As the architectural and design communities transition into the autumn season, cultural institutions, galleries, and public spaces around the globe are unveiling a rich slate of exhibitions, events, and competitions. From retrospective explorations of mid-century visionaries and avant-garde collectives to forward-looking investigations into artificial intelligence, climate resilience, and social equity, this season offers a comprehensive look at the past, present, and future of the built environment. RECORD presents its monthly roundup of notable upcoming and ongoing programming across international architecture and design scenes.
In Finland, the Design Museum has launched its major fall exhibition dedicated to the celebrated creative partnership of Antti and Vuokko Nurmesniemi. Working both independently and collaboratively across the interconnected disciplines of architecture, fashion, interior design, and industrial production, the designer couple played a pivotal, formative role in shaping the trajectory of the Finnish design industry throughout the latter half of the 20th century. Antti Nurmesniemi’s interior architecture and furniture designs, paired with Vuokko Nurmesniemi’s bold, geometric textile artistry, helped define a modern aesthetic that resonated far beyond Nordic borders. The exhibition offers visitors a deep dive into their multidisciplinary archive, illustrating how their collaborative ethos and individual brilliance left an indelible mark on modern design history.
Pamphlet Architecture 37: Visions and Experiments in Architecture
Rhinebeck, NY — September 4 to October 17, 2022
Further explorations of experimental thought are on display in Rhinebeck, New York, where T Space Gallery is presenting "Pamphlet Architecture 37: Visions and Experiments in Architecture." Founded in 1978 by architect Stephen Holl, the Pamphlet Architecture publication series was established as an independent, experimental platform to champion the conceptual work of emerging architects. Over the decades, the series has served as a launching pad for architectural thinkers who would go on to shape the global landscape, historically publishing works by luminaries such as Zaha Hadid, Lars Lerup, and Mark Mack.
In celebration of its 37th issue and more than forty years of continuous production, T Space Gallery is showcasing the work selected from Pamphlet’s 2021 open call. Guided by the theme "Visions and Experiments in Architecture," the call challenged applicants to imagine radically new approaches to the built environment that reflect a contemporary social and political consciousness. The exhibition highlights the projects of the five chosen finalists, offering a glimpse into the next generation of architectural critique and speculation. In addition to these forward-looking designs, the installation features a comprehensive historical overview of the Pamphlet Architecture series, curated in honor of its late publisher, Kevin Lippert, who passed away in the spring of 2022.
Ongoing Exhibitions
Meta-Horizons: The Future Now
Seoul — Through September 18, 2022
In Seoul, the intersection of architecture, advanced computation, and virtual reality takes center stage at the DDP museum—a landmark building originally designed by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) and completed in 2014. Following the firm’s high-profile unveiling of their virtual metaverse city, Liberland, ZHA is further cementing its footprint in digital environments with the exhibition "Meta-Horizons: The Future Now."
The exhibition explores the transformative potential of advanced architectural technologies, examining how virtual reality, artificial intelligence-based design, and decentralized digital spaces can expand the boundaries of the discipline. Through speculative projects drawn from ZHA’s extensive portfolio, the installation investigates new paradigms for spatial design unconstrained by traditional physical limitations. Complementing the architectural visions are immersive digital art installations by renowned media artist Refik Anadol, offering visitors a multisensory encounter with the evolving landscape of digital creativity.
Justice is Beauty: The Work of MASS Design Group
Washington, DC — Through September 30, 2022
At the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, visitors have the opportunity to engage with the socially conscious practice of MASS Design Group through the exhibition "Justice is Beauty: The Work of MASS Design Group." The comprehensive showcase presents the firm’s diverse portfolio, which spans rigorous research initiatives, visionary architectural proposals, and built projects grounded in the architecture of health and community healing.
The exhibition is accompanied by "The Gun Violence Memorial Project," a poignant, collaborative installation by artist Hank Willis Thomas developed in partnership with the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. Constructed from four distinct glass-brick "houses," the memorial physically encapsulates the devastating human toll of gun violence by encasing personal mementos contributed by families who have lost loved ones. Together, the exhibition and its accompanying installation underscore the profound social responsibilities inherent in the practice of architecture and public art.
Schindler House: 100 Years in the Making
Los Angeles — Through September 25, 2022
In West Hollywood, California, the architectural world is celebrating the centennial of one of its most radical residential experiments. Built in 1922, R.M. Schindler’s iconic Schindler House has served many functions over its century-long history. The architect originally constructed the residence as an experimental, communal living space for himself, his wife Pauline, and their friends Clyde and Marian Chace, pioneering a fluid relationship between indoor domesticity and the natural landscape of Southern California. Since 1994, the property has operated as the headquarters of the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, functioning as an independent satellite of the MAK museum in Vienna.
To mark the house’s 100-year anniversary, the MAK presents a carefully curated "gentle timeline" that traces the physical and conceptual evolution of the home—its making, habitation, and ongoing adaptation. Curated by MAK Center Director Jia Yi Gu alongside architectural historians Gary Riichirō Fox and Sarah Hearne, the exhibition juxtaposes rare historical materials with contemporary interventions. These new contributions by artists such as Carmen Argote, Fiona Connor, Julian Hoeber, and Peter Shire establish a dynamic dialogue between the building’s historical origins and its present life as a hub for contemporary art and architecture.
