Debuting at FUTURES, new museum experience will invite visitors to work together to design a sustainable city block. This November, visitors to the groundbreaking FUTURES exhibition at the historic Arts + Industries Building (AIB) will be among the first to pilot “The Co-Lab,” a first of-its-kind collaborative design experience developed with leading 3D design software provider Autodesk.
Designed by Autodesk researchers and AIB curators, the installation invites visitors to collaborate through generative artificial intelligence (A.I.) to design their ideal future city block. Visitors will be assigned unique personas and must work together to navigate their competing needs and co-design a sustainable community in real time. The 22 foot-high cantilevered structure is inspired by future-thinking projects like Buckminster Fuller’s 1946 Dymaxion House.
Image Courtesy of Rockwell Group 
Image Courtesy of Rockwell Group
Produced using generative A.I. and located in the South Hall pavilion of AIB, The Co-Lab structure will be light-weight; strong; easy to assemble and built with just 60 wood beams, 25 joints and minimal construction waste. A centerpiece of the Smithsonian’s 175th anniversary, AIB will temporarily reopen for the first time in nearly two decades with FUTURES.
As the Smithsonian’s first major building-wide exploration of the future, this exhibition will fuse art, technology, design and history to invite visitors to dream big and imagine not just one future, but many possible futures on the horizon. FUTURES will be free and open through July 2022. Source by Smithsonian and Autodesk and images Courtesy of Sutton.
National Mall – Photo Courtesy Smithsonian 
National Mall Hall – Photo Ron Blun Image Courtesy of Rockwell Group Image Courtesy of Rockwell Group 
Image Courtesy of Rockwell Group 
“Elevate ultimate mobility vehicle” model image courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group