New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority has installed yellow safety barriers in a subway station to mitigate "intrusions" onto the train tracks.

The bright yellow barriers are part of a safety pilot program monitored by New York City Transit (NYCT), which the organisation will study and scale up if successful.

"It's still in an experimental phase," said MTA CEO Janno Lieber in a statement. "We will be watching carefully to determine if the barriers are effective at deterring track intrusions without interfering with passenger circulation. If they pass the test, we will be ready to deploy widely."

Dispersed periodically along the length of a station, the metal barriers sit directly adjacent to support columns and just before the yellow tactile warning strip that lines a platform edge.

They leave half of the gaps between columns open and block the remaining space to decrease the possibility commuters would fall, be pushed, or enter into the tracks below.

The first batch of barriers was installed in a Uptown Manhattan station at 191 Street, with plans to install the remaining test fleet at a Coney Island station, a station in Downtown Brooklyn, and a fourth location that has yet to be determined.

The program follows a 2022 MTA report that studied reasons behind track intrusions and possible solutions to prevent them, which cites pushing, suicide, intoxication, mental illness, and slipping to be some of the reasons commuters could enter onto tracks.

"Safety in the subway system is something that customers consistently cite as a core driver of their satisfaction and is a top priority for us at New York City Transit,” said NYCT president Richard Davey.

"This pilot program will help us determine the most effective ways to keep subway customers safe and focused on getting to their destination, while also addressing track intrusion."

Another recent citywide initiative in New York included the installation of a new public trashcan designed by Group Projects, while recent safety design includes the installation of nets underneath the Golden Gate Bridge in San Franscisco

The photography is by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority 

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Stools from local designer Caleb Ferris and design firm Prowl Studio were among the works displayed at a San Francisco exhibition centred around contemporary Bay Area design.

The Works in Progress show displayed stools, chairs and other furniture from local designers to highlight the diversity in methods and backgrounds of an evolving Bay Area design scene.

"As the Bay Area creative scene evolves in real-time, there are boundless possibilities for how it might bloom," said curators and designers Kate Greenberg, Kelley Perumbeti, and Sahra Jajarmikhayat in a statement. 

"For now, we are here to acknowledge its depth and say: it's a work in progress."

The team distributed the exhibition's pieces across metallic platforms supported by foundations of bricks.

Pieces ranged from a curvacious, duck-footed poplar wood stool marked with paint and silver leaf by Caleb Ferris, to Prowl Studio's cubic stainless steel stool wrapped in a 3D knit cover.

"Across a range of materials, forms, and functions, the participants have found a groove in the original, the introspective, and the off-center," said the team. 

Designer Ido Yoshimoto displayed a sculptural side table made of old-growth redwood and finished in a dark red textured hue. The table consists of a geometric, curved corner that runs into a darkened raw edge.

Studio Ahead created a fuzzy Merino wool stool informed by northern California rock formations, which contrasted with the smooth surface of a glass stool by curators Jajarmikhayat and Greenberg.

Other works included a baltic plywood side table with grooved sides and small, chunky sky blue legs by NJ Roseti and a white oak chair topped with a wild fleece and suede cushion by Rafi Ajl of studio Long Confidence.

Office of Tangible Space showed a flat-legged chair designed in collaboration with CNC design studio Thirdkind Studio, while Duncan Oja of Oja Design displayed a charred white oak stool with an organic, rough-sawn profile.

Fyrn Studio showed a charcoal-black hardwood stool with aluminium hardware created with replaceable parts and studio Medium Small and designer Yvonne Mouser both displayed chairs made of ash, one blackened and the other not, supported by bases of elegant, simple lines.

"As simple as it sounds, the soul of this exhibition is in the representation of physical craft and the people behind it. It's important to shine a light on this vibrant slice of the Bay Area that is not always as visible amidst a city focused on the digital realm," said Perumbeti.

"There's something really exciting brewing in this community that is just beginning to get teased out," said Greenberg.

Works in Progress was part of the wider San Francisco Art Week, which highlights art and design from the city and took place from 13-21 January.

Other recent furniture exhibitions that highlighted California designers include INTRO/LA with pieces by Adi Goodrich and Sam Klemick and the first Miami edition from Milan-based design exhibition Alcova held in a motel during Miami's art week.

Works in Progress took place at the American Industrial Center in San Francisco from 18 to 23 January 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

The photography is by Sahra Jajarmikhayat unless otherwise stated. 

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California architecture studio AO and developer Matteson Capital have announced plans to change the height of a proposed Oklahoma City supertall skyscraper, which would make it the tallest building in the US if approved.

AO and Matteson Capital announced in a joint statement that they plan to request a variance from Oklahoma City to increase the height of the supertall skyscraper from its original proposed 1,750 feet (533 metres) to 1,907 feet (581 metres).

"Matteson Capital and AO announced today that they will request a variance from the City of Oklahoma City to increase the height for one of the towers in the already entitled development known as The Boardwalk at Bricktown," claimed the team.

"If approved, the height variance will make the structure the tallest building in the United States and currently fifth tallest in the world."

The extra 157 feet (47 metres) proposed for the skyscraper would bring it to 1907 feet tall (581 metres), a homage to the year that Oklahoma was granted statehood. Newly released renderings show a definitive spire rising from the top of the structure.

The Boardwalk at Bricktown is a mixed-used development encompassing three approved 345-foot-tall (105 metre-tall) towers and a fourth supertall skyscraper, with its originally proposed height still pending approval.

If approved, it would unseat the 1,776-foot-tall (541 metres) SOM-designed One World Trade Center in New York as the tallest building in the US and the Western Hemisphere.

100 condominiums and a 350-key Hyatt hotel are planned for Legends Tower, with a top floor that will consist of an observatory, bar and restaurant.

At approximately 5 million square feet, The Boardwalk at Bricktown is a "mixed-use marvel" and will include hotels, condominiums, retail and commercial space and "1,776 residential units ranging from market-rate to affordable workforce and luxury options", according to the team.

Renderings of the development show three geometric buildings clustered closely around the base of a skyscraper which tapers along its height to end in a bisected top.

Other towers currently being built around the US are included in this round-up of eight upcoming skyscrapers in the United States, while Fraser & Partners recently unveiled designs for what may be the world's tallest hybrid timber tower in Perth.

The images are courtesy of AO.

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UK architecture studio Foster + Partners has completed an administration building in South Carolina with a winged roof that covers a skybridge. 

Located in Greenville, the Greenville County Administration Building contains offices and is part of a wider redevelopment of the county's central square by RocaPoint Partners.

The building consists of two separate glass volumes conjoined by a winged roof that covers a central walkway and an elevated skybridge connecting the third floor.

"The building will make a significant contribution to Greenville County, acting as a place for local people to meet in serene natural surroundings," said Foster + Partners head of studio Nigel Dancey.

"The overhanging roof converges to create a shaded plaza, with crisp edges that accentuate the building's unique form."

At its centre, the roof protrudes in a pyramidal canopy, which is made of a series of translucent panels framed with brown metal.

Colourful, integrated lighting illuminates the central space at night.

A glass curtain wall envelopes each volume. The team states the glass was used to symbolically erase the boundary between the public and the government.

Inside, offices and "vast" lobby spaces were distributed across the building's four storeys.

Warm-coloured metal was used for accents on the facade, which are a nod to the Greenville County landscape and the brick masonry historically used in the area.

This same warm tone is found in the Corten steel of a veterans memorial that fans out just in front of the building.

The building's interior lobby is a double-height space with lofted walkways that surround glass-enclosed offices. Supporting columns, wrapped in a metallic finish, create distinct visual and physical markers in the space.

The floors, walls and ceiling were finished in a bright white, contrasted by the dark framing of the glass curtain wall and black furniture in the lobby.

The building faces a public space which will eventually be populated with cafes, restaurants and a fountain, according to the team.

At its back, a long staircase runs down a slope to meet the surrounding sidewalk.

It will act as a link between surrounding green spaces in Greenville's central square, which includes the linear Falls Park.

Foster + Partners recently revealed designs for a mixed-use development with fluted colonnades for Miami Beach and topped out the new JPMorgan headquarters in New York City.

The photography is by Brandon Stengel

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New York architect Dong-Ping Wong, who came up with the idea for a floating, cross-shaped swimming pool proposed for New York City, claims that he has been "frozen out" of the project.

Wong made the claim in a post on Instagram, which addressed the recent news that the + Pool project has been granted $16 million to advance.

In the post, Wong also expressed concern that his original civic vision for the project had been lost, claiming that "the ideals that grounded the project slowly gave way to interests that prioritized money, exposing the project to the levers of gentrification".

Wong, now director of New York-based practice Food Architects, led the design of + Pool under defunct studio Family along with PlayLab Inc co-founders Archie Lee Coates IV and Jeff Franklin and architect Oana Stănescu when it "was launched as a lark" in 2010.

The floating pool, which will reportedly filter up to 1,000,000 gallons of river water a day without the use of chemicals, was designed to float in the waterways of New York City to provide publicly accessible swimming.

"The goal wasn't to just build a pool"

"When I started + Pool, the goal wasn't to just build a pool," said Wong in his post. "The goal was to see if it was possible to make big civic changes to the city from the ground up for places that often get overlooked."

Since the project's launch, it has faced a series of starts and stops, as both its now-patented technology and design faced approval from municipal, commercial and environmental organizations.

In 2015, the 501c3 non-profit Friends of + Pool was formed to be the organising body of the project.

"When we decided to start a non-profit in 2015, it was based on the ideal that a non-profit would protect the project from private interest and ensure it remained a project for everyone," Wong said in his post.

"I was never invited back to a board meeting"

Since 2022, Wong claims that he began to be "frozen" out of the project after he raised internal concerns about what he describes as the "long-standing lack of diversity of the + Pool board".

"These issues were repeatedly dismissed, I was frozen out of the project," he wrote on Instagram.

"I wrote to the board in 2021 that we should establish a clear position on race and discrimination as an organization," Wong told Dezeen.

"About a year later, I joined a board meeting and listened as the board discussed a DEI statement that they were preparing. In the statement, the only actionable item was to take an annual survey of the number of people of colour involved in the project," he continued.

"I asked whether there was more being done and they said no. After that board meeting, which was in April 2022, I was never invited back to a board meeting, design or engineering meeting, gala or fundraising event or any internal discussions."

Record on accessibility "speaks for itself" says + Pool

Friends of + Pool disputes Wong's account.

In response to Wong's Instagram post, the non-profit told Dezeen that Wong had decided not to be involved in the progression of the organisation but rather to centre his work on the architecture of  + Pool. The organisation also claimed that Wong continues to be invited to all events and activities.

"+ Pool's record on swim education and swim accessibility for communities of colour speaks for itself," managing director of Friends of + Pool Kara Meyer told Dezeen.

"Friends of + Pool has made DEI a major priority in its policies and programs, which is why it was a centrepiece of both the Governor and the Mayor's announcements at the Jan 5 press conference."

None of the project's founders sit on the board, according to the non-profit, although it said that they continue to have a voice in making recommendations.

The other co-founders told Dezeen that they felt the project was still aligned with its original intent.

"We are proud of how the non-profit is fulfilling our original vision," co-founders Coates IV, Franklin and Stănescu told Dezeen in a joint statement.

"In fact, it's gone beyond what any of us imagined. This should be a moment of collective celebration and is when the work truly begins."

Funding approval "bittersweet"

A location for + Pool has also been disputed. In 2021, ​​New York's Economic Development Corporation confirmed a provisional site for the project north of the Manhattan Bridge, although Friends of + Pool told Dezeen that a final site has yet to be chosen by the government.

The provisional location sits between Wong's residence and the Food Architects office in New York City's Chinatown neighbourhood. While + Pool was "never originally intended to come to Chinatown" according to the designer, its proposed location further cemented a personal connection to the project for Wong.

"I'm Chinese-American, and we've had the office in Chinatown for seven or eight years, depending on where you count the borders of Chinatown," he told Dezeen.

"I felt like I could speak to and about the project and its relationship to underserved communities in a way that was much more personal and specific than I could before it was located here."

Wong called the recent $16 million of funds approved for the project "bittersweet" on Instagram.

"With + Pool closer to reality, I worry about how the leadership will treat the neighbourhood's long-standing communities – the majority of whom are people of colour and lower income," he wrote.

"I'm concerned about what concession to access might be made in the service of commercial interest and about what agreements with predatory developers might be taking place without my knowledge."

Friends of + Pool recently announced the $16 million will be used to create a 2,000-square-foot (185 square metres) version of + Pool to be built for testing come summer 2024, with plans to open it to swimmers in 2025. Original versions of the project held that the modular pool could reach up to 9,000 square feet (836 square metres).

According to the team, it will also serve as a pilot project for + Pool's design and technology to be used throughout New York state.

The images are courtesy Friends of + Pool.

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From the JPMorgan Chase headquarters in New York designed by UK architecture studio Foster + Partners to be "all-electric" to Miami's first supertall skyscraper, we round up eight skyscrapers coming to the United States.

In various stages of development, the projects below are underway, with Jahn Studio's 1000 M in Chicago and SOM's Two Manhattan West already at full height in their respective cities.

Some, like the Wilson Tower in Austin, have faced various construction delays, though the Texan city holds more spaces on this list than skyscraper-studded New York City.

Read on for eight upcoming projects in cities across the US.

1000 M, Chicago, by Helmut Jahn

Located in the Historic Michigan Avenue District of Chicago, 1000 M is a 73-storey skyscraper spanning 788 feet (240 metres), that consists of an angular base topped with a curved edge tower.

Originally, the tower was planned to reach 832 feet (254 metres) tall, but restrictions in the area caused the developers to reduce the height. The tower's topped out in late summer 2023.

Find out more about 1000 M ›

Two Manhattan West, Manhattan, by SOM

Two Manhattan West is one of a pair of towers supported by "mega columns" at their bases.

It is part of the Manhattan West development, which covers more than seven million square feet combined (650,321 square metres), with a masterplan by SOM that includes residential, retail, hotel and office spaces just north of New York's High Line.

After nine years of development, the project will be completed in early 2024.

Find out more about Two Manhattan West ›

Sixth and Guadalupe, Austin, by Gensler 

Joining several skyscrapers under construction in Austin, Gensler's Sixth and Guadalupe will reach 875 feet (267 metres) high and consist of two industrial glass and steel volumes atop a podium.

It will host residential and office programs, as well as the city's highest sky pool deck.

Wilson Tower, Austin, by HKS

The Wilson Tower by HKS was set to be the tallest building in Texas at 80 storeys before its height was halved after an unsuccessful review in January 2023.

Now spanning 45 storeys, a new iteration of the design maintains the brise soleil wrapped facade, while the team plans to adjust the ground floor programming.

Find out more about Wilson Tower ›

JPMorgan Chase headquarters, Manhattan, by Foster + Partners 

Topped out in November 2023, the new JPMorgan Chase headquarters by Foster + Partners will be New York's "largest all-electric tower", according to the architecture studio.

Located at 270 Park Avenue, it has 60 storeys and reaches 1,388 feet (423 metres) high, with a stilted base raised 80 feet (27 metres) off the ground.

Find out more about JPMorgan Chase headquarters ›

Waterline, Austin, by KPF

Estimated to be completed in 2026, the 1,022-foot-tall (312 metres) mixed-used Waterline tower is set to be the tallest in the state of Texas, unseating the JPMorgan Chase Tower in Houston.

Located along Waller Creek, the building will consist of 74 storeys distributed across three distinct volumes and separated by open-air spaces supported by surrounding columns.

Find out more about Waterline ›

The Waldorf Astoria Miami, Miami, by Sieger Suarez Architects and Carlos Ott

Set to be Miami's first supertall skyscraper, according to developer PMG, the Waldorf Astoria Miami will contain 100 storeys and reach 1,049 feet (319.7 metres) high.

Located in Downtown Miami, it consists of nine offset cubes intended to emphasise the structure's suspension and height, which will host the five-star Waldorf Astoria hotel as well as private residences.

Find out more about the Waldorf Astoria Miami ›

Tower 36, Miami, by KPF

Unanimously approved as of October 2023, Tower 36 located in Miami's Design District will be 635 feet (193 metres) tall and will be the tallest office building in the district, according to KPF.

The building will consist of a tapered tower atop a rectangular base, with terraces on all office floors that are detailed with light bronze soffit accents.

Header rendering is of JPMorgan Headquarters courtesy of DBOX for Foster + Partners.

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Florida-based manufacturer Renco has used stackable, Lego-like blocks made of repurposed materials to build an apartment block in Palm Springs designed by architecture studio Arquitectonica.

Made of a composite of glass fibres, resin and stone, the were designed to be stronger, less energy-intensive and more affordable that traditional materials, according to Renco.

The blocks were first used in Turkey after earthquakes to rebuild infrastructure faster and more affordably after natural disasters.

"Renco's structural building system is a new way to build that is 23 times stronger than concrete, less expensive and finished in a fraction of the time," said the company.

