ExhibitionIn the Mode of Seriality Difference, Variation, and Repetition in Architecture and Design

24 July – 18 October 2026

Press conference: Thursday, 23 July 2026, 11 am
Opening: Thursday, 23 July 2026, 7 pm

Grafik/Graphic: Florian Eschner

Series open up a play of nuances and differences; of redundancies and repetitions. Any series that has been started can be expanded with similar objects. Objects that are conceived, produced, received, or consumed in the mode of seriality always refer to related objects from the same series. But what exactly makes a series a series? What significance does seriality hold for the design of our everyday worlds, and in what ways does the series allow for individual adaptations? The exhibition In the Mode of Seriality Difference, Variation, and Repetition in Architecture and Design aims to offer new approaches to the field of seriality. It examines serial strategies and methods to highlight both the potential and the limitations of seriality.

The exhibition makes key aspects of seriality accessible and tangible, while also addressing the local context of the city of Frankfurt. From a historical perspective, it explores the development of serial production in the New Frankfurt since the 1920s. From a contemporary perspective, it is part of an extensive program of events for World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain 2026.

The exhibition offers a historical overview of seriality, whose potential has been realized on the scales of the city, the built structure, and building components. While 20 case studies of outstanding examples in architecture are presented to the public through images, plans, and models, seven studies explore the theme in the fields of product, communication, and interior design. Visitors can thus discover, on the one hand, inventions, product innovations, and manufacturing processes that, when viewed as a whole, trace the developmental lines of the history of technology, and, on the other hand, current critical debates in the field of design.

Today, the concept of seriality is once again emerging as a political promise. As the current debate on housing construction shows, seriality is intended to accelerate production processes, simplify procedures, and keep costs down. Seriality is intended to provide sustainable building components in large quantities. Models, modules, and prototypes are already available. When will they go into mass production? Before production ramps up, we would like to pause and ask: what exactly is meant by this new call for seriality? What does seriality mean in terms of ethical and aesthetic issues?

To provide a space for these and other questions, the Frankfurt-based foundation urban future forum e.V. – as the exhibition’s initiator and conceptualizer – invites you to three accompanying lecture and discussion events: the Serial Parliaments. Each of the various Serial Parliaments is dedicated to an overarching thematic block and invites architects, designers, manufacturers, politicians, and citizens to present their thoughts and positions on serial planning and production and to discuss them with the audience. The goal is to demonstrate how the (supposed) contradiction between mass production and good design can be resolved and to use examples to show that quality is compatible with the methods of industrial manufacturing.

The exhibition is curated by Prof. Axel Sowa, with support from Florian Eschner, the team from the Department of Architectural Theory, and students at RWTH Aachen University. It is being developed in collaboration with students from the HfG Offenbach under the direction of Prof. Matthias Wagner K. Prof. Norbert Hanenberg, together with students from TH Gießen, contributed to the design of the exhibition furniture.

The exhibition is sponsored by the Wüstenrot Foundation, the Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation, the Concrete Information Center, B&O Bau GmbH, and RWTH Aachen University.

Calendar

In the Mode of Seriality: Difference, Variation, and Repetition in Architecture and Design

  • As part of the exhibition In the Mode of Seriality. Difference, Variation, and Repetition in Architecture and Design, the Frankfurt-based foundation urban future forum e.V. – the exhibition’s initiator and conceptualizer – invites the public to several accompanying lecture and discussion events. The so-called Serial Parliaments are each dedicated to an overarching thematic block and invite architects, manufacturers, politicians, and citizens to present their thoughts and positions on serial planning and production and to discuss them with the audience. The goal is to demonstrate how the (supposed) contradiction between mass production and good design can be resolved and to use examples to show that quality is compatible with the methods of industrial manufacturing.

    The first Serial Parliament takes place at the exhibition opening on 23 July.

