Hip-Hop Architecture makes its way to Los Angeles this summer

The notable Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture exhibition, curated by architect, curator, and Director of the Master of Urban Design program at UNC Charlotte, Sekou Cooke, will travel to Los Angeles this summer with help from the Southern California Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (SoCalNOMA).

Cooke has stated: “In aggregate, these projects reveal a collective vision for alternative forms of expression and practice, and serve to formalize work created over almost 30 years into an emerging canon of Hip-Hop Architecture.”

The show had previously been on display in New York, Minneapolis, Charlotte, and Atlanta, and will now occupy space in the historic Helms Design Center in Culver City from June until the end of September. 

Since 2018, the traveling exhibition has showcased the work of more than 20 designers and architects, the exhibition traces the development of the movement through key figures such as Nina Cooke John, Michael Ford, Craig Wilkins, and Cooke himself over the past quarter-century plus. 

The exhibition is being put on in partnership with Los Angeles’ Architecture & Design (A+D) Museum and is looking for volunteers and additional sponsors. Interested parties can sign up via the museum's Pledge Form link here.  Information about Cooke's work and other curatorial projects can be found here.

Back in 2018, Cook was a guest on the Archinect Sessions Podcast, episode #129, and discussed his then-upcoming exhibition Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture. We also chatted with Cook last year in 2022 for Archinect's Studio Snapshot series. Click here to read his interview.