“November’s night is dark and drear, The dullest month of all the year”, opined Letitia Elizabeth Landon in 1836, however, ’twas not all doom and gloom, for, as she continues, “the November evening now closing in round Mrs. Cameron’s house was of a very cheerful nature.”*

A cheerfulness in Mrs. Cameron’s house/school occasioned by the gaiety associated with the rapidly approaching annual school prize-giving and ball; and a cheerfulness to banish the dreary darkness of a November evening that can also be achieved through the intellectual stimulation of an architecture and/or design exhibition.

Our five recommended distractions from November 2021 can be found in Frankfurt, Basel, Dresden, Miami Beach and Munich…..

5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for November 2021

Design ist unsichtbar“, Design is invisible/unseen proclaimed the Swiss sociologist Lucius Burckhardt in 1981.1

Which surprised a great many in 1981.

And may surprise a great many in 2021……

Lucius Burckhardt (1925 - 2003) (Photo Annemarie Burckhardt, © Martin Schmitz Verlag)

While the shortlist of exhibitions for this column is regularly long, that for May 2019 was particularly so.

And particularly tricky. Perusing it we saw no realistic chance of getting it down to five, all made good claims for inclusion, none deserved to be ignored……

Then we noticed that, with a little bit tweaking, we could get two lists: one featuring those exhibitions directly connected with Bauhaus/Inter-War architecture and design, and one featuring those less directly connected.

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The Bauhaus/Inter-War architecture and design list will follow, but for all keen to explore architecture and design in a wider context, five new exhibitions opening in May 2019 in Munich, New York, Berlin, Basel & Villingen-Schwenningen, you may like to consider visiting……..

5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for May 2019

Recycling, reuse and reappropriation are not only subjects for product design, but also for architecture, which hopefully isn’t new information, even if considerations on such (arguably) aren’t always at the forefront of architects thoughts, far less architectural planning.

Even if they (equally arguably) should be.

With the exhibition Transform the S AM Swiss Architecture Museum Basel make an appeal not only for more, better considered, recycling, reuse and reappropriation in architecture, but explore three contemporary projects which demonstrate how such can function, and thereby serving as impeti* for further projects.

Cité du Grand Parc Bordeaux by Lacaton & Vassal, Druot Hutin - left what was, right the new extension, as seen at Transform S AM Swiss Architecture Museum Basel

The Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Basel’s Institute Industrial Design is sited in the city’s Dreispitz district, a name derived from the district’s (roughly) triangular form, and a term which translates into English as “cocked hat”

But would the work of the Institute’s students see conventional ideas, wisdoms and understandings knocked into a Dreispitz…..

Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Basel, Campus Dreispitz

With his two faces the Roman God Janus looks simultaneously forward and backwards, standing in constant watch over transitions, the passage of time, beginnings, ends.

The easy connection to make is with January, that month of the year when we are invariably reflecting and hoping in equal measure: the more complex connection to make is with a well-crafted architecture and design exhibition, one which effortlessly links reflections of the past with proposals, visions and excitement for the future. Nothing existing as it does in isolation. And everything requiring a transition.

Our five gatekeepers for January 2018 can be found in San Francisco, Brussels, Basel, Milan and Cologne.

5 New Architecture & Design Exhibitions for January 2018

With the opening of the Vitra Schaudepot the Vitra Campus has not only grown by a further building, but the Vitra Design Museum has realised a long held dream, that of an exhibition space in which to present their collection in its full extent; or at least in a much fuller extent than has currently been possible.

Vitra Schaudepot by Herzog & de Meuron

Adolfo Natalilni (Superstudio), Study for the Continuous Monument, 1969. (Photo © The architect, Courtesy of S AM Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum)

The term “post-war architecture” is for many a term of insult, an insinuation that something is of lesser value. Or

Normally October is all about design festivals, October 2015 wasn’t. On the one hand we weren’t at that many this

Maker Library Thingking © Jana Atherton-Chiellino for British Council

In his review of Chris Taylor’s book “How Star Wars Conquered the Universe” the American film critic Tom Shone makes

The Collective Intention Depot Basel

As previously reported, Bauhaus Dessau are currently presenting “The coop principle – Hannes Meyer and the Concept of Collective Design”,

This is Work Fictional Collective Depot Basel

In what sounds like a truly monumental example of critical cultural analysis meets mid-life crisis and self-doubt, Depot Basel and

depot basel display

When in 2013 the design facilitators from Depot Basel were forced to move from their original home in a former

NOMOS Metro watch by Berlinerblau for NOMOS Glashütte

Much as the hardest move in yoga is unrolling your yoga mat, so to is the most challenging facet about

… had things not continued apace in June. A month which saw us trawl trough Berlin with Niek Wagemans looking

May may have been slow in the past. May. For aside from DMY Berlin, Fritz Haller in Basel, Niek van

As all old thesauruans know “April” is merely a synonym for “Milan” And lo despite all promises to the contrary

Tom Vack Tom Vac

It’s now been twelve months since we decided to start recommending upcoming architecture and design exhibitions based on nothing more

aram gallery future stars

The inescapable chill in the morning air and the deep-seated boredom in the eyes of school aged children can only

Swiss Design Award 2014

As is becoming customary Design Miami Basel 2014 provided the backdrop for the presentation of the Swiss Design Award. And

It takes more than one by mischer’traxler

When we met up with Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler aka mischer’traxler ahead of the exhibition Castling. Designers meet the

Design Miami Basel 2014 Jean Prouvé Galerie Jacques Lacoste

While the art world is awash with anecdotes of cleaners disposing of installations having confused them for rubbish, we’re not

Craft & Bling Bling Fake at Depot Basel

For us there is very little that epitomises fakeness better than Bling – bold, flash, arrogant jewellery distracting from the

Fritz Haller Architect and Researcher Swiss Architecture Museum Basel USM Pavillon

Until August 24th the Swiss Architecture Museum, SAM, in Basel is staging “Fritz Haller. Architect and Researcher”, an exhibition devoted

Unsichtbare Dinge Typisch chinesisch Typisch deutsch at the Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg Germany erledigt

Mayday! Mayday! Don’t panic. It’s just a public holiday. You’ll survive. Barbecue something…… And afterwards, when everyone else is back