibition in the United States, artist Himali Singh Soin presents an immersive exploration of the history and future of "nuclear" landscapes at the Art Institute of Chicago. The multimedia installation incorporates poetry, music, video, textiles, ceramics, drawings, and even a therapeutic garden. To bring this complex vision to life, Soin designed the exhibition space in close collaboration with the local Chicago-based architecture office Future Firm, blending spatial design with ecological and geopolitical narratives.
François Dallegret: Beyond the Bubble
New Haven (Through May 22, 2023)
Montreal-based architect François Dallegret emerged as a central figure of the architectural avant-garde during the 1960s and 1970s, celebrated for his meticulous and witty designs for futuristic objects and spaces. Expanding upon the 2011 exhibition GOD & CO: Beyond the Bubble, this presentation at the Yale Architecture Gallery features rare drawings, physical objects, films, and archival ephemera drawn from six decades of Dallegret’s multifaceted practice.
Parall(elles): A History of Women in Design
Montreal (Through May 28, 2023)
Gathering close to 250 works created by American and Canadian women from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, this landmark exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts explores the profound contributions of women to the design field. Organized in collaboration with the Stewart Program for Modern Design, the works are contextualized within the social, economic, and political shifts that have shaped women’s careers over the past 150 years. The vast inventory spans artisanal crafts and industrial production, including ceramics, glass, metalwork, jewelry, textiles, furniture, consumer goods, graphic design, fashion, and interior environments.
Retrotopia: Design for Socialist Spaces
Berlin (Through July 16, 2023)
The Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin is currently hosting an exhibition that sheds light on the expansive body of work produced by architects and designers across the former Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. By presenting both realized and unbuilt conceptual spaces imagined behind the Iron Curtain, the exhibition introduces Western audiences to influential yet historically overlooked figures. Among them are Czech architect Věra Machoninová, Estonian designers Sirje Runge and Bruno Tomberg, and German architect Lutz Brandt.
Vanishing Points: Architectural Imagination in the Digital Universe
London (Through July 29, 2023)
At the Roca London Gallery, architect Hamza Shaikh has curated an exhibition that places contemporary digital architectural imaginings into direct dialogue with historical precedents drawn from the renowned Drawing Matter archive. By displaying original drawings by modern masters such as Mies van der Rohe, John Hejduk, and Le Corbusier side-by-side with cutting-edge virtual reality and digital design outputs, the exhibition demonstrates how contemporary digital architecture builds upon and expands the discipline’s deep-rooted drawing tradition.
Garden Futures: Designing with Nature
Weil am Rhein, Germany (Through October 3, 2023)
Organized by the Vitra Design Museum with exhibition design by Milan-based studio Formafantasma, Garden Futures examines the evolving history and future of the modern garden. The exhibition argues that horticulture has long served as a radical medium for social, political, and spatial experimentation. Ranging from contemporary community gardens and green building facades to vertical urban farms, the scope of the exhibition includes foundational work by landscape architects Roberto Burle Marx and Mien Ruys, as well as artist Derek Jarman.
Events
Concéntrico 09
Logroño, Spain (April 27 – May 2, 2023)
The annual international architecture and design festival returns to Logroño for its ninth edition, transforming the urban fabric with temporary pavilions, installations, and exhibitions. The festival invites designers from around the world to present conceptual interventions that actively engage with the public realm, civic life, and the shared urban landscape.
NYCxDesign
New York (May 18–25, 2023)
Marking its eleventh year, New York City’s premier design festival is expected to draw over 300,000 visitors. The week-long citywide celebration features a diverse roster of public talks, curated exhibitions, site-specific installations, and guided walking tours highlighting innovation across multiple creative disciplines.
Venice Architecture Biennale 2023
Venice (May 20 – November 26, 2023)
The eighteenth edition of the prestigious Venice Architecture Biennale is curated by Scottish-Ghanaian architect Lesley Lokko, founder of the Graduate School of Architecture in Johannesburg and the African Futures Institute in Accra. Titled "Laboratory of the Future," the exhibition shifts geographic and cultural paradigms by featuring contributions from 89 official participants, over half of whom hail from Africa or the African diaspora, placing questions of decolonization and decarbonization at the forefront of the global architectural discourse.
BQE 2053: Towards a Decarbonized Sustainable Multi-Modal Transportation Network
New York (May 20, 2023)
Capitalizing on newly available federal infrastructure funding, the Institute for Public Architecture is hosting a free, one-day symposium addressing long-term reuse and remediation strategies for the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE). Plagued by decades of deferred maintenance, the highway will be the focus of four distinct panel discussions held at the Harbor School on Governors Island. Experts, policymakers, and community stakeholders from Brooklyn and Queens will explore topics ranging from complete highway removal and alternative mobility systems to community land trusts and grassroots visions for the urban corridor’s future.
NeoCon
Chicago (June 12–14, 2023)
Since its inception in 1969, NeoCon has remained North America’s premier platform for the commercial interior design industry. Held annually at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, the massive trade fair encompasses nearly one million square feet of exhibition space. This year, more than 400 leading manufacturers and emerging designers will showcase the latest innovations in contract furniture, textiles, flooring, and interior finishes.
Competitions
Architecture at Zero 2023
Deadline: June 15, 2023
Presented in part by AIA California, the Architecture at Zero design competition is currently inviting entries for a visionary agricultural center in Allensworth, California—the first town in the state to be entirely founded, financed, and governed by African Americans. Centered on strict benchmarks of decarbonization, social equity, and climate resilience, the competition brief challenges both students and practicing professionals to craft architectural proposals that honor the historic site while establishing a vibrant contemporary hub for sustainable agriculture and Black history.
