Architectural exhibitions aimed at a general audience are hard to pull off. Small-scale representations'photographs, models, drawings, and, increasingly, video'can only approximate the sense of the full-size work. Like art objects, they need to captivate the museum visitor while acknowledging the thicket of constraints'program, site, budget'that shape the form. If the projects have a socially or environmentally conscious dimension, the challenge is tougher: The display may lack the wow factor'the visual panache of extravagantly innovative or elegant architectural works and objects that make museum visitors stop in their tracks. And the danger lurks that providing the necessary information to appreciate the projects displayed will make the show look like a walk-in book.

MoMA's Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream includes Zago Architecture's animation for its colorful proposal for Rialto, California. Read our review of the exhibition: "Foreclosed" Reopens the American Dream