Exhibiting Architecture

Architecture is a weird thing to exhibit.

You can’t frame a building and hang it on a wall, or put it in a vitrine. You definitely can’t fit it in the freight elevator.

Instead, we show representations: models, sketches, videos, and chunks of things. Architecture exhibitions don’t exhibit objects. They demonstrate ideas.

If you’re developing one of these unique creatures, here are a few quick ideas, based on my experience.

3 Dos:

#1: Use the scale. Big models. Sectional cutaways. A big 1:1 fragment. Let visitors feel compression, height, and light — not just see renderings.

#2: Show decisions, not just drawings. Dead ends. Budget compromises. Code constraints. Architecture is negotiation under pressure. That’s the drama. Get a little HGTV action going.

#3: Make the exhibition into architecture. Control sightlines. Create thresholds. Borrow the moves architects use (or if you are one, do your thing). Then the form is the content.

3 Don’ts:

#1: Don’t create a wall of drawings only architects can read. You are not the audience.

#2: Don’t confuse representation with experiences. A rendering is not a room.

#3: Don’t leave out the interesting social consequences. Architecture shapes society, power, and access. Form without context is just décor.

(Not sure my dramatic architect voice is working out.)

Here’s the thing:

If visitors leave understanding why a building is the way it is — and who it’s for — then you didn’t just display architecture.

You practiced architecture.

Warmly,
Jonathan

(P.S. Yeah, that ending was a bit much.)

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MtM Word of the Day:
Section. An architectural or exhibition drawing that shows a cut-through or cutaway of a space, often vertical. This reveals relationships between things and hidden features. Plans, elevations, sections, and details are common drawing types.

NEW! The MtM Glossary of Museum Exhibitions (BETA)