What a night.
Walking through the galleries during the opening of Imagining Best Products, the thing we heard over and over again was: “I remember this.”
For so many of you, Best wasn’t just a store. It was part of your life. A childhood memory. A first job. The place you picked out a wedding ring. A Richmond story so many of us shared without fully realizing it.
Frances and Sydney Lewis didn’t just build a retail company. Together with a remarkable group of architects and designers, they completely rethought what a store could look like. Decades later, their radical retail experiments are studied in architecture schools around the world.
We were blown away by how many people came out to celebrate that legacy and the emotion that filled the museum all evening.
A huge thank you to everyone who helped bring this exhibition to life, especially our lead curator Don O’Keefe, our advisory committee, our sponsors, and the Lewis family for trusting us with such an important piece of Richmond history.
Thank you as well to @bigdaypolaroids for transporting everyone back in time one snapshot at a time, and to @shopoddbird for the incredible Best Products merch that flew off the shelves almost as fast as the memories came pouring in.
This one is for you, Eddie & Frances 🎈
Imagining Best Products is on display through Sunday, June 21, 2026
📸: @annalouisececil
Some of the most unexpected design ideas started right here in Richmond.
If you grew up here, you might remember Best Products. Our new exhibition, Imagining Best Products, revisits the local company that became an unlikely platform for architectural innovation.
By inviting architects to rethink the traditional big box store, Best turned retail into a creative experiment. The result was a series of bold, unconventional storefronts that challenged expectations and expanded what commercial architecture could look like. Through drawings, models, and photographs, the Best story comes to life.
Join us for the opening reception on Thursday, May 7. Members get complimentary early access from 5–6 PM, followed by the public reception from 6–8 PM. $10 admission includes wine and beer.
We’ll also have a limited run of Best-themed t-shirts by @shopoddbird and a pop-up with our friends at @bigdaypolaroids
Might be our Best one yet 😉
📸: Courtesy of SITE / James Wines, Best Products Inc., & Norman McGrath
Don O’Keefe wrote an article on Pritzker Prize-winning architect Riken Yamamoto for the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan’s online publication, the “No. 1 Shimbun.” Yamamoto laid out his vision of urbanism, criticizing redevelopments in Tokyo and sharing community-oriented planning and research projects in Venezuela, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Check the FCCJ website for the full piece if this interests you.
ドン・オキーフ氏は、プリツカー賞受賞建築家である山本理顕氏に関する記事を、日本外国特派員協会のオンライン出版物「No.1新聞」に寄稿しました。山本氏は、自身の都市論を述べ、東京の再開発を批判するとともに、ベネズエラ、インドネシア、フィリピンで行っている地域社会に根ざした計画や研究プロジェクトについて語っています。ご興味のある方は、FCCJのウェブサイトで記事全文をご覧ください。
(Photo/写真 FCCJ.）#rikenyamamoto #fccj #tokyo #foreigncorrespondentsclub #architecture
Our 2015 renovation of a unit in the Nakagin Capsule Tower is pictured in a publication accompanying the MoMA show on Kisho Kurokawa’s Metabolist masterpiece. The photograph is by the talented @jeremiesouteyrat The show is up through July 12th 2026 at @themuseumofmodernart Curated by @evangelos.kotsioris and @paulavilaplane The show is excellent! Don’t miss it.
2015年に中銀カプセルタワービルの一室を改装した当社の様子が、MoMAで開催中の黒川紀章のメタボリズムの傑作展に付随する出版物に掲載されています。展覧会は2026年7月12日まで開催されています。
The Cooper Union Foundation Building is one of the most interesting and idiosyncratic in New York. Designed in 1853 by Frederick Petersen and completed in 1859, it has been altered many times, most famously by John Hejduk from 1971-74. It’s been nice to get to know the building a bit this fall as I teach a course here on contemporary Japanese architecture and urbanism.
クーパー・ユニオン財団ビルは、ニューヨークで最も興味深く、個性的な建物の一つです。1853年にフレデリック・ピーターセンによって設計され、1859年に完成しました。その後、幾度となく改修が行われ、中でも最も有名なのは1971年から1974年にかけてジョン・ヘイダックによって改修された建物です。この秋、私はここで現代日本の建築と都市計画に関する講義を担当しており、この建物について知ることが楽しんでいます。
At the BEST Products archive, with material on Venturi Scott Brown, Michael Graves, Philip Johnson, Stanley Tigerman, and SITE (pictured). Working on a curation project … more updates to come.
BEST Productsのアーカイブには、Venturi Scott Brown、Michale Graves、Philip Johnson、Stanley Tigerman、そしてSITE（写真）に関する資料が収められています。キュレーションプロジェクトに取り組んでいます… 今後、さらに更新予定です。
Design is underway for this shophouse in northern Japan. After years of neglect, we are working with local clients to bring it back to life.
青森県八戸市で改修工事が進行中です。建物を再び活気づけられることを嬉しく思っています。
The office now has an Instagram account to share an occasional update. Please keep in touch. Thank you.
私たちのオフィスでは、随時最新情報を共有するための Instagram アカウントを開設しました。ぜひご連絡ください。ありがとうございます。
