The Nakagin Capsule Tower returns to public view in a new light, as MoMA in New York opens an exhibition centered on its half-century lifespan. Built in Tokyo’s Ginza district in 1972 and dismantled in 2022, the structure was once among the clearest architectural expressions of Metabolism in Japan, a movement that sought to mirror natural growth and transformation in the built environment. Now, through a single, fully restored capsule and a constellation of archival materials, MoMA reactivates that legacy with the goal of inspiring inquiry over nostalgia.

Presented in the exhibition is capsule A1305, originally situated on the uppermost floor. For its display, it has been returned to near-original condition. Fragments of other salvaged units complete the restoration, from its modular furnishings to the audio controls and Sony color TV that defined its compact domesticity. Surrounding the capsule are more than 40 materials drawn from the tower’s five-decade history — models, promotional leaflets, film reels, and interviews that reveal how these micro-units adapted to lives far beyond their initial purpose. In a city shaped by constant renewal, this retrospective probes what it means to preserve an architectural concept. The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower is on view at MoMA from July 10th, 2025 until July 12th, 2026.

installation view of The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, from July 10th, 2025, through July 12th, 2026 | photo by Jonathan Dorado

kishō Kurokawa’s Unfolding Vision

MoMA exhibits The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower as an investigation into the iconic structure, which was originally imagined by architect Kishō Kurokawa as a machine for living that could regenerate itself. While the concrete towers were to remain as infrastructural anchors, the capsules were intended to be swapped out as needs evolved. While that replacement never came, the life of the tower defied stillness. The museum’s curatorial team, led by Evangelos Kotsioris and Paula Vilaplana de Miguel, foregrounds the tower’s informal transformations — capsules turned into galleries, DJ booths, or quiet spaces of solitude — bringing a portrait of architecture shaped by use that transcends its intended programming.

By acquiring capsule A1305 in 2023, MoMA ensured a rare physical survival of a building long dismissed as unmaintainable. It is one of just fourteen capsules worldwide to have been carefully reassembled in original form. Visitors will be able to experience the unit in full during selected member activations, reinforcing the tower’s original intent as a space to be inhabited. The Nakagin Capsule Tower’s presence at MoMA sits within the museum’s wider ambition to question permanence, authorship, and the mutable nature of design.

Kishō Kurokawa in front of the completed Nakagin Capsule Tower, 1974. image by Tomio Ohashi

Extending the Conversation around nakagin capsule tower

MoMA’s exhibition The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower extends beyond the gallery. A companion book authored by Kotsioris for the MoMA One on One series explores the structure’s life cycle, from its speculative roots to its final days. With rarely published documents and firsthand accounts from the building’s last residents, the volume deepens the narrative around this experimental habitat. A suite of programs in partnership with Japan Society will also unfold throughout the exhibition’s yearlong run, framing the project within both its original context and its new American audience.

Kisho Kurokawa, Architect & Associates (Tokyo, est. 1962). Nakagin Capsule Tower, Tokyo. 1970–72. exterior view. 1972. image by Tomio Ohashi

installation view of The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, from July 10th, 2025, through July 12th, 2026 | photo by Jonathan Dorado

installation view of The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, from July 10th, 2025, through July 12th, 2026 | photo by Jonathan Dorado

images from Nakagin Capsule Style (Tokyo: Soshisha, 2020), showing Wakana Nitta (aka Cosplay Koe-chan) in her capsule, which she uses as a DJ-booth. courtesy Tatsuyuki Maeda / The Nakagin Capsule Tower Preservation and Restoration Project, Tokyo, Japan

night time at the Nakagin Capsule Tower, with Mr. Takayuki Sekine seen through the window of capsule B1004, 2016. image © Jeremie Souteyrat

Kisho Kurokawa, Architect & Associates (Tokyo, est. 1962). Capsule A1305 from the Nakagin Capsule Tower. 1970–72; restored 2022–23. Steel, wood, paint, plastics, cloth, polyurethane, glass, ceramic, and electronics, 8′ 4 3/8″ × 8′ 10 5/16″ × 13′ 10 9/16″ (255 × 270 ×423 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, Alice and Tom Tisch, and the Nakagin Capsule Tower Preservation and Restoration Project, Tokyo

installation view of The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, on view at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, from July 10th, 2025, through July 12th, 2026 | photo by Jonathan Dorado

Noritaka Minami. B1004 I, from the series 1972 (2010–22). 2011. archival pigment print, 20 × 25″ (101.6 × 127 cm) image © Noritaka Minami

Noritaka Minami. A503 I, from the series 1972 (2010–22). 2017. archival pigment print, 20 × 25″ (101.6 × 127 cm) image © Noritaka Minami

‘A twenty-first century home that thoroughly pursues functionality: Nakagin Capsule Manshon (Ginza),’ cover of promotional brochure for the Nakagin Company, 1971. image courtesy Tatsuyuki Maeda / The Nakagin Capsule Tower Preservation and Restoration Project, Tokyo, Japan

Kiyoshi Awazu. poster included with Kurokawa Kishō no sakuhin (Kisho Kurokawa’s work) (Tokyo: Bijutsu shuppan-sha, 1970). 1970. screenprint, 40 3/16 × 28 9/16″ (102 × 72.5 cm). image © Kiyoshi Awazu

project info:

name: The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower

museum: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) | @themuseumofmodernart

on view: July 10th, 2025 — July 12th, 2026

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Marking twelve years since the launch of the MFA in Products of Design, the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City continues to offer one of the most comprehensive master’s programs in design education. Rooted in a philosophy that design not only shapes objects but also consequences, the program spans five key domains: physical products, digital platforms, social innovation, service & experience design, and commercial ventures.

