SANAA's 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan. Photo © SANAA

Ma Yansong: Architecture and Emotion
Rotterdam
May 15-September 20, 2025
The first major European exhibition of MAD Architects, founded in 2004 by Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, and Yosuke Hayano, is on view at the Nieuwe Instituut, coinciding with the opening of the studio’s spiraling “Tornado” staircase at Rotterdam’s new Fenix museum. Through an experiential installation of models, multimedia, and sensory elements, visitors can explore the firm’s evolution from early speculative projects during China’s rapid urbanization to recent built works, organized in three thematic chapters: Embodied Nature, Connective Landscapes, and Layered Futures. See nieuweinstituut.nl.

Ongoing Exhibitions

Building with Writing: Stan Allen
Princeton, New Jersey
Through May 2, 2025
An exhibition at the Princeton University School of Architecture explores the parallel practices of writing and architecture in the work of architect, theorist, and former dean Stan Allen. Featuring 48 drawings from 12 building projects alongside 12 written pieces displayed as pamphlets, it investigates how Allen’s writings about architecture—covering some 30 different practices—construct an intellectual ecology that com­plements his built work. See soa.princeton.edu.

And After Le Corbusier?
Barcelona 
Through May 11, 2025
The Centre de la Imatge at the Virreina Palace presents an exhibition examining the relationship between critic Michel Ragon (1924-2020) and the Groupe International d’Architecture Prospective (GIAP), founded in Paris in 1965. Drawing from Ragon’s archives at the University of Rennes, the exhibition reveals how Ragon and GIAP’s radical proposals—from participatory ­urbanism to social housing—anticipated contemporary architectural concerns while extending Le Corbusier’s concept of the “machine for living.” See ajuntament.barcelona.cat.

Installation view, And After Le Corbusier?. Photo © Pep Herrero, courtesy Centre de la Imatge

Crossed Histories: Gae Aulenti, Ada Louise Huxtable, Phyllis Lambert, on Architecture and the City
Paris
Through May 17, 2025
The Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris presents an exhibition exploring the transformative influence of three pioneering women—critic Ada Louise Huxtable and architects Gae Aulenti and Phyllis Lambert—in postwar architecture and urban design. Through archival images, drawings, and photographs, the exhibition examines five emblematic projects including New York's Seagram Building, Paris’s Musée d'Orsay, and Milan's Piazzale Cadorna, to highlight women’s crucial, but overlooked, role in 20th-century architecture. The exhibition is accompanied by exclusive interviews with contemporary architects and a 144-page SKIRA publication. See canada-culture.org.

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Photographs from the Phyllis Lambert Collection (1,3) and a 1980 perspective drawing of the Musée d'Orsay by Italian architect Gae Aulenti (2), all on view at Crossed Histories. Photos courtesy the Canadian Cultural Center, © Phyllis Lambert & Richard Pare (1); Gae Aulenti Archives (2); Phyllis Lambert (3)

Brutalist Italy: Concrete Architecture from the Alps to the Mediterranean Sea
Berlin
Through May 27, 2025
Based on Roberto Conte and Stefano Perego's publication of the same name, this exhibition at the Italian Cultural Institute of Berlin explores the legacy of Brutalist architecture in Italy. Featuring over 100 buildings captured during the photographers’ 12,000-mile journey across the country, Brutalist Italy showcases the distinctive use of exposed reinforced concrete in structures ranging from Casa del Portuale in Naples to Trieste’s Monte Grisa Sanctuary. “In the 20th century, concrete was primarily seen as a forward-looking material: it represented a future era, and it was stubbornly denied that it had a past,” wrote Adrian Forty in the book’s introduction. “Italian architects differed from their counterparts in other countries primarily in their willingness to acknowledge that concrete could [represent] both the present (or future) and the past.” See iicberlino.esteri.it.

Stone in Landscape Architecture: A Sensory Journey
New York 
Through June 13, 2025
ABC Stone presents an immersive exhibition exploring stone’s transformative role in landscape design through five distinctive vignettes created by leading firms including LaGuardia Design Group, Oehme van Sweden, and Design Workshop. Each 350-square-foot installation showcases a single stone species as its centerpiece, demonstrating how this elemental material can shape and enhance our sensory experience of landscapes. Interactive elements, including VR stations, invite visitors to experience stone's versatility in contemporary landscape architecture, while companion programming features panel discussions with the featured designers. On view at ABC Stone’s exhibition space in Brooklyn, the show is supported by the New York chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. See aslany.org.

Events

NeoCon 2025
Chicago
June 9–11, 2025
The commercial interior design fair returns to Chicago’s The Mart for its 56th edition, hosting exhibition spaces for 450 leading and emerging companies to showcase the latest in residential, retail, hospitality, workplace, healthcare, and education products. The exhibitions will be supplemented by a roster of talks, panels, and networking opportunities. This year’s keynote speakers include design critic Alice Rawsthorn, Google product design lead Annie Jean-Baptiste, and tech entrepreneur Chris Barton. See neocon.com.

AIA Conference on Architecture & Design 2025
Boston
June 9–11, 2025
This year’s American Institute of Architects conference will take place at the Boston Convention Center, gathering architects and designers for a four-day event that celebrates the latest trends and topics in the profession. In addition to an exhibition showcase featuring over 600 brands, the event consists of over 450 sessions, including architect-led tours of the city, networking events, seminars, workshops, and soon-to-be announced keynotes. See conferenceonarchitecture.com.

E-mail information two months in advance to schulmanp@bnpmedia.com.