Culture

WHERE ART AND LIFE MEET

HOUSE AND HOME THE NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM 401 F STREET, NW

The National Building Museum presents House & Home, a kaleidoscopic array of photographs, objects, models and films that take us on a tour of houses both familiar and surprising, through past and present, challenging our ideas about what it means to be at home in America. Remarkable transformations in technology, laws and consumer culture have brought about enormous change in American domestic life. The breathtaking variety of stories about the American home surprise, teach and entertain.

The exhibition features “pleasetouch” walls made of different materials used in residential construction over time, from adobe bricks to structural insulated panel (SIP) systems. Intricate scale models present iconic residential architecture including Fallingwater and Chicago’s Hancock Center. Three sets of specially commissioned films featuring contemporary and historical images round out the experience.

House & Home’s galleries tell a full range of stories about the history of the American home. Designed by the awardwinning New York-based firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the exhibition is an immersive experience in which the galleries come alive with objects, photographs and sound.

THE LANGUAGE OF MAPS THE TEXTILE MUSEUM GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY 701 21ST STREET, NW

Before the digital age, generations of explorers, governments, scientists and travelers relied on printed maps for navigation, military strategy, urban planning and more. Drawing from the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection, this exhibition brings together maps from the 17th to the 21st centuries, each with its own symbolic language and story.