Archtober 2023

Archtober, a New York City-based platform that promotes the discovery of architecture and design through experiences and content, will celebrate the next installment of its annual Festival from October 1–31, 2023. In collaboration with over 100 partners and sponsors across the city, the 2023 Festival will gather events, exhibitions, resources, and activities across the five boroughs to raise awareness of the importance of architecture and design in New York City. This year, for the first time, the platform has introduced a 2023 theme, Bridging Divides, which helps to organize select programming with shared goals and conceptual connections. Additionally, Archtober is excited to continue to expand the Archtober Guide on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.

“As Archtober celebrates its 13th year, we are thrilled to be working with over 100 collaborating partners to offer an impressive—and still growing—lineup of architecture and design events,” says Jesse Lazar, Interim Executive Director, AIA New York and the Center for Architecture. “Archtober 2023 feels more expansive than ever,” he adds, “thanks in part to the return of our ever-popular Building of the Day series, which features 31 tours and reaches as far afield as the Robert Olnick Pavilion at Magazzino Italian Art, designed by Miguel Quismondo of MQ Architecture and Alberto Campo Baeza.”

“As the post-pandemic world continues to shapeshift, the Archtober platform has also introduced its first-ever theme for 2023,” says Katie Mullen, Director of Archtober and Director of Exhibitions and Programs, Center for Architecture. “Bridging Divides points towards breaking down barriers within the field of architecture and design, as well as within the built environment that surrounds us.”

Festival Theme: Bridging Divides

This 2023 Festival theme reflects a profound commitment to fostering inclusivity, innovation, and a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness between individuals, communities, and the spaces they inhabit.

Programming within this umbrella includes the lecture series Alignments in the Indigenous Design Process, developed in collaboration with the Indigenous Society of Architecture, Planning and Design (ISAPD), which presents processes and projects featuring both natural and artificial elements that are woven into Indigenous spatial design methodologies. As part of this series, performance artist, visual artist, and composer Suzanne Kite will discuss spatial relationships between human and non-human entities in her installation and design work in Nonhuman Futures on October 3 via Zoom.

Seven of the Architecture & Design Film Festival‘s 14 featured films also connect to Bridging Divides, including Skin of Glass, director Denise Zmekhol’s 2023 journey to reckon with Brazil’s harsh inequality and Best in the World, a 2022 film from director Hans Christian Post that offers a closer look at the Danish capital’s journey from an industrial city on the brink of bankruptcy to the transformed Copenhagen of today.

Additionally, this fall, the Guggenheim will launch the second iteration of Mind’s Eye: A Sensory Guide to the Guggenheim New York. Designed for those who are blind or have low vision, the Mind’s Eye audio guide provides listeners with an alternative and innovative forum to engage with the Guggenheim’s Frank Lloyd Wright building.

Program Highlights

The festival will feature numerous exhibitions across the city, including Valerie Goodman Gallery’s Staging Future Worlds: The Architectural Visions of László Rajk, opening October 6, and the Museum of Modern Art’s Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism, an exhibition dedicated to both realized and unrealized projects that address ecological and environmental concerns by architects who practiced in the United States from the 1930s through the 1990s. On view at the Center for Architecture, Janna Ireland on the Architectural Legacy of Paul Revere Williams in Nevada features the contemporary photography of Janna Ireland exploring the important contributions of architect Paul R. Williams (1894-1980) in Nevada. Farther afield, 'T' Space will feature an exhibition of the architecture of Giuliano Fiorenzoli while Magazzino Italian Art’s trio of exhibitions includes Ettore Spalletti: Parole di colore.

For 2023, the festival’s popular Building of the Day series of architect-led tours will take place daily and includes:

• Bronx Children’s Museum in The Bronx by O’Neill McVoy Architects
• SAGE Center Brooklyn at Stonewall House in Brooklyn by Ted Porter Architecture
• High Line - Moynihan Connector in Manhattan by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and James Corner Field Operations
• Robert Olnick Pavilion at Magazzino Italian Art in Cold Spring, NY, by Miguel Quismondo of MQ Architecture and Alberto Campo Baeza
• Melrose North in The Bronx by Curtis + Ginsberg Architects
• Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art in Staten Island by Jacques Marchais

Several Archtober partners will also be offering tours outside of the festival’s Building of the Day series. On October 6, join a Guided Tour of Little Island, or venture to Long Island’s Port Washington on October 14 to enjoy a rare tour of the historic mid-century home of William Landsberg with Henrybuilt and DOCOMOMO US/New York Tri-State. On October 21, New York Public Library’s Ottendorfer Library will offer Libraries & Riots: An East Village Walking Tour exploring the rich history of the East Village and the place of libraries during a time of immense social change.

On October 27, Pumpkitecture will return to the Center for Architecture, as teams of architects go gourd-to-gourd to compete for the Pritzkerpumpkin. Spooky fun abounds that day as the Museum of the City of New York also offers Cocktails & Culture: New York Movies Halloween Bash, when you’re invited to dress up as your favorite scary movie character and dance the night away to music by MCNY favorite DJ Misbehaviour.

Beyond timed and ticketed activities, the Archtober site continues to feature Anytime Activities, a section of ongoing resources for architecture lovers of all ages. The Center for Architecture’s Architecture Activities and the Cooper Hewitt’s Design It Yourself series provide families with simple, downloadable instructions for DIY lessons and guides. Podcast lovers can also dive into Little Island’s 40-minute Landscape Audio Tour narrated by landscape architect Signe Nielsen of MNLA, or the Queens Public Library’s Queens Memory Project, which uses the library’s oral history archive to tell stories about the borough’s past. Visit archtober.org to see our lineup of events for 2023!

While visiting our website, stop by the festival’s Archtober Shop, which features a variety of items—from t-shirts to baseball caps to fanny packs and even socks—for you to explore the city in style.

The Archtober Guide on Bloomberg Connects

At its core, the Archtober Festival is meant to encourage and inspire audiences to engage with the architecture and design that surrounds them. Building on our efforts to create year-round Archtober experiences, this year, the festival continues to partner with Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and cultural app created by Bloomberg Philanthropies, to offer the Archtober Guide. Over the past 12 years, Archtober has toured hundreds of projects across the five boroughs. The Archtober Guide on Bloomberg Connects allows you to explore a selection of these sites from your phone, allowing you to dive deep into some of NYC’s most exciting contemporary and historical projects. View project images and listen to exclusive, app-only interviews with the architects and landscape architects who are shaping the future of New York City!

Featured new buildings include the Irish Hunger Memorial by 1100 Architect, Sperone Westwater by Foster + Partners, The Carolina by Curtis + Ginsberg, Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse by Architecture Research Office, Columbia Business School by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and FXCollaborative, and the Fraunces Tavern Museum.

You can also use Bloomberg Connects to explore Archtober partners, including the Judd Foundation, Magazzino Italian Art, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and the Neue Galerie New York, among many others.

About Archtober

Archtober is a NYC-based platform that promotes the discovery of architecture and design through experiences and content, culminating in a month-long festival every October. By collaborating with hundreds of partners, Archtober presents tours, lectures, workshops, panels, exhibitions and more that are accessible to all. Founded in 2010, Archtober has grown into a year-round resource for all things architecture, celebrating the craft and the individuals behind the global built environment. Archtober works with partners like museums, cultural organizations, consulates, advocacy groups, parks, and more. Learn more at archtober.org.