Graduates have launched impactful careers, with their projects winning international awards and and, in some cases, being produced and sold through esteemed institutions like the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Looking back at a range of standout projects and initiatives that have emerged throughout the years, together they exemplify the departments’ creative reach and social ambition.

celebrating twelve years of MFA in Products of Design at SVA: Lipi Devanagari Keyboard by Charvi Shrimali | all images courtesy of SVA

NEW YORK’S MOST COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PROGRAM IN DESIGN

The MFA in Products of Design curriculum at SVA combines hands-on prototyping with critical studies in leadership, public policy, business, climate change, and behavioral psychology, encouraging students to design with purpose and long-term impact. This broad framework is taught by faculty members who are actively practicing designers, bringing current insights and professional expertise directly into the classroom.

The design school’s program fosters deep creative inquiry through a no-grade policy that prioritizes experimentation over evaluation. Among its distinctive features is DESIGN:MATCH, a reverse job fair where students choose the companies they want to meet — past participants include Apple, Google, IDEO, and Spotify. Additionally, an annual collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art offers students the rare opportunity to propose original product ideas for potential manufacture and retail through MoMA’s Design Store.

every year, MFA students in Products of Design pitch products for possible manufacture by MoMA

LOOKING BACK AT THE MASTER’S STANDOUT PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES

Over the years, graduate projects from SVA’s master program have tackled a wide range of critical issues, including technology, health, justice, and cultural preservation. Examples of recent innovation include Natya.AI by Yukti Arora (Class of 2024), a dance training tool powered by computer vision and natural language processing designed to support Bharatanatyam practitioners. This platform offers real-time feedback and performance analysis, using emerging technology to preserve and evolve a classical art form.

bridging tradition and technology: Natya.AI by Yukti Arora for Bharatanatyam dancers

Another notable project is ‘When No One Believes You’ by Antya Waegemann (Class of 2018), which reimagines how rape kits and sexual assault response materials are designed and deployed. Her thesis proposed six interventions, including two redesigns of the standard rape kit, an emergency resource app, a DNA detection tool for medical exams, and a tracking system for kit processing. Aimed at improving reporting rates, reducing stigma, and increasing accountability, her work addresses the systemic challenges faced by survivors, medical professionals, and law enforcement alike.

Waegemann, the founder of Margo Health and part of the Trust and Safety team at Tinder, previously worked with InVision, Johnson & Johnson, and frog Design. She has received numerous accolades, including Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Award (2020), the ICFF x Interior Design Magazine Award (2019), and was a speaker at the 2020 Design Indaba Conference. She also teaches design research and integration in the MFA Products of Design program.

When No One Believes You by Antya Waegemann: Redesigning the Rape Kit and Responses to Sexual Assault

The master program’s impact extends beyond individual projects through public exhibitions like ‘The Datalogue,’ ‘Engender,’ and ‘Re:Actors.’ These shows explore pressing themes such as digital ethics, gender identity, and post-pandemic social behavior. Presented at major international design fairs, they have earned recognition with the ‘Best of Schools’ award from ICFF + WantedDesign.

Re:Actors exhibition at NYCxDESIGN Festival 2022

Students at SVA’s Products of Design master program often describe their experience as transformative, highlighting how it challenges and expands their creative perspectives. Gustav Ole Dyrhauge, interactive designer at Apple and proud graduate, shares how the program reshaped his confidence and approach: ‘I did not feel like a designer before joining PoD (despite having an undergraduate degree in design). The program gave me the confidence and experience to take on big challenges, clients, and projects as a designer. Imagine the most talented makers, experts, and designers in the world teaching you about their favorite topic every day for two years. If that does not promote credibility, confidence, and motivation, then I don’t know what does.’

With rolling admissions open year-round, there’s still time to join this dynamic community shaping the future of design. Learn more about the MFA in Products of Design at SVA NYC and when you’re ready, submit your application through their apply page.

Engender exhibition from MFA Products of Design at NYCxDesign

The Datalogue at Wanted Design NYCxDESIGN 2018

MoMA De Stijl Tumbling Tower by Monica Albernoz

MoMA Perpetual Sliding Calendar by Giancarlo Cipri

Mousk App by Cathy Tung

project info:

course: MFA in Products of Design | @svapod

school: School of Visual Arts (SVA | NYC)

location: New York, NY, United States

The post looking back at highlights from SVA product design master’s program in new york appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

On April 23-24, 2025, at the ACCIONA Campus, the second edition of the NEXT IN Summit, hosted by ACCIONA Living & Culture, brought together global leaders in museology, architecture, and art. Inaugurated in the presence of Madrid’s mayor, José Luis Martínez Almeida, the event highlighted best practices in cultural space design, management, and innovation. Esteemed figures such as architect David Chipperfield, Glenn D. Lowry, director of MoMA, digital artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and Mariët Westermann, director and CEO of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, led discussions on the future of cultural institutions, delving into topics like sustainability in museums, the convergence of physical and digital experiences, and how immersive technologies are reshaping cultural engagement.

