Archtober 2024: Your guide to this year’s celebration of architecture and design
Pollinator Lounge, photo by Liz Ligon, courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden; AIANY Classic Harbor Line Boat Tour; The Refinery at Domino, photo by Max Touhey; Green-Wood Cemetery
Archtober, New York City’s annual fall festival celebrating all things architecture and design, is once again upon us. The festival, in its 14th year, will run from October 1 through October 31, with more than 100 partners and sponsors and over 400 events city-wide. This year’s theme, “Tracing the Future,” focuses on the city’s changing landscape in the context of affordable housing, sustainable design, infrastructure, and more. The festival offers a chance to attend events, exhibitions, and talks, join neighborhood tours across the five boroughs, and become more deeply acquainted with New York City’s singular architecture and design contributions to history–and the future.
Having become an all-season resource and celebration of the global built environment and all those involved with it, Archtober expects 500,000 visitors this year. Over 100 partners, including museums, cultural, governmental, and media organizations, advocacy groups, and parks, contribute to a wealth of architecture and design events ranging from building tours and lectures to learning programs and professional development opportunities.
This year’s theme follows the line between the New York City of today and the city of the future, exploring the many ways the choices we make connect the two.
“‘Tracing the Future’ is an invitation to explore how our architectural choices today will define tomorrow’s New York,” Katie Mullen, director of Archtober and director of exhibitions and programs at the Center for Architecture, said in a statement. “This year’s festival is a call to action for innovators and creatives to rethink established practices and explore new possibilities in improving our built environment.”
Tours
AIANY Around Manhattan Architecture Boat Tour
Tuesday, October 1, 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. (multiple dates)
$116 Adults; $86 Student
Classic 1920s-style harbor yachts are the setting for this opportunity to view New York City’s architectural landmarks from the water, with tour narration provided by members of the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) NYC chapter. This unique nearly three-hour cruise through the Hudson, East, and Harlem Rivers, passes under the city’s 18 bridges along the way and includes refreshments and light snacks.
Design Fridays, Compelling Design Garden Walk
Friday, October 4, 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. (multiple dates)
$15
Discover the design elements that make up Wave Hill’s beautiful gardens along the Hudson River. Garden designer Laurel Rimmer, Wave Hill’s Director of Public Programs, leads this nature-meets-design experience.
Gilded Age Mansions of 5th Avenue Tour
Friday, October 4, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
$39 (adult); $29 (child)
This Untapped New York tour revisits Fifth Avenue as it was during Manhattan’s Gilded Age. Discover the original Millionaire’s Row, what has been lost, and what remains of the grand mansions that remain long after its heyday–and learn about the lives of the fortunate residents who lived within.
Green-Wood After Hours Tour
Friday, October 4, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. (multiple dates)
$30; $20 for members
Explore the rambling, storied grounds of Green-Wood Cemetery under the cover of darkness. Ramble through the verdant landscape, explore the graves of notable residents, and end this unique walking tour with a visit to the Catacombs, which are usually closed to the public.
Remnants of New Amsterdam Tour
Saturday, October 5, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. (multiple dates)
$29-39
Untapped New York leads this tour of New York City’s origins. Seek out the lower Manhattan remains of Dutch New Amsterdam and learn the myths and facts while you retrace the streets of 1667 Manhattan.
Open House New York Weekend
At the peak of Archtober on October 18-20, the 22nd annual Open House New York Weekend. will offer a behind-the-scenes view of outstanding new buildings, innovative public works facilities, lush parks, and other state-of-the-art spaces.
NYC Underground Subway Tour
Wednesday, October 2, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (multiple dates)
$29-39
Explore the real heart of the city on this guided walking tour. You’ll learn about the early days of the subway system (Did you know the first subway was built illegally, at night?), visit abandoned stations, and discover forgotten underground artifacts–while riding the subway, of course.
The New Bronx
Saturday, October 12, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
$35
Bronx native Alexandra Maruri leads this tour of a 21st-century borough where old and new still coexist though much of the past is disappearing. A modern real estate boom is bringing housing, retail, sports, education, and more; the tour will introduce you to what’s happening now, and next.
Candlelight Ghost Tours of Manhattan’s Most Haunted House
Friday, October 18, 50 minutes every half hour 6:30 to 9 p.m. (multiple dates)
$45; $35 MHM Members
Kick off the spooky season at the Merchant’s House Museum, known as “Manhattan’s Most Haunted House.” Explore the house and experience scary tales of the otherworldly activity within its walls.
Secrets of the Brooklyn Bridge and Dumbo
Saturday, October 19, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
$29-39
Learn the Brooklyn Bridge’s many secrets, including its use as a Cold War fallout shelter, its hidden champagne vaults, the bridge jumper survivor’s support group, and more, including a semi-hidden rooftop park with some of the best views of the endlessly Instagrammable two-bridge vista.
Feminism and Fortune Telling: Women of the Lower East Side Trolley Tour
Saturday, October 26, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
$30
Green-Wood Cemetery offers a full menu of spooky, quirky, and scintillating themed expeditions within the verdant park. This one offers a chance to learn about some New York City lore we’re guessing you hadn’t heard before: The story of the fortune-telling women of New York’s Lower East Side in the mid-1800s.
