The Top 10 Exhibitions of 2017

This year saw an incredible diversity of exhibitions, many of which looked to the past in unconventional ways.

Best architecture design Exhibitions 2017
Barbican Exhibit on Japanese Houses Is a Veritable Architectural Playground: This exhibition at the Barbican Gallery highlighted Japanese architects’ thrilling, seemingly impractical, sometimes topsy-turvy experiments with the house. Click for More.

As 2017 draws to a close, we’re looking back at this year’s biggest and best stories: from new buildings to controversies, interiors, products, and beyond. Enjoy the list below, but be sure to find our other “Top 10” lists here as they come online running up to December 31, 2017.


This year saw an incredible diversity of exhibitions, many of which looked to the past in unconventional ways. The Chicago Architecture Biennial challenged participants to “Make New History” while Adam Nathaniel Furman used colorful pottery to evoke the architectural grandeur of Rome. And for each more conventional exhibition—the Met’s delightful look back on Ettore Sottsass, for instance—there was something more idiosyncratic to match, such as BIO 25, Ljubljana’s design biennale.

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