A key moment came with the unveiling of ‘Art Masters: A Virtual Reality Experience,’ a cutting-edge VR exhibition created by ACCIONA Living & Culture in collaboration with the Museo Nacional del Prado. This immersive project sparked conversations about how virtual reality can transform the way audiences connect with art and cultural heritage.

NEXT IN summit hosted by ACCIONA Living & Culture | all images courtesy of ACCIONA

ACCIONA LIVING & CULTURE BLENDS URBANISM AND ART

As part of the global ACCIONA group, ACCIONA Living & Culture is a global leader in combining urbanism with cultural development to create projects that positively impact communities worldwide. Known for its ability to craft narrative-rich projects that preserve and elevate artistic heritage, the company partnered with the Prado Museum to design and produce ‘Art Masters: A Virtual Reality Experience.’ Supported by Chinese technology firm TDG Holding Co, the collaboration integrates original material from the museum’s collection with advanced VR storytelling, under the academic curatorship of Alejandro Vergara, head of Conservation of Flemish Painting and Northern Schools at the Prado.

ACCIONA Living & Culture designed and produced the VR exhibition titled Art Masters: A Virtual Reality Experience

ART MASTERS: A VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE AT PRADO MUSEUM

With ‘Art Masters,’ Acciona Living & Culture crafted an imaginary museum space where visitors interact with seven of the Prado Museum’s most emblematic works using VR technology. The exhibition offers an academic yet accessible journey through masterpieces including Las Meninas by Velázquez, The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch, Venus and Adonis by Veronese, The Sense of Sight by Rubens and Brueghel the Elder, and Witches’ Sabbath by Goya. These iconic paintings are contextualized through immersive narratives that reveal hidden details and historical insights, enhancing the understanding of each work.

Virtual Reality transforms the way audiences connect with art and cultural heritage

The virtual experience is guided by a fictional museum security guard on his last day of work, who leads visitors through a sequence of real and imagined spaces. Participants become active agents in the journey — pushing open doors, stepping into elevators, and exploring unseen corners of the museum. The experience culminates in interactive sequences where figures from Bosch’s ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ appear to step out of the painting, immersing viewers in a vivid, surreal realm. 

Spanning 35 minutes, the exhibition offers a unique blend of storytelling, visual engagement, and scholarly interpretation, setting a precedent for how institutions can merge technology with cultural education. After its debut in Madrid, the experience is scheduled to travel to Shanghai and Chengdu in mid-2025, further fostering international dialogue on the evolving role of cultural heritage.

the event on April 23-24, 2025, the second edition of the NEXT IN Summit

TOWARDS INCLUSIVE AND HYBRID MUSEUM MODELS

Throughout the NEXT IN summit, a shared vision emerged: museums are no longer static repositories but active spaces that respond to the needs of contemporary society. For Juan Ignacio Entrecanales, vice-chairman of ACCIONA, this means embracing inclusivity, sustainability, and openness to the public, reshaping how cultural institutions engage with their communities. Glenn D. Lowry expanded on this idea by advocating for cultural institutions that encourage cross-pollination across cultures and disciplines, moving beyond traditional silos. Rather than focusing solely on technological advances, Mariët Westermann argued, the future of museums will depend on their ability to speak a common language of radical inclusion, one that resonates deeply with younger generations.

These reflections resonate with ACCIONA Living & Culture’s own approach, as the company champions projects that invite participation and broaden access. As David Chipperfield noted, the arts have an essential role as a bridge between past and future—a notion mirrored in efforts to open up collections and spaces, such as the Prado Museum’s expansion at the Casón del Buen Retiro, which will make previously unseen works available to the public.

esteemed figures led discussions on the future of cultural institutions

Art Masters: A Virtual Reality Experience, exhibited in Shanghai and Chengdu in June and July 2025

the exhibition offers an academic yet accessible journey through seven of the museum’s masterpieces

project info:

event: NEXT IN Summit 2025

organizer: ACCIONA Living & Culture | @accionacultura
exhibition: Art Masters: A Virtual Reality Experience
collaborator: Museo Nacional del Prado | @museoprado

The post ACCIONA’s NEXT IN summit 2025 brings prado’s paintings to life with virtual reality tour appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

UNIMATIC splashes a burst of color for its new Modello Uno Diving Watches, inspired by the color palette of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and its vibrant admission tickets. The modern art of time-telling emerges as colored dials draw attention to the wearer. UNIMATIC plays with contrasting hues too, bringing out stark shades. The luminous and luminova indexes are visible, making it easier for the wearer to see the time. The hour markers’ design reminisces of objects that glow in the dark or under purple UV light.

The numbers for the hours are gone, replaced by the playful design of geometric shapes, including a circle, rectangle, and triangle. Their shades stand out from their backdrop, allowing the shapes to appear translucent even at nighttime. Scrutinizing the vibrantly colored dials, the MoMA logo is placed at the bottom to let the wearer know about the collaboration. The limited-edition series is also individually numbered, a move to guarantee authenticity and to usher in the sense of a collector’s edition.

images by UNIMATIC

Timepiece designs inspired by MoMA’s color scheme

UNIMATIC’s MoMA Modello Uno Diving Watches come with black straps to allow the colored dials to bring out their zesty personality. These timepiece designs are powered by a SEIKO NH35A Automatic movement that beats inside its stainless steel 41.5mm x 12.9mm case. Giovanni Moro, UNIMATIC’s co-founder, who also spoke about the importance of wristwatches amidst smartphones in 2022 at the DAAily Bar, says that he still has the MoMA admission ticket from the very first time he visited the museum.