"Think of it like a real-life Lego kit – moulded blocks that interlock and create entire structures," it continued.

"By simplifying construction into a Lego-like kit, Renco buildings can be assembled much faster, reducing time on the job and energy consumption."

An individual block is made using a composite of glass fibres, resin and stone with 40 per cent of materials repurposed from sources like the "massive boat building industry" that would otherwise go to waste.

Each moulded block is rectangular and topped with a series of knobs, which interlock and stack in the same way as a Lego block.

The typical block measures 8 by 8 by 16 inches (20 by 20 by 40 centimetres) and weighs 20 per cent less than a traditional concrete block, according to the team.

A two-part methyl methacrylate adhesive was used to bind the blocks to one another.

"To build with Renco, all that is required is a fork truck to lift up the materials, a glue gun powered by a small generator and a mallet," said the team.

"Crews don't need heavy equipment or power tools – no exterior scaffolding, no big cranes, no cutting, burning, welding or grinding."

The block's design also reduces construction time.

"It only takes about two hours to train a person to build with Renco, so construction projects are not delayed due to traditional labour shortages," said the team.

"For example, the first Renco USA housing complex in Palm Springs, Florida was finished in record time. With 11 unskilled workers, it took about eight weeks to assemble each of the four identical three-story buildings."

According to the team, the construction method can triple a building's lifespan and is rated to be hurricane and earthquake-resistant.

Additionally, the company claims that the blocks are fire, water, mould, termite and pest-resistant.

"It simply won't rust or rot and nothing will consume it," said the team.

The construction blocks have passed over "400 rigorous safety tests" to be used in the US.

The apartment complex by Arquitectonica, which is the first US project to employ the blocks, contains 96 apartments distributed between four identical, rectangular buildings which are marked by colourful entrances.

Recently, Chinese materials company Yi Design created a porous brick using 90 per cent recycled ceramic waste that could be used to mitigate flooding.

The photography is courtesy of Renco.

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Architecture studios Oficina de Diseño Colaborativo and Atelier TBD have created a cultural space that preserves the "self-built essence" of San Miguel de Allende.

Created in collaboration with interior studio Maye Colab, Santa Tere Espacio is a cultural space and office that will primarily serve to foster reading in the surrounding neighbourhoods.

"Santa Tere Espacio emerged from the idea of creating architecture through renovation, reuse, repair, and repurposing," said the team. 

"Based on the self-built essence of the neighbourhood, Office of Collaborative Design, TBD Atelier, and Maye Colab joined forces with a shared vision to propose a project that engages with the site's legacy."

According to the team, self-construction is a "common building practice in Latin America", a technique they sought to preserve by repurposing both the existing architecture and materials from the site, which was a former six-room, single-story dwelling.

For Santa Tere Espacio, the team distributed several meeting rooms, a kitchenette, a bathroom and a central courtyard along the structure's lateral plan with a second, detached bathroom tucked into a corner of the site. 

A long alleyway, marked with a curving concrete path, runs along the length of the exterior and provides access to each space.

"The intervention primarily involved demolitions to bring in light and allow ventilation of the spaces, and the incorporation of new elements such as doors, windows, and tile finishes that contrast with the pre-existing structure," said the team.

"Openings were created in the form of doors, windows, and domes, and some walls were demolished to make way for the central courtyard."

Colab worked with a palette of red, yellow and pink on the interior, based on hues found during construction.

"The idea of capturing the site's essence is also reflected in the project's colour palette, designed based on the colours found in the construction, with a contrasting colour being the blue of the ironwork."

Bright blue windows and doors were distributed across the space and finished with geometric handles.

Interior furnishings were finished primarily in red, with the kitchenette covered in bright red tile and desks throughout the space trimmed in the same shade.

In a desk at the front of the building, the stalk of a plant grows through an opening carved in its surface, while a silver of a triangular skylight sits above.

The project's landscape design incorporates both native plants and others commonly found around the neighbourhood's rooftops, patios and facades.

A spindly palo verde plant was planted in the courtyard to provide shade, a species considered sacred to the Aztecs and associated with the feathered serpent god, according to the team. 

Santa Tere Espacio will act as a co-working and cultural space and will host OCD, Maye Colab and the bookstore Una Boutique de Libros.

Programming will focus on "reading, feminism, design and diversity". 

Founded by Nadyeli Quiroz Radaelli, OCD and Maye Colab are design studios based in Mexico, while Atelier TBD, founded by Victor Wu, is an architecture office based between Brooklyn, Taipei and San Miguel.

Elsewhere in San Miguel de Allende, design studio Mestiz opened a studio to showcase its collaborations with local craftspeople.

The photography is by Leandro Bulzzano.

Project credits:

Architecture: Oficina de Diseño Colaborativo OCD, Atelier TBD
Interior design: Oficina de Diseño Colaborativo OCD, Atelier TBD, Maye Colab
Furniture and colorimetry: Maye Colab
Landscape architecture: Oficina de Diseño Colaborativo OCD, Atelier TBD
Principals: Maye Ruiz, Nadyeli Quiroz, Victor Wu
Design team: Alejandra Skinfield, Paola Bravo, Sara Lopez Farias
Structural consultant: Formula+, Yoyo Wu
Sources:
Steelwork: Crónica Estudio

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Chilean architecture studio Croxatto and Opazo Architects has created a holiday home outside of Santiago with a rotated, wedge-shaped terrace at its front.

At just 22 feet by 22 feet (7 metres by 7 metres) and 16 feet (5.5 metres) high, the cube-shaped Casa Lagunita contains a kitchen, living and dining room, two bathrooms and two bedrooms across two levels.

Located on a hilly site in Laguna Zapalla two hours outside of Santiago, Croxatto and Opazo Architects integrated the house into a 25-degree slope by splitting the program into three "platforms".

"The project's approach aims to make full use of the terrain by dividing the entire surface into three main platforms, contained by two concrete walls that shape and support the hillside," said the team.

The first platform contains parking spaces, which are located on ground level and face the structure's concrete foundation.

An exterior wooden staircase leads to a second platform that supports the house.

The entrance was placed on the side of the structure, and visitors enter the first-floor living and dining area, which also contains a kitchen running along the far side.

A bathroom was tucked into a corner of the space, facing a steep wooden staircase that leads to the house's top-floor sleeping area.

The majority of the staircase was lined in planed pine wood, while its top section was made of metal. Floor-to-ceiling windows span its height, while a storage cupboard sits underneath.

Next to the staircase's first-floor landing, a door leads to a small terrace that juts out from the facade and is enclosed by a rectangular concrete volume.

"The large window facing south and west extends toward the street through a roofed, rotated terrace, turning toward the sea, becoming a large beacon that gently incorporates afternoon light, warmly bathing the wooden walls inside the house," said the team.

The top level contains two bedrooms and a second bathroom which was placed in the same corner as the one below.

Both the bedrooms and living area are located along the back side of the house, facing the slope.

Large windows on this side of the house look out over a backyard.

"To the north, six large Oregon pine windows open, incorporating a small decorative courtyard, expanding the spatial sensation and dressing the interior with vegetation," said the team.

The third platform of the house, a spacious terrace, was placed at the highest point of land.

Accessed by a second exterior staircase, it looks out over the surrounding town and beach.

The team finished the exterior in white-washed concrete, with the majority of the interior lined with 1 by 4 inch pine wood panelling.

Previously, Croxatto and Opazo Architects perched two timber-clad cabins on the Chilean coast.

The photography is by Cristóbal Palma.

Project credits:

Project team: Nicolás Opazo, Felipe Croxatto, Martin Dellatorre, José Pablo O`Ryan, Maximiliano Valle

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Testing for the floating +Pool swimming pool proposed for New York City's waterways will begin this summer upon the project receiving $16 million to advance.

Designed by LA-based design studio PlayLab Inc and the now-dissolved studio Family, +Pool is a cross-shaped pool that will filter pollutants from the surrounding water without chemicals and provide publically accessible swimming for New Yorkers.

Non-profit organiser Friends of +Pool announced recently that the project received $4 million from the City of New York and $12 million from New York State to "pilot and scale" the project for summer 2024.

"This summer, the Governor and the nonprofit Friends of + POOL plan to launch an approximate 2,000 square foot (185 square metres) version of the water-filtering swimming pool utilizing + POOL's design and technology," said the team in a statement.

"The installation in New York City this summer will demonstrate how the +Pool, and its unique filtration system, will provide access to our waters and meet new regulations outlined by the government."

The pilot project will also serve as testing for the +Pool's design to be used elsewhere in New York state, with renderings depicting it floating in waterways in Buffalo, Newburgh, Rochester and other locations.

According to the team, the full-sized +Pool will be capable of cleaning 1,000,000 gallons of water a day by filtering water through its walls without chemicals or additives.

The patented filtration system created by Friends of + POOL  "brings raw river water to an acceptable microbiological standard for swimming" using the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (US EPA) water quality modelling software.

The four branches of its cross-design are also adaptable and can reconfigured for a variety of activities including lap swimming, lounging watersports and children's activities.

The sections can be used independently or combined to form an Olympic-length or 9,000-square-foot pool.

"This summer's public demonstration of the system will provide New York State and Friends of + POOL with the final data needed to secure permits and greenlight the completion of the pool's installation," said the team.

The pool is expected to be open for swimmers summer of 2025.

Previously, a location for +Pool was approved to be placed north of the Manhattan Bridge.

A floating installation based on the project was created by PlayLab Inc, Family New York, Floating Point and Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in 2019.

The images are courtesy of Friends of +Pool.

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Local architects Santiago Viale and Juan Manuel Juarez have wrapped the offices of an animal feed plant in Córdoba with a perforated metal screen.

The 18,040 square foot (1,676 square metre) administrative building is part of a larger 199,000 square foot (18,460 square metre) industrial complex for Biofarma, which produces feed for animals including poultry, swine and cattle.

Santiago Viale and Juan Manuel Juarez organized offices, meeting rooms, printing areas and lounge areas across two rectangular floors, punctuated by two internal courtyards at the centre.

The courtyards, along with wood-clad staircases at either end of the building, create collaborative and interactive spaces for employees across the two levels, according to the team.

The office and meeting spaces were distributed along the internal perimeter, with one side abutting floor-to-ceiling windows that span the exterior and the other, a central passageway.

Glass partitions enclose several office spaces, while others were left open.

"The company managers' offices are distributed around a double-height space that connects with a hierarchized entrance on the ground floor, reinforcing the sense of institutional identity," said the team.

Visitors enter the building's lobby through a concrete vestibule that extends out from underneath a metal screen enclosing the exterior.

A small auditorium sits next to the lobby, clad in wooden panelling with integrated lighting running through its ceiling and walls. Large windows extend along its side.

Lounge areas and a coffee break space provide additional gathering spaces on the second floor, while a dining area opens onto a roof terrace.

Reinforced concrete was used for the building's structure, which was then wrapped in pre-painted grey galvanized expanded metal sheet skin.

A gap of 27 inches (70 centimetres) sits between the metallic screen and the building's exterior to create sun protection.

"This skin plays a significant role in the project, as it forms an intermediate shaded space between the glass closure and the exterior, reducing direct sunlight radiation and, consequently, the building's energy consumption," said the team.

Moveable panels were also integrated into the cage-like wrapping, while integrated vertical blinds provide further sun protection for inhabitants.

"It also gives the building the language and institutional character of the company," said the team.

Two large metal-framed openings were placed on either side of the building, which open onto the outdoor dining area.

A metal "Biofarma" sign was also placed on the exterior.

Other projects recently completed in Córdoba include a black concrete house by AR Arquitectos and two modular cabins by Set Ideas.

The photography is by Gonzalo Viramonte.

Project credits:
Collaborators: Salvador Viale, Tito Maximiliano Gonza, Francisco Gavilán, Nicolás Macasso, Santiago Viale Beviglia, Rocío Cornacchione, Emiliano Pino, Nicolás Borra, Lourdes Bruno, Fiama Ríos, Ricardo Cortesse, Eduardo Storaccio, Sonja Czeranski, Juan Macías
Deployed metal: ETC.
Integral front: Abest
Curtains: Suquía Curtains
Vinyl floor: Julia Sol
Auditorium Seats: Rassegna

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Local architecture studio Moroni Ciovini and designer Ana Montero have preserved the exposed layers of concrete wall for this bookstore and café in Buenos Aires.

At just 247 square feet (23 square metres), Medio Pan cafe is just large enough to fit seating, a bar and bookshelves, which are located at the back and front of the store.

For the shop's interior, Moroni Ciovini (M++C) and Montero created a furniture unit of multilaminate guatambú wood that makes up the shop's seating, bar and posterior bookshelf.

A narrow bench runs along the length of the shop, facing the bar, so that visitors can get a closer look at the barista's work, according to the team.

Storage was integrated below the bench, while small wooden armrests were placed periodically and double as side tables.

The seating runs directly into the bookshelf, which expands over the entrance to storage space at the back of the store. A chainlink fence extends from the top of the bookshelf to meet the ceiling.

On the opposite side of the bookshelf, a wider bench takes up the corner, providing a nook for visitors to more "calmly" enjoy a book.

The cafe bar takes up the remaining space, with its front abutting the shop's facade to double as a window counter.

The team created folding glass doors for the storefront, which can be arranged in a variety of positions. Small shelves were affixed to the doors, which display a changing parade of books held down by neon green elastic and small wooden pins.

According to the team, the folding doors were created to evoke newsstands found throughout Buenos Aires.

The space was completed with soft green highlights, found in backsplash tile, cushioning and pillows that line the wooden seating, a curtain at the back of the store and Formica countertops.

The layers and patterns of the textured concrete walls were kept largely preserved and covered with a transparent coating to display the space's previous uses, while the team also decided to keep the original granite tile as a nod to the building's history.

Moroni Ciovini is a Buenos Aires and Valencia-based architecture studio founded by Christian Moroni and Belén Ciovini.

Elsewhere in Buenos Aires, designer Florencia Rissotti recently renovated a warehouse to host a fabric store and architects Julio Oropel and Jose Luis Zacarias Otiñano created a bio-art installation focused on fungi.

The photography is by Fernando Schapochnik

Project credits:

Architecture: Moroni++Ciovini, Ana Montero
Construction: Estudio KO

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LA studio PlayLab Inc has created a flagship store that contains a sky blue conversation pit at its centre for local clothing brand Madhappy.

PlayLab Inc split the West Hollywood store into two distinct zones – one for retail space and the other for "intimate gathering spaces", including a cafe and a courtyard.

"Our collective goal with the design was to put space for conversation at the heart of the retail experience, creating a place that is equal parts for community dialogue and product," PlayLab Inc co-founder Jeff Franklin told Dezeen.

"To do this we split the space down the middle, making one half a clear utility for shopping and the other a collection of intimate gathering spaces."

Visitors enter the 2,800-square-foot (260-square-metre) store through a glass facade, which leads into a large open space with powder blue concrete flooring running throughout.

At the entrance, a blue bench emerges from a small exterior porch, while a boulder sits opposite.

Towards one side, the store contains a 70's style conversation pit underneath a large skylight. Plush, sky-blue couches line the seating area, with satin aluminium side tables by Berlin-based studio New Tendency placed alongside them.

Along an adjacent limewashed wall, the studio installed built-in shelving flanked by large custom wooden speakers by New York music studio designer Danny Keith Taylor of House Under Magic.

The social area leads into a small open-air courtyard populated by a single Tree Aloe installed by Cactus Store and green-stained plywood stools by LA studio Waka Waka.

The same green plywood was used to line the takeout window of the store's Pantry cafe, which sits in an enclosed corner and serves local and global cuisines from brands including Japanese-based café Hotel Drugs and LA bakery Courage Bagels.

A custom lightbox and a large standing menu were installed next to the takeout window to display the cafe's signage and goods.

In the remaining interior, PlayLab Inc created a large metallic "retail bar" that spans the shop's length for "open views of the product", according to Franklin. The studio also dispersed custom Lego-like benches around the space, which were covered in a candy apple red gloss.

Faux-stone stools and a bench were installed throughout the space.

The store also contains a multimedia room, called the Local Optimist Space, a creative venue that will host audio and visual artwork.

"The design was inspired by the concept of conversation between things – a balance of scales, materials and textures," said Franklin.

This is the first flagship store for the clothing brand Madhappy, which previously operated from a host of pop-up concepts and stores.

"From the beginning, physical retail has been essential to Madhappy and its success. We've always viewed our shops as spaces that go beyond something purely transactional – we want them to allow our community to engage with Madhappy beyond what's possible digitally," Madhappy co-founder Mason Spector said in a statement.

Other recent projects by PlayLab Inc also include a plexiglass skatepark for Vans and a lifesize toy racetrack set for a Louis Vuitton menswear show.

The photography is by Sean Davidson.

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Creative team Luna Luna has re-installed a "forgotten" art theme park in a Los Angeles production studio that includes a Ferris wheel by Jean-Michel Basquiat, a carousel by Keith Haring and work by artists David Hockney, Kenny Scharf and more.

