194X-9/11: American Architects and the City December 14, 2011

In 1943 -- shortly after the U.S. entered World War II -- 'Architectural Forum' magazine commissioned a group of architects, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, to design projects for a hypothetical postwar American city. The aim was to project an optimistic postwar period of growth and prosperity to begin as soon as hostilities ended, in 194X... soon, it was hoped. This year marks the 10th anniversary of 9/11, an event that ushered in a new era of architectural anticipation and uncertainty, and gave rise to a flurry of urban rebuilding projects. This exhibition shows the work of a variety of architects who took on the urban scale in a spirit of recasting the form and daily experience of the city.