This, alongside MoMA’s branding manual, nudged UNIMATIC as to what the new Modello Uno Diving Watches would look like in honor of MoMA. No lavish decoration or styles, just the pure color palette and reminiscence of MoMA. The Modello Uno Diving Watches focus more on instant readability and color schemes. Giovanni Moro adds that the design team’s job was to find the best solution to bring out these vibrant shades and for the wearer to easily recall MoMA, all the while synthesizing them into an original UNIMATIC take.

The MoMA UNIMATIC Modello Uno Diving Watches will retail for 730 USD and be exclusively sold at MoMA Design Store’s Midtown and Soho locations alongside the online retail starting October 2023.

UNIMATIC splashes a burst of color for its new Modello Uno Diving Watches

the new watches are inspired by the color palette of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and its vibrant admission tickets

the modern art of time-telling emerges as colored dials draw attention to the wearer

the admission tickets of MoMA

UNIMATIC plays with contrasting hues too, bringing out stark shades

the luminous and luminova indexes are visible, making it easier for the wearer to see the time

the hour markers’ design reminisces of objects that glow in the dark or under purple UV light

the MoMA UNIMATIC Modello Uno Diving Watches will retail for 730 USD

the numbers for the hours are gone, replaced by the playful design of geometric shapes

project info:

name: MoMA Modello Uno Diving Watches

brand: UNIMATIC
museum: The Museum of Modern Art

The post it’s MoMA’s time! UNIMATIC’s zesty watches display colors inspired by the museum’s tickets appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) takes viewers inside the making of American conceptual artist Ed Ruscha’s Chocolate Room. Covered in multiple sheets of paper screen printed with chocolate, the installation is currently on view as part of the most comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s work ever staged. Ruscha first produced the Chocolate Room while in Venice, Italy, in 1970, in the context of the American Pavilion’s exhibition at the 35th Venice Art Biennale. At that time, the interior walls of the room were adorned with 360 silkscreens featuring Nestlé chocolate.

‘During this period, he had been exploring all sorts of unusual substances in his printmaking, and he scoured local supermarkets looking for new materials. He ends up seeing little metal tubes of Nestle chocolate paste that remind him of the metal tubes for his oil paints, and so he decides to use chocolate, screen printing that chocolate onto hundreds of sheets of paper and tiling those sheets across all four walls of a room,’ explains the team at MoMA. 

Ed Ruscha, Chocolate Room, 1970/2004. Chocolate on paper, Sheet dimensions variable, installation dimensions variable. The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Purchase with funds provided by the Acquisition and Collection Committee. © 2023 Ed Ruscha. Photo Brian Forrest

how did this room get covered in chocolate?

In a short video created by MoMA (find more here), the art museum explains how the installation by Ed Ruscha (find more here) came to life. The process begins with the melting of chocolate, which is then poured onto a massive silk screen. The chocolate is carefully spread across the screen and transferred onto sheets of paper. These sheets are left to dry until they are ready to be handled. Once dried, they are skillfully layered on the walls to form the installation.

 

 

 

 

 

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Η δημοσίευση κοινοποιήθηκε από το χρήστη MoMA The Museum of Modern Art (@themuseumofmodernart)

ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN

Chocolate Room is exhibited as part of ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN, the American artist’s first solo exhibition at the MoMA. The exhibition is on view until January 13, 2024, and features over 200 works from 1958 to the present, including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, artist’s books, and installations. The show highlights both Ruscha’s most acclaimed works and lesser-known aspects of his practice, offering new perspectives on one of the most influential figures in postwar American art.

The post how did ed ruscha cover an entire room at the MoMA with chocolate? appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

This coming fall, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is launching Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism — an exhibition dedicated to both realized and unrealized projects that address ecological and environmental concerns by architects who practiced in the United States from the 1930s through the 1990s. On view from September 17, 2023, to January 20, 2024, Emerging Ecologies is also the first exhibition created by the Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and Natural Environment, born within MoMA in 2020. Following the pioneering Argentinian-American architect’s ‘green vision’ of the built environment, this institute seeks to promote a reconciliation between architecture and nature and an understanding of their interaction to stimulate the global debate on the urgent need for ecological recalibration.

ACROS Center in Fukuoka | image © Hiromi Watanabe

examining 150 US-BASED works from the late 20th century 

Emerging Ecologies at the MoMA will specifically spotlight 150 works to examine the relationship between architecture and the environmental movement in the United States from the late 20th century. According to the museum and the Emilio Ambasz Institute, these selected projects have either anticipated, inspired, challenged, or contributed to environmental and ecological issues within their context. Ultimately, ‘the exhibition, a one-of-a-kind retrospective of six decades of projects, looks to the past to suggest solutions for the future,’ writes MoMA.

Models, photographs, diagrams, sketches, and other archival materials, including posters, flyers, videos, and articles, will depict these innovative, daring, and even dystopian projects that have sometimes prefigured and inspired the rise of environmental awareness, anticipating themes such as pollution, the depletion of natural resources, the protection of biodiversity. Projects, again, that have denounced, investigated, and tried to resolve the relationship between the built environment and nature.