Created by artist André Heller, the original fair took place in 1987 in a Hamburg park. Today's Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy iteration displays the rides and attractions as an exhibit, with some interactive elements and performers dispersed throughout.

Located at production studio Ace Mission Studios, today's Luna Luna adopts the moniker of its successor and is organized by a collective of the same name.

To enter the exhibition, guests pass by a recreation of a spikey red inflatable dome by Heller – which previously housed a cafe – into a corridor that displays the original fair on video.

Visitors then pass into two large warehouse spaces divided by an archway by artist Sonia Delaunay that reads "Luna Luna" in lights.

"The team's concept for the exhibition layout was to reference and celebrate the key characteristics, dynamic atmosphere, and formal relationships, between the artworks within Luna Luna's 1987 debut in Hamburg, while acknowledging that its new home within a Los Angeles soundstage is starkly different from the grass and mud of a tree-lined German park," director of spatial design Charles Dorrance-King told Dezeen.

"[The exhibition] required a modified approach that still spoke to the spirit of '87, such as utilizing Sonia Delaunay's archway not as an entrance to the park, but instead as a gateway between two adjacent warehouses. The first space highlights the spectacle, and the second focuses on the story of Luna Luna."

The first space contains a colourful swing ride by Kenny Scharf, which is spray-painted with cartoon figures, patterns and shapes reminiscent of the television the artist watched as a child.

Surrounding works also include a carousel by Keith Haring, painted with the artist's characteristic line drawings, including a self-portrait.

Seats made of the dancing figures were created for visitors to ride during the 1987 fair. Today, the rides operate and run during the exhibit, but are not ride-able for visitors.

Another carousel by artist Arik Brauer sits nearby, which features seats of fantastical creatures "straight out of one his mystical dreams", including a butterfly, a wolf, a mermaid and an anthropomorphic hand. A song written, produced and performed by Brauer's daughter, Timna was also integrated into the ride.

David Hockney's Enchanted Tree was also installed in the space, a circular pavilion with geometric trees painted on its exterior panels.

Visitors then pass into the next room, which contains a painted Ferris wheel by Jean-Michael Basquiat, accompanied by a custom music composition by musician Miles Davis, called Tutu, a pavilion by Salvador Dalí, and a glass labyrinth covered in Roy Lichtenstein-painted panels.

"We took into account the reflection of the Lichtenstein facade and glowing wheel of the illuminated Basquiat arrayed along the mirrored facade of the Dali, and the placement of the GilSing flags, which were wrapped around the perimeter of the exhibition as in the original park," said Dorrance-King.

Basquiat's Ferris wheel was painted in a cream colour and adorned with his recurrent illustrations and writing that speak to race, music and anatomy.

A wedding chapel by André Heller is also included nearby. Created by two abstract figures holding a heart between them, the chapel was a place where visitors of today's exhibition and the 1987 fair can marry "whatever or whomever" they please.

"Heller imagined Luna Luna as a 'total artwork' that combined visual art, music, theatre, design, circus arts and performance, and explained that the park aimed to recover public space for art and imagination," said the team.

Following its successful 1987 debut in Germany, the fair and its subsequent works fell into legal battles and were stored away in shipping containers in Texas.

In 2022, reports broke that Drake and his creative business venture DreamCrew invested an estimated $100 million for the entire fair, with plans to restore the rides for access to the public.

Today's Luna Luna exhibition took over a year to restore and reassemble.

"They've spent over a year caring for these works, rebuilding each ride and attraction bolt by bolt after they came out of the shipping containers in pieces – they know every inch of these works,"  said curatorial director Lumi Tan of the assembly team.

"Each attraction takes a small army to install: because of this, the installation and placement of the works were not just a curatorial choice, but one made in close collaboration with our spatial design and studio team. There is no such thing as a small tweak with works at this scale!"

Other recent design-related exhibitions throughout the US include an Alcova show displayed in a Miami motel and an exploration of Es Devlin's career in New York.

The photography is by Jeff McLane and Joshua and Charles White.

Luna Luna: A Forgotton Fantasy will take place at Ace Mission Studios in Los Angeles through Spring 2024.  See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Local architect Florencia Rissotti has converted a warehouse into a textile shop in Buenos Aires, using fabric dividers to organise the space.

To house a retail location for fabric shop Tienda Mayor, Rissotti integrated textiles in several ways, lining the store with samples, draping colourful patches over a staircase and using curtains to conceal and create space.

The interior is divided into two floors, with a mezzanine above used for storage and office space, and the store's retail space and lounge areas below.

Cream-coloured curtains hang underneath the mezzanine and above to hide storage areas and create meeting spaces.

"The space was assembled using the raw material of the place: fabric," said the studio. "A series of curtains divide, set up a meeting room, hide shelves with orders and cover the storage area."

Along the length of a wall, large material samples are draped from hooks, which will "mutate" over time as the catalogue changes.

Similarly, fabric samples of various sizes were draped over the railings of a staircase that leads to the mezzanine, in part as a permanent installation and to display the shop's selections.

"The ladder device was intended as an exhibition element, from which velvet falls and sews the two levels (the totem) together," said the studio. "This ladder hanger is designed as an internal display window, where the selection/palette can be changed according to the season."

Various creme tones dominate the space, with colour integrated from fabric samples and bright seating running in a straight line parallel to the fabric samples.

Alamo wood desks and large coffee tables were crafted for the space.

Outside, a garden area contains a semi-circle metal bench and simple plantings.

Florencia Rissotti is a Buenos Aires-based architect who focuses on interiors and residential architecture.

Elsewhere in Buenos Aires, La Base Studio recently created a delicate wooden privacy screen for a 1970s home renovation and architects Julio Oropel and Jose Luis Zacarias Otiñano created a bio-art installation focused on fungi.

The photography is by Fernando Schapochnik.

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Netherlands-based designer Kyran Knauf has created a tabletop device that allows users to breed and harvest crickets as an alternative protein source.

Called Crikorama, the machine can host a continuous cycle of approximately 3o crickets through their lifecycles before they are harvested and eaten as a "sustainable" replacement for meat.

"I generally have two passions, which are food and well-designed products," Knauf told Dezeen. "I was looking into the data of how we could feed ourselves more sustainably, regarding meat, especially."

"It's a bit of the 'farm to fork' idea where individuals buy or produce their food at home.  And the reason why crickets is that they're super efficient in transforming feed into protein."

Knauf explained that it takes approximately 45 to 60 crickets to replace the protein found in a meat-based dish, such as a steak.

If we were to replace cricket protein with just one meat-based meal out of the three or so most omnivores eat in a week, it would have a "huge impact" on reducing the resources used to produce meat, which requires water, land and energy.

According to Knauf, the Crikorama approach would conserve 104,000 litres of water and 200 square metres of land annually per user, and five to six kilograms of CO2 emissions per meal.

The machine was created for home kitchens, restaurants, farms and educational purposes and is small enough to be plugged in and placed on a countertop.

It is 3D-printed using Polylactic Acid (PLA) and acrylic and assembled with nuts and bolts.

A centralized acrylic compartment holds space for the growing adult crickets, with integrated heating pads and air ventilation.

Knauf added green LED lights to the space as studies show it makes the crickets "feel more relaxed", according to the designer.

A small tray filled with soil sits in one corner, which is where the female crickets will lay their eggs.

A bright orange drawer at the base of the machine is for harvesting and storing adult crickets, which can be held in the freezer before being eaten.

"The whole idea is that the machine is something fun to have at home," said Knauf. "It's a bit like those old espresso machines made of metal. They make a statement in the kitchen. If you love or hate coffee, they all look great."

The designer explained caring for the crickets is "easy" and would require about ten minutes weekly, as they only need to be fed and given water.

Knauf, who debuted the machine at Dutch Design Week 2023, said it was "quite a success" although visitors were more receptive to ingesting the crickets in powder form, something the designer has taken into consideration for the next iteration of the design.

He hopes to start producing and deploying Crikorama in February 2024, with a price point set at under $300 (£236).

"The philosophy is that you buy your independence," said Knauf. "I think that's a big thing that you see a lot in my work, is this buying independence, which means you get the necessary resources to be more off-grid. Not necessarily to have a hippie or anti-system approach, but more that this is how we will need to live in the future."

Crikorama was recently nominated for the Green Concept Award, which is aimed at young designers, researchers, students and start-ups seeking to further develop sustainable concepts and products.

London-based designer Leyu Li also presented a conceptual product at Dutch Design Week that splices lab-grown meat with vegetables in an attempt to explore the future of protein production.

The photography is courtesy Kyran Knauf unless otherwise stated.

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In this roundup, we continue our review of 2023 with a collection of notable rebrands and logo redesigns, including Twitter's switch to "X" and a revamped look for the "I NY" logo.

Other rebrands in this roundup include refreshed looks for drink brand Pepsi and fashion house Burberry, as well as a simplified brand identity for the US Army that "builds upon the equity of the legacy Army star".

Here are Dezeen's top 10 rebrands and logo redesigns of 2023:

Pepsi by PepsiCo

Pepsi unveiled its first rebrand in 14 years to commemorate its 125th anniversary and to mark a further "commitment to Pepsi Zero Sugar".

The redesign retains the Pepsi globe, with the brand name at its centre in black.

"We want to instigate moments of unapologetic enjoyment," PepsiCo chief design officer Mauro Porcini told Dezeen. "We've always been a bold and energetic brand – now our visual identity better matches our attitude."

Find out more about the Pepsi rebrand ›

"X" logo by Sawyer Merritt

After purchasing social media platform Twitter, US entrepreneur Elon Musk suddenly changed its name and logo earlier this year to "embody the imperfections in us all".

The logo was crowd-sourced, with user Sawyer Merritt posting the winning design – a white X with a hollow bar.

"If X is closest in style to anything, it should, of course, be Art Deco," tweeted Musk.

Find out more about Twitter's rebrand ›

City of New York by Graham Clifford

The City of New York released an updated version of the city's unofficial "I NY" logo as part of a campaign to raise optimism after the 2020 pandemic.

Designed by Graham Clifford, the new logo replaced the typewriter-esque font of the 1977 design with a blocky sans-serif and added a three-dimensional heart.

It was met with a mixed response by New Yorkers.

Find out more about City of New York's rebrand ›

Fanta by the Coca-Cola Company and Jones Knowles Ritchie

Coca-Cola's design team and Jones Knowles Ritchie simplified drink brand Fanta's logo to create a unified identity focused on fun.

"The identity was too contained and didn't portray playfulness," said global vice president of design at The Coca-Cola Company Rapha Abreu.

"At the same time, it felt geared towards a younger audience – our audience is anyone that is playful at heart, and it was important that we brought the idea of fun and play to an older audience."

Find out more about Fanta's rebrand ›

Reddit by Pentagram

Design agency Pentagram created a new visual identity for social media platform Reddit, creating a custom font, rendering its alien mascot, Snoo, in 3D and creating colourful chat bubbles to help organise the site.

The studio focused the rebrand around four traits it felt define the platform–"inherently eclectic, positively different, delightfully absurd and genuinely candid".

Find out more about Reddit's rebrand ›

Burberry by Burberry

Announced as "the first creative expression" under new chief creative officer Daniel Lee, British heritage brand Burberry rolled out a new logo that uses an equestrian knight from the brand's archive.

Paired with a serif typeface, both elements reference the brand's storied history.

"The new Burberry logo is archive-inspired," said the brand in a press release. "The original Equestrian Knight Design was the winning entry of a public competition to design a new logo, circa 1901. The design features the Latin word 'Prorsum' meaning 'Forwards'."

Find out more about Burberry's logo redesign ›

Nokia by Lippincott

Lippincott created a new graphic identity for technology company Nokia focused on representing the company as more than just a producer of mobile devices.

The original logo created in 1979 was thinned out, broken up and paired with a brighter blue.

"[The logo] has been designed as a symbol of collaboration, which Nokia believes to be critical for realising the exponential potential of networks, unlocking gains in sustainability, productivity, and accessibility," said the brand.

Find out more about Nokia's rebrand ›

Jell-O by BrandOpus

BrandOpus revamped the Jell-O brand for the first time in 10 years with blocky, playful lettering meant to attract both kids and parents.

Cartoonish 3D-rendered graphics of jelly fruits and pudding swirls were also created for the new identity, intended to capture the brand's "jiggly goodness".

Find out more about the Jell-O rebrand ›

National Portrait Gallery by Peter Horridge

Peter Horridge created a new logo for the National Portrait Gallery in London based on an 1893 sketch by the gallery's first director.

The new logo features the gallery's initials entwined in a circle, an emblem which can be found across metalwork, furniture and mosaics from when it first opened.

Find out more about the National Portrait Gallery logo›

US Army by Siegel+Gale 

The US Army received a logo revamp by American agency Siegel+Gale for the first time in 20 years.

The redesign simplifies the centralised star, removing it from a box that previously enclosed it and placing US Army next to it.

"The objectives of the project were to build on the equity of the legacy Army star, optimizing it for performance and relevance in a digital-first world and imbue it with meaning connected to the Army's culture and purpose," Siegel+Gale told Dezeen.

Find out more about the US Army rebrand ›

2023 review

This article is part of Dezeen's roundup of the biggest and best news and projects in architecture, design, interior design and technology from 2023.

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London-based pop-up museum The Museum of Architecture has installed a city of gingerbread buildings, bridges and boats by local architecture studios at an exhibit in New York's Seaport district.

Called the Gingerbread City, the exhibit showcases a variety of gingerbread housing typologies and infrastructure based on the architecture of five distinct regions, including a desert landscape, an urban floodplain, and an underwater environment.

A handful of New York architecture offices and institutions including Archi-tectonics, Nina Rappaport, Robert A.M. Stern Architects and the New York City Housing Authority baked and created models for the exhibit, which asked participants "to think about how we can design and build water-sensitive cities and protect this vital resource".

London-based office Madeline Kessler Architecture and Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design created a master plan for the landscape, which included a program for each plot, as well as height restrictions.

Highlights included the Cloudtopida Stadium by MeierPartners, which features a central "stadium" made of a mass of glowing orbs.

Gummy bear guests filter into its doors, while others sit around campfires outside or sledge down small, sugary hills.

"MeierPartners' prompt is a stadium for sporting events and concerts situated within an urban floodplain," said the office.

"Embracing the site conditions, the building is formed out of a cloud as a means to embody the water cycle within the realm of architecture."

After periods of heavy torrential rain, rainbow bridges are formed, creating paths that bring visitors through a misty landscape and into the luminous, expansive stadium."

Design studio Marvel created a curving bridge for its plot, made of pavers of gingerbread lined with marshmallows.

A marshland made of gummy bears, icing, candy canes and pretzel trees surrounds the bridge, which connects two wetland sites that neighbour the plot.

"Our office has architects and landscape architects," Marvel associate Sharon Kim told Dezeen. "We wanted something everyone could contribute to, so with the bridge, it has structure, it has landscape. "

"We wanted to make sure everyone felt like we were all equally providing input. Even though it's gingerbread."

Of the process, Kim and Marvel associate Ishita Gaur explained they used the studio's office to bake the gingerbread and construct the model over a period of six evenings.

"Gingerbread is not forgiving," said Kim of working with the material.

The Gingerbread City was conceptualised by museum founder Melissa Woolford. The museum focuses on creating events for the public to engage with architecture.

Other gingerbread structures include a checkered gingerbread house built in a California modernist style by Kelly Wearstler in 2021.

The Gingerbread City is on view at the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City from 17 Nov to 7 Jan, 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

The photography is by Leandro Justen

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Chairs adorned with "spiritual" crystals and lamps made with McDonald's packaging were among the collectible design objects displayed at Design Miami 2023, held during Miami art week.

Founded in 2005, the annual fair also held in Basel, Shanghai and Paris brings together global design studios to display collectible historic and contemporary furniture, lighting and other objects, along with additional programming.

Design Miami 2023 presented over 40 galleries, housed in booths and other installations throughout a tent located along Convention Centre Drive.

Presented with HAADA gallery, sculptural wooden chairs previously debuted in 2012 at the Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea (PAC) in Milan by artist Marina Abramović marked the artist's "foray into the world of collectible design", according to the gallery.

The pieces included two small chairs with crystals affixed to their feet and others with tall wooden backs that extend over the user's head, from which larger crystals are suspended. The chairs are meant to create space for meditation.

"The idea that physical objects might be created only to serve spiritual purposes is a powerful provocation in today’s ravenous consumer society," said HAADA. "Abramović’s chair is the icon that galvanizes this discussion, and will prove itself as a future reliquary that crystallizes this contemporary debate on the twin crises of consumption and spirituality."

For digital marketplace Basic.Space tattoo artist Dr Woo partnered with Seoul-based studio Niceworkshop to create a cubic set of aluminium tables and chairs.