City of Forest Day: A History of Brooklyn’s Last Remaining Forest
Saturday, October 26, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Free
Walk a mile (and a half) in Brooklyln’s largest and oldest remaining forest in Prospect Park, home to over 30,000 trees, and learn about the forest management practices developed by park co-designer Frederick Law Olmsted.
The History and Architecture of Downtown Brooklyn
Saturday, October 26, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
$20; seniors $15
This tour will focus on the area’s many layers of history including residential, African American, mercantile, government, and more, with an eye to what the future looks like in this rapidly growing Brooklyn district.
Powering NYC: East River Ferry Tour
Saturday, October 26, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
$49
Led by energy professional Cullen Brown, this tour illustrates the history of electricity in the city with an eye to a clean energy future. The focus will be on the East River and its islands, shores, tunnels, and bridges. Sail past U Thant, Roosevelt, Mill Rock, Randall’s, North and South Brother, and Rikers Islands and learn about how they have played a role in New York City’s development.
Talks
NYC Apartment Hacks for Climate Action
Thursday, October 17, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Find out what apartment dwellers (69 percent of New York City residents) can do to protect our environment. Experts share low-tech tips that anyone can implement to reduce the impact on the climate–while improving daily quality of life.
Why Is Everything So Ugly?
Tuesday, October 8, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Literary journal n+1 hosts a panel discussion based on an essay with the same name that was published in the Winter 2023 issue, in which the magazine’s editors explored a wide range of “unattractive, unseemly, and visually depressing phenomena” in the contemporary built environment, exploring what defines “ugly” architecture, films and more.
Passive House for Everybody: Are We There Yet?
Wednesday, October 9, 9:30 to 11 a.m.
The Passive House standard is architecture’s most rigorous energy efficiency standard to date. This discussion, based on the exhibition “Pratt Ice Box Challenge: Empowering Tomorrow’s High-Performance Designers Exhibit,” explores the benefits and applications of Passive House design and what it will take to make Passive House the rule rather than the exception.
Snøhetta Design Talk with Craig Dykers and Elaine Molinar
Tuesday, October 29, 7-8:30 p.m.
$10
Scandinavia House hosts a discussion with Craig Dykers and Elaine Molinar of noted New York City and Oslo-based architecture and design firm Snøhetta. Dykers and Molinar discuss their world-renowned integrated architecture, landscape architecture, and design company.
Exhibitions, workshops, & other events
Exhibitions Opening Night: Built by New York and Why Design?
Tuesday, October 1, 6-8:00 p.m.
Built by New York, on view at the Center for Architecture, opens on October 1. The exhibition
celebrates past, current, and future work by New York City architects and design professionals.
Pollinator Lounge
Through October 20, 2024
Designed and built by architects Joyce Hwang and Nerea Feliz, and their students, this unique art installation was created as a habitat for the insects of Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The pollinator habitats provide resources and shelter from the elements and predators for native insect pollinators, and offer a relaxing space for human visitors.
Architectural Record’s 2024 Innovation Conference: The Most Influential Conference on Design & Technology
Tuesday, October 1, 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
$150-$275
This conference will feature influential architecture professionals, who gather to discuss innovation in design at every size and level. Presented work will include important local and international cultural facilities, creative residential models, sustainability models, and public art. Architectural Record’s Women in Architecture Awards will immediately follow the conference, which will be held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
Park Pitch In: Street Tree Care
October 6, October 20, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Prospect Park Alliance is training volunteers to help care for New York City’s trees. Learn how to weed, mulch, and aerate tree beds, and how to care for the street trees in your own neighborhood.
Into the Wild: Foraging and Discovering at the Lott House
Sunday, October 3, 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
This free children’s workshop will show kids how to identify and forage Brooklyn’s wild edible plants and feature wildcrafting using the harvested plants.
Building of the Day
This year’s popular Building of the Day series of daily architect-led tours brings you inside the city’s latest and greatest architecture projects. Some of the buildings and projects that will offer tours include the following:
- 520 Fifth Avenue
- Bronx River Greenway/Starlight Park by NV5
- Gansevoort Peninsula at Hudson River Park by Field Operations and nARCHITECTS
- The Refinery at Domino by Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU)
- Institute for Studies on Latin American Art by Overhead Architecture
- One Domino Square by Selldorf Architects
- Lever House, restored by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Archtober Map
A mobile Archtober Map highlights museums, historic homes, iconic architecture, parks, restaurants, and much more. You can also visit the Archtober Shop for hats, tees, tote bags, and socks, with designs inspired by the 2024 festival.
Go behind the scenes with Bloomberg Connects
Archtober’s guide on the free Bloomberg Connects app is for anyone interested in connecting with architecture and design. The guide is designed to help you explore notable contemporary and historical sites across New York City’s five boroughs as well as exclusive content, with commentary from the architects behind a selection of past Buildings of the Day.
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