Ongoing Exhibitions

A collaboration between the Irish Architecture Foundation and the country’s housing agency, this exhibit at the Science Gallery Dublin showcases eight architect-led solutions to address housing-related issues such as affordability, resiliency, density, and quality of life. Proposals include “Eco:Cube,” a modular housing concept consisting of interlocked cubes that can generate a variety of one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom homes through a process of stacking and rotation, and “Start Spreading the Mews,” which looks at how new housing supply can be generated in parts of Ireland by exempting suburban laneways from overly stringent planning codes. See housingunlocked.ie.

On view at the New Museum is the first survey exhibition of Chicago-based artist and designer Theaster Gates. The 2022 Serpentine Pavilion designer’s interdisciplinary practice includes sculptures of salvaged materials, tar paintings, clay vessels, collaborative performance, preserved historical photos and objects, and architectural installations. Curated by the museum’s artistic director, Massimiliano Gioni, along with Gary Carrion-Murayari, this exhibition is comprised of a selection of Gates’s work that pays homage to the radical thinkers, heroic figures, and more everyday icons that have shaped his home city of Chicago and the country as a whole. See newmuseum.org.

On display at the Center for Architecture, this exhibit presents the work of AIA New York’s 2020 competition of the same name. Six practices were selected as representative of new and innovative firms in the city: BRANDT: HAFERD, Byrony Roberts Studio, City-group, GRT Architects, New Affiliates, and ANY. All of them have demonstrated engagement with the city and its citizens. See centerforarchitecture.org. 

Presented at the Het Nieuwe Instituut as part of the city’s first-ever Solar Biennale, this exhibit explores the design potential of solar power. Curated by Berlin-based designer Matylda Kyzykowski, the show includes work from an international group of architects and designers (including Mária Telkes, Michael Jantzen, and architecture firm Jessen Vollenweder) to construct a vision of a world run by solar energy. See energyshow.hetnieuweinstituut.nl.

Hip-Hop Architecture is a burgeoning design movement led by a loosely organized group of designers who use hip-hop in their approach to the built environment. This exhibit at the Museum of Design Atlanta features a selection of work from a canon that has emerged over the past 25 years, with projects ranging from experimental installations to building designs and urban-development proposals. Curated and designed by architect Sekou Cooke, whose work was included in the 2021 MoMA show Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America, the exhibit presents a collective vision for alternative forms of architectural expression and practice. See museumofdesign.org.

The National Building Museum’s exhibition highlights the stories and approaches of the six winning ideas of its Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, a nationwide call to action initiated in 2019. Centered on the housing-affordability crisis that is sweeping the country, the $20 million grant competition asked participants, “How can we break barriers to ensure everyone has access to an affordable home where they can live and thrive?” On view are six proposed solutions—two in each of three categories: resident services and support, financing, and construction—which attempt to challenge how the U.S. approaches housing. For more information, see nbm.org.

As part of the The American Negro Exhibit at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris, W.E.B. Du Bois and his students at the University of Atlanta created a series of data visualizations on the social and economic status of African-Americans since emancipation. Although the exhibit took up more than a quarter of the space allocated to the U.S. at the fair, it was largely ignored by the mainstream American press at the time. Du Bois’s long-overlooked contributions to the historic display are now on view at the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum, and for the first time are brought into dialogue with the larger event to highlight the disparities in the record and memory of the World’s Fair as a spectacle of progress. See cooperhewitt.org. 

Data visualizations by W.E.B. Du Bois and students from the University of Atlanta; Ink and watercolor on board (1900). Images courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Events

Scandinavia’s largest design fair and longtime destination for exploring the area’s design will be held in the capital city for the first time in two years. This year’s Furniture Fair includes a new exhibition space aimed at providing a connection between Stockholmsmässan trade fair and Stockholm Design Week, also taking place in the city in February. See stockholmfurniturefair.se.

The annual celebration of Modernist design and architecture features more than 350 events in a variety of locations throughout Palm Springs, including home and garden tours, films, and lectures. This year’s keynote presentation will be by Morphosis principal Thom Mayne. See modernismweek.com.

Competitions

In the context of climate change, evolving labor practices, and challenging traditional hegemonies, the Architectural League is looking for proposals that respond to the state of discomfort in their annual competition for young designers. Entrants cannot be current students and must be less than 10 years out of a bachelor’s or master’s degree program. The competition accepts projects in any medium, either conceptual or realized, and winners will receive a cash prize of $2,000. See archleague.org for more information.