National Building Museum
Upcoming Events (11)
Storytime
Storytime at the National Building Museum is a free, family-friendly session featuring read-alouds, songs, and activities that promote early language and literacy skills for young children and their families in a welcoming museum setting.
Spotlight on Design: Olson Kundig
Architect Jim Olson, founding principal of Olson Kundig, speaks at Spotlight on Design at the National Building Museum. Explore his influential, site-responsive architecture that blends craft, landscape, and bold ideas in an engaging indoor museum setting.
Just Drop In!
Drop-in craft session at National Building Museum where kids become architects and designers through hands-on activities. A fun, educational program led by museum educators that sparks imagination as young creators build mini-models and explore spaces.
Bloom Break at the National Building Museum with Konbini by Daikaya
Join a family-friendly, Japanese-inspired workshop at the National Building Museum as spring blooms. The program features hands-on activities in language exploration, paper craft, and illustration, offering a playful, creative space for kids and their grown-ups to learn and make together.
Book Talk: A Better Life for Their Children
Andrew Feiler discusses his book A Better Life for Their Children and the accompanying exhibition at the National Building Museum, tracing how Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington funded 4,978 schools and reshaped American education through photography and research.
Future Friday: Los Angeles (VIRTUAL)
This virtual Future Fridays session from the National Building Museum brings together artists, organizers, and civic voices shaping the evolving identity of the Los Angeles region. The talk explores urban futures, regional identity, and how design and collaboration influence civic life.
Spotlight on Design: WXY
Claire Weisz, founding principal of WXY architecture + urban design, discusses the firm’s design approach for an era of climate adaptation at the National Building Museum. This insightful lecture explores resilient urban design and climate-ready architecture.
School’s Out: Architectural Photography
Join the National Building Museum for a hands-on architectural photography workshop at 10:30 on April 17, 2026. This educational session covers composition, lighting, and framing of iconic architecture, with on-site practice inside the museum.
Writing Workshop: Blackfish City (AT POLITICS AND PROSE)
Explore how imagined environments shape world-building in fiction, guided by Blackfish City. This interactive workshop at the National Building Museum, part of Politics and Prose, dives into setting, character, and narrative craft inspired by Sam J. Miller’s novel, with hands-on writing prompts.
Future Fridays: Detroit
Join Future Fridays for a virtual session featuring personal stories shaping Detroit's transformation. Explore how identity, memory, and belonging influence what it means for a city to evolve, in a thoughtful dialogue hosted by the National Building Museum.
Spotlight on Design: GGN
Shannon Nichol, co-founder of GGN, discusses the firm's holistic approach to landscape architecture, weaving urban planning, landscape design, restoration ecology, architecture, engineering, and art. The National Building Museum talk offers insight into innovative, cross-disciplinary design for cities and public spaces.