archtober 2020 celebrates new york's architecture with 'hybrid' festival

archtober, new york’s month-long celebration of architecture and design, returns for 2020 as a ‘hybrid’ virtual and in-person festival. this year’s installment, which celebrates the festival’s 10-year anniversary, gathers events, exhibitions, resources, and activities that highlight the importance of architecture and design during the most challenging of times. responding to health and safety guidelines brought in as a result of COVID-19, this year’s festival will feature online-only talks and tours, DIY-style resources and self-led activities, and safe and socially distanced in-person programs.

as a media partner of archtober, designboom previews new york’s architecture and design month, and the events and activities you can get involved with, below.

buildings of the day: bronx river greenway river house | register here
main image: hunter’s point south waterfront | register here | image by albert vecerka/esto

organized by the center for architecture, archtober is now underway and will continue until the end of the month. ‘new york city and new yorkers have shown their resiliency through the pandemic and resulting financial crisis,’ says benjamin prosky, assoc. AIA, executive director of AIA new york and the center for architecture. ‘we are proud to have an opportunity to celebrate the incredible strength of our city and its built environment, and the institutions large and small that contribute to its rich and vibrant cultural landscape.’

building of the day: noguchi museum renovation | register here

talks by partners including columbia GSAPP, the bernard and anne spitzer school of architecture at CCNY, the van alen institute, and more will shift to virtual formats to accommodate even larger and more international audiences. as the city continues to re-open, exhibitions will be both online and in-person. timed admissions tickets are also available for outdoor gardens like wave hill, the brooklyn botanic garden, and the new york botanical garden.

virtual tour of steven holl architects’ ‘ex of in house’ | register here

the festival’s popular ‘building of the day’ series of architect-led tours will return for 2020, but in a virtual format. ‘building of the day’ tours will be held mondays through fridays at midday, as either immersive presentations or virtual tours of new and historic architecture. these virtual tours will include ‘little island’ by heatherwick studio, the marcel breuer buildings at the bronx community college, the high line by james corner field operations, and the staten island museum at snug harbor, renovated by gluckman tang.

building of the day: marcel breuer buildings at bronx community college | register here

archtober will also be folding in its new ‘travel to’ series as part of the festival’s ‘building of the day’ tours. once a week, attendees will be transported to a site across the country, providing an opportunity for architectural tourism from the comfort of your home. meanwhile, open house new york, from october 17-18, has also been re-imagined as a hybrid of virtual experiences and outdoor self-guided explorations.

virtual talk with gordon bunshaft & SOM | register here

beyond timed and ticketed activities, this year’s archtober website also includes a section of evergreen resources for architecture lovers of all ages. the center for architecture’s ‘architecture at home’ resources, for example, provide families with simple architecture and design activities that only require items that are easily found around the home. families can also tune into the guggenheim museum’s ‘sketch with jeff’ video series, where museum educator jeff hopkins shares stories about the frank lloyd wright-designed museum while teaching students the basics of sketching. the full line-up of events can be seen on archtober’s website.