The wide range of works at MoMA collects interventions that celebrate the pioneers of environmental sustainability, including Frank Lloyd Wright, James Wines, Richard Buckminster Fuller, Beverly Willis, and Emilio Ambasz himself, who, in an ad hoc recording for Emerging Ecologies, together with other contemporary intellectuals and architects — Mae-ling Lokko, Jeanne Gang, Meredith Gaglio, Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Amy Chester, Carolyn Dry — shares a series of thoughts on the relationship between man and nature, helping to consider how the works on display can facilitate to understand the role of architecture in mitigating climate change. 

symbolizing architectural symbiosis with nature | image courtesy Emilio Ambasz & Associates

ACROS center by emilio ambasz: a green pyramid in fukuoka, japan

Ambasz’s iconic ACROS center in Fukuoka, Japan, is one of the many works that will take center stage at the MoMA this fall. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, this 100,000 sqm building emblematized, to this day, an architectural symbiosis with nature. Indeed, the project emphasizes the concept of ‘green over grey’ and returns the land it occupies to the community. It features 14 terraced gardens, pools, waterways, and a panoramic belvedere on the roof open to the public.

The building challenges the idea that cities are for buildings and suburbs are for parks, instead showing how urban centers can include green spaces and new constructions. Additionally, the ACROS center contributes to reducing heat island effects, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions. The interior encompasses multipurpose areas, including an exhibition hall, museum, theater, conference rooms, offices, and commercial spaces, making it a prominent landmark for residents and tourists alike. The ACROS center has influenced notable architects like Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel, and Tadao Ando, who praised its environmental dimension. 

the 10,000 sqm center initially hosted 76 plant varieties | image courtesy Emilio Ambasz & Associates

A pioneer of green architecture since the 1970s, Emilio Ambasz, is still today a point of reference for his innovative thinking, bearer of a mending pact between nature and built. ‘Every building is an intrusion into the plant kingdom and is a challenge to nature: we must devise an architecture that stands as the embodiment of a reconciliatory pact between nature and construction, designing buildings so intrinsically connected to their surroundings that they are unable to disentangle themselves from each other,‘ reflects Emilio Ambasz. During its inauguration, the ACROS Center featured 76 different floral species and a remarkable count of 37,000 plants. Guided by the innate forces of biodiversity over time, the green pyramid now holds 120 plant varieties and a thriving population of 50,000 plants.

image courtesy Emilio Ambasz & Associates

Emilio Ambasz’s deep-rooted relationship with MoMA

Emilio Ambasz’s multifaceted and deep-rooted relationship with MoMA spans over five decades. As Curator of Design in the Museum’s Department of Architecture and Design from 1969 to 1976, he organized several groundbreaking exhibitions, including Italy: The New Domestic Landscape (1972); The Architecture of Luis Barragan (1974); and The Taxi Project: Realistic Solutions for Today (1976) and authored their accompanying publications. The industrial designer and architect is also represented through more than 20 works in the Museum’s Architecture & Design and Media & Performance Art Collections.

As the subject of Museum exhibitions, the architect was featured in Emilio Ambasz/Steven Holl: Architecture (1989) and In-Depth: The House of Spiritual Retreat by Emilio Ambasz (2005-2006), and his work has been included in several others, including The Changing of the Avant-Garde: Visionary Architectural Drawings from the Howard Gilman Collection (2002-2003) and 9 + 1 Ways of Being Political: 50 Years of Political Stances in Architecture and Urban Design (2012-2013).

celebrating ACROS Center’s 25th anniversary | image courtesy Emilio Ambasz & Associates

Aladar Olgyay (1910–1963) & Victor Olgyay (1910–1970), Thermoheliodon (1955–56) | the Olgyay brothers with their Thermoheliodon device at the Princeton Architectural Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey, from Collier’s, October 26, 1956 | image © Guy Gillette

Anna Halprin (1920–2021) & Lawrence Halprin (1916–2009), Experiments in Environment Workshops (1966–71) | participants in the Sea Ranch Driftwood Village Rebuilt event, Sea Ranch, California (1968) | University of Pennsylvania, The Architectural Archives | © Lawrence Halprin Collection

unknown artist, The Climatron in winter–Shaw’s Garden–Saint Louis (c. 1960) | postcard, 10.2 × 20.3 cm | © The Missouri Botanical Garden Archives

Cambridge Seven Associates (est. 1962), Tsuruhama Rain Forest Pavilion, Osaka, Japan (1993–95) | section drawing showing underground levels and paths at forest level (1994–95) | marker & prismacolor pencil on black-line diazo print, 50.8 × 76.2 cm | © Collection Cambridge Seven Associates

Don Davis, Stanford torus interior view (1975) | acrylic on board, 43.1 × 55.9 cm | commissioned by NASA for Richard D. Johnson & Charles Holbrow, eds., Space Settlements: A Design Study (Washington, DC: NASA Scientific and Technical Information Office, (1977), | illustration never used | © Collection Don Davis

Eugene Tssui (1954) Venturus | wind-generated dwelling for Mr. and Mrs. Peter Cook, Victoria, BC, Canada (1982) | elevation and section through entrance tunnel | watercolor, prismacolor pencil, pastel chalk, and colored ink on paper, 53.3 × 81.3 cm | © Collection Eugene Tssui

exhibition info:

name: Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism

location: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) | @themuseumofmodernart, New York

organized by: Emilio Ambasz Institute 

viewing dates: September 17, 2023 to January 20, 2024

The post emilio ambasz institute’s upcoming MoMA show tackles environmentalism in US architecture appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) announces Architecture Now: New York, New Publics, the inaugural installation of a new exhibition series that will serve as a platform to highlight emerging talent and foreground groundbreaking projects in contemporary architecture. Running from February 19 through July 29, 2023, the first iteration of the series, New York, New Publics, will explore the ways in which New York City–based practices have been actively expanding the relationship of metropolitan architecture to different publics through 12 recently completed projects. Each project will also be accompanied by a new video by Brooklyn-based filmmaker Hudson Lines, produced on the occasion of the exhibition.

