Although the Museum’s doors are closed for now, we are producing smart, timely, and thought-provoking programs that can be experienced online. A number of these include opportunities to earn continuing education credits. Click on the tabs below to find out what we’re planning and what is now available for viewing.
Spotlight on Design is generously supported by the Revada Foundation of the Logan Family.
Spotlight on Design lectures feature many of the world’s premier voices in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and design. Browse highlights from previous years on our YouTube channel, and enjoy other video and audio recordings on this page.
PREVIOUS PROGRAMS
The Netherlands Carillon — DECEMBER 8, 2020
The Netherlands Carillon (bell tower), in Arlington, Virginia, is a 1950s gift from the people of The Netherlands to the people of the U.S. in thanks for aid during and after World War II. Learn from Kay Fanning, Historian, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, Thomas Jester, FAIA, Principal, Quinn Evans, and Diederik Oostdijk, author of Bells for America: The Cold War, Modernism, and the Netherlands Carillon in Arlington as they discuss the controversy surrounding the design and siting of the Carillon during the Cold War and the current renovations and upgrade of the tower to a Grand Carillon as part of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of The Netherlands by the U.S. military. The program is moderated by Thomas Luebke, FAIA, Secretary, U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.
Architects: Earn 1.5 HSW LU (AIA-approved). Take this quiz after watching the program.
This program is presented as part of the National Building Museum’s 40th Birthday weeklong celebration. Additional funding for this program is provided by the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands.
ODA — NOVEMBER 10, 2020
Hear from Eran Chen, founding principal of New York–based ODA, on the firm’s exploration into new fractal forms in architecture and its impact on the future of cities and society. Chen will discuss the evolution of his practice, including projects such as Washington D.C.’s West Half and The Wharf; 10 Jay Street, in New York City; and a new master plan for the Astoria neighborhood in Queens, New York.
Architects: Earn 1.5 HSW LU (AIA-approved). Take this quiz after watching the program.
FXCOLLABORATIVE — OCTOBER 20, 2020
Learn about the Hybrid, a new breed of co-development where not-for-profit and for-profit clients cohabitate, integrating two or more divergent uses such as an untraditional mix of schools, sacred spaces, residential, retail, and office, into a single, purpose-built building. Hear about the opportunities and challenges inherent to these projects, with a focus on design and construction implications, as well as their potential impacts on institutions, communities, social justice, and the urban fabric. Dan Kaplan, FAIA, senior partner with New York City–based FXCollaborative, and Miriam Harris, executive vice president of Trinity Place Holdings, developer of the FXCollaborative-designed 77 Greenwich, explore how the Hybrid may allow for the creation of more equitable cities through development opportunities and partnerships between seemingly divergent client types.
Architects: Earn 1.5 HSW LU (AIA-approved). Take this quiz after watching the program.
MASS Design Group — August 19, 2020
This program celebrates a decade of mission-driven, humanitarian work by the nonprofit, Boston-based architecture studio MASS Design Group. Michael Murphy, a founding partner, shows how the firm’s mission—to research, build, and advocate for architecture that promotes justice and healing—is demonstrated in hospitals, schools, and memorials. The program is moderated by Susan Piedmont-Palladino, curator of the exhibition Justice is Beauty: The Work of MASS Design Group, which will be available for viewing when the Museum opens to the public. Purchase the firm’s first monograph, Justice is Beauty: Mass Design Group, at the Museum Shop.
Architects: Earn 1.5 HSW LU (AIA-approved). Take this quiz after watching the program.
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library — June 24, 2020
This program focuses on the major transformation completed in spring 2020 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C.’s central library, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and opened in 1972. Learn about the significant design decisions that were made to update the building to meet 21st century needs, and the challenges of renovating a historic Modernist structure. Panelists include: Richard Reyes-Gavilan, Executive Director, D.C. Public Library; Francine Houben, Founding Partner/Creative Director, Mecanoo architecten; and Gary Martinez, FAIA, Partner, OTJ Architects.
Architects: Earn 1.5 HSW LU (AIA-approved). Take this quiz after watching the program.
Additional funding for this program was provided by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Racial and social equity issues are inherent to the built world. The ways we choose to design our buildings, landscapes, interiors, and streets are either the cause or the cure of these disparities. In this new National Building Museum series, learn from architects, landscape architects, planners, interior designers, and other design and design-adjacent professionals as we reflect on current events and the history that brought us here; listen to stimulating conversations; and consider concrete actions that these professions and others are taking to promote justice in the built environment.
The Museum’s efforts to present programs and exhibitions that are fully inclusive have been evolving, especially over the past few years. This series will be a part of our ongoing commitment to ensure that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) professionals will have a place and a voice in the conversations we host.
