Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style
London
Through August 17, 2025
The Design Museum presents a comprehensive exploration of our relationship with swimming and its influence on design across fashion, architecture, and technology. Organized around three environments—the pool, the lido, and natural settings—the exhibition features over 200 objects that trace the evolving cultural presence of swimming from the 1920s to the present day, examining how the pastime has shaped our relationship both with our bodies and the environment. Highlights include Pamela Anderson’s Baywatch swimsuit, Zaha Hadid’s architectural model for the London Aquatics Centre, and technological innovations like the banned LZR Racer suit. See designmuseum.org.

Stop Drawing: Architecture Beyond Representation
Rome
Through September 21, 2025
An exhibition at MAXXI explores the rise of architectural representation—from traditional drawing by hand to technologically diverse contemporary practices. Works on view span the 20th and 21st centuries, beginning with architects like Carlo Scarpa and Aldo Rossi and continuing through contemporary practitioners, including Gordon Matta-Clark and Philippe Rahm, whose work incorporates collage, video, performance, textiles, and digital simulations. The exhibition traces how shifts in representational methods reflect broader changes in architectural practice, societal values, and spatial experience. See maxxi.art.

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Installation views of Stop Drawing: Architecture Beyond Representation, on view at MAXXI, Rome, through September 21. Photos © Vincenzo Labellarte, courtesy Fondazione MAXXI

The Modern Concrete Skyscraper
New York
Through October 18, 2025
An exhibition at the Skyscraper Museum challenges the conventional narrative—that skyscrapers are primarily a story of steel structures—by outlining the evolution of reinforced concrete in tall-building construction. While concrete was initially limited to foundations and secondary elements in early 20th-century high-rises, innovations in the 1960s enabled it to become the dominant material for tall buildings worldwide. Models, drawings, and photographs on display explore concrete’s global proliferation in contemporary supertalls alongside considerations of the material’s environmental impact. See skyscraper.org.

Living Architecture: Gehry
Bilbao, Spain
Through October 19, 2025
The Guggenheim Bilbao launches its new site-specific installation series, in situ, with an audiovisual work by artist Refik Anadol. The large-scale installation employs a custom-built artificial intelligence system trained on Frank Gehry’s architectural archive to generate evolving visual interpretations of his design language. These dynamic digital forms are accompanied by a spatial soundscape created by composer Kerim Karaoglu that incorporates AI-generated audio and recordings from the museum environment. See guggenheim-bilbao.eus.

Richard Morris Hunt: In a New Light
Newport, Rhode Island;
Through November 2, 2025
An exhibition at the Preservation Society of Newport County examines the influence of architect Richard Morris Hunt (1827–95) on American cultural and built landscapes during the Gilded Age. Drawing from collections at the Library of Congress, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, and regional museums, the exhibition brings together drawings, personal sketchbooks, and family objects to contextualize Hunt’s contributions within his broader mission to develop a distinctly American cultural identity. See newportmansions.org.

Barbara Kasten: Structure, Light, Land
New Canaan, Connecticut
Through December, 15 2025
The Glass House presents an exhibition of work by Chicago-based artist Barbara Kasten that responds to the site’s architecture and landscape. Influenced by Constructivism and Bauhaus principles, Kasten’s photographs and installations explore the relationship between space, material, and form. The show distributes works across multiple buildings: the Brick House displays Architectural Site 15 (1987) alongside new cyanotypes; the Sculpture Gallery features fluorescent acrylic I-beams; the Painting Gallery houses works from the Collision series and sculptural Pro­gressions; and Da Monsta contains Sideways Corner (2016/2025), a video projection activating the building’s curved walls. For more, see theglasshouse.org.

Events

Build Fest 2
Bethel, New York
September 10–14, 2025
Returning to the historic grounds of the 1969 Woodstock festival, the second edition of the event is centered around timber. Over the course of five days, participating students and young professionals will work with university faculty, researchers, and experts to build and install on-site design solutions. Attendees can also participate in concerts, lectures, and other pop-up events. See buildingfestival.com.

World Design Congress
London
September 9–10, 2025
Themed Design for Planet, the 34th edition of the World Design Conference takes place at London’s Barbican Centre. Hosted by the Design Council, the biannual event features a series of talks led by designers, business owners, researchers, and other industry professionals. See designcouncil.org.uk.