CO Adaptive. Timber Adaptive Reuse Theatre, 2017-21 | double-height assembly space at The Mercury Store

image © Naho Kubota

Architecture Now: New York, New Publics at the MoMA is organized by Evangelos Kotsioris, Assistant Curator, and Martino Stierli, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator, with Paula Vilaplana de Miguel, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design. Elaborating on the concept, Stierli says: ‘The last three years in New York have been marked by the ravaging effects of the pandemic and its aftermath, as well as powerful social and political protests across the city advocating for profound change. Can this context catalyze the transformation of civic space and the public realm in New York? How can innovative architecture attempt to redress structural inequities and foster social transformation?’

‘This first presentation of New York, New Publics is an opportunity to look back at the architecture produced in New York during a particularly challenging and traumatic period,’ says Evangelos Kotsioris. ‘Our goal is also to highlight projects and practices that go above and beyond their original briefs to prioritize inclusion and participation in the daily life of the city,’ he continues. 

nARCHITECTS. Jones Beach Energy & Research Center, 2018-20 | aerial view looking south east

image © Michael Moran

exploring NYC spaces through 12 local projects

New York, New Publics will investigate a wide array of strategies devised by architects that engage in new ways with New York City’s shared spaces. Featuring 12 architects and designers, this exhibition will showcase the works of Adjaye Associates, Agency—Agency and Chris Woebken, CO Adaptive, James Corner Field Operations, Kinfolk, nARCHITECTS, New Affiliates and Samuel Stewart-Halevy, Olalekan Jeyifous, Only If, Peterson Rich Office (PRO), SO – IL, and SWA/Balsley and Weiss/Manfredi with ARUP.

Ranging from metropolitan parks and networks of public pools, to local community gardens and virtual monuments for underrepresented publics, the projects highlighted in this exhibition inventively reimagine the uses of civic infrastructure, the sharing of private resources, and the potential of new technologies to create new spaces for political engagement.

Peterson Rich Office, 2019-present | renovation/extension for NYCHA Cooper Park Houses, Brooklyn, NY

image © Peterson Rich Office with Darc Studio

These diverse proposals envision a future in which architecture can play a vital role in shaping a city that is more accessible, sustainable, and equitable. The larger ambition of New York, New Publics will be to interrogate and expand the notions of publics and public space in a global metropolis like New York. It will seek to engage not only with architects and designers, but also with communities and organizations working to improve public spaces in the city.

With the completion of MoMA and MoMA PS1’s Young Architects Program after two decades in 2019, the new Architecture Now series will serve as a platform to broadcast new ideas in architecture. Instead of a competition-based format with a single winner, the series will include intergenerational voices representing the rich variety of contemporary architectural practices, with a focus on championing architecture that articulates innovative responses to the most pressing cultural, environmental, and social challenges of the built environment today. 

SWA/Balsley & Weiss/Manfredi with ARUP. Hunter’s Point South Waterfront Park, 2009-18 | wetland walkway & overlook | image © Lloyd/SWA, courtesy of SWA/Balsley and Weiss/Manfredi

Each iteration will showcase a selection of projects that have been initiated or completed over the previous three years and have the potential to transform architectural practice in the near future. Architecture Now: New York, New Publics will be accompanied by a series of public programs and digital features to expand the conversation beyond the walls of the Museum.

SO – IL. Amant, 2021 | image © Iwan Baan

Kinfolk. The Monuments Project. Manhattan, 2022 | proposal for an AR monument in honor of General Toussaint Louverture on Columbus Circle | image © Kinfolk

installation view of Architecture Now: New York, New Publics, Feb 19 – Jul 29, 2023 | © MoMA

image © Robert Gerhardt

image © Robert Gerhardt

image © Robert Gerhardt

Adjaye Associates. 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, 2018-20 | central atrium depicting Martin Luther King, Jr | © Dror Baldinger, FAIA

James Corner Field Operations. Freshkills Park, 2001-present

image © Biyoung Heo, courtesy of James Corner Field Operations

Olalekan Jeyifous. Made With Love, 2017-20 | Italian Ice | image © Anthony Artis

exhibition info:

name: Architecture Now: New York, New Publics

location: The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York 

dates: February 19 – July 29, 2023

The post MoMA inaugurates its latest exhibition series with ‘architecture now: new york, new publics’ appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

all images © Meritxell Arjalaguer

vibrant, uncoNventional, and without any restrictions 

While RS Barcelona (see more here) composed the design, Hey Studio (see more here) poured its creative branding approach into the football table, introducing a color combination that is powerful, eye-catching, pop, vibrant, unconventional, and without any restrictions. Ultimately, this chromatic freedom invites play and spreads Hey’s passion for color. ‘With this Special Edition, the RS4 Home x HEY foosball table is revealing itself with a bold artistic accent,’ notes Verònica Fuerte.

