National Building Museum Presents Contemporary Architecture in the American South

The National Building Museum announced the opening of A SOUTH FORTY: Contemporary Architecture and Design in the American South, which opened on Saturday, February 15, 2025. Curated by Peter MacKeith, dean and professor at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas, and designed by Jonathan Boelkins, architect and exhibition designer, the exhibition highlights the vibrant and distinctive architectural practices emerging from the American South.

A SOUTH FORTY offers a cross-section of the dynamic evolution of contemporary architecture in the American South over the last generation. It features the work of more than forty architectural practices drawn from the southeastern United States, spanning from the North Carolina Atlantic coast to an inflection point in Oklahoma, along U.S. Highway 40. The exhibition brings to light the ways in which modern architecture in the South is moving beyond traditional typologies and stereotypes, emphasizing the region’s unique responses to rapid growth, natural disasters, and a more complex and diverse identity.