For the furniture collection, Dr Woo created a wood-grain pattern that was later engraved onto aluminium chairs and a table by a team of designers, exploring the dichotomy between the intimate experience of tattooing skin versus translating a pattern onto a metallic surface.

"Tattooing on skin is typically a moment of close connection between myself and my clients, yet working across time zones to have my work tattooed onto metal has been a gratifying process in an exciting way," said Woo. "Like a tattoo, quality furniture is meant to be cherished and held onto for a lifetime."

Presented by Los Angeles gallery Marta Gallery, Lagos-based designer Nifemi Marcus-Bell showcased a series of functional sculptures that pay homage to Nigeria's history of craft.

Marcus-Bell made the small collection of benches and sculptures from sand-cast aluminium, a material commonly used by Lagos auto parts manufacturers, whom he connected with while repairing his own vehicle.

Some booths showcased concept-heavy designs, such as Side Gallery, which presented work by Seoul-based designer Gyuhan Lee and British designer Mac Collins.

Collin's created a second iteration of his oak wood table, stools and dominoes set for this year's Design Miami, having previously shown the first collection as a "corrective act of representation" at Harewood House, an English country house with ties to the slave trade.

Lee's work continued his investigation of consumerism by repurposing McDonald's paper bags into a material which he used to construct a series of geometric lamps covered with the brand's logo. The designer also layered the traditional Korean paper "Hanji" into the lighting, creating a new material that breaks "away from the mass production of the usual object in which we can find the symbol".

Also among the designers who took a conceptual approach was New York and Paris-based designer Harry Nuriev, who presented Tapestry Sofa, a recliner covered in custom textile reminiscent of a worn-out French tapestry integrated with modern motifs.

Some of the booths included all-encompassing installations.

These included Kohler, which partnered with British designer Dr Samuel Ross and his industrial design studio SR_A to display a bright orange, twisted faucet in a large-scale exhibit. The faucet was integrated into oversized, blocky pedestals of the same colour, where the running water fell down channels and into their bases.

Villa Albertine and the Mobilier National presented a range of sculptures, lighting and textiles by Atelier George, Atelier d’Offard, Chloé Bensahel, Gala Espel and Dimitri Hlinka in a stark white set curated by Alban Roger.

Other works included "furry" 3D-printed light fixtures by designer Virginia San Fratello with New York-based Cristina Grajales Gallery that are intended to "inspire intense happiness", according to the designer, while The Future Perfect displayed a collection of sculptures amongst a towering nine-foot-tall USM modular shelving system.

Belgium gallery Atelier Ecru Gallery presented a series of brutalist furniture and organic sculptures by local designers, while New York-based gallery Superhouse presented a collection of textural tapestries, furniture and sculptures that highlight the fibre arts.

Inspired in Barcelona and Il·lacions presented A New Decorum, which showcased furniture in a variety of forms and materials against an ombré lamp by Antoni Arola, created to evoke the Barcelona sky.

London-based Gallery Fumi won best gallery presentation with its presentation of wooden scale-covered furniture by German designer Lukas Wegwerth, wall art made of nested plywood chips by British sculptor Rowan Mersh and colourful, patterned lighting by US-American designer Jeremy Anderson.

This year's Where We Stand theme, organized by curatorial director Anna Carnick, focused on "the importance of honouring and nurturing human connection".

Other recent design shows that include collectible design include Mueble Escultura in Argentina and INTRO/LA in Los Angeles.

Design Miami took place from 5-10 December 2023 in Miami Beach, US. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Brazilian artist Sallisa Rosa has installed a large-scale ceramic landscape with figurines and hanging orbs for Art Basel Miami Beach.

Called the Topography of Memory, the piece includes over 100 clay towers and suspended spheres cast in a warm amber glow from the walls and immersed in mist.

Commissioned by Audemars Piguet Contemporary and guest curated by Thiago de Paula Souza the work marks Rosa's first solo exhibit in the United States and her largest all-ceramic piece.

"Rosa, like many Brazilians of her generation, faces questions and confusion in trying to piece together her own ancestry,"  said the team.

"The fading memory of her grandmother, a core figure in bringing together the threads that make up her fragmented family history, is one of the main inspirations for Topography of Memory."

"With this commission, Rosa aims to explore our collective ways of remembering, drawing a connection between the erosion of the earth and the erosion of memory."

The work consists of ceramic towers and spheres of various sizes dispersed throughout a central room at Collins Park Rotunda in Miami Beach, a satellite location from the fair's primary location at the nearby convention centre.

Some spheres sit on the ground, while others float above, suspended from the ceiling.

The towers sit together in groups of twos or threes, or individually, each ending in a small, hand-shaped point.

Rosa, who often works with clay in pursuit of exploring human connection to earth, believes the material stores memory.

The installation's various pieces were made from clay sourced by hand from around Rio de Janeiro and fired in an underground pit, furthering the materials' connection to the earth.

The ceramic towers are representative of stalagmites, while the orbs above recall a planetarium.

Together, they pay homage to the "underground world and the infinite cosmos".

Sallisa Rosa is based in Rio de Janeiro and Amsterdam. She works across photography, video, performance and installations.

The photography is courtesy Audemars Piguet.

Topography of Memory is on view from 5-17 December 2023 at Collins Park Rotunda in Miami, US as part of Art Basel Miami Beach. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Designer Marjan van Aubel has created an "interpretation" of an electric Lexus model using a series of multicoloured, illuminated photovoltaic sheets for Miami art week.

Located at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (ICA Miami) and created in collaboration with Lexus and spatial experience design studio Random Studio, the installation generates power to contribute to an integrated audio and visual display.

The installation's title – 8 Minutes and 20 Seconds – references the time the sun's light takes to reach the earth's surface, as an homage to the star.

It consists of translucent polyethene terephthalate (PET) plastic sheets suspended from an overhead canopy, printed with succeeding sections of a car profile atop a white bamboo base. Four white, steel circles representative of wheels surround the sides.

The bamboo base of the installation covers a battery and is representative of the electric platform of the Lexus LF-ZC, a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) model which is currently under development.

Aubel told Dezeen her intention was not to create a fully solar-powered installation but rather to display the potential of how photovoltaic materials might be integrated into design and art.

"It was the idea that solar can be aesthetically integrated in a new way," Aubel told Dezeen. "The idea that it can be beautiful, hopeful and it's not only a technology but it should be intertwined in our daily life much more."

A panel of organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells are integrated at the bottom of each sheet, while the surrounding blue-hued shape is non-active.

Aubel has previously worked with OPVs in installations like her solar tapestry RA.

The third-generation solar technology works by printing light-absorbing ink in thin layers onto PET plastic, covering nanoparticles of titanium oxide that convert the captured sunlight into electricity.

It creates a flexible, translucent and coloured material.

In Aubel's installation, power generated from the OPV sheets during daylight hours is stored in the battery hidden in its base, contributing to an integrated light and audio display that plays ambient car noises and music.

At night, multicoloured lights from the installation's base illuminate the sheets, changing them from cooler hues in the day to warm reds at night.

The interactive, animated display was created using motion sensors.

"When you approach the installation, it recognizes your presence," said Aubel. "And it notices you're there so it gives you an electric sort of animation, like a ripple effect, and to me, it sounds kind of like it's a living car."

Aubel admitted she doesn't know the percentage of power that the OPV sheets contribute to the animated effects, and that it's not "fully self powering" but that wasn't the intent.

"Miami is a very nice platform to do this," said Aubel. "We see a lot of art, a lot of design, but I go to these solar panel fairs, and I just see numbers and payback time and stuff like that."

"The bridge between those worlds for me is difficult to make, so you have to speak to both worlds. We're not gonna change the world by numbers. We need to change our mentality."

Marjan van Aubel studio recently created a pavilion shaped like a giant beach chair and topped with multicoloured solar panels in collaboration with V8 Architects for Dutch Design Week 2022.

The photography is by Steve Benisty.

8 Minutes and 20 Seconds is on display at the ICA Miami in Miami, US from 6-17 Dec 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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For the latest roundup in Dezeen's review of 2023, we've collected 10 cabins published this year, including a hut disguised as a boulder and a home where sliding walls open up to the elements.

Cabins have a small footprint, but this year designers have proven once again that size doesn't limit creativity or innovation when it comes to these secluded outposts.

Here are 10 cabins we covered in 2023 that resonated with readers:

Thérèse, France, by Bureau

Architecture studio Bureau used concrete to disguise this wooden cabin as a boulder. The work pays tribute to the novel Derborence by Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, which tells the story of a shepherd who becomes trapped under rocks following a landslide, shortly after marrying a woman named Thérèse.

A pyramidal timber structure lays under the cabin's concrete exterior, with a single porthole window located on its facade.

Find out more about Thérèse ›

Kjerringholmen, Norway, by Line Solgaard Arkitekter 

The Kjerringholmen cabin by Line Solgaard Arkitekter was designed to blend with the rocks of the outcrop on which it is perched. Its prefabricated structure comprises three interconnected volumes clad in ash that will weather over time.

"The aim was to integrate the cabin with its surroundings, through its form and materiality, but also through the relationship between the interior and exterior spaces, considering the landscape as a feature of the house itself,"  said the studio's founder Line Solgaard.

Find out more about Kjerringholmen ›

White Rock Cottage, Canada, by Omar Gandhi Architects

Located in a popular four-season resort town, the White Rock Cottage was created to be a "meditative escape". It consists of a Corten steel box placed atop slender columns and overlooking a valley.

"Diverging from neighbouring properties, we embraced a unique approach blending craft, design, texture and light variation to evoke an aura of mystery and darkness complemented by delightful surprises and breathtaking views of the forest and valley beyond," said Omar Gandhi.

Find out more about White Rock Cottage ›

Three Summits, USA, by Nós

Three Summits Cabin in Vermont consists of three pitched roof-structures connected by one-storey walkways to host a multi-generational family. Nós designed the house's communal spaces to frame views of the surrounding mountain range.

"By the repetition of simple forms freely positioned on the site, the project generates a diversity of living spaces supporting the needs of communal life, while offering different relations with the landscape," said the studio.

Find out more about Three Summits ›

Quilanto House, Chile, by Hebra Arquitectos

The Quiltanto House in Chile was designed for a mother and her adult child, who has reduced mobility.

Hebra Arquitectos created a single-storey house lifted above the ground by steel pilotis and topped with a gabled, metal-covered roof. To make the space accessible for a wheelchair, a ramp leads to the front door, while the interior layout is simple, spacious and fluid.

Find out more about Quilanto House ›

Cabin Above the Town, Czech Republic, by Byró Architekti 

Byró Architekti topped Cabin Above the Town with a sweeping, curved roof that takes inspiration from the surrounding Czech landscape.

"Thanks to the curved roof, when viewed from the garden or from a distance, the curve of the house follows the horizon of the landscape and symbolically closes the row of surrounding cottages," studio co-founder Jan Holub told Dezeen.

Find out more about Cabin Above the Town ›

Straw Flea House, Austria, by Juri Troy Architects and Caravan Atelier

The Straw Flea House is a single-bedroom weekend home located alongside a historic barn outside a small village in Austria. It was constructed using locally sourced timber and straw from the client's own forests.

The exposed-timber interior is almost entirely lined with shelving, right up to the structure's sloping roof.

Find out more about Straw Flea House ›

Cabin Anna, Netherlands, by Caspar Schols

This modular cabin at the De Biesbosch National Park features sliding walls that allow it to be opened up to the elements.

Built into a wooden platform, the sliders are manually operated, which designer Caspar Schols said was intended to give inhabitants a feeling of being close to their surroundings.

Find out more about Cabin Anna ›

Biv Punakaiki, New Zealand, by Fabric

Architecture studio Fabric nestled the cross-laminated timber Biv Punakaiki cabin among rainforest trees on New Zealand's West Coast.

Its shape was informed by historic gold miners' huts in the area, with a raised volume protruding from the roofline intended to mimic chimney stacks.

Find out more about Biv Punakaiki ›

Stable Stack, Netherlands, by Overtreders W

Overtreders W built Stable Stack from found materials from the surrounding village and fastened them with bright green tie-down straps so that they could be eventually returned. The straps were also used as a decorative element and to add another layer of texture to the structure.

"Stable Stack showcases the beautiful possibilities that the combination of craftsmanship and sustainable handling of materials can offer."

Find out more about Stable Stack ›

2023 review

This article is part of Dezeen's roundup of the biggest and best news and projects in architecture, design, interior design and technology from 2023.

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US architecture firm Studio Gang is set to create an open-air theatre and a series of pavilions using mass-timber elements for a Hudson Valley theatre company.

Located in Upstate New York, the project will be the permanent home of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (HSVF), a non-profit theatre company which previously housed its productions underneath tents at a site nearby.

Studio Gang's 13,850-square-foot (1,286-square-metre) project will be comprised of a central open-air theatre and accompanying pavilions that will contain utilities, a concession stand and public restrooms.

Renderings of the theatre show a large, rippling roof atop triangular columns, which will be constructed using timber framing and a post-and-beam ceiling.

The amenity pavilions fan out along the theatre's back, while at the front it opens to overlook views of Storm King Mountain and the Hudson Valley.

"Our design aims to help the company build on their strengths, with low-carbon architecture that improves daily functionality and amplifies the traditions that define its open-air performances – like the spectacular proscenium arch framing an iconic Hudson River view – as well as create new opportunities for audiences and actors to interact before and after the show," said Studio Gang founder Jeanne Gang.

Natural ventilation, brise soleil systems, rooftop solar panels and an "extensive" green roof will also be integrated into the theatre as part of HSVF's commitment to sustainability and stewardship of its 98-acre (40-hectare) site.

According to the studio, it will be the first purpose-built LEED-platinum theatre in the United States.

The structures will also be clad in natural materials intended to "evoke the minerality of the region".

Landscape architecture studio Nelson Byrd Architects will replace the former golf course on-site with native grasses and wetlands.

"The landscape is designed as an experiential sequence, as visitors, upon arrival, encounter a mix of unpaved and accessible paths that guide them up and through a hillside meadow leading to picnic lawns and the theatre plaza," said Studio Gang.

Outdoor gathering spaces will be located adjacent to the theatre, while an overlook will provide additional space for pre and post-performance events.

Groundbreaking is expected to take place in 2024.

Studio Gang recently completed a timber canopy for a Memphis waterfront park and is set to design the Clinton Presidential Center expansion in Arkansas.

The images are courtesy Studio Gang. 

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Design studio Pentagram has rebranded social media platform Reddit, including rendering the brand's alien mascot, Snoo, in 3D.

Pentagram's New York office sought to create brand materials that captured the website's "utopian ethos", refreshing the logo, mascot and typefaces, as well as the presentation of conversation threads.

Led by Pentagram partner Natasha Jen, one major goal of the rebrand was organizing and unifying Reddit's various visual elements, which have grown organically over time.

"A utopian ethos runs throughout the brand, seen in the ways that both its employees and community contribute to the company's visual identity," said Pentagram.

"Snoo, Reddit's beloved mascot, had been adapted into thousands of iterations. The company's unique terminology, such as 'r/' for subreddits and upvote-downvote mechanisms, contributed to the complexity."

The studio focused the rebrand around four traits it felt define the platform – "inherently eclectic, positively different, delightfully absurd and genuinely candid".

Pentagram brought Snoo into "its next act" by rendering the character in 3D and creating a variety of emojis with different facial expressions.

The alien mascot is a small white figure with a round belly, bear-like ears, orange eyes, one antenna and an open smile. Its 3D evolution features matte skin.

To consolidate the varied styles that comprise Reddit's conversation threads, Pentagram created colourful bubbles that wrap around conversation titles, tags and other elements to create a common visual thread throughout the website.

"Beyond typography, the bubble became a key element of the compositional strategy," said Pentagram.

"Engineered as a dynamic content device, the bubble adeptly frames both text and images, acting as a foundational graphic element."

An animated language was also created for the bubbles, which move and stretch to reveal "subreddits" – its conversation threads –and other visual elements on the platform.

For the website's typeface, the studio created Reddit Display, which contains rounded lowercase letters with a small conversation bubble tucked within their bowls, or circular elements.

The studio also streamlined Reddit's colour palette, which previously contained over 100 different colours, into fifteen bright, bold hues featuring a magenta, an orange, and a neon green.

"Reddit has a distinctly genuine sensibility to it, expressed in the forms of unique features on the platform and an alien mascot," said Pentagram.

"The strategic integration of these key refinements – the evolved form and expression of Snoo, the introduction of the bubble, the creation of Reddit Display, codified motion behaviours, and a streamlined colour palette – collectively reflects Reddit’s unique brand attributes and empowers the company to confidently navigate its next chapter."

Pentagram recently worked with child refugees to create a flashlight kit and created a new visual identity for The Moholy-Nagy Foundation.

The images are courtesy Pentagram.