    Moderation:
    Prof Helmut Kleine-Kraneburg, Stiftung urban future forum e.V., Frankfurt am Main

    Guests:
    • Dr Kraemer-Zain, Head of Division BII4, Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building, Berlin
    • Ines Fröhlich, State Secretary, Hessian Ministry of Economics
    • Dr Matthias Alexander, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

    Without registration. Free entry.

  • With curator Prof Axel Sowa.
    Without registration. Included in the admission price.
    The tour will be given in German.

  • As part of the exhibition In the Mode of Seriality. Difference, Variation, and Repetition in Architecture and Design, the Frankfurt-based foundation urban future forum e.V. – the exhibition’s initiator and conceptualizer – invites the public to several accompanying lecture and discussion events. The so-called Serial Parliaments are each dedicated to an overarching thematic block and invite architects, manufacturers, politicians, and citizens to present their thoughts and positions on serial planning and production and to discuss them with the audience. The goal is to demonstrate how the (supposed) contradiction between mass production and good design can be resolved and to use examples to show that quality is compatible with the methods of industrial manufacturing.

    Moderation:
    Günseli Güler, Stiftung urban future forum e.V., Frankfurt am Main

    Guests:
    • Prof. Silke Langenberg, ETH Zürich
    • Prof. Angelika Mettke, Uni Cottbus
    • Prof. Manfred Grohmann, Bollinger & Grohmann Ingenieure, Berlin
    • Julian Biermann, Informationszentrum Beton, Berlin
    • Anja Knura, Company Goldbeck, Bielefeld

  • Without registration. Included in the admission price.
    The tour will be given in German.

  • Without registration. Included in the admission price.
    The tour will be given in German.

  • As part of the exhibition In the Mode of Seriality. Difference, Variation, and Repetition in Architecture and Design, the Frankfurt-based foundation urban future forum e.V. – the exhibition’s initiator and conceptualizer – invites the public to several accompanying lecture and discussion events. The so-called Serial Parliaments are each dedicated to an overarching thematic block and invite architects, manufacturers, politicians, and citizens to present their thoughts and positions on serial planning and production and to discuss them with the audience. The goal is to demonstrate how the (supposed) contradiction between mass production and good design can be resolved and to use examples to show that quality is compatible with the methods of industrial manufacturing.

    Moderation:
    Prof Helmut Kleine-Kraneburg, Stiftung urban future forum e.V., Frankfurt am Main

    Guests:
    • Prof Wilfried Kuehn, TU Vienna, Kuehn Malvezzi, Berlin
    • Martin Rauch, Rankweil
    • Prof Laurens Bekemans, RWTH Aachen und BC Architects
    • Hermann Graser, Bamberger Natursteinwerk, Bamberg

  • As part of the exhibition In the Mode of Seriality. Difference, Variation, and Repetition in Architecture and Design, the Frankfurt-based foundation urban future forum e.V. – the exhibition’s initiator and conceptualizer – invites the public to several accompanying lecture and discussion events. The so-called Serial Parliaments are each dedicated to an overarching thematic block and invite architects, manufacturers, politicians, and citizens to present their thoughts and positions on serial planning and production and to discuss them with the audience. The goal is to demonstrate how the (supposed) contradiction between mass production and good design can be resolved and to use examples to show that quality is compatible with the methods of industrial manufacturing.

    Moderation:
    Jens Jakob Happ, Stiftung urban future forum e.V., Frankfurt am Main

    Guests:
    • Louisa Hutton, Sauerbruch Hutton Architects, Berlin
    • Milena Karanesheva, Karawitz Architects, Paris
    • Andreas Krawczyk, NKBAK Architects, Frankfurt am Main
    • Prof. Herrmann Kaufmann
    • Dr Manfred Sennff, Kaufmann Bausysteme GmbH, Reuthe, Austria
    • Ernst Böhm, B&O Group, Bad Aibling
    • Ernest Pacarada, Pacarada Group, Kelkheim

  • With Max Dudler, Architect; Daniela Matha, ABG Holding and Carolina Romahn, WDC 2026.

    Without registration.