Overview

ShowLTU CoAD 2026 is the fifth annual end-of-year exhibition and awards event of the College of Architecture and Design (CoAD) at Lawrence Technological University (LTU) in Southfield, Michigan. Now in its fifth year, the event combines a student and alumni exhibition, a formal awards ceremony, a guest lecture, and an industry networking night. It belongs to the fields of architecture, interior design, graphic design, and product design education.

Focus

The event presents over 200 original works by graduating students and alumni from all programmes within LTU’s College of Architecture and Design. Projects on display this year address real-world design challenges, ranging from proposals to repurpose ocean microplastics into furniture to architectural reimaginings of vertical circulation infrastructure. The event positions student work as professionally relevant rather than academically contained, with direct industry engagement built into the format.

For those tracking how architectural education platforms are shaping the next generation of practitioners, ArchUp’s coverage of the INSPIRELI Awards 2026 offers a parallel perspective on how student work is being evaluated and surfaced across global platforms.

Program

The full ShowLTU CoAD 2026 programme runs across three days. The opening night on Thursday, May 7, 2026, begins with the student award ceremony followed by a guest lecture, then opens into the Industry and Alumni Night from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, welcoming professionals to view, mingle, and network alongside students, staff, and alumni. The exhibition continues on Friday, May 8, open to the public from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and on Saturday, May 9, from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM.

Student projects on display include Logan Caruso’s Vertical Fourth Places: Reclaiming the Fire Stair as an Architecture of Informal Encounter and Connection, which reimagines fire stairs as social infrastructure. The 2026 guest lecturer has not been publicly confirmed at the time of writing, though previous editions have featured Billie Tsien (2025) and Thom Mayne (2024). Immediately following the event, Design Declassified work from LTU will be featured for the first time as part of the Schools Showcase at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), part of NYCXDESIGN, May 17 to 19 at the Javits Center in New York City.

Those interested in how student work on adaptive reuse and urban design is being recognised globally will find a relevant reference in ArchUp’s documentation of current architecture competitions open to students and emerging practitioners, which maps the range of platforms now available for student work beyond institutional exhibitions.

“These are emerging designers, many of whom are already starting their careers. It is a chance to see where they are headed and how well-supported they are by industry upon graduation.”

For context on how architectural education connects the classroom to professional practice, ArchUp’s analysis of access and privilege in the architecture profession provides a critical frame on what industry nights and alumni networks actually do structurally for emerging practitioners.

Audience

The Industry and Alumni Night is ticketed and aimed at architecture and design professionals, industry leaders, alumni, and employers. The exhibition is open to the general public on Friday and Saturday at no charge. Students, faculty, and staff attend the opening ceremony and lecture as part of the programme.

Event Details

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight

ShowLTU CoAD occupies a useful position in the landscape of architectural education events: it is not a competition, not a conference, and not a purely academic exhibition. It is a structured handoff between the school and the profession, using the student work as the medium of exchange. The Industry Night format is a direct attempt to compress the gap between graduation and professional entry, giving employers and practitioners a curated view of emerging talent before they enter the job market. The annual guest lecture adds an intellectual dimension that lifts the event beyond a career fair, though the selection of that lecturer is consequential. Billie Tsien and Thom Mayne represent very different architectural cultures, and the choice of who speaks to graduating students shapes what the profession signals it values. The follow-on placement at ICFF via the Schools Showcase is a strategically shrewd move: it extends the reach of student work beyond the Michigan campus into one of the most commercially significant design fairs in North America, testing whether student ideas can hold their own in a professional market context.

Closing Note

The event is a modest-scale but purposefully structured bridge between architectural education and professional practice. Its consistency over five editions and its expanding industry connections give it a credibility that purely academic exhibitions rarely achieve.