Project credits:
Pentagram team
Lead designer: Natasha Jen
Team: Whitney Badge, Kyle Barron-Cohen, Eva Green, Edgar Ferrer; and supported by Justin Zhang, Jack Fahnestock, Max Zimmerer, Weronika Rafa, Juliette Lespérance, Mason Lin, and project managers Madeleine Golden and Zoë Thompson
Reddit team: Roxy Young, EK Chung, Tavish MacLellan, Monica Benson, Jen Gillis, Troyese Robinson, Dave Carr, Andrew Prinz, Christopher Potts, David Benham, Alexa Land, Amber Dee, Beverly Galipeau, Michael Dillingham, Marie Kare, Skyler Muench, Andon Espeseth

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A team of Rhode Island School of Design students and researchers have created tesselated, floating planting beds made of a mycelium biomaterial to cleanse waterways of pollutants and restore wetland habitat.

The floating Biopods act to introduce native plants back to degraded wetland systems while cleansing the water through bioremediation, or the re-introduction of microorganisms that naturally decontaminate their environment.

Centred around the Rhode Island School of Design's (RISD) local waterway, the Providence River, the Biopod team sought to create a small-scale, community-oriented purification system that would help to cleanse the river of historical pollution using organic processes.

"The Biopod project aimed at the introduction of miniaturized wetlands to the Providence River," project co-lead Avantika Velho told Dezeen.

"Because of the urbanization of the Providence River itself, a lot of the wetland that acts to actively remediate pollution had been removed. So the project is really about reintroducing this new biology to kick start these ecosystems again so that the river might repair itself."

"We were looking a lot to wetlands," co-lead Manini Banerjee told Dezeen. "We've been referring to them as the 'kidneys of the Earth' because of how well they accumulate toxins between changing topographic situations like the water, land and the intermediary. They have evolved to hold on to and decontaminate water systems."

The Biopods are constructed from a hexagonal, 18-inch by 18-inch (45-centimetre by 45-centimetre) floating "mat" made of Reishi mycelium, the root system of the mushroom, that contains several cup-holder-sized pockets. Native, wetland plants were harvested and placed inside each opening so that their roots dangle through to the water below.

The mat acts as an organic, compostable bed that will degrade over time to slowly release the plants into the surrounding waterway. Simultaneously, the mushroom network eats away at heavy metals, heavy oils, pesticides and other toxins found in the water.

"Mushrooms are really good at breaking down stuff," said Velho. "They really do a lot of digestion outside their bodies, that's their main goal in the food web. They're like the decomposers of the natural world."

The wetland plants and the microbes they host within their root system additionally work to filter out toxins, cleansing pollutants through a process similar to how human cells metabolize food, according to Velho.

Additionally, their submerged roots create a small ecosystem for algae and microbes.

The team sought to make the Biopod system accessible; if the project is further developed it will be available for community members to make it themselves.

The Biopods are constructed by tightly packing mycelium into a hexagonal, plexiglass mould with reusable plastic cups placed in the centre to create small, cylindrical planting beds for the wetland plants.

Jojoba oil and beeswax are then used as a coating and for reinforcement.

Once in the water, the structure can float individually or interlock with other Biopods to create what the team describes as a "mat of floating marsh".

The mycelium base of the Biopod will go on to "live" for an estimated five months before it fully degrades to disperse the plants inside.

The team set several Biopods afloat in the Providence River before having to pull them out after two months.

Results showed microplastic accumulation within the pods under magnification, as well as "shoot morphology", or buds, from the wetland plants–indicating a healthy ecosystem.

Velho and Banerjee explained there are several routes the project could take, although the first step is to prove the Biopod's efficacy to organizations like the EPA.

"It's interesting, the relationships that we have to biomaterials and the way that we are connected to systems that have the potential to remediate in a way that isn't electricity intensive or chemically intensive," said Banerjee.

"It's about having that shift in perspective to solve problems in a way that is not very technologically intensive. Thinking about a product that can be grown but not built."

The Biopod project was supported by RISD's Inaugural Somerson Sustainability Innovation Fund (SSIF) grant, which funds research projects combining art and design with a focus on sustainability and community engagement. 

Dezeen put together a round-up of technology that mitigates river pollution, including bubble curtains and a googly-eyed trash boat.

The photography is courtesy Biopod unless otherwise stated.

Project credits:

Rhode Island School of Design team
Faculty lead: Dr. Katia Zolotovsky
Biodesign co-leads: Manini Banerjee, Avantika Velho
Graphics and visualisation: Varun Mehta
Post-award research administrator I: Niko Lazarakis
Director of research: Soul Brown

Advisory:
Founder of Living Systems Laboratory: Eugene Bernat
RISD gradutate student: Skylar Perez
Design researcher: Vrinda Mathur

Edna w. Lawrence Nature Laboratory team:
Interim director: Jennifer Bissonnette
Staff biologist & collections manager: Benedict Gagliardi
Visualization and imaging research associate: Georgia Rhodes
Botanist, RISD lecturer: Hope Leeson

Waterfire Providence team:
Founder: Barnaby Evans
Arts management intern: Emily Gray

Stormwater Innovation Center team:
Education and outreach coordinator: Rebecca Reeves
Stormwater center Director: Ryan Copp
Director of restoration: Wenley Ferguson

Community volunteers: Akhil Kulkarni, Phoenix Inouye, Shamika Velho, Anjini Banerjee

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Student drawings, scale models, and a life-size recreation of set designer Es Devlin's London studio are on display at an exhibition exploring the designer's 30-year archive at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

Presented in conjunction with her debut monograph, An Atlas of Es Devlin, both exhibition and publication showcased sketches, paintings, small-scale work and more behind 120 projects spanning Devlin's career in set design.

"My craft is to imagine worlds that don't yet exist, to invite audiences to practice 'interbeing' within psychological architectures they have not previously inhabited, to remind viewers that they are not separate but connected to one another and to the biosphere," said Devlin.

"For this exhibition, I have gathered the drawings, fragile paper sculptures and small-scale revolving cardboard models that I and my studio team have been making over the past three decades, a miniature parallel practice at the root of the large-scale public performance and installation works."

Visitors entered the exhibit via a recreation of Devlin's London office, where they could sit at a central table scattered with paper and art tools representative of works in progress.

Devlin's voice narrated thoughts about early school days, belonging, and the intersection of creative disciplines as projections animate the space, with scribbles and writings appearing on the table's pages and along the walls.

"The first thing I wanted to do was to invite visitors into my studio," said Devlin. "Many of the people coming into this exhibition will not have a clue what it is I do or what are the processes that go into it at all."

"You come into the studio and already I hope you get the sense I had when I first walked into a room full of people making work like this."

A projection of Devlin's hands pulled an entryway open to the adjoining room, where Devlin's Iris installation displayed the names of her many collaborators on a series of rings, a motif the designer often uses to "express the overlaid perspectives of creative partners and audiences".

The next installation displayed a wall covered in early sketches, paintings, collages, and diaries Devlin produced during her years at a music school and in her early career, which she noted were delivered to her later in life in "four big black beanbags" by an old boyfriend who had kept them.

White, scale models of set and production designs made by Es Devlin Studio were displayed throughout succeeding rooms, accompanied by process sketches, documents and notes that include mark-ups on song lyrics by musicians Miley Cyrus, U2, The Weeknd, Beyoncé and more.

Devlin noted that her work often begins with analyzing a "primary text" like pop-song lyrics or play before delving into further research.

"I have spent 30 years translating words into images and spaces – transforming texts on a page into kinetic sculptures that encompass viewers with light and song and use magic to alter their perspective," Devlin said.

Another room contained a model theatre with a screen on its stage that displayed films of previous performances, while another displayed short films from Devlin's various installations.

The last had a large table in which a number of Devlin's monographs were displayed for visitors to thumb through, with pages of the recent book pinned along the walls.

"The biggest challenge was to make the book," Devlin told Dezeen "The book and the exhibit are kind of continuous of one another. Normally, my practice is a small group of people in my studio, resonating out to wider groups."

"But this was the opposite centripetal force of drawing everything into a really small series of rooms, and a small object, the book. It's the inverse of what I normally do."

According to the designer, the book-making process took nearly seven years and was edited by Cooper Hewitt associate curator of contemporary design Andrea Lipps, who also curated Devlin's exhibit.

Dezeen recently spoke with Es Devlin on her career, her work on the Sphere and more in an exclusive interview.

The photography is courtesy Es Devlin Studio unless otherwise noted.

An Atlas of Es Devlin will take place at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York from 18 Nov to 11 August 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Project credits:
Exhibition design: Es Devlin Studio
Curator: Andrea Lipps
Curatorial assistant: Julie Pasto
Curatorial interns and fellows: Madelyn Colonna, Bailey de Vries, Barbara Kasomenakis and Sophie Scott
Designers of record and fabrication: Pink Sparrow
Graphic design: Morcos Key
Projection and video design: Luke Halls Studio
Composition and sound design: Polyphonia
Lighting design: Bruno Poet and John Viesta
Audiovisual production and integration: AV&C

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International architecture studio NBBJ has proposed a conceptual design for lab buildings that features a modular interior layout as one solution to underutilized infrastructure in cities.

The concept proposes a science building that can adapted to fit other use cases, such as residential, and then be converted back into laboratories if needed.

"The Regenerative Lab is a springboard concept — a provocation intended to explore ideas rather than a design meant to be inserted into a city as is," said the team.

The concept seeks to mitigate underutilized spaces throughout cities by exploring infrastructure that can adapt to changing needs and real estate markets.

Renderings depict a large, seven-storey building wrapped in a curtain wall covered in diagonal louvres. A central atrium space consists of geometric wooden volumes with units of office or residential spaces placed on either end.

The Regenerative Lab could make use of steel and a cross-laminated timber (CLT) structure paired with an interior made of modular cube units.

"The hybrid steel and CLT structure ensures the permanent steel elements will endure for hundreds of years while the adaptable wood elements can be easily dissembled and reconfigured for a range of flexible lab layouts," said the team.

The use of a CLT structure could reduce the building's embodied carbon, which is a priority for the proposed design along with adaptability and prioritizing inhabitant's comfort.

The interior spaces would be made of moveable wall and floor panels so that the spaces could be reconfigured to meet changing needs.

"The lab is designed as a series of modules, whose dimensions and layouts work as research, office, or with some modifications, residential units," said the team.

"With larger floorplates, labs typically receive less daylight on the interior than residential buildings; however, these spaces can be repurposed as storage and laundry facilities – prized space often lacking in apartments or condo buildings."

In contrast to traditionally "closed-off" lab facilities, NBBJ also proposed a large central atrium populated with vegetation as communal space for building inhabitants to socialize and interact with daylight and nature.

The approach would also help to attract talent and generate creativity, said the team.

Additional sustainable techniques embedded into the strategy also include operable windows and "geographically mapped shading" on the facade. 

Spurred by the "tens of millions of square feet" of empty offices and retail spaces throughout cities, NBBJ created the concept to address infrastructure created for the life sciences sector.

According to the team, investment in the market is fluctuating, leaving some places like Boston with the highest level of building vacancies in almost a decade, while in Cambridge, UK "life science construction races to meet demand".

"Does lab design ignore that fluctuation, striving only to meet today's needs? Or can it evolve as research and markets change?" asked the team.

"Science is ever-changing, and research buildings are required to do more than ever. The Regenerative Lab seeks to change the conversation and in doing so, help spur a new era of labs that can prosper today and tomorrow."

While there are no plans to construct the concept, NBBJ told Dezeen the studio sees elements of Regenerative Lab being integrated into future designs.

NBBJ recently released designs for a net-zero school for neurodiverse children and is set to add two towers to Paul Rudolph's Boston Government Services Center.

Images are courtesy NBBJ.

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New images show the exteriors of two stone-clad skyscrapers designed by Danish architecture studio BIG near New York's High Line as they near completion.

The One High Line development consists of two condominium towers, described by BIG founder Bjarke Ingels as "good neighbours", which will enclose a central, public courtyard with retail spaces at the base.

The towers, which are located between the Hudson River to the west and the High Line to the east, measure approximately 300 feet (91 metres) and 400 feet (122 metres), with the larger of the two facing the water.

The West Tower contains 149 condominium residences over 36 floors, while the East Tower contains 87 over 26 floors. Residents of both towers will share an amenity space on the third floor, which is enclosed in a double-height bridge passageway that connects the building's bases.

BIG gradually offset the floor plate of each tower to form stepped spirals that extend upwards from the development's courtyard.

"The whole philosophy is that from this point of departure, the two towers tried to be good neighbours to each other," Ingels told Dezeen. "It requires certain adjustments of proportions, those proportions trickled down and end up creating all these moments."

"The incline of the [West Tower's] facade is inheriting from the response of the [East Tower] and it resolves itself when the bridge merges," Ingels said.

"So it's almost like from a very simple beginning, you make two strong choices and those choices end up shaping the entire architecture," he added.

"You actually end up having some of the complexity you sometimes find in historical buildings and neighbourhoods that add charm and surprise happening as a result of these interactions."

The building's forms were also designed to twist out of the way of one another, so that they don't block the surrounding views of the Hudson River, the High Line and the surrounding neighbourhood.

Additionally, the architectural language of the Chelsea neighbourhood informed the design.

"We thought in a way inspired by the Chelsea buildings where you have the warehouses where you articulate the columns and the slabs," said Ingels. "So you get these very large framed windows."

The buildings are clad in a light travertine stone and have interiors, which have not yet been unveiled, by Gilles & Boissier and Gabellini Sheppard.

As for the retail spaces surrounding the courtyard, Ingels told Dezeen that a holistic treatment centre in collaboration with Deepak Chopra is in discussion.

Other amenities will include a 75-foot lap pool, fitness studio, golf simulator, and billiards and game room.

As of November 2023, Dezeen was told the building's exterior and the "majority of the interior" is complete, with residents now living at the towers. The courtyard is set to be completed in early 2024.

When asked how he felt about BIG's One High Line joining a line-up of residences along the High Line that includes work by Thomas Heatherwick and other major architects, Ingels told Dezeen: "I think it's coming together quite nicely. The kind of ensemble."

Upon the release of the building's design renderings in 2018, the development was called The XI but was eventually rebranded to One High Line, with Witkoff & Access Industries as developers.

According to the BIG team, it is the last major plot in the Meatpacking District to be developed.

North of One High Line, BIG recently completed its first supertall skyscraper and first commercial high-rise in New York City, called The Spiral.

The photography is by Evan Joseph.

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Foster + Partners has completed the framing for JPMorgan Chase's headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, which the studio claims will be the largest all-electric tower in New York City.

Today marked the completion of the supertall skyscraper's 1,388-foot (423 metres) high steel structure, with the final beam raised and slotted in place.

"In 1811, when this site was countryside, the city commissioners created a masterplan for New York," said Foster + Partners founder Norman Foster. "It was bold, innovative, and reflected an optimism for the future. Today, over two hundred years later, the same things are true of 270 Park Avenue."

"The building is a great investment in the city, the bank, and the well-being of the 14,000 people who will occupy it," Foster added. "It does more with less – more public space, fresh air, light and views – and less carbon through electric, green energy."

According to the studio, the 60-story building will be New York City's "largest all-electric tower with net zero operational emissions" and will be 100 per cent powered by energy sourced from a hydroelectric plant in New York State.

It consists of several verticle volumes of differing heights pressed together to form a stepped tower. These are placed on a stilted base that rises 80 feet (24 metres) off the ground.

The lifted base was designed to create more outdoor space on the ground level on Park and Madison Avenues, which the studio plans to outfit with a public plaza and greenspaces.

The tower will host approximately 14,000 employees throughout 2.5 million square feet (232,257 square metres) of working spaces.

It will take the place of the 1960's SOM JPMorgan Chase Tower that was located in the same lot before being demolished between 2019 and 2022 in favour of Foster + Partner's design.

Foster + Partners claims it reused "97 per cent" of the building materials from the demolition to construct the new tower.

The demolition of the SOM JPMorgan Chase Tower marked the world's largest and tallest voluntary demolition at the time.

Nearby, Foster + Partners recently completed a long-awaited office tower at 425 Park Avenue, the "first full-block office building" to be built along in the avenue in 50 years.

The photography is by Nigel Young. 

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Brooklyn-based studio Modu has employed a series of techniques that lower ambient air temperature in order to help cool the interior and exterior of this Houston building.

Modu inserted pocket gardens, vertical fins, trellises and fluted concrete walls along the length of the exterior in order to create "outdoor comfort" and reduce Houston heat.

The Promenade building is a 15,000-square-foot (1,400 square metre) centre which will host wellness and health clients throughout several offices.

Each tenant will be provided with both an interior and exterior space.

"Houston is a very hot climate with a lot of rain," Modu founding director Phu Hoang told Dezeen. "So what we were trying to do is to think about how you can design for that climate and specifically, an idea of designing to lower the heat of the air that's around the building."

"In hot climates like that, if you can lower the air temperature, then it would require less air conditioning because the air around the building is cooler."

Modu used a series of cooling techniques in order to achieve this effect. This included adding a fluted concrete exterior in accordance with the building's sun exposure.

