DesignPhiladelphia, a city-wide cultural initiative, celebrates the region's distinguished design history and promotes its contemporary significance as an important international center for advancement in the design disciplines. The event runs in conjunction with National Design Week and is celebrating its fifth anniversary in 2009.

For seven days this October, Philadelphia will become an arena of design with more than 50 events, including exhibitions, lectures, gallery tours, book signings, studio tours, parties and workshops all taking place under the DesignPhiladelphia banner.

DesignPhiladelphia 2009 will feature exhibitions and cultural programming, taking place October 7 through 13 at cultural and academic institutions around the city.

Additionally, there will be workshop demonstrations, lectures, openings and book signings at Philadelphia design-oriented boutiques, galleries and design firms.

For a detailed listing of events, please visit DesignPhiladelphia.

Past Events

In 2007, an unprecedented number of architecture and product design firms offered hard-hat and open studio tours. Participants included Kieran Timberlake Associates, Hiller Architecture, Voith & Mactavish Architects, BresslerGroup, Design Science and John Wagner Architecture, among others.

The main exhibition, entitled Reinvention: circles, squares, and the city grid, united seven Philadelphia college-level design schools to examine the differing ways these forms create the city, organize residents's daily life, shape our everyday objects and enliven our field of vision. People encounter them in neighborhoods, skyscrapers, traffic patterns and parks, as well as in spreadsheets, letterforms, waffles, and plaids.