The month of April promises showers, school holidays and a cultural itinerary that spans design-led dog kennels, Monet and architectural inspiration. Here are the best architecture and design exhibitions in April 2018.

It Will Never Work: 25 Years of Urban Splash 1993-2018 at RIBA North
Property developer Urban Splash, whose work includes two of the flats in Park Hill in Sheffield currently for sale via The Modern House, have won over 40 RIBA Awards in their first 25 years, from Small Projects to the Stirling Prize Shortlist. To mark their success, which they put down to not having a proper plan, purposefully ignoring advice and routinely rejecting accepted development processes, the RIBA is hosting a dedicated exhibition at their northern outpost in Liverpool.

Monet & Architecture at the National Gallery

Impressionism’s doyen did occasionally make it out of his garden, and his canvases painted in places like Normandy, Rouen, Paris, London and Venice will be on display at the National Gallery in a single-exhibition first. Over 75 paintings seek to provide a new perspective on one of art’s most-loved masters, whose paintings depict both the prosaic (cottages, city streets) and the grand (The Houses of Parliament).

An Evening With…Tin House
Did our My Modern House feature on architect Henning Stummel’s Tin House pique your interest? Good news: on Thursday 12th April Open House London will be unlocking the front door to the RIBA Award-winning house, which is located in Shepherd’s Bush. “I find it fascinating that architecture can carry stories and messages that it transmits as you walk through a space … It’s lovely to think of architecture on those terms,” said Henning during our visit.

BowWow Haus London
This convivial fundraising event is the result of a collaboration between pet charity Blue Cross, American not-for-profit organisation Outdoor Arts Foundation and photographer Drew Gardner. They tasked architects, artists and designers to create bespoke dog kennels, which are now displayed throughout London. International names like Zaha Hadid Architects join The Modern House favourites like Carl Trenfield and Russian for Fish.

Don’t Move, Improve! Winners present…Pop Up Ute
This year’s winner of the Most Innovative prize at the Don’t Move, Improve! awards was ‘Pop Up Ute’, a colourful up-cycled addition to an industrial heritage site, made from a kit of lightweight parts. It’s designer, Adrian Friend from Friend and Company Architects, will be providing an insight into the project’s design and build at a free lunchtime talk on Friday 20th April at The Building Centre in London.

Architecture Leeds Exhibition and Pop Up Studio
The 2017 RIBA National Award-winning Victoria Leeds Arcade will be playing host to an exhibition and pop up studio this month, as part of a collaboration between Leeds Society of Architects (LSA) and RIBA Yorkshire. Drop by the pop up to have your home design woes ironed out during a free 30-minute consultation with an architect, and then take in the ‘Architecture Leeds’ exhibition, curated by LSA practices. The show aims to celebrate the work of over 30 Leeds’ based practices.

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