February 5, 2026
The Center for Architecture, a leading cultural venue for architecture, design, and urbanism in New York City, is excited to announce its exhibition schedule for 2026–2027. This year’s premiere exhibition, CFA Lab: Repair – Democracy and Urban Spaces, opens May 7 at 6:00 pm, alongside AIANY Design Awards 2026 and Gerrit Rietveld: Wealth of Sobriety. On October 1, we will introduce explorations of human-centered design, critical design education, and social responsibilities of the architectural practice with Humanist Modernity, Why Design?, and Dark Matter U: Justice, Pedagogy, Design.
“The Center for Architecture’s 2026 exhibitions explore design as a living continuum—grounded in history, responsive to the urgencies of the present, and essential to shaping a more just future,” said Jesse Lazar, Assoc. AIA, Executive Director of AIA New York | Center for Architecture. “From revisiting the humanist ideals and material restraint of modernism, to elevating new voices confronting democracy, equity, and pedagogy today, these programs reflect architecture’s enduring civic responsibility. Together, these exhibitions affirm that design is not only about what we build, but about how we repair, reimagine, and care for our shared world.”
“Center for Architecture Lab embodies the urgency of our 2026 theme, giving emerging voices the space to confront how democracy is upheld, challenged, and repaired in our urban environments,” said Mark Gardner, AIA, NOMA, 2026 President of AIA New York. “Through projects focused on energy justice and ecological repair, this year’s cohorts show how design can address inequities embedded in our infrastructure and public spaces, and how acts of repair can strengthen democratic participation in our city.”
Opening in 2026
(Images and additional details to be shared with the press in advance of each opening)
CFA Lab: Repair – Democracy and Urban Spaces
May 7, 2026–September 2, 2026
Center for Architecture Lab is a multi-month, multi-disciplinary residency program that offers new voices in architecture and design full authorship over dedicated areas of the Center for Architecture’s platforms, allowing them to develop and share compelling and provocative content meant to elevate underrepresented perspectives.
The 2026 Lab cohort will respond to the prompt of “Repair: Democracy and Urban Spaces.” Residents will address the urgent need to repair not only the physical infrastructure of our environments but also the political and social inequities embedded within them. The open call invited architects, urban planners, designers, artists, cultural conservationists, and community activists to examine how the concept of repair can serve as a lens to reimagine democratic, equitable spaces.
Selected Residents:
Energies of Repair: Visualizing Community Power in NYC by Andrea Johnson and Ashley Dawson
DEPAVE: An Ecological Repair of the Ground by Friends Making Work (Christine Giorgio, Amelyn Ng, and Gabriel Vergara)
Graphic Design: WeShouldDoItAll (WSDIA)
Gerrit Rietveld: Wealth of Sobriety
May 7, 2026–September 2, 2026
In 2018, Dutch photographer Arjan Bronkhorst published the photographic volume Wealth of Sobriety based on a several-years-long project of photographing the lesser-known, and sometimes all but unknown, houses by the renowned architect Gerrit Rietveld (1888–1964). A selection of the projects published in the book will be on view at the Center for Architecture.
Photography: Arjan Bronkhorst
Curators: Arjan Bronkhorst and Barry Bergdoll
Graphic Design: Ian Sullivan
AIANY Design Awards 2026
May 7, 2026–September 2, 2026
AIANY Design Awards 2026 features Honor, Merit, and Citation recipients in the categories of Architecture, Interiors, Projects, and Urban Design. The selected projects and the architecture firms that designed them represent the exceptional work by AIA New York members and architects practicing in New York City. All 24 winning projects were chosen for their design quality, response to context and community, program resolution, innovation, thoughtfulness, and technique. To be eligible, projects had to be completed by AIANY members or architects/designers practicing in New York or be New York projects designed by architects/designers based elsewhere.
AIANY’s annual awards program is juried by an international panel of esteemed practitioners, this year comprising Adam Ainslie, Assoc. AIA, of BLDUS and University of Maryland; Maarten Gielen of Halfwerk; Brie Hensold, HASLA, of Agency Landscape + Planning; Susan Jones, FAIA, of atelierjones; Jeff Kamuda, AIA, of Birdseye; Christiana Moss, FAIA, of STUDIO MA; and Kia Weatherspoon NCIDQ, ASID, of Determined by Design.
Graphic Design: World
Dark Matter U: Justice, Pedagogy, Design
October 1, 2026–March 27, 2027
Dark Matter U: Justice, Pedagogy, Design will be the first major U.S. exhibition of and by the groundbreaking Dark Matter U (DMU) network. Initiated in the wake of the 2020 movement for Black Lives to enact systemic change across the design fields, Dark Matter U emerged as the first BIPOC-led transdisciplinary network in the built environment working to change the way we gather, teach, and produce design while simultaneously modeling a new liberatory framework. Over the past half decade, DMU has persisted and grown into an enduring voice in the built environment milieu, modeling a new counter-institutional framework by which design pedagogy, education, and generative creative output can be conceived and produced.
Curated and produced by a Dark Matter U network team, co-led by Venesa Alicea-Chuqui, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, Jerome Haferd, and Sophie Weston Chien.
Humanist Modernity
October 1, 2026–March 27, 2027
Humanist Modernity focuses on the work of Stanisława Sandecka-Nowicka and Maciej (Matthew) Nowicki, two significant figures in the history of American and Polish architecture. She was a talented graphic artist and designer and the first female professor of architecture in the history of the United States. He collaborated—despite his young age—with renowned architects on prestigious projects whose implementation was interrupted by his tragic death. Their story is a fascinating tale of creative passion, their life together, and the possibilities and limitations of the turbulent beginning of the 20th century.
The exhibition is organized by the National Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning, Warsaw, Poland.
Curator: Kacper Kępiński, Deputy Director, National Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning
Why Design?
October 1, 2026–March 27, 2027
Why Design? is the Center for Architecture Education Department’s exhibition of K-12 student design work from our Learning By Design:NY in-school residencies and school and Youth and Family workshops held at the Center for Architecture. Why Design? highlights our project-based methods and program themes while celebrating the creativity of our students, Design Educators, and partner teachers.
About the Center for Architecture
The Center for Architecture, founded in 2003 by its partner AIA New York, engages local and international audiences with the value, impact, and wonder of architecture. Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, the Center for Architecture is also the home of the American Institute of Architects New York (AIANY), which cultivates an open, adept, and future-forward architectural community. Together, we advance the value and practice of architecture to promote just and sustainable communities.
Through exhibitions, public programs, educational initiatives, and our Archtober festival and platform, the Center for Architecture brings together architects, designers, students, and the public to foster collaboration within the design community while creating accessible opportunities for the public to experience and learn about architecture. Whether you’re an industry professional, a curious visitor, or a student exploring the field, the Center for Architecture offers a space for connection, creativity, and critical conversation—empowering everyone to engage with the transformative power of architecture. centerforarchitecture.org