Curated by Raymund Ryan

Visionary starchitecture may not quite be going the way of the dodo or the dot-com, but modesty and sustainability are doubtless the new watchwords of the built environment, and the Laboratory of Architecture/Fernando Romero firm seems poised to directly engage them. This survey of twenty-three projects, including illuminated models and large-format photographs, will emphasize the tectonic dazzle of the architect’s designs—but also show that they are often structures in transition. Museum Bridge Mexico/USA (2000–) is a proposed museum that would cross the international border over the Rio Bravo; Bridging Teahouse (2004–2007) spans a pond in Jinhua, China. Other constructions toy with extruded volumes and supports so that they appear to be floating or balanced in concert with local topography—a provisional poetics that tells of things to come.

— Michelle Kuo