Now, thanks to its refreshing aesthetic, the ‘RS4 Home x HEY’ foosball table bears the MoMA Exclusive design signature. Being part of MoMA Exclusives, products must pass a selection process unlike any other: a set of 8 criteria that ensure every item is a good fit, aligned with MoMA’s vision of good design. The museum’s curatorial department then evaluates the product. Only items that make it through these two steps can successfully become part of the selection. 

colorful, eye-catching, vibrant, unconventional, and without any restrictions

RS Barcelona’s original RS4 table colorized by Hey Studio

steel, Iroko wood, and pop art color converge in a pleasant combination and balance

the football table comes disassembled and ships flat for easy in-home setup

Verònica Fuerte, founder of Hey Studio, and Rafael Rodríguez, CEO of RS Barcelona

project info:

name: RS4 Home x HEY football table 
design: Rafael Rodríguez – RS Barcelona, Verònica Fuerte – Hey Studio

photography: Meritxell Arjalaguer | @meritxellarjalaguer

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lea zeitoun | designboom

The post RS barcelona x HEY studio’s pop art-inspired football table becomes a MoMA exclusive appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

From November 19 to March 5, 2022, artist Refik Anadol will present Unsupervised at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in New York. The large-scale installation features digital artworks that use artificial intelligence to reinterpret more than 200 years of art from MoMA’s collection. From paintings and photographs to cars and video games, the museum’s body of work is translated into abstract AI-powered imagery that immerses viewers in mind-bending visuals.

installation view of Refik Anadol: Unsupervised, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, November 19, 2022 – March 5, 2023. © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Robert Gerhardt

Unsupervised machine hallucinations

Unsupervised is part of Refik Anadol Studio’s ongoing project Machine Hallucinations which investigates data aesthetics based on collective visual memories. Since the beginning of the project in 2016, the artist and his team have been collecting data from digital archives and public resources, and processing it with machine-learning classification models. In the case of Unsupervised, the team decided to process 138,151 pieces of metadata from the famed museum’s collection in the mind of a machine.

The studio uses a type of generative adversarial network called StyleGAN2 ADA, which can be used to ‘teach’ a neural network to generate high-resolution images based on a training set of images. To capture the machine’s transformative ‘hallucinations’ of modern art in a multidimensional space, Anadol trains a unique AI model with subsets of the MoMA art collection archive and creates embeddings in 1024 dimensions. The sorted image datasets are then clustered into thematic categories to better understand the semantic context of the data.

The AI-based abstract images and forms resulting from the machine’s unsupervised learning about modern art will be dictated by the museum’s collection archive and aligned with the special exhibition of new artworks at MoMA this fall. Unsupervised will continuously generate new forms on a large-scale media wall measuring approximately 24 × 24 feet in the Gund Lobby on the museum’s first floor.

installation view of Refik Anadol: Unsupervised, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, November 19, 2022 – March 5, 2023. © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Robert Gerhardt

Refik Anadol’s large-scale media will adorn the Gund Lobby on the museum’s first floor | video courtesy of MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, via @MuseumModernArt

Refik Anadol. Sample data visualization of Unsupervised — Machine Hallucinations — MoMA — Fluid Dreams, 2022. Data sculpture: custom software, generative algorithm with artificial intelligence (AI), real time digital animation on LED screen, sound. Dimensions variable. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Refik Anadol Studio

Refik Anadol. Sample data visualization of Unsupervised — Machine Hallucinations — MoMA, 2022. Data sculpture: custom software, generative algorithm with artificial intelligence (AI), real time digital animation on LED screen, sound. Dimensions variable. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Refik Anadol Studio

rendering of Refik Anadol: Unsupervised. November 19, 2022 – March 5, 2023. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Refik Anadol Studio

Refik Anadol. Sample data visualization of Unsupervised — Machine Hallucinations — MoMA, 2022. Data sculpture: custom software, generative algorithm with artificial intelligence (AI), real time digital animation on LED screen, sound. Dimensions variable. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Refik Anadol Studio

Refik Anadol. Sample data visualization of Unsupervised — Machine Hallucinations — MoMA, 2022. Data sculpture: custom software, generative algorithm with artificial intelligence (AI), real time digital animation on LED screen, sound. Dimensions variable. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © Refik Anadol Studio

installation view of Refik Anadol: Unsupervised, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, November 19, 2022 – March 5, 2023. © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Robert Gerhardt

installation view of Refik Anadol: Unsupervised, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, November 19, 2022 – March 5,2023. © 2022 The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Robert Gerhardt

I’m deeply honored and excited to announce our exhibition — Unsupervised opening on the 19th of November at MoMA! It’s a dream of many artists to have the opportunity to imagine, practice and exhibit for such an important institution that supports the creativity of humanity! pic.twitter.com/OR25D7wrYJ

— Refik Anadol (@refikanadol) November 4, 2022

project info:

name: Unsupervised
artist: Refik Anadol
venue: Museum of Modern Art (MoMa)
dates: November 19 to March 5, 2022

