On view are 41 works from leading architects of the 1970s and 1980s including Thomas Beeby, Laurence Booth, Melvin Charney, Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Michael Graves, Zaha Hadid, John Hejduk, Arata Isozaki, Helmut Jahn, Louis Kahn, OMA – Rem Koolhaas, Peter Pran, Aldo Rossi, Paul Rudolph, Robert A.M. Stern, Stanley Tigerman, Bernard Tschumi, and James Wines. The drawings represent a broad spectrum of graphics, each an intimate record of creative expression blurring the lines of art and practice.

The exhibition is curated by Jonathan Duval, Assistant Curator of Architecture and Design. “For architects who saw themselves as originators of creative ideas rather than just creators of buildings, drawing was the medium closest to the original concept. On their own, these drawings are captivating works of art,” Duval says. “In this period, drawing was increasingly viewed as a primary medium of expression for architectural ideas, as opposed to just a necessary step in the design process.”

In the 1970s and 1980s, many architects sought to overturn the traditions of modern architecture, finding it dull, rigid, and formulaic. Their goal was to upend both the look and purpose of modern architecture through experimentation and individualism—a set of trends that became known as postmodernism.

In these same decades, commercial galleries, museums, and private collectors began buying, selling, collecting, and exhibiting architectural drawings like never before. This mutually sustaining network elevated architectural drawings from utilitarian documents to objects of artistic merit. Martin E. Zimmerman ‘59 was among these collectors, and all of the drawings on display in this exhibition were gifted to the MIT Museum by him and Danielle Zimmerman in 2017.

About the MIT Museum Architecture Collection

The works on view in this exhibition are among the over 30,000 architectural drawings that make up the expansive collection of the MIT Museum. Established in 1867, MIT’s architecture program is the oldest in the country and emphasizes both the artistic and practical elements of education. Historic student work and drawings used for teaching are the core of the MIT Museum architecture collection. In recent decades, the collection has expanded to include the work of faculty, alumni, and other relevant works from the sixteenth century to the present.