What is the purpose of exhibiting architecture? One difficulty of curating architectural exhibitions is the impossibility of exhibiting buildings themselves. Instead, exhibits often focus on drawings, models, photographs, correspondence, and publications. However compelling, this material rarely holds the same interest for people outside our discipline as for those within it. Even a floor plan may be illegible to the uninitiated. Any exhibition must wrestle with the question of audience: of who we communicate with, and why. 

This course makes that question concrete. The setting is the Branch Museum of Design, a small institution housed in a Tudor Revival mansion in Richmond, Virginia. The subject to be exhibited is a trove of archival materials related to Best Products, a retail company that commissioned a series of experimental big-box showrooms in the 1970s. Our objective is to interrogate the contemporary significance of this material and to explore how, why, and to whom it should be shown. Students will investigate the history and current conditions of architectural exhibitions, and contribute to the curation of a show on Best Products to open at the Branch in May 2026. We will engage with this subject not only through archival materials, but by meeting directly with the designers behind the work, including James Wines, Malcolm Holzman, and Tom Geismar. We will also gain insights from prominent architectural curators.

Beyond buildings, how does the discipline of architecture communicate with the public? Beyond niche publications, how do we record and share our history? What is the role of a design museum in stimulating civic discourse in an American city today? Together, we will not only ask questions but posit answers and imagine strategies with the potential to impact a real-world institution. This course will include a sponsored overnight trip to the Branch Museum of Design.