Missing Link: Strategies of a Viennese Architecture Group (1970-1980)
Vienna — Through October 2, 2022
Over in Vienna, the MAK Exhibition Hall is currently hosting "Missing Link: Strategies of a Viennese Architecture Group (1970-1980)," providing the first comprehensive institutional overview of the avant-garde collective’s radical output. Founded in 1970 by architects Angela Hareiter, Otto Kapfinger, and Adolf Krischanitz, Missing Link sought to deliberately operate outside the conventional academic and professional constraints of the architectural establishment.
The group’s diverse body of work encompasses utopian proposals for alternative collective living arrangements, provocative performance art, and meticulous research studies mapping out the complex urban networks of Vienna. By reexamining the group’s archives, the exhibition sheds light on a pivotal chapter of Viennese architectural counterculture, highlighting how critical spatial practices can challenge the socio-political structures of the city.
The Garden of Privatised Delights
London — Through October 15, 2022
Originally presented to critical acclaim at the Venice Architecture Biennale and commissioned by the British Council, "The Garden of Privatised Delights" has found a home at the Building Centre in London. Curated by Unscene Architecture, the exhibition delves into the contentious issue of privately-owned public spaces across the United Kingdom.
The showcase issues a compelling call for new design approaches and policy frameworks to resolve the ongoing friction between private commercial interests and the collective public good. To explore these themes, a selection of forward-thinking British architecture practices—including the Decorators, Studio Polpo, and vPPR Architects—have developed seven distinct, highly inclusive reimaginings of privatized urban spaces, offering tangible visions for a more democratic and accessible public realm.
Bernd & Hilla Becher
New York — Through November 6, 2022
At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, audiences can experience the first major posthumous retrospective dedicated to the legendary German photography duo Bernd and Hilla Becher. Bringing together over 200 works from their prolific collaborative career, the exhibition honors the artists’ meticulous documentation of Europe and North America’s rapidly disappearing industrial architecture.
Working systematically with large-format cameras, the Bechers captured water towers, gas tanks, blast furnaces, and coal tipples with stark, taxonomic precision. Their methodical approach not only preserved a vanishing architectural heritage of the postwar industrial era but also exerted a profound, lasting influence on generations of conceptual artists and architectural photographers worldwide.
Black Atlantic
New York City — Through November 27, 2022
Public spaces across Brooklyn Bridge Park are currently animated by "Black Atlantic," an expansive, site-specific public art exhibition curated by the Public Art Fund. Given the park’s historical identity as a bustling maritime harbor that physically and economically linked the Americas to Europe and Africa, the location serves as a resonant backdrop for the exhibition’s thematic explorations.
Taking its name from cultural theorist Paul Gilroy’s seminal 1993 book, the exhibition is inspired by the deep-reaching impact of transatlantic networks on the formation of the African diaspora. Participating artists Hugh Hayden, Leilah Babirye, Dozie Kanu, Tau Lewis, and Kiyan Williams have created large-scale, site-specific fabrications that weave together collective global histories with intimate personal identities, prompting viewers to reflect on the layered cultural geographies embedded in the urban landscape.
Events
Oberlander Prize Forum II: Landscape Activism
Dallas — October 28, 2022
Shifting from exhibitions to discourse, the architectural and landscape communities will gather in Dallas this October for the "Oberlander Prize Forum II: Landscape Activism," hosted by The Cultural Landscape Foundation. The single-day conference will convene a distinguished panel of design professionals, historians, and architectural critics to examine the evolving role of activist methodologies in contemporary landscape architecture and spatial practice. The event will place a particular emphasis on the pioneering, regenerative work of practitioners such as Julie Bargmann of D.I.R.T. Studio and the multifaceted design strategies of landscape architecture firm OLIN.
AIA Austin Homes Tour
Austin, Texas — October 22–23, 2022
In Texas, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Austin chapter is bringing back its highly anticipated Homes Tour in an in-person format for the first time since 2019. Providing a firsthand look at cutting-edge residential architecture, the self-guided tour features a curated roster of newly completed homes designed by prominent local practices throughout the Austin area. This year’s featured firms include Lake|Flato, Studio Steinbomer, and Furman + Keil Architects, offering design enthusiasts a rare opportunity to explore innovative approaches to residential living, sustainable materials, and regional adaptation.
Driving the Human: Seven Prototypes for Eco-social Renewal
Berlin — November 25–27, 2022
Concluding the fall event calendar, Berlin will host the three-day festival "Driving the Human: Seven Prototypes for Eco-social Renewal." The event marks the culmination of an intensive, three-year transdisciplinary collaboration involving researchers, designers, scientists, and artists working collectively to address the multifaceted challenges of the climate crisis. The festival centers around seven developed prototypes that propose radical responses to complex contemporary scenarios, investigating topics ranging from the ecological potential of artificial intelligence to new models of human-bacteria collaboration designed to mitigate environmental degradation.
Competitions
Miami Floating Housing
Deadline: November 9, 2022
Amidst mounting global challenges, the design competition platform Arch Out Loud has launched an open call for proposals addressing the intertwined vulnerabilities of coastal urban centers. As Miami grapples with the dual pressures of severe housing affordability shortages and accelerating sea-level rise—a phenomenon increasingly referred to as "climate gentrification"—the "Miami Floating Housing" competition invites architects and designers to envision resilient, water-based residential typologies.
Participants are tasked with developing innovative floating housing solutions situated in Biscayne Bay that can adapt to changing environmental conditions while providing stable, equitable communities. Advance registration for the competition remains open through August 2, with regular registration running until November 8, preceding the final project submission deadline on November 9, 2022.
