Coming Together, National Building Museum

Public Art —

Coming Together: Reimagining America’s Downtowns is a new exhibition at the National Building Museum, curated by Uwe S. Brandes and designed by Reddymade, with information design by Sarah Gephart of MGMT. Part of the Museum’s Future Cities Initiative, the exhibition explores how American downtowns are evolving in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its lasting impact on urban life—through design, policy, and community imagination.

Featuring examples from more than 60 U.S. cities, the exhibition addresses urgent issues such as vacant office towers, housing shortages, and rising homelessness, while showcasing innovative strategies for reimagining how we live, work, and gather. Three immersive zones—Social Distancing, Cities Take Charge, and City Action Hall—invite reflection, storytelling, and civic dialogue, anchored by Jamie Nares’ film Street.

Reddymade’s exhibition design draws on the pandemic-era six-foot circle, reinterpreted as a layered spatial language of gathering and connection. Playful seating crafted from repurposed orange traffic barriers underscores resilience and adaptation, while circular pathways invite visitors to imagine more inclusive and joyful futures.

“The exhibition itself gives physical form to our evolving understanding of our cities and their new potential post-pandemic. This is a space for deeply understanding our experience of public space and rethinking how we come together—across economies, geographies, and politics—to shape downtowns that truly reflect the needs and aspirations of their communities,” — Suchi Reddy