10 Places to visit where architecture is on display

If we move to Asia, the continent confirms it is the center  of interest not only thanks to the Osaka Expo mentioned above.  

For instance, at the Mori Art Museum, until 9 November, there is the first major exhibition by Sou Fujimoto, designer of the Grand Ring of Expo 2025. The first major survey of Fujimoto’s work, it offers a complete overview in eight sections, ranging from the works of his early years to projects currently in progress, and follows his architectural career of the last thirty years, the characteristics of his architecture and the philosophy behind it. Leveraging the museum’s expertise as a contemporary art museum, the exhibition allows anyone, not just those working in the field of architecture, to physically experience the essence of Fujimoto’s work, including exhibits such as installations and large-scale models that offer spatial experience. The exhibition also examines the role and potential of architecture through Fujimoto’s vision of the future city.

The Mendrisio Theatre of Architecture of the Università della Svizzera Italiana presents the exhibition “Make Do with Now, New Orientations of Japanese Architecture”, an exhibition hosted and promoted by the Academy of Architecture of the USI, produced by the Swiss Architecture Museum (SAM). Curated by Yuma Shinohara, until 5 October, the exhibition presents the ideas and projects of a new generation of architects and urban planners working in Japan. Born between the mid-seventies and the mid-nineties, these architects embarked on their professional careers after the great earthquake of 2011 that devastated the eastern regions of the country and caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster. This generation is having to deal with a series of pressing problems plaguing Japan, including demographic decline, an aging population, and the emptying of the countryside; the increasing number of vacant homes throughout the nation; urban development dominated by the logic of profit, often without the involvement of architects; a stagnant economy and,  of course, the global climate crisis.

Finally, at the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, in conjunction with the Serralves Museum in Porto, until 7 September it will be possible to visit “Alvaro Siza: The Archive”, the largest retrospective in Asia devoted to the Portuguese architect, winner of the Pritzker Prize, one of the most internationally acclaimed architects at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, described by many as a “poetic architect” for the serenity, silence and calm that characterize his poetic buildings. The exhibition brings together over 800 works, including drawings, models, sculptures, objects and photographs, highlighting the architect’s long and prolific career, as well as the construction of an interconnected topography of buildings that establishes continuous associations over time.

We will close with the autumn Biennials. Certainly worth mentioning are the Chicago Architecture Biennial and the sixth edition of the Pisa Biennale, curated by the association LP Laboratorio Permanente per la Città, under the direction of Massimo Del Seppia, staged with a renewed format that extends the duration of the event, the number of exhibition pavilions, lectures, awards and guests in the lineup.

Read also: Biennials and Design Weeks from the world: the complete 2025 guide