Imagining Otherwise: Architectural and Urban Visions from the Drawing Matter Collection – 19 & 20 September 2026

Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 September
11.00–18.00
8 Smart’s Place, London, WC2B 5LW
Free and open to all

For this year’s Open House Festival, Drawing Matter will present an exhibition that explores how architects have used drawing(s) to imagine alternative ways of living, from the scale of individual dwellings to radical urban and planetary visions. Primarily focused on work made from the 1950s to the 1970s, but also looking to more historical examples, the exhibition brings together drawings from an international group of architects and designers, including Superstudio, Archigram, Hans Hollein, Claude Parent, Yona Friedman, Arata Isozaki, Paolo Soleri, and Aerolande.

Haus-Rücker-Co, Changer, 1972. Hand coloured lithograph, 600 × 749 mm. DMC 2761.
Adolfo Natalini (1941–2020), The Continuous Monument: New New York, 1969. Ink on paper (sketchbook page), 340 × 275 mm. DMC 2141.52.
Archizoom Associati, No-Stop City, 1969–1972. Typewriter on film overlay, 298 × 210 mm. DMC 2738.4.

Walk arounds

At 11.00 on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20, members of the Drawing Matter team will lead informal walk-arounds of the exhibition, offering the chance to learn more about the drawings on display and Drawing Matter’s work. Free and open to all; no booking required.

Constant (1920–2005), Frontispiece for New Babylon, 1963. Pen and ink, 155 × 200 mm. DMC 1472.11.

View on the Open House Website

Drawing Matter’s public programme offers the public opportunities to experience our drawings collection, which is usually only open to researchers by appointment and for student/practice workshops. Events take the form of talks at the archive, workshops by practitioners and open weekends. 

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