"The self-cooling concrete walls are cast with patterns that, when passed over by the wind, dissipate solar heat more quickly," said the team.

According to the studio, this pattern can reduce the temperature of the walls by up to 18 degrees Fahrenheit (7.7 Celsius).

In addition to the concrete walls, the studio created several pocket gardens along the exterior that act as outdoor space for each tenant while also creating shaded alcoves.

"The idea is to provide opportunities in thresholds between inside and outside that people would want to spend more time in," said Hoang.

"We actually pushed the wall in to create the space for these green thresholds that had gardens. These are the spaces that were designed for outdoor comfort."

Each garden features species from a different local ecology in order to create a "multi-sensory" experience for passersby, including a Texas rock garden, a tall grass garden, a pollinator garden and a desert garden. A bamboo grove will also provide additional shade.

Vertical fins distributed along the facade also help to cool the exterior, with some covered by planting screens that will eventually host climbing Jasmine and other plants.

The fins are meant to create shade on the west-facing facade and some feature climbing cages for plants.

Signage will also be placed on the fins as a "vertical element for a horizontal building", according to Hoang.

A horizontal trellis at the building's end also cools an exterior passageway.

Modu is an interdisciplinary design studio founded in 2012 by Rachely Rotem and Phu Hoang. The studio focuses on work at the intersection of design, ecology and research.

Dezeen included other projects that seek to mitigate heat in this round-up, including reflective paint and water-filled windows.

The photography is by Leonid Furmansky and Naho Kubota

Project credits:
Architect: Modu
Project team: Phu Hoang, Rachely Rotem, Tom Sterling, Brenda Lim
Developer: Anh Gip
Climate engineering firm: TransSolar
Local architect: Identity Architects
Local landscape: Kudela & Weinheimer
Structural engineer: CJG Engineers
MEP: ASEI Engineering
Civil engineer: ALJ Lindsey

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US-based architecture studio SOM has completed a restoration of the Lever House seventy years after the studio originally designed the historic New York City office building.

Under developers Brookfield Properties and WatermanClark, the project includes a restoration of the building's lobby, plaza, interior office spaces, terraces, third-floor lounge and mechanical systems.

The 22-storey building consists of a rectangular base that is suspended over a courtyard and plaza by columns, with a tower of office suites extending from the northern corner of its city plot.

Upon the developers' purchase of the building in 2020, many of the interior spaces had fallen into disrepair.

"It still had all of the good bones, it had all its original parts, but it had, over that 70-year period, sort of suffered," said vice president of design at Brookfield Properties Scott Kirkham.

"It wasn't in particularly good repair and it certainly was showing certain signs of its ageing."

Along with interior designer Marmol Radziner and landscape architect Reed Hilderbrand, the team overhauled both interior and exterior spaces.

"This renovation reactivates Lever House for the 21st century," said SOM partner Chris Cooper. "We've restored the plaza and podium to its original 1952 glory while comprehensively overhauling the mechanical systems."

"The result is a landmark that is both renewed and reminiscent of its midcentury splendour – with revamped outdoor spaces, more natural light inside, and an efficient use of energy."

In the building's lobby, which is enclosed in floor-to-ceiling windows, SOM restored the terrazzo flooring, stainless steel-clad columns, white-marble planters, black limestone and white marble walls and a yellow tile mosaic wall that sits at the entrance to the elevators.

SOM design principle Frank Mahan explained the team used a "variety of data points" including the existing materials, historic drawings, photos and "contemporaneous descriptions" in order to closely match contemporary materials to their 1950s predecessors.

This included sending aged samples of the original terrazzo flooring to a lab, where they were used to create a new, stronger material composed of similar ingredients.

Interior designer Marmol Radziner created rosewood, mohair, and leather furniture and a large bar unit for the building's newly restored third-floor common space, which is located in the building's elevated rectangular base.

The central bar consists of two rosewood cabinets that bookend a glass screen by John Lewis Glass, while the floors were clad in "galaxy green" marble with a similar-hued soapstone on the walls.

"Experientially, it was important that Lever Club feel warm and refined, almost residential in feel," said Marmol Radziner design partner Ron Radziner.

"This translated to our intentional colour-blocking of interior materials, the basis of which was the iconic green of the building facade."

On either side, the lounge area leads out onto a terrace overlooking the street below. Along with horticultural designer Patrick Cullina, Reed Hilderbrand outfitted the terraces with Whitespire birch trees interspersed with low-lying vegetation, flowers, and shrubs.

The studio also restored architectural elements, including replacing red pavers on the terrace with grey precast concrete.

Finally, "a series of sweeping changes" to the mechanical systems, including replacing original induction units throughout the interior, will help push the building towards LEED Gold and WELL Platinum certification targets.

Originally designed by Gordon Bunshaft and Natalie de Blois of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the 307-foot (94 metre) high building housed the headquarters of soap company Lever Brothers.

It is known for its green-hued glass curtain wall and small stature compared to surrounding office buildings, with each tower floor plate measuring just 11,000 square feet (3,350 square metres).

The curtain wall was the second to be installed in New York City amidst the era's largely masonry architecture, helping to evolve the city's office buildings to an International style.

SOM previously replaced the building's facade in 2001.

The studio is known for the construction of multiple skyscrapers internationally, including the world's tallest skyscraper, Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Nearby, the studio recently completed a black terracotta-clad office building in Chelsea.

The photography is by Lucas Blair Simpson/SOM.

Project credits:

Lead architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Interior design: Marmol Radziner
Landscape architect: Reed Hilderbrand
Preservation consultant: Higgins Quasebarth & Partners

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To conclude our Designing for Disaster series, we round up 10 design and architecture projects that aim to prevent, manage or aid recovery from natural-hazard events.

Running on Dezeen for the past two weeks, our series has explored the different approaches being taken to deal with severe earthquakes and worsening extreme weather events around the world.

Here we collect 10 interesting projects aimed at averting disaster, including a remote wildfire sensor, an artificial coral reef and earthquake-resistant bamboo housing.

ForestGuard, Turkey, by students of İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi 

Design graduates at the İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi created this forest sensor system that alerts local authorities to the presence of remote wildfires.

The bright orange device is belted around a tree, where it analyses temperature, humidity, air pressure and various gases in order to detect fire, using satellite connectivity to relay the data to the internet.

"We focused on the phrase, 'what if the trees themselves notify us'," said chief technology officer Suat Batuhan Esirger. "We approached it like a smartwatch; let's monitor the air in the forest below the tree line. So if something abnormal happens, we will know about it."

Find out more about ForestGuard ›

Climate Safe Rooms, Australia, by Tim Adams for Geelong Sustainability

Created by Tim Adams for non-profit community group Geelong Sustainability, the Climate Safe Room initiative seeks to insulate one room in a low-income household in order to create a place of refuge during extreme hot and cold spells.

The chosen room, which is often a living or dining room, is retrofitted with insulation, curtains or blinds, and made water- and airtight to prepare for extreme temperatures.

"The idea of climate safe rooms was to say, okay, the whole house is difficult and expensive to deal with, let's make sure that there's a part of the house that can be made to be habitable comfortably, both in winter and summer," Adams told Dezeen.

Find out more about Climate Safe Rooms ›

Paper Partition System, Turkey, by Shigeru Ban Architects

Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban provided his Paper Partition System to evacuation centres housing victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquakes that struck in February 2023.

The system, which was used during previous climate-related disasters and the Covid-19 pandemic, is made of cardboard tubes and textile partitions to create a series of private rooms that measure two by two metres or 2.3 by 2.3 metres.

Three people can build the shelters in just five minutes.

Find out more about Paper Partition System ›

Project Hero, Austria, by Land Rover and the Red Cross

Working with the Austrian Red Cross, Land Rover developed a search-and-rescue vehicle that comes equipped with a drone in order to scan the surrounding landscape during emergency response to landslides, earthquakes and other disasters.

When airborne, the drone transmits live footage to the rescue team below to provide a picture of the surrounding terrain, as GPS and maps often become moot.

A roof-mounted landing pad allows the drone to land on the vehicle when it's moving.

Find out more about Project Hero › 

Living Breakwaters, USA, by Scape

Landscape studio Scape won the 2023 Obel Award for Living Breakwaters, a coastal defence system installed along New York City's Staten Island.

The project consists of a linear stretch of stones and concrete structures that reach into the water, similar to a jetty, in order to calm the water, preventing flooding while also reducing coastal erosion.

The large stones were also "ecology enhanced" to include grooves that will attract marine wildlife in order to create an artificial reef over time.

Find out more about Living Breakwaters ›

Bot lifejacket, UK, by Ewan Morrell

Northumbria University design graduate Ewan Morrell created a life jacket that uses discarded plastic bottles as floatation devices in flood-prone and low-income areas.

The Bot lifejacket would be created by waste generated from fast-fashion manufacturers on a charitable basis, which often burn waste material or sell it cheaply for insulation.

For buoyancy, four plastic bottles are inserted into large pockets on the front and back of the vest.

Find out more about Bot lifejacket ›

Template Houses, Indonesia, by Ramboll 

Civil engineering company Ramboll worked with locals in Lombok, Indonesia to develop three earthquake-proof housing prototypes made of bamboo.

In the wake of several earthquakes in Lombok in 2018, the project seeks to provide earthquake-resistant blueprints for local homeowners that are also affordable and sustainable.

The project also encourages a move away from using construction materials and techniques employed in the West and big cities that are unfit for the area, in favour of using local resources.

Find out more about Template Houses ›

Rammed-earth house, China, by Chinese University of Hong Kong and University of Cambridge

This rammed-earth house prototype was developed in response to the 2014 Ludian earthquake in China.

Residents of Guangming Village in Zhaotong attempted to rebuild their homes after the earthquake struck, but earthquake-resistant materials like concrete and brick were too expensive for the reconstruction.

In response, a team made up of professors and design experts from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Cambridge developed a housing prototype that optimises a local traditional rammed-earth technique to be more earthquake resistant.

Find out more about Rammed-earth house ›

Floating House, Vietnam, by SDA

Architecture studio SDA elevated this home on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City in order to be more flood-resistant.

Located next to a river, its site often floods, so the studio lifted the structure one metre above ground to reduce the risk of water entering the home.

Its concrete structure is exposed, with around 70 per cent of its spaces open to the elements.

Find out more about Floating House ›

The Golden Capsule, South Korea, by Yujin Chae, Daeyeon Kim, Yeonghwan Shin and Yuan Bai

Recently unveiled as the winner of this year's James Dyson Awards International prize, The Golden Capsule is an intravenous (IV) device designed to be used by medics in disaster zones.

It was developed by Hongik University students as a response to reports that traditional IV packs were of limited use following the Turkey-Syria earthquake in February 2023 because of their reliance on gravity and electricity.

The Golden Capsule instead uses elastic forces and air pressure to release fluid into the patient, meaning it can be used hands-free and without a power supply.

Find out more about The Golden Capsule ›

Designing for Disaster

This article is part of Dezeen's Designing for Disaster series, which explores the ways that design can help prevent, mitigate and recover from natural hazards as climate change makes extreme weather events increasingly common.

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Climate technology company Heirloom has opened the first commercial Direct Air Capture plant in the US, which will sequester atmospheric carbon for permanent storage using energy-efficient kilns.

Located in Tracy, California, the Heirloom facility will use a limestone filtration process to capture up to 1,000 tons of CO2 per year, which will be then stored permanently.

"This first commercial direct air capture facility is the closest thing on Earth that we have to a time machine, because it can turn back the clock on climate change by removing carbon dioxide that has already been emitted into our atmosphere," said Heirloom CEO Shashank Samala.

"The capacity of Heirloom's limestone-based technology to capture CO2 from the air has gone from 1 kilogram of CO2 to up to one million, or 1000 metric tons, in just over two years. We owe it to every climate-vulnerable citizen to continue to deploy our technology at the urgent pace required to reach billion-ton scale and beyond in time to stop the worst of climate change."

Heirloom's plant will employ electric kilns from decarbonization technology company Leilac in order to draw CO2 from the atmosphere to be stored "safely underground or embedded in concrete", according to Heirloom

The kilns are used to heat limestone, an ore composed largely of CO2 and the chemical compound calcium oxide, in order to create a cyclical process in which the material acts as a "sponge" that draws additional CO2 from the air.

The heating process extracts the CO2 from the limestone and leaves behind the calcium oxide in a powder form, which is then spread in vertical trays.

The powder, tending towards the chemical composition of limestone, naturally draws CO2 from the atmosphere to stabilise.

After a period of about three days, it is saturated with CO2 and the powder is returned to the kiln, where it's heated to begin the process again.

Heirloom partnered with technology company CarbonCure in order to store the extracted CO2 in concrete plants near the Tracy facility.

The storage process permanently stores the CO2 by embedding it into concrete.

"The beauty of concrete storage is its durability – the CarbonCure process keeps CO2 out of the atmosphere for centuries, even if the concrete is demolished," explained Heirloom in a statement.

Companies and government entities can then purchase CO2 "credits" from Heirloom in order to offset their own emissions.

Carbon credits are a purchasable exchange of CO2 emissions enacted by an individual or company from a middleman or carbon-capturing entity.

According to Heirloom, Stripe, Shopify, Klarna and Microsoft are already "catalytic buyers" of its credits, with Microsoft "agreeing to purchase up to 315,000 metric tons of CO2 removal from Heirloom over a 10+ year period".

Previously this year, researchers at Leigh University found a way to employ a copper-containing sorbent in DAC machines to make the carbon capture process three times more efficient.

The photography is courtesy Heirloom.

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A divider informed by the Microsoft logo and a sculpture made of a single cord of iron in the shape of a chair were among the objects featured at the Mueble Escultura exhibition in Buenos Aires.

Curated by Lucila Garcia de Onrubia and Cinthia Kazez, the Mueble Escultura Vol 2 exhibition featured "sculptures that resemble furniture and furniture that resembles sculptures" created by a host of designers living throughout Argentina in response to an open call.

"We work with the concept of 'mueble escultura', which serves more as a prompt than a theme, and prefer to think of each show as a panorama of contemporary production," curators Rubi and Kazaz told Dezeen.

"We were looking for work that interpreted our prompt in different ways, whether utilitarian, poetic, or conceptual, balancing that blurred line between art and design piece. This selection resulted in a more varied representation of hybrid works by both artists and designers that go beyond sculpture and collectable design."

Displayed in a gallery space at Espinosa Studios in Buenos Aires, the exhibit showcased a variety of different mediums including sculpture, painting and furniture design.

A sculpture by artist Mariano Ullua consisted of the outline of an armchair made with a single cord of wavy iron.

The Al Momento de Sentarse piece was Ullua's attempt to "transcend a medium", as the artist usually works as a painter.

Designer Oke Gomez Llambi (Grupo Bondi) displayed a stocky bench and jagged table made of hollow brick, cement and sand spliced together to form multi-coloured, textured surfaces.

These pieces, called The Relleno Sanitario, try to show how "function follows form", according to Rubi and Kazaz.

Product and furniture designer Franco Chimento created a textured, black shelving system with lines that extend outwards to end in dull points.

Made of wood and covered in coal, the piece nods to the traditional sheath of the Japanese katana sword, an object Chimento's father and grandfather collected as merchant seamen.

Other works include a spider-like aluminium chair with pronounced, mechanical joints created in 2003 by designer Fernando Poggio, ceramic shelves shaped like bows by Catalina Oz and a red, curved aluminium screen by Item informed by the Microsoft Windows logo.

The pieces were displayed along a long, flowing rug, which Rubi and Kazaz designed for the exhibit.

"We aimed, through the exhibition design, to appeal to a design language, using clean lines and a single color, to present both design and art pieces without distinction," said the curators.

"Because this mixing of practices is rarely seen here, we felt it was necessary to present a solid and serious show to legitimize this concept."

Elsewhere, the recent INTRO/LA exhibit brought together work from Los Angeles furniture designers.

The photography is by Felix Niikado.

Mueble Escultura Vol 2. was on show at Espinosa Studios in Buenos Aires from 28 October to 11 November. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

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Production designer Ruth De Jong has installed a house modelled on her set design for Jordan Peele's film Nope at the Chicago Architecture Biennial as part of a series of installations exploring horror and architecture.

The installation is a life-size recreation of the facade and front porch of a ranch home featured prominently in the movie and explores "architecture's cinematic function as a character of its own," according to biennial curators The Floating Museum.

It consists of a facade facing a large screen depicting a looped landscape scene from the horror movie, in which a UFO descends upon a family ranch.

De Jong covered the house in a monochromatic white, save for red movie blood placed in buckets on the front steps.

The installation was placed on the third floor of the Chicago Cultural Center, where many of the biennial exhibitions were placed.

"Set designers think about imagined architecture versus the actual architecture," said the Floating Museum.

"Horror and beauty are both aesthetic paradigms that attune your mind, and for Jordan Peele horror is not just the monster underneath the stairs or in the wall, but structural – which is why it doesn't have a time of day and does not have a limited space."

