Monsters and Mutants

Archi-Tectonics, the New York City-based design firm led by Winka Dubbeldam and Justin Korhammer, will present its work in a solo exhibition at the Architekturgalerie im Bunker, Munich, coinciding with the debut its fifth monograph Monsters and Mutants, Park Books 2025. With an extensive portfolio of buildings and masterplans across four continents over the last 25 years, the firm is widely recognized for its innovative architectural strategies and hybrid designs.

The Monsters and Mutants exhibition explores the fusion of architecture and nature, illustrating how plant intelligence can inform design strategies in the face of climate change and environmental extremes. This exhibition delves into the concept of “hopeful monsters”, or mutant architectural forms that blend synthetic and natural systems, reimagining the built environment as a dynamic ecosystem,  as exemplified by Archi-Tectonics’ 47-hectare masterplan with seven buildings in Hangzhou, China as well as their ongoing mixed-use development projects in Albania.

Building on Archi-Tectonics’ commitment to rigorous research and generative design, Monsters and Mutants highlights the studio’s performance-based approach to architecture and urbanism. The exhibition features architectural models and panels that showcase the firm’s experimental methodologies, using the multifunctional landscapes of the Hangzhou masterplan, and the digital design and cutting-edge fabrication of its buildings as case studies. These themes are also embodied in the Monsters and Mutants book that presents a provocation for a new approach to reverse the consequences of the Anthropocene, by learning from plant intelligence.

Opening: 27.5.2025, 7 pm
Winka Dubbeldam, Justin Korhammer, Archi-Tectonics
Nicola Borgmann, Architekturgalerie München