Archtober 2020

Archtober is a month-long celebration of architecture and design, returns this year as a hybrid virtual and in-person festival to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Organized by the Center for Architecture in collaboration with 70 partners and sponsors, the 2020 installment of the festival gathers events, exhibitions, resources, and activities that highlight the importance of architecture and design, even during the most challenging of times.

Talks by partners including Columbia GSAPP, the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at CCNY, the Van Alen Institute, and more will shift to virtual formats to accommodate even larger and more international audiences. Exhibitions will be both online and in-person, as the city continues to open, giving institutions like the MoMA and the Museum of the City of New York to safely welcome visitors into their spaces. Timed admissions tickets are also available for outdoor gardens like Wave Hill, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the New York Botanical Garden. Open House New York, from October 17-18, has been reimagined as a hybrid of virtual experiences and outdoor self-guided explorations. The festival’s popular “Building of the Day” series of architect-led tours will return for 2020, but in a virtual format. “Building of the Day” tours will be held Mondays through Fridays at midday, as either immersive presentations or virtual tours of new and iconic architecture. These virtual tours will include Little Island by Heatherwick Studios, the Marcel Breuer Buildings at the Bronx Community College (in collaboration with DOCOMOMO NY/Tri-State, The High Line by James Corner Field Operations, and the Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor, renovated by Gluckman Tang. To take advantage of our new digital reality, Archtober will also be folding in its new “Travel To” series as part of the festival’s “Building of the Day” tours. Once a week, attendees will be transported to site across the country, providing an opportunity for architectural tourism from the comfort of our homes.

Beyond timed and ticketed activities, this year’s Archtober site will also include a section of evergreen resources for architecture lovers of all ages. The Center for Architecture’s “Architecture at Home” resources, for example, provide families with simple architecture and design activities that only require items that are easily found around the home. Families can also tune into the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s “Sketch with Jeff” video series, where museum educator Jeff Hopkins shares stories about the Frank Lloyd Wright museum while teaching students the basics of sketching. These and other evergreen resources will become available via Archtober in mid-September. Visit our website, www.archtober.org, to see our lineup of events. 

About Archtober 
New York City's Architecture and Design Month—now in its tenth year—presents a wide array of events that focus on the importance of architecture and design in everyday life. Organized by the Center for Architecture in collaboration with partnering organizations across the city, the festival raises awareness of the important role of design in our city and the richness of New York’s built environment. www.archtober.org

About the Center for Architecture 
The Center for Architecture is the premier cultural venue for architecture and the built environment in New York City, informed by the complexity of the City’s urban fabric and in dialogue with the global community. The Center shares a home with the AIA New York Chapter and has the unique advantage of drawing upon the ideas and experiences of practicing architects to produce thought-provoking exhibitions, informative public programs, and quality design education experiences. http://cfa.aiany.org