The museum is closed for renovation through 2013. The Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden and the Museum Store will remain open this summer with no admission fee. During the renovation, exhibitions will be presented at off-site locations.

Design with the Other 90%: Cities
Oct. 15, 2011—Jan. 9, 2012
Lobby of the United Nations Visitors Centre (1st Avenue at 46th Street)

The exhibition Cities explores design solutions to the challenges created by rapid urban growth in informal settlements. It focuses on design that is informed by end users, such as successful responses to the challenges of sanitation and solid-waste management; alternative housing design, methods and materials; low-cost clean water and alternative energies; accessible education initiatives; transportation solutions; innovative systems and infrastructure; and urban design and planning to address climate change and urban growth. More than 60 projects are presented from 22 countries around the globe.

Graphic Design: Now in Production
June 2, 2012—Sept. 3, 2012
Governors Island, Building 110

The rise of user-generated content, new methods of publishing and systems of distribution, and the wide dissemination of creative software have opened up new opportunities for design. Featuring works produced since 2000, Graphic Design explores the worlds of design-driven magazines, newspapers, books, and posters; the expansion of branding programs for corporations, subcultures, and nations; the entrepreneurial spirit of designer-produced goods; the renaissance in digital typeface design; the storytelling potential of film and television titling sequences; and the transformation of raw data into compelling information narratives.

The following permanent exhibitions are closed through 2013 while the museum undergoes renovation.

Wallcoverings

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's "Wallcoverings" department contains the largest and most varied collection of wallpaper in the United States, with more than 10,000 examples. Pieces date from the late 17th century through today and represent many countries of origin.

Textiles

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's "Textiles" collection contains more than 30,000 pieces representing an extraordinarily wide range of woven and non-woven techniques. Extending from ancient to contemporary examples, the earliest pieces in the collection are from Han Dynasty China (206 BC to AD 221).

The Doris and Henry Dreyfuss Study Center Library and Archive

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's library is a branch of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries and contains more than 70,000 volumes, including books, periodicals, catalogs and trade literature dating from the 15th through the 20th centuries. Volumes cover American and European design and decorative arts with concentrations in architecture, graphic design, interior design, ornamental patterns, furniture, wallcoverings, textiles, metalwork, glass, ceramics and jewelry. The Library's Archive contains photographs, correspondence, promotional material, drawings, writings and related resource items for more than 30 American designers, including Henry Dreyfuss and Donald Deskey.

Product Design & Decorative Arts

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's department of "Product Design & Decorative Arts" is home to approximately 40,000 three-dimensional objects dating from antiquity to the 21st century, which form an important and comprehensive resource for decorative art and design. International in scope, the collection contains an exceptionally diverse assortment of objects, reflecting a vast range of historical styles and design movements. Categories of objects within the collections include ceramics, furniture, metalwork, lighting, glass, jewelry, architectural elements and industrial design.

Drawings, Prints and Graphic Design

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's Drue Heinz Study Center for Drawings and Prints houses more than 160,000 works of art dating from the Renaissance to the present related to the history of European and American art and design. Among the world's foremost repositories of European and American works on paper, the collection includes designs for architecture, decorative arts, gardens, interiors, ornament, jewelry, theater, textiles, graphic and industrial design, as well as the fine arts.