How can architecture narrate and amaze?
The course in Architecture for Exhibition aims to train new generations of designers who are experts in the design of exhibitions, museums, and shows.
With this in mind, Yacademy envisioned an extensive program including special lectures, teaching modules, workshops, and visits focusing on exhibition design.
At the end of the course, students will acquire expertise in a very prestigious environment – culture – which nowadays registers an increasing demand by the most critical and exclusive customers.
Such is the purpose of the course in Architecture for Exhibition, an educational program meant for young designers and graduates who want to refine their architectural skills and sensitivity towards the technical practices to adopt in exhibition design.
Key Information
- Multiple scholarships are available.
- The classes will take place in Bologna, Italy, in a medieval building located in the historical city centre. However, online attendance is possible as well.
- The course will start in November 2026 and finish in February 2027, with a frequency of around 3 days per week.
- All modules and activities—lessons, special lectures, workshops, and visits—can be held in Italian or English. In any case, translation into English is always available.
- The application deadline is 4 September 2026.
Structure: Special Lectures, Workshop, and Placement
Special Lectures by SANAA, Herzog & de Meuron, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group
Yacademy’s mission is to bring young, talented architects into contact with the greatest interpreters of contemporary architecture. With this purpose, the Architecture for Exhibition educational program offers a series of special lectures held by the most renowned architects in the field.
Thus, the course will feature Kazuyo Sejima, co-founder of SANAA, as a guest lecturer focusing on the New Modern Museum in New York City. The project developed by the Pritzker Prize-winning firm stands as a symbol for the power of essentiality, an aspect that Arch. Sejima will explore in depth with the students.
Architecture for Exhibition will also welcome Andreas Fries, Senior Partner at Herzog & de Meuron, who will present the Tate Modern project in London, the world’s most visited museum of modern and contemporary art. It has become a new model for museums of modern and contemporary art by fully integrating the display, learning, and social functions of the museum, strengthening links between the museum, its locality, and the city.
Another meaningful intervention will be the one by Giulio Rigoni, Associate at BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, exploring architectures as iconic presences.
Other moments will have Giuseppe Zampieri of David Chipperfield Architects, Emanuela Baglietto from RPBW Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Damien Faraut of Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Alexander Kindlen of Snøhetta, and Paola Antonelli of MoMa as lecturers. Some of them will also share their opinions about the projects students will be developing for the design workshop during the critique sessions.
Design Workshop: Transform a UNESCO-listed industrial heritage site into a museum complex for the Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Yacademy’s Architecture for Exhibition course invites students to reflect on the significance of museum architecture by engaging with a project of international significance. The design workshop meets exactly this purpose, being a crucial step of Yacademy’s educational program.
The design workshop for the course in Architecture for Exhibition is tutored by Andreas Fries & Tommaso Bernabò Silorata of Herzog & de Meuron, and developed in collaboration with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
The workshop will focus on the design of a new museum complex in the village of Crespi d’Adda, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in collaboration with a museum whose name is associated with works by Picasso, Kandinsky, Pollock, Magritte, and many more.
The workshop aims to engage with a historical heritage of exceptional value to follow in the museum design tradition, devising a new setting for the exhibition of one of the world’s most famous and prestigious art collections: the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. It will thus be an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between conservation and transformation, offering the opportunity to envision new ways of experiencing a place that continues to question the present through its own history.
Divided into groups and tutored by the renowned architect, young designers will thus have the opportunity to enhance their personal and professional skills, refining their ability to work within a team on a real design challenge.
Architecture Feeds on Perception: On-site visits to Venice, Fondazione Prada, and Crespi d’ Adda
Yacademy’s format is based on real interactions and direct experiences, grounded in the belief that architecture starts with perceiving the space. Therefore, the Architecture for Exhibition course includes a series of visits to exclusive locations that are meaningful to the course’s topic and purpose.
First and foremost, students will have the opportunity to visit the design workshop site, the Crespi d’Adda workers’ village, in order to gather all relevant information and useful references for the development of their own project. Crespi d’Adda still retains an almost intact urban structure, in which housing, facilities, and production areas are organised according to a unified design.
The Architecture for Exhibition course will also include a trip to Venice to visit the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, a partner of the design workshop and one of the most important museums in Italy for 20th-century European and American art. Finally, students will have the opportunity to explore Fondazione Prada in Milan together with the architect who realized the intervention, in order to understand its values and meanings.
After the Course: Placement Opportunities
What do you do once the course is over?
Finding your own place in the labour market is one of the biggest challenges in architecture. To help Architecture for Exhibition students unlock their career with a real job opportunity, Yacademy guarantees each designer a proposal of collaboration with one of its partner firms.
Some of the architectural practices with the greatest expertise in relation to the field of exhibition design are BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, David Chipperfield Architects, Milan, Jean Nouvel Design, SANAA, Herzog & de Meuron, and Snøhetta.
Yacademy’s placement program includes a collaboration proposal that has a minimum duration of 2 months and guaranteed remuneration, consistent with regulatory requirements.
The placement for the course will be activated between March 2027 and May 2027, after a thorough process. Yacademy’s placement office will take into consideration the preferences and inclinations of the students, so as to find the best possible match.
The collaboration is an opportunity for students to perfect their skills, work and interact with some of the world’s leading firms, and have a real chance to build a solid network useful for their future.
How to Apply: Admission and Scholarships
Do you think Yacademy’s Architecture for Exhibition course might be the right key to unlock your potential as a designer?
Here are some hints on the application process and requirements:
- To ensure a high level of educational experience and immediate placement of students in the most distinguished professional settings, the students will be selected by a committee comprising partners from some of the world’s top firms. The admission to the course is based on the evaluation of the curriculum vitae, a motivational letter, and a portfolio.
- The course in Architecture for Exhibition is addressed to students and graduates in Architectural Sciences or other equivalent titles. The Selection Committee may, however, admit students with different qualifications.
- By applying for the Architecture for Exhibition course, you will automatically become eligible for one of the eight scholarships, consistent with the Selection Committee’s evaluation.
For more information and to apply, visit Yacademy!