The unfinished facade plays on set design, in which architectural elements like houses or apartments are often incomplete and the viewer's tendency to subconsciously fill in the gaps.

"Our minds actually finish out the architecture," said the team.

The installation is part of a series that explores the horror of property ownership and expropriation. In an adjacent room, The Buell Center and architecture studio AD–WO created an installation called 100 Links: Architecture and land, in and out of the Americas.

100 Links features a canopy of surveyor chains that were used in the divvying up of land in the Americas, suspended from the ceiling and surrounded by troughs holding books that explore ideas of architecture and the methods of land expropriation.

Ruth De Jong is a production designer who has previously worked on movies such as Oppenheimer (2023, dir. Christopher Nolan) Us (2019, dir. Jordan Peele), and TwinPeaks (2017, created by David Lynch and Mark Frost).

Other installations on view at this year's Chicago Architecture Biennial include an array of works in the postmodern Thompson Center and a spiral of bio-bricks made of algae by SOM.

De Jong's installation will be on view from 1 November to 11 February at The Chicago Architecture Biennial. For more events, exhibitions and talks in architecture and design around the world visit the Dezeen Events Guide.

The photography is by Tom Harris. 

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US architecture studio Schaum/Shieh has embedded a Virginia house with irregularly shaped volumes into the contours of a steep site.

Located in the Allegheny Mountains, the 2,750 square foot (255 square metre) Shenandoah House conforms to the topography of its hillside site "gently", as Schaum/Shieh neither wanted to add a cantilever nor flatten the topography.

"We didn't have the inclination to make dramatic use of the steepness with a cantilever, and we didn't want to flatten any portion of the site to erase the slope, so we decided to build along the contours as much as we could," said Schaum/Shieh co-principal Rosalyne Shieh.

The one-story home unfurls in a 120-foot-long (36-metre) horizontal line that runs parallel to the topography, with its front elevated to meet wooden terraces, and portions of the back sitting flat on the slope.

Along the footprint, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a dining room, a living room, a study and a garage branch off a slim, central corridor in irregularly shaped volumes – or pods.

The spaces between each pod create room for gardens, outdoor nooks and wooden terraces along the house, while a parking area was carved out of the hillside at the back.

The grey metal roof reflects the area's rolling hills. Each individual volume is topped with a rounded gable roof that runs diagonally across its centre so that the profiles dip and rise with the surrounding environment

"We discovered that by doubling the ridgeline and rounding the peak we could create a softness that reflects the sloped surroundings," said Schaum/Shieh co-principal Troy Schaum.

"It seemed appropriate on the hillside and took what was a simple, more functional logic and grounded it in the dynamic, undulating nature of the site."

Rectangular windows on either end of the horizontal plan create an interrupted view through the centre of the house and large sliding glass doors and picture windows were installed on the facade.

Small clerestory and porthole windows were placed on the uphill side.

Rounded corners on the home's exterior are reflected on the interior, further softening a largely white interior palette.

"Lighting was also subtly integrated to create interrupted lines throughout the house," said the team.

"No lights or other features interrupt the ceilings; instead, lighting emerges through slots at the ceiling edge and on the quasi-furniture objects that provide texture across the home."

These furniture elements include bespoke wooden cabinetry, a large island, a wooden bed frame and a central wood stove unit made of concrete and soapstone.

The house is finished with bamboo wood floors and insulated stucco.

"The hillside as an old problem in house design was a major motivator. Our clients knew many hilly sites from growing up in the area and their time in Greece. We wanted to intervene gently but opportunistically into the hill," said Shieh.

"They wanted a house that fit organically but was not derived from the local vernacular materials or solutions in a straightforward way. We focused on the hill, the seasons, the distant view, and the intimate life of the site."

Other recently completed projects by Schaum/Shieh include a Houston art galley covered in white sculptural panels and a concert venue designed to endure "rough handling".

The photography is by Naho Kubota.

Project Credits: 

Architect: Schaum/Shieh
Design team: Troy Schaum, Rosalyne Shieh, Giorgio Angelini, Andrea Brennan, Tucker Douglas, Ane Gonzalez
Contractor: Blue Ridge Green - Jonathan Kuntz
Structural: Truesdell Engineering- Jordan Truesdell, PE

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US studio CookFox Architects has designed a museum dedicated to American musician Bruce Springsteen, which will be located in New Jersey.

Called the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music (BSACAM), the museum "will celebrate the life, legacy, and art of Bruce Springsteen within the broader history of American Music". It will located at Monmouth University, where his archives are currently housed.

It will feature gallery spaces displaying highlights from Springsteen's career interwoven with the history of American music, as well as a performance theatre.

CookFox Architects pulled from New Jersey's industrial history for the design of the building, as well as Springsteen's "storytelling".

"Storytelling, perhaps the motivation for Springsteen's career as well as the formation of his archives, can also be experienced through the built environment," said the team.

The space will feature a wooden walkway leading to the building's entry and into a double-height entry hall.

The performance theatre and galleries will be located on either end, with additional galleries on the floor below. Springsteen's archives will be housed on the second floor.

The archive collection contains nearly 35,000 items from 47 countries spanning vinyl records, textiles, DVDs, promotional materials and more related to Springsteen. The collection will be "available for both amateur and serious musical scholars."

Renderings show a rectangular building with a large glass curtain wall at one end, and other, smaller windows distributed along its length.

The theatre will be located at the anterior glass facade, which will point inwards towards the university campus.

Weathering steel plates will clad the exterior, with some rotated at different degrees to reveal a glass facade beneath.

Interior renderings show double-height galleries outfitted with listening booths, artwork, and a large vinyl collection.

A mass timber structure will be used for the project, some of which will be left exposed at the ceiling and in the supporting columns.

CookFox Architects will work with landscape architects LaGuardia Design Group to feature native plantings to improve local biodiversity and mitigate stormwater.

Both the building and surrounding landscape will draw from New Jersey's coastal environment.

"The weathering steel mass, inspired by New Jersey's industrial infrastructure, surfs above an undulating grassy meadow of native plantings, reminiscent of both the bridges and boardwalks that characterize the coastal region," said the team.

BSACAM is expected to be completed in 2026.

CookFox Architects recently completed two linked skyscrapers at Brooklyn's Domino Sugar Factory and is working on a terracotta facade system capable of housing small wildlife to be used in large-scale structures.

The images are courtesy of CookFox Architects. 

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New York-based studios Ennead Architects and Rockwell Group have completed the renovation of an academic building for Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC with "floating" classrooms at its core.

Called the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, the 435,000-square-foot (40,400 square metre) building will serve as an interdisciplinary educational and event centre for the university and the public.

Located at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue, the 10-story building was designed to evoke a "democratic society", with a large central atrium that contains conference and classrooms seemingly suspended in its core.

A central staircase doubles as seating and sits at the base, while multiple floors span upwards and contain a number of classrooms and event spaces.

"The design is focused on multiple gathering spaces that can shrink and grow to accommodate every type of convening, from an intimate policymaker breakfast to a teeming global conference," said interior architect Rockwell Group.

"A large floating transparent classroom and treehouse-like, stacked assemblage of glass classrooms and open lounges hang, suspended on either side of the atrium, providing vistas of the Hopkins community at work and evoking the openness of academic inquiry in a democratic society."

Rockwell Group worked with exterior architect Ennead Architects and architect of record SmithGroup to renovate the interior into a "vertical quad", distributing 38 classrooms, a library, a multimedia studio, 26 study rooms, three floors of conference centre space, workspaces, a banquet hall, a fitness centre and a 375-seat theatre around the building's central atrium.

Ennead Architects, then Polshek Partnership, previously built the building in 2008 for the Newseum before undertaking its current transformation for Johns Hopkins University.

16,888 square feet (1,586 square metres) of outdoor terraces were also added to the exterior.

"As architects, it is a rare opportunity to revisit an earlier design and reimagine it for an entirely new purpose," said Ennead Architects design partner Richard Olcott.

"Major interventions include the complete reworking of the vertical circulation to suit the needs of the complex academic program, numerous realigned floors, and structural transfers to accommodate classrooms and a completely reconfigured auditorium."

"The new central spaces will create a nexus of activity throughout the day and evening, offering meeting, classroom, lounge and gathering spaces of varying types and scales, and blurring the traditional boundaries between them."

The exterior was also refinished to reflect the architectural language of the surrounding buildings such as John Russell Pope’s National Gallery of Art and IM Pei's National Gallery East Building.

Pink Tennesse marble wraps around a newly installed, central glass curtain wall with horizontal sunscreens trimmed in bronze and copper.

The sunscreens provide protection from heat gain, while Ennead Architects shifted facade elements to bring more daylight to the space.

Rockwell Group outfitted the interior palette to include a warm mixture of wood walls and panels, terrazzo tile floors, brick and wood floor tiles and accents of an earthy red, blue and grey.

"The Hopkins Bloomberg Center is a holistic example of everything our studio is interested in – creating an urban environment within the larger structure, gathering spaces within larger spaces, and a sense of place that is defined in part, by adaptability and use," said Rockwell Group founder David Rockwell.

"How people move, interact, and meet is at the core of every inch of the building."

Elsewhere, Ennead Architects recently completed a research facility at the University of Oregon, while together, Ennead Architects and Rockwell Group recently created a food distribution centre in Brooklyn.

The photography is by Jennifer Hughes and Alan Karchmer. 

Architect: Ennead Architects
Interior architect: Rockwell Group
Architect of record: SmithGroup

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Our latest lookbook features eight sculptural staircases made of wood that make a statement and bring warmth to apartments from Hong Kong to Boston.

Often the organizing principle in the planning of any space, a staircase can either blend in or stand out.

The eight gathered in this lookbook lean into the latter – showcasing both the structural abilities of wood like larch, birch and plywood and demonstrating how circulation need not be boring.

From a completely pre-fabricated staircase in a Boston apartment to a plywood spiral staircase twisting from the loft of a renovated barn in the Netherlands, these sculptural stairs create a visually striking centrepiece, as well as a fun way to traverse a house.

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen's archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring rustic Italian interiors, autumnal bedrooms and show-stealing dining room tables.

Hairpin House, USA, Studio J Jih and Figure

Located in Boston's South End neighbourhood, this historic townhouse renovation sees a four-storey interior plan wrapped around a white oak staircase that spirals around a 40-foot-high (12-metre-high) atrium.

"Aptly named Hairpin House, the project takes the tight, unpredictable, and ultimately poetic switchback turns of a mountain road as inspiration for the overall renovation – and in particular a new unravelling central stair," said the design team.

Find out more about Hairpin House ›

Cape Drive Residence, Hong Kong, Linehouse

Just a short walk from the beaches of Hong Kong's south side, this three-storey house channels "coastal essence" through natural materials and light, Chinese studio Linehouse told Dezeen.

An "easy flow" was also imbued into the design, created in part by a timber stairwell that's tucked to the side and – save for a white metallic screen – is open to the living spaces.

Find out more about Cape Drive Residence ›

Mass Timber House, USA, Schiller Projects

According to design studio Schiller Projects, this renovated carriage home in Brooklyn is the borough's first single-family residence that uses mass timber construction.

Besides repurposed wooden elements like timber panels and floorboards used for the project, the house features a pre-fabricated glue-laminated timber (glulam) staircase that can be completely disassembled.

Find out more about Mass Timber House ›

Barn at the Ahof, the Netherlands, Julia van Beuningen

Architectural designer Julia Van Beuningen converted this Gelderland barn into a holiday home complete with a spiral staircase made out of plywood at the heart of the floor plan, which contrasts the more rustic materials of the surrounding building.

"This is very different and very unusual in a barn like this," said Van Beuningen. "It's something you either love or hate, but it's definitely a statement."

Find out more about Barn at the Ahof ›

Carroll Gardens Townhouse, USA, Starling Architecture and Emily Lindberg Design

New York studios Starling Architecture and Emily Lindberg Design merged a two-family dwelling into one for the owner's growing family.

White oak running throughout the two units unifies the project, which includes the addition of a new wooden staircase covered by a slated screen made of the same material.

Find out more about Carroll Gardens Townhouse ›

Stoke Newington loft, UK, Whittaker Parsons

Architecture firm Whittaker Parsons was tasked with adding a loft to a house in Stoke Newington, London, as well as updating spaces throughout the lower floors.

With efficiency and quality in mind, the studio used prefabricated structural insulated panels (SIP) to construct the new loft. The space is accessed by a spiral staircase made of larch that's topped with a skylight.

Find out more about Stoke Newington loft ›

Dragon Flat, UK, Tsuruta Architects

A floating timber staircase features in this flat in London, which is outfitted with walls CNC-etched with images of peonies, dragons, bats and the Thames.

The central staircase allows light to filter into the kitchen and living room below, while solid timber bricks act as landings on either side.

Find out more about Dragon Flat ›

Elsternwick penthouse, Australia, Office Alex Nicholls

The timber staircases in this Melbourne house were integrated into its "library spine" an organizing corridor that contains the family's collection of books, art and artefacts.

"From a practical standpoint, it allowed everything to be easily accessible and displayed but it also helps to draw people through the apartment and celebrate the two staircases to the roof garden at either end," said Office Alex Nicholls founder Alex Nicholls.

Find out more about Elsternwick penthouse ›

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen's archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring rustic Italian interiors, autumnal bedrooms and show-stealing dining room tables.

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Curated by design consultancy Small Office, this year's INTRO/LA features sculptural furniture from local designers such as Adi Goodrich, Sam Klemick and Jialun Xiong.

The exhibition is being shown in Small Office's Los Angeles showroom, with pieces displayed among semi-transparent dividers.

It showcases both emerging and established Los Angeles designers.

"The show is to display how diverse the community is, and how everyone's working in different styles and production methods and materials," Small Office founder Paul Valentine told Dezeen.

"[It's] really to show the expanse of creativity here, rather than zero in on one trend and say, 'this is what's happening'."

Colourful, geometric pieces from Adi Goodrich's Sing Thing collection are on display, including multi-tiered lamps, a checkered dining chair and playful, flat-pack side tables.

The collection is an homage to the silhouettes and character of the French L'Esprit Nouveau movement, as well as Lina, an influential woman in Goodrich's life who taught her "how to live".

Sam Klemick's Sweater Chair and an accompanying, wiggle-legged stool sit nearby.

Recently on display as part of 2LG Studio's You Can Sit With Us exhibition, the Sweater Chair consists of a carved-wood sweater draped over the backrest of a chair of the same material.

An aluminium side table inspired by "the exterior of a boxy home" by designer Jialun Xiong sits among a chair, bench and stool featuring stainless steel elements and minimalistic lines.

Xiong's Dwell side table consists of a metallic cube with rectangular and circular slices taken from around its body, "representing different architectural elements to enrich the user's experience".

Caleb Engstrom's Wet Wool chair is made of resin-drenched wool draped and set to dry over metal and wood pieces, which debuted earlier this year at Los Angeles Design Festival 2023,

The chair sits next to a stackable side table made of rubber, lacquer and resin table bases used in Engstrom's other pieces. One such base layer contains "faux" lemons trapped in its transparent form.

Other work includes rustic wooden stools and lighting by Ravenhill Studio, spikey, wooden chairs and a large mirror by Objects for Objects and scalloped, ceramic planters and side tables from BZIPPY. Also on show was a collection by Leah Ring and Adam de Boer as well as studio Waka Waka, which has a production studio next door.

The INTRO series was started in 2013 as a platform to showcase both emerging and established designers in contrast to the traditional trade show format. Valentine aims to create "one interior feeling" by displaying pieces from various designers in close proximity to one another for a community-oriented exhibition.

Previous design exhibitions around Los Angeles include Future Perfect's Dear Future show, which displayed work from Gaetano Pesce and a variety of shows at Los Angeles Design Festival 2023.

INTRO/LA is on show at Small Office in Los Angeles until 17 November. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

The photography is by JJ Geiger.

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Danish architecture practice 3XN has been selected to create a stepped retail building located along Baltimore's Inner Harbor informed by sailboats.

The winning design is part of the revitalisation of Baltimore's waterfront and is informed by similar redevelopment taking place in the studio's home city, Copenhagen.

"For most of my life, Copenhagen's waterfront was a working harbour–a place of industry, not somewhere where people would
hang out, relax, or enjoy their city," said 3XN founder Kim Herforth Neilsen.

"The transformation of the harbour into a place for people has transformed the whole city as well, not changing Copenhagen but helping to emphasize what was already special about it. We see this project in Baltimore's Inner Harbor as a way to do the same thing – to give people a place to be together and to celebrate their city."

The building's curved form was informed by the "dipping and swooping" sails floating throughout the Inner Harbour, while its stepped floors were created to foster community.

"The roof will be a publicly accessible landscape with easily traversed terraces that invite people to be a part of the building's activities and take in the elevated views of the water," said partner in charge of 3XN US Jens Holm.

