Exhibitions

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Capital Brutalism

Capital Brutalism explores the history, current state, and future of seven polarizing buildings and the WMATA Metro system in Washington, D.C.

Animation Still - Civic Center at Point Park Skyline Ink Animators + Illustrators, designers. Project for Civic Center at Point Park for the Allegheny Conference, 1947, digital illustration, 2021. This image was prepared with material kindly made available by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Courtesy of Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. All rights reserved.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Southwestern Pennsylvania

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Southwestern Pennsylvania presents both realized and unrealized projects Frank Lloyd Wright designed for the region from the 1930s through the 1950s. The exhibition examines how his vision of the future might have impacted urban, suburban, and rural landscapes.

Building Stories

Building Stories brings kids and adults alike on an immersive exploration of the world of architecture, engineering, construction, and design found in the pages of children’s books.

Brick City

Brick City celebrates iconic architecture from cities around the world through carefully recreated constructions made from LEGO® bricks by U.K.-based artist Warren Elsmore.

Mini Memories

Mini Memories presents selections from a one-of-a-kind collection of souvenir buildings, on display to the public for the first time.

Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania. Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright. Built: 1935. Model by Studios Eichbaum + Arnold, 2010. Photo by Museum staff.

House & Home

House & Home is a kaleidoscopic array of photographs, objects, models, and films that take us on a tour of houses both familiar and surprising, through past and present, challenging our ideas about what it means to be at home in America.

Online Exhibitions

Jose, Protective measures, H. F. Dollar and Up, 61-27 Roosevelt Ave., Queens, April 25, 2020.

Documenting Crossroads: THE NEW NORMAL

Camilo José Vergara’s ongoing documentation of how the pandemic is affecting people in poor, segregated neighborhoods, from space changes for economic survival to behavioral changes to avoid illness.

Marquee, Apollo Theater, 253 West za125th St. Harlem, April 4, 2020

Documenting Crossroads: The Coronavirus in Poor, Minority Communities

Camilo José Vergara’s firsthand account of public space in the time of coronavirus, as seen in poor, segregated communities—those most likely to be affected by the disease.

Child street vendor, 9215 Roosevelt Ave., Queens, November 15, 2020.

Documenting Crossroads: Survival and Remembrance Under the Pandemic

The third installment of Camilo José Vergara’s ongoing documentation of how Covid-19 has affected poor and segregated urban neighborhoods, several months into the 2020 pandemic.

Past Exhibitions

Murals That Matter: Activism Through Public Art

August 28, 2020 – December 31, 2020 The National Building Museum, in partnership with the P.A.I.N.T.S. Institute and the DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID), is pleased to present Murals That Matter: Activism Through Public Art.…

Look Here

July 1, 2023 – September 4, 2023 This year we are thrilled to present the seventh Summer Block Party installation Look Here by Suchi Reddy. The installation fills the Museum’s colossal Great Hall while…

A Better Way Home: The Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge

October 21, 2022 – January 15, 2024 Home and community matter most. Yet in so many neighborhoods across the country, rising housing costs and interest rates have put homeownership out of…

What’s Already There: Sustainable Architecture from Brussels

“What’s Already There: Sustainable Architecture from Brussels” explores six examples of inventive adaptive reuse.

mLab

June 17th – August 22nd, 2022 In conjunction with the award, Arup’s m/Lab will be on display at the Museum from June 17 through August 22, 2022, showing how the tool enables…

The Playhouse

A theater experience by day and a performance space by night featuring Folger Theatre’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Notre-Dame de Paris: The Augmented Exhibition

Notre-Dame de Paris: The Augmented Exhibition is an augmented reality immersion into the history and restoration of the revered cathedral.

The Wall/El Muro: What Is a Border Wall?

November 6, 2021 – July 3, 2023 The Wall/El Muro: What Is a Border Wall? examines the border wall from the perspective of architecture and design. By focusing on the built…

Sukkah City x DC

Inspired by the theme ‘welcoming a stranger,’ the sukkah designs explore social justice issues, the changing landscape, and the traditions of Sukkot.

View of Lower Manhattan from the Manhattan Bridge, November 1979

The Towers of the WTC: 51 Years of Photographs by Camilo José Vergara

A selection of 52 images by the renowned urban documentarian to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attack on New York City.