The post refik anadol translates MoMa’s vast collection into mind-bending AI-based visuals and NFTs appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

on june 2, 2021 design in dialogue welcomed mabel o. wilson, co-curator of the landmark exhibition at MoMA, reconstructions: architecture and blackness in america, and mario gooden, founder and principal of huff + gooden architects and one of the 11 practitioners featured in the show. gooden’s work seeks to reimagine the legacies of race-based dispossession and celebrate the ways african-americans have mobilized black cultural spaces, forms, and practices as sites of imagination, liberation, resistance, care, and refusal. in conversation with stephen burks, mabel and mario discussed the ways in which race informs collective architectural history and structures american cities.

watch the full video interview at the top of the page and stay tuned as designboom continues to share design in dialogue features. see all past episodes — and RSVP for upcoming ones — here.

cover of the exhibition catalogue reconstructions: architecture and blackness in america
published by the museum of modern art, 2021

the conversation between mabel o. wilson and mario gooden centered around the genesis of, participation in, and reflections on reconstructions: architecture and blackness in america, an exhibition at MoMA that ran from february 27 – may 31, 2021. featuring 11 newly commissioned works by architects, designers, and artists, the exhibition marked MoMA’s first to explore the relationship between architecture and the spaces of african american and african diaspora communities. each project proposed an intervention in one of 10 cities, from the front porches of miami to the bayous of new orleans. for his participation, mario gooden presented ‘the refusal of space’, a dynamic ‘protest machine’ that visualized — through video and sound — the experiences of protestors, from civil rights to black lives matter. the project embodies gooden’s belief that ‘liberation is an action and liberation demands action. liberation is spatial. to be really free is to be spatially free.’

mario gooden, refusal of space, 2020 | photograph |  40 x 30″ (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
photo by kris graves, image courtesy of the artist, the museum of modern art, new york

‘it’s really been 30 years’, wilson says on the starting point of the exhibition. ‘this has really shaped an intellectual journey — a journey of practice, of how you engage. how do you engage blackness in these disciplines and institutions in which we work, whether they be academic or professional? at every point, you see absence, you see lack, especially in design. what I found, in order to do this work, was that collaboration is vital. there’s so much work to construct a history of backstory to understanding black spatial practices, black space and what that would mean, because the primary sources that you would have engaged in, in your own education, would be completely negligent and absent. if you take on this question, it’s not like you’re going to be able to go to giedion’s ‘space, time and architecture’ and find what you’re looking for. you have to create it yourself — and that’s really been a 30 year journey. I think MoMA — and engaging an institution of that stature with its own absences — it shows the degree to which the presence of black designers and architects and thinkers are absent from the canons that get passed on and shape our respective fields.’

installation view of reconstructions: architecture and blackness in america, the museum of modern art, new york
february 27, 2021 – may 31, 2021 © 2021 the museum of modern art | photo by robert gerhardt

‘this show is not simply about the discipline of architecture,’ gooden shares about the trans-disciplinary investigations the exhibition probed. ‘it doesn’t confine itself to strictures of aesthetics and form-making, but to larger social, cultural issues, and questions of critical race theory. for most of us [in the exhibition], what we thought we might be doing initially just totally changed, because we realized that it was a much different and much larger conversation, then, let’s say thinking about the way that architects and designers usually think — which is about the making of the object, the making of a thing. this required a much broader examination of blackness and speciality than the architecture discipline allows. but hopefully now, the discipline can be expanded to these discursive spaces, and not only be about what the professionals tend to think of as being architecture.’

installation view of reconstructions: architecture and blackness in america, the museum of modern art, new york
february 27, 2021 – may 31, 2021 © 2021 the museum of modern art | photo by robert gerhardt

installation view of reconstructions: architecture and blackness in america, the museum of modern art, new york
february 27, 2021 – may 31, 2021 © 2021 the museum of modern art | photo by robert gerhardt

installation view of reconstructions: architecture and blackness in america, the museum of modern art, new york
february 27, 2021 – may 31, 2021 © 2021 the museum of modern art | photo by robert gerhardt

installation view of reconstructions: architecture and blackness in america, the museum of modern art, new york
february 27, 2021 – may 31, 2021 © 2021 the museum of modern art | photo by robert gerhardt

installation view of reconstructions: architecture and blackness in america, the museum of modern art, new york
february 27, 2021 – may 31, 2021 © 2021 the museum of modern art | photo by robert gerhardt

installation view of reconstructions: architecture and blackness in america, the museum of modern art, new york
february 27, 2021 – may 31, 2021 © 2021 the museum of modern art | photo by robert gerhardt

installation view of reconstructions: architecture and blackness in america, the museum of modern art, new york
february 27, 2021 – may 31, 2021 © 2021 the museum of modern art | photo by robert gerhardt

portrait of mabel o. wilson, courtesy of friedman benda

portrait of mario gooden, courtesy of friedman benda 

—

design in dialogue is a series of online interviews presented by new york-based gallery friedman benda that highlights leading voices from the field — designers, makers, critics, and curators — as they discuss their work and ideas. hosted alternately by curator and historian glenn adamson and designer stephen burks, the conversations are held on zoom for 1 hour and include a participatory Q&A.

watch the full video interview with mabel o. wilson and mario gooden at the top of the page and stay tuned as designboom continues to share design in dialogue features. see all past episodes — and RSVP for upcoming ones — here.

The post mabel o. wilson and mario gooden on ‘reconstructions’ for friedman benda’s design in dialogue appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.