"The concave design is not just an aesthetic move – it creates an amphitheatre-like space with close connections among the activities happening on each level. This gives a sense of neighbourhood and intimacy, ensuring that people feel included in and inspired by the activities around them."

Climate resiliency was also considered for the design.

"Like a sail catches and directs the flow of the wind, the edges of the building’s concave curved terraces are tuned to take advantage of both the prevailing wind and sea breeze," said the team.

"The generous exterior landscape of 201 E Pratt St. allows for stormwater management and anticipation of flooding to be embedded into the base design while the building is also envisioned as a community refuge during extreme heat and poor air quality events."

Interior renders show multiple floors with apertures into the levels above and a central stair clad in light wood with a slated ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows.

A large wooden archway and walkway will welcome visitors into the space.

Colloquially called The Sail according to the team, the building will face the Inner Harbor and a future park in order to "amplify and extend" a dedication to public space at the site.

To be located at 201 E Pratt Street, the building is part of a master plan by Gensler and developer MCB Real Estate for the redevelopment of Harborplace, a shopping complex along Baltimore's Inner Harbour.

The plan includes the addition of several retail and commercial buildings, a residential tower, greenspace and an amphitheatre.

Other projects by 3XN include the Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney which was recently awarded "best new tall building" and a climate centre in Denmark influenced by the city's boat-building history.

The images are by 3XN.

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US firm Studio Gang has been selected to lead the revitalization of Denver's downtown Civic Center plaza, which will include improvements to a central amphitheatre and promenade.

The public space, which was the city's first National Historic Landmark, is located at the heart of Denver and comprises two parks as well as cultural and government buildings. It has held festivals, cultural events and First Amendment rallies for over 100 years.

Studio Gang was awarded a $2.8 million design contract to implement Phase 1 of The Civic Center Next 100 project, an initiative that will see improvements across the entirety of the roughly 600,000 square-foot (55,741 square-metre) site.

As part of Phase 1, Studio Gang will undertake improvements to the site's Greek amphitheatre and central promenade that runs through the plaza.

"Studio Gang was chosen based on their project approach, which is rooted in a community-centred process, and both respect the historic aspects of the park while bringing innovative architectural design," said the team.

"We are looking forward to working closely with the city, the conservancy, and the communities of Denver on the design for Civic Center that extends its democratic legacy and invites everyone to come together around performance," said Studio Gang founding principal Jeanne Gang.

"It is also a perfect moment to make the park's ecology resilient for its next 100 years of life," she added.

Civic Center Next 100 will also see improvements to the park's central gathering place and Bannock Street, a stretch of street closed to vehicle traffic in 2020 that is being converted into public space.

"Civic Center Next 100 is a concept plan that plans a series of improvements to elevate the park for the next 100 years with new energy for the Denver of today and the generations to come," said the team.

Phase 1 is expected to be completed in 2025.

Studio Gang was also recently selected to renovate and expand the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, with more design details to be released in 2024.

The photography is courtesy of the City and County of Denver.

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New York City and Toronto-based design studio Kinky Kashayam has created a conceptual, hand-held radar that generates black cats in order to "protect one's luck".

Kinky Kashayam founders Shashwath Santosh and Nithin Eluvathingal designed the Portable Black Cat Radar (BCR) to explore belief systems through the use of "gadgets".

The navigation device generates fictional black cats in order for the user to dodge them at will.

"The Portable Black Cat Radar is part of an ongoing series where we interrogate Machines that Respond to Superstitions," said the team. "Our inspiration for the BCR dawns from cultural folklore that crossing the path of a black cat will bring calculated misfortune."

"We delved into Southern-Indian belief systems using design and technology as a medium for questioning and chose to speak the language of consumer electronics to ask those questions. (It) pushes you to wonder about a world where we might track real black cats for the sake of upholding our superstitious beliefs."

"We wondered – if only there were a machine that could show you all the black cats in your vicinity, so you could avoid crossing their paths and protect your luck."

The BCR features a red, winged body made from a custom-printed circuit board made out of copper that is sandwiched between acrylic plates.

Knobs, dials and switches are distributed along its length.

A central screen displays the user at its centre, framed by geo coordinates, a "risk level" bar, and a map scale. Fictional black cats appear as small targets that users can avoid or approach.

A matching red cord runs out of one side to attach to a battery pack when the power runs low.

"We designed, engineered, developed the software and manufactured the device," Santosh told Dezeen. "It currently uses a GPS, gyroscope and magnetometer to gauge your position in the world–just like our phones would do. Technology-wise, we like to explain it as somewhere in between Google Maps and Pokemon Go."

"We basically built all the software all from scratch using open source programs similar to how retro Game Boy or arcade games devices used to be made."

Santosh and Eluvathingal plan to produce the BCR gadget in low volume, where it will be available on their social channels.

"What would industrial design look like if it grew within and amongst the belief systems of the part of the world we are from?"

Kinky Kashayam is a design and art studio focused on "the worlds of history, sciences, technology, socio-economics, critical fiction and humour", influenced by the founders' heritage. It was founded in 2020 with works displayed in Delhi and beyond.

Other conceptual projects include designer Kuang-Yi Ku's synthetic organs meant to replace animal products found in traditional Chinese medicine.

Photography is courtesy Kinky Kashayam.

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Modular waste bins designed by local industrial design studio Group Projects to be recyclable and assist sanitation workers have begun to be distributed across New York City's five boroughs.

Called the Better Bin, the design was the winner of a 2018 Department of Sanitation (DSNY) competition, where participants were asked to redesign New York City standard green wire mesh receptacles.

"The challenge was to devise solutions that addressed the complexities of urban waste management, all while balancing functionality with aesthetic appeal," said the team.

Group Projects created a trash can composed of three modular parts; a metal base that wraps halfway around a plastic interior "liner" topped with a bisected lid.

The studio largely focused on making the trash can lighter and easier to manoeuvre for sanitation workers, as opposed to the heavier steel mesh trash cans found throughout New York City.

"[There were] generally a lot of things to improve ergonomically in terms of how it's interacted with, how heavy it is – removing sharp edges so they don't bash sanitation workers' shins and things like that," Group Project founder Colin P Kelly told Dezeen. 

"There were certain requirements around making sure that it didn't blow over in 60-mile-an-hour wind gusts, but it couldn't be bolted down to the street corner. And very quickly, we sort of came to the conclusion that something modular was the approach that was going to help solve all of these things."

The interior plastic liner lessens the load by approximately 20 pounds per bin, according to the team, while the bisected lid acts as a handle for workers to disassemble the unit.

The liner, along with various components, was designed to eventually be recycled.

"We didn't include any other kind of hardware or any other materials in there that would prevent it from being recycled easily," said Kelly.

An additional eight handles were distributed along the top and bottom rim of the interior baskets, as opposed to the three found in the previous design.

"We firmly subscribe to the idea that thoughtful design in public spaces enhances urban livability," said the team.

"While a trash bin might be viewed as a simple utility, its design and placement can profoundly influence the urban experience for both residents and those responsible for its upkeep."

The Better Bin will be distributed across New York City in the coming years, as the green mesh trash cans are slowly decommissioned.

Currently, there are approximately 300 scattered across the city, with five original prototypes installed in the East Village, which Kelly said "have been travelling all over the city" for the past five years for testing.

Other trash can designs include a recent project by start-up Mill that dries and shrinks up leftovers so that can be reused and the Townew bin by Knectek Labs that changes its own bags.

The photography is courtesy of Group Projects. 

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New Orleans-based architecture studio Eskew Dumez Ripple has clad a Connecticut museum with a stone facade reminiscent of local quarries and "monolithic massing".

Located in Greenwich, Connecticut, the Bruce Museum holds a multidisciplinary collection of art, science and natural history exhibits.

Eskew Dumez Ripple undertook a comprehensive renovation of the 32,500-square-foot (3,000-square-metre) museum, as well as the addition of a 42,000-square-foot (3,900-square-metre) extension that houses a new public entrance and lobby.

The extension is affixed directly to the museum's original structure, a Victorian-style home built in 1853 that was publicly deeded to the Town of Greenwich to be a museum by owner Robert Moffat Bruce.

The rectangular addition more than doubles the size of the existing museum, and besides containing a new welcome centre, will house gallery, exhibition and storage space over three floors.

With the extension, the studio re-oriented the museum's entrance to face away from nearby 1-95 to neighbouring Bruce Park for a more private experience.

A central courtyard placed between the two buildings was designed to link the spaces them from the interior, as well as to "extend the park into
the footprint of the museum".

The addition has a fluted stone facade that draws from the surrounding landscape and provides natural daylight.

"First, the stone quarries that dot the regional landscape became the precept from which to 'carve' the monolithic massing of the building," said the team.

"At night, these cut apertures glow from within, providing a clear beacon to the community of the museum's presence."

"Second, fences built by New England farmers as they cleared their fields of rocks and boulders served as the inspiration for creating voids in the façade to filter light into the interior in a surprising and unexpected way."

"This exterior, animated by the play of light across the façade, dramatically changes appearance as the sun traverses the sky over the course of the day and time of year."

The facade is made of a series of precast pieces hung from a stainless steel frame. According to the team, it creates an airtight and energy-efficient facade capable of reducing the museum's energy demand.

Visitors enter the building through a glazed ribbon of doors and windows. Above the entrance, the facade's stone cladding acts as a screen that covers a central section of glass.

Additional glazed openings were interspersed throughout the ground floor, with the occasional picture window installed in the building's top-floor gallery spaces.

The lobby leads to a central wooden staircase that can be traced upwards through double-height spaces and apertures.

Galleries, storage and amenity spaces create wings on either side of the space.

The museum's top two floors, which contain additional gallery spaces, conference rooms and workshop spaces, connect to the original building through the interior.

Other recently completed projects by Eskew Dumez Ripple include an aquarium and insectarium in New Orleans and a school building in Arkansas informed by surrounding farmland.

The photography is by Tim Hursley.

Project credits:

Architecture and interiors: Eskew Dumez Ripple
Contractor: Turner Construction
Geotechnical engineer: Melick Tully and Associates
MEPF engineers: Altieri
Landscape: Reed Hilderbrand
Lighting: Fisher Marantz Stone
Acoustical engineer: Jaffe Holden
Theatrical/AV: Jaffe Holden
Security: Ducibella Venter Santore
Food service: Futch Design Associates
Museum programming: M. Goodwin Museum Planning
Envelope: Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
Cost estimating: Stuart Lynn
Code consultant: Bruce J. Spiewak, Consulting Architect
Owner’s representative: Stone Harbor Land Company
Commissioning: The Stone House Group

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New York-based interior designer Anne-Sophie Rosseel has created a sustainable children's furniture collection that locks together for easy assembly.

Called the Interlockables, the collection includes tables, seating and storage for children and is the debut collection from Rosseel's House of RoRo brand.

"Inspired by children and their ability to grow and learn at an astonishing speed, the collection consists of multifunctional and versatile children's furniture that is sustainable, playful, and practical," said the team.

"The designs are unselfconscious and simple in their use of materials, provoking a feeling of delight."

Primarily made of Birch plywood and finished with non-toxic, plant-based dyes, the collection consists of furniture made of geometric shapes just slightly askew.

"I was looking for ways to combine toy storage with functional furniture that would look good in our home while reducing the clutter," said Rosseel.

"Kids grow fast and if I was going to make a product, I wanted it to be as sustainable as possible and not have it end up in landfill after 2 years."

The furniture comes flat-packed and slides and locks together so that children – with the help of a guardian – can assemble the pieces.

The pieces were designed to be gender-neutral and not age-specific, with some elements that can be adjusted as a child grows.

The Box Table rests on rectangular legs that double as storage containers, which are accessed with removable panels on the table's countertop.

Once a child outgrows the table, the countertop can be removed and the boxy legs converted into nightstands or side tables.

The Raymond Rocker chair fits flat-pack in a pizza-sized box and features slightly curved legs for "the child that doesn't like to sit still".

Artisanal dyer Audrey Louise Reynolds created a series of stains for the collection made out of plant-based pigments including mushrooms, flowers, mica and moss.

The dyes include a natural oil stain and five bold colours, although they will change seasonally and custom colours can be requested.

The pieces are ethically sourced and manufactured in Canada, with leftover scraps from CNC cuts reperused into "small toy wood pulls or puzzles".

A pair of permanent sticker sketchy "eyes" comes with each purchase to be applied to the furniture at will.

Anne-Sophie Rosseel is a Belgian-born New York-based interior designer. She founded Rosseel Studio before launching House of RoRo in 2023.

Other furniture designed for children includes sloping wooden chairs that encourage "active sitting" by Studio Lentala and playful stools made of olive pits by Eneris Collective and NaifactoryLAB.

The photography is courtesy House of RoRo.

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Canadian designer and lighting brand Bocci founder Omer Arbel has created a home in British Columbia with expressive pillars made from concrete poured into fabric.

Called 75.9 House, the home sits on a farmland site and is covered with a series of berms, while multiple trumpet-shaped pillars of varying heights create wave-like levels along the expanse of its footprint.

The columns run through the rectangular plan of the house, with some approaching 32 feet (10 metres) tall. They are fluted at the base before extending upwards into an expansive "lilypad" shape.

Along with curling exterior walls that span the length of the houses's perimeter, they were created using a technique in which concrete is poured slowly into fabric formwork supported by a plywood rib structure.

The technique allows the concrete to continuously cure during the installation process, reducing the risk of pressure at the base and weaknesses at the column's joints.

"The fabric-formed concrete elements are treated as if they were found archaeological ruins in the hay field landscape, with the house considered a contemporary construction built around and among them," said the Omer Arbel Office team.

A series of rectangular volumes clad in wood form the primary envelope of the house and are interspersed with multiple concrete gateways that contain passageways or windows.

The team covered the structure with berms, which rise out of the flat landscape of the surrounding agricultural fields.

"The hay field is treated as if it were a carpet, draped over the volumes of the residence in a series of berms, allowing the entire building roof to be traversed from the exterior and contributing to the archaeological reading," said the team.

Mature trees, which were planted in the hollow interiors of the columns, spring out of the roof line.

On the interior, the columns create double-height spaces punctuated with large picture windows or low-ceiling, cavernous zones in the kitchen and main bedroom and bath.

Planes of natural wood run through the interior, "offering relief from monumentality and emphasizing the horizontal expanse of the hay field beyond".

The 8,000 square foot (740 square metre) home contains multiple bedrooms and living spaces that branch off from a central kitchen and dining area, which features an expanse of bi-fold glass doors that open onto the surrounding landscape.

Interior planting beds were also installed in the gathering space. Concrete floors run throughout the project.

Previously, Omer Arbel Office released a film detailing the construction of House 75.9 and the studio's experiments in concrete were displayed at an exhibition in Vancouver.

 The photography is by Fahim Kassam

Project credits:

Client: Joe and Keira Haley
Designer: Omer Arbel Office
Contractor: Chris Wright of Build Wright Construction with Joe Haley and consulting by Brad Martin of Treeline Construction
Architect of record: Bruce Gernon Architect
Structural: Thomas Duke and Nick de Ridder of Fast + Epp Structural Engineers
Geotechnical: Matt Kokan of Geopacific Consultants
Building envelope: JRS Engineering
Project leader: Mark Dennis
Project team: Omer Arbel, Mark Dennis, Kathryn Lamoureux, Jaedan Leimert, Graeme Smith, Tyler Wied
Model team: Brooklyn Bombardier, Christa Clay, Kevin Isherwood, Jaedan Leimert, Kevin Li, Jeremy Schipper

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Architecture studio BIG has announced the completion of The Spiral, the studio's first supertall skyscraper and first commercial high-rise in New York City that features a "ziggurat silhouette".

It reaches 1,031 feet (314 metres) into the sky, making it a super tall skyscraper, which is a skyscraper between 300 meters (984 feet) and 600 meters (1,968 feet) tall. Located along the High Line, the 66-storey building gets its moniker from a series of stepped terraces wrapped around its exterior.

"The Spiral punctuates the northern end of the High Line, and the linear park appears to carry through into the tower, forming an ascending ribbon of lively green spaces, extending the High Line to the skyline," said BIG founder Bjarke Ingels.

"[It] combines the classic ziggurat silhouette of the premodern skyscraper with the slender proportions and efficient layouts of the modern high-rise."

On its lower levels, the building features glazed, recessed openings at the street-level lobby and office spaces above.

As they move upward along the building, the openings shift into terraces populated with "a landscape that has never been installed at or above 300 feet elevation in New York City", according to the team.

"The Spiral ensures that every floor of the tower opens up to the outdoors, creating hanging gardens and cascading atria that connect the open floor plates from the ground floor to the summit into a single uninterrupted workspace," said Ingels.

"The string of terraces wrapping around the building expands the daily life of the tenants to the outside air and light."

"As the trees and grasses, flowers and vines have taken root over the last two summers, The Spiral is slowly becoming an ascending ribbon of green wrapping around the entire silhouette of the tower–like a 