“Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial,” opening November 2 at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, features 25 debut commissions that illustrate the ways design is embedded in contemporary life. Ranging from domestic objects to built environments to social systems, the exhibition considers home as an expansive framework with varying cultural and environmental contexts, and ‘making home’ as a universal design practice. Organized in collaboration with Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, the seventh iteration of Cooper Hewitt’s Triennial series will be on view through August. 10, 2025.

Installed throughout the Andrew and Louise Carnegie Mansion, the exhibition explores design’s role in shaping the physical and emotional experiences of home across the U.S., U.S. territories and tribal nations. The museum floors are organized by familiar interactions—’Going Home’ (ground and first floor), ‘Seeking Home’ (second floor) and ‘Building Home’ (third floor)—interpreted in 25 installations by designers, architects, artists and their collaborators from across the nation.” — Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Title image: Installation of “The House That Freedoms Built” by La Vaughn Belle in “Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial” at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Photo: Ann Sunwoo © Smithsonian Institution. 

The exhibition is organized by Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, Cooper Hewitt’s curator of contemporary design and Hintz Secretarial Scholar; Christina L. De León, Cooper Hewitt’s acting deputy director of curatorial and associate curator of Latino design; and Michelle Joan Wilkinson, curator of architecture and design at the National Museum of African American History and Culture; with curatorial assistants Sophia Gebara, Caroline O’Connell, Julie Pastor, and Isabel Strauss.

Exhibition design by Los Angeles–based Johnston Marklee. Graphic design by New York City–based Office Ben Ganz.