The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower
New York
Through July 12, 2026
The Museum of Modern Art presents an exhibition dedicated to the Nakagin Capsule Tower, a project by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa that was located in Tokyo’s Ginza District from 1972 until 2022. Marketed as micro-dwellings for commuting businessmen, the building was composed of two interconnected concrete-and-steel towers that hosted 140 single-occupancy “capsules,” each fully equipped with prefabricated fixtures and a Sony color TV. The exhibit, on view in MoMA’s street-level galleries, displays capsule A1305, alongside nearly 45 pieces of contextual material that showcase the evolving and unexpected uses of the building. These include the project’s only surviving model plus original drawings, photographs, and promotional ephemera; an archival film and audio recordings; interviews with former tenants; and an interactive virtual tour. Once located on the highest floor of the building, capsule A1305 has been restored with the maximum number of original fittings salvaged from other capsules, including the full array of audio electronics that were offered as add-on features. The capsule, one of only 14 restored to their original condition after the building was dismantled, was acquired by MoMA in 2023. See moma.org.

Upcoming Exhibitions

Hill Station: Architecture and the Altitudes of Empire Installation
Liverpool, England
September 4–November 16, 2025
An exhibition in the Tate Liverpool’s temporary home at RIBA North examines the architectural history of segregation intended to prevent malaria transmission in colonial-era Freetown, Sierra Leone, and its entanglements with the expansion of the British Empire and the emergence of tropical medicine. Combining architectural-model work and film, this new installation—part of a wider research project, Salone Drift—explores architecture, colonialism, and segregation’s relation to ideas of health, as well as the complex links between the two port cities of Liverpool and Freetown. See tate.org.uk.

Bad Language
London
September 26–December 6, 2025
Australian-Norwegian artist Max Creasy’s photographic exhibition explores the relationship between the snapshot and architecture. Collaborating with a group of young architects and architectural practices—Kastler Skjeseth, Takeshi Hayatsu, OMMX, Sauter von Moos, Weyell Zipse, and Lütjens Pad­manabhan—he investigates the idiosyncratic, humane, and humorous sensibilities (and possibilities) of the architectural image. Bad Language presents a selection of Creasy’s photography shot in conjunction with these practices from 2018 to 2025. See aaschool.ac.uk.

Treaties on De-Fences
New Canaan, Connecticut
October 1, 2025–March 28, 2026
The Onera Foundation is a new nonprofit supporting programming that aims to challenge traditional perspectives about preservation and America’s significant architecture. Located at 63 Park Street, a National Register of Historic Places–listed building in New Canaan, the foundation kicks off its public programming with a major exhibition by Spanish-American artist and preservation architect Jorge Otero-Pailos. Spanning two floors of the foundation’s new home, Otero-Pailos’s Treaties on De-Fences features a series of artworks—including steel fencing transformed into sculptures, along with 51 prints—that explore the Eero Saarinen–designed former U.S. Embassy in Oslo. In tandem with Treaties on De-Fences, the Onera Foundation will stage an exhibition highlighting the strong connection between New Canaan architects Marcel Breuer and John Johansen and their Cold War embassies built in the Hague and in Dublin. See onerafoundation.org.

How Modern: Biographies of Architecture in China 1949–1979
Montreal
November 20, 2025–April 12, 2026
Between the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and the implementation of Reform and Opening policies in 1979, architecture was a key part of the country’s vision for socialist modernity. While this political focus shaped a variety of formal and spatial strategies in the built environment, modern Chinese architecture has largely been perceived as stunted and not progressive. This Canadian Centre for Architecture exhibition, produced and curated in collaboration with M+ Museum in Hong Kong, reconsiders these assumptions. The show takes the multimedia documentation of architectural production under the Chinese socialist regime as a point of departure, illuminating specific social and cultural microhistories that are not evident in purely textual historical sources. See cca.qc.ca.

Events

Yes And: The 2025 Exhibit Columbus Exhibition
Columbus, Indiana
August 15—November 30, 2025
The exhibition of the fifth edition of Exhibit Columbus kicks off over its opening weekend with parties, presentations, and the activation of 13 outdoor installations spread throughout the small but architecturally famous Indiana city’s downtown. Sites include the historic Crump Theatre, I.M. Pei’s Cleo Rogers Memorial Library Plaza, and the courtyard of the First Christian Church, designed by Eliel Saarinen. Each of these works is inspired by partnerships across the diverse communities of Columbus and connected to the improv-riffing theme of the 2024–25 cycle, Yes And. Among those participating are the latest J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize awardees—Adaptive Operations, AD–WO, Studio Barnes, and Studio Cooke John—joined by the six recipients of the University Design Research Fellowship, a pair of Design Education Teams, and Communication Design winner Sing-Sing. See exhibitcolumbus.org.

