Archtober, New York City’s month-long celebration of architecture and design, returns this year as a hybrid virtual and in-person festival, allowing partners to take advantage of broader virtual networks while accommodating diverse audiences. Organized by the Center for Architecture in collaboration with 70 partners and sponsors, the 2021 instalment of the festival gathers events, exhibitions, resources, and activities that celebrate the importance of architecture and design in NYC and beyond.

Talks by partners including Columbia GSAPP, the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at CCNY, and more will shift to virtual or hybrid formats. Many of these talks and panels will foster important conversations around the built environment implications of the pandemic and massive ecological change.

Meanwhile, exhibitions have mainly returned to in-person formats, giving institutions like the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and the Museum of the City of New York the opportunity to safely welcome visitors into their spaces. Don’t miss the New York Botanical Garden’s Kusama: Cosmic Nature, closing at the end of October, or the Museum of Modern Art’s Reuse, Renew, Recycle: Recent Architecture from China, opening in September.

For 2021, the festival’s popular “Building of the Day” series of architect-led tours returns to largely in-person programming, including Little Island by Heatherwick Studio, the Africa Center by Caples Jefferson Architects, the Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch Renovation by Toshiko Mori Architects, the Dia Art Foundation by Architecture Research Office, and 11 Hoyt by Studio Gang. Archtober will also continue its “Travel To” series, which digitally transports attendees to sites across the world, providing an opportunity for architectural tourism from the comfort of our homes.