The Equity in the Built Environment series is generously supported by STUDIOS Architecture.
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
NATIONAL PARk SERVICE
January 26, 2021, 6:30–8 pm
FREE
Hear Terry E. Brown, federal agency coordinator of America250 and former National Park Service (NPS) superintendent of historic Fort Monroe National Monument; Calvin Pearson, executive director, Project 1619; Deanda Johnson, Midwest Regional manager, National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program at NPS; and Enimini Ekong, Acting Project Manager for WASO Workforce & Inclusion and Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, Program Manager of Interpretation, Education, and Cultural Resources, discuss how the NPS is telling the whole story of America’s history through inclusive interpretation.
PREVIOUS PROGRAMS
MARDI GRAS INDIAN CULTURAL CAMPUS—OCTOBER 14, 2020
Learn how the Mardi Gras Indian Cultural Campus is helping to reverse the negative impacts of economic disinvestment, political neglect, and natural disasters that have eroded community pride and participation in New Orleans’ Central City, a once-thriving hub of African American civic and commercial life. Austin Allen, Ph.D., ASLA, associate professor of practice in the School of Architecture at the University of Texas Arlington; Chief Tyrone Casby, now retired, former Principal of Landry High School in New Orleans, Louisiana; and Matt A. Williams, ASLA, urban planner, City of Detroit, discuss their roles in establishing this culturally significant site. The program is moderated by Ujijji Davis Williams, ASLA, a landscape architect, urban planner, and associate with SmithGroup. Allen, Davis Williams, and Williams are members of the Black Landscape Architect’s Network (BlackLAN), whose mission is to increase the visibility, support the interests, and foster the impact of Black practitioners in landscape architecture. Click here to see images of the campus and one of the buildings. All photos courtesy Matt A. Williams.
An occasional series in which the Museum highlights recently published works whose subject matter touches on some aspect of the built environment.
PREVIOUS PROGRAMS
The Great Indoors / Emily Anthes — OCTOBER 26, 2020
Learn how our built world, and the buildings in which we spend 90% of our time, affects our mental and physical well-being, our productivity, and our behavior. In her new book, The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020), science journalist Emily Anthes explores the pain-killing power of a well-placed window, how room temperature regulates our cognitive performance, and whether a well-designed prison can help support inmates’ psychological needs.
Architects: Earn 1.5 HSW LU (AIA-approved). Take this quiz after watching the program.
This program is supported by the Apgar Fund for Excellence in the Built Environment.
Presentations and panel discussions that arise from our exhibitions and other activities.
UPCOMING PROGRAMS
memorializing the victims of gun violence
February 2, 2021, 6:30–8 pm
FREE
Learn about the design, purpose, and meaning of the Gun Violence Memorial Project, conceived by MASS Design Group and conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas in partnership with gun violence prevention organizations Purpose Over Pain and Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund as a tribute to the thousands of lives taken by gun violence in America each year. The National Building Museum presents the exhibition, which will be freely available to all Museum visitors, as a complement to Justice is Beauty: The Work of MASS Design Group. Both will be on view when the Museum opens later this year. Panelists: Pamela Bosley, Purpose Over Pain; Annette Nance-Holt, Purpose Over Pain; Debbie Weir, Senior Managing Director for Organizing and Engagement, Everytown for Gun Safety; Jha D. Williams, Senior Associate, MASS Design Group (moderator).
PREVIOUS PROGRAMS
DOCUMENTING CROSSROADS — DECEMBER 7, 2020
Learn more about this exhibition.
Learn how the Covid pandemic has affected poor and segregated communities in urban centers. Longtime National Building Museum collaborator Camilo José Vergara, renowned urban documentarian and recipient of the 2012 National Humanities Medal, and Elihu Rubin, associate professor of urbanism at the Yale School of Architecture, discuss the photos and essays that comprise the three-part online Museum exhibition Documenting Crossroads. The exhibition reveals the ongoing impact of the coronavirus on the ground; including ephemeral adaptations of urban space, grassroots efforts to feed the hungry, and the ways in which local street art and graffiti reflect a collective preoccupation with the virus.
MURALS THAT MATTER — SEPTEMBER 22, 2020
Learn more about this exhibition.
Learn how street art can transform public space, serve as form of protest and activism, and contribute to the civic discourse on important topics. John Chisolm, Executive Director, P.A.I.N.T.S. Institute; Gerren Price, Director of Public Space Operations, DowntownDC Business Improvement District; Levi Robinson, visual artist; and Tim Wright, founder of Attucks Adams, a D.C.-based history tour organization, discuss how public art contributes to the character of neighborhoods and was essential in supporting social justice protests in Washington, D.C., following the murder of George Floyd. The program is moderated by National Building Museum’s Caitlin Bristol, Project Manager for Exhibitions.