Sustainability in Practice and 2025 Women in Architecture Awards
Chicago
September 9 and 10, 2025
RECORD is heading to Chicago in early September for back-to-back events, both at the Mies van der Rohe–designed Crown Hall on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology. Now in its 12th year, the Women in Architecture Awards shines a light on the critical and wide-ranging contributions of women to the profession. The annual awards ceremony, held this year for the first time in Chicago on the evening of September 9, provides an opportunity for women in the field to come together and celebrate the honorees and their accomplishments. The following day, RECORD will host the first Chicago edition of the Sustainability in Practice conference. The special full day event will showcase cutting-edge research and built projects employing sustainable materials, circular construction, and upcycled retrofits. Featured speakers include Jeanne Gang, Thomas Robinson of Lever Architecture and Andy Groarke and Kevin Carmody of Carmody Groarke. After the event, join us for a cocktail reception to connect with attendees and presenters in an informal setting. See architecturalrecord.com/women-in-architecture and architecturalrecord.com/sustainability-in-practice.

Designight 2025
Chicago
September 18, 2025
AIA Chicago’s Designight 2025, to be held at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Millennium Park, is a ticketed event where everyone is welcome: firms, clients, consultants, partners, friends, and families—and any Chicagoans with a penchant for great architectural design. The award program includes the fourth annual Lerch Bates People’s Choice Awards, which will be announced live along with the juried awards, including the Design Excellence Awards. Separate honors, chosen by additional juries/ committees, will be given for the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Decarbonization Award, the Unbuilt Award, and the Roberta Feldman Architecture for Social Justice Award. See aiachicago.org/designight2025.

The 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennial
Chicago
September 19, 2025–February 28, 2026
The sixth edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, marks the celebration of its 10th year of existence. Led by artistic director Florencia Rodriguez, SHIFT signals the opportunity and need to change direction—an invitation to think with others and to set new grounds for the interpretation and design of our built environments. This edition explores how architecture engages with the cultural, social, and environmental transformations shaping our world today and explores the possibility of envisioning alternate paths forward. Featuring over 100 projects by architects, artists, and designers from 30 countries, SHIFT convenes voices from around the world, in a citywide constellation of exhibitions and public programs. Together, they address urgent questions shaping the spaces we inhabit, such as housing, ecology, and material innovation, to demonstrate architecture’s role in our collective future. See chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org.

Cersaie 2025
Bologna, Italy
September 22–26, 2025
Cersaie, the international exhibition of ceramic tile and bathroom furnishings, returns this fall for its 41st edition. Industry leaders from around the world will be on hand to showcase the most innovative solutions and high-performance materials in the fields of surfaces, furnishings, and finishes for architectural spaces. See cersaie.it.

ASLA 2025 Conference on Landscape Architecture
New Orleans
October 10–13, 2025
The ASLA 2025 Conference on Landscape Architecture, themed “Beyond Boundaries,” will celebrate the power of landscape architects to create innovative, resilient solutions that transcend traditional physical, political, and cultural barriers. This year’s conference, held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, offers educational seminars, professional development, networking opportunities, and an expo featuring over 275 vendors showcasing cutting-edge products and services. ASLA2025 will also feature field sessions and a range of festivities befitting the host city. Former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, who most recently served as Infrastructure Coordinator at the White House under President Biden, will provide the main keynote. See aslaconference.com.

Competitions

2026 Steedman Fellowship Competition
Deadline: November 1, 2025
Established in 1926, the James Harrison Steedman Fellowship in Architecture is a $100,000 prize granted biannually to an emerging architect to support six to 12 months of international travel for architectural research. The fellowship, jointly administered by Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis and AIA St. Louis, is open to anyone who has received an accredited degree in architecture within the last eight years. Themed Collective Form/Forums, the 2026 Steedman Fellowship Competition honors the legacy of the late Fumihiko Maki and invites applicants to submit mindful research proposals on architecture’s role in producing collective forms/forums that catalyze a more politically engaged discipline and citizenry. See steedmanfellowship.wustl.edu.

ENR Global Best Projects Awards
Extended deadline: September 2, 2025
RECORD’s sister publication, Engineering News-Record, is seeking entries for a competition dedicated to honoring the best global construction projects and the companies that designed and built them throughout the entire world. The awards focus on the challenges, risks, and rewards of designing and constructing in diverse and remote locales around the globe. Entries can be submitted to Global Best Projects from around the world regardless of where the project team is based, except for projects located in the U.S., which must feature an international team. Entries will compete in 20 specialized categories, ranging from airports to education. An independent jury of industry leaders in design and construction will judge the projects using five criteria, including safety, innovation, and teamwork. The winners will be featured in the pages of ENR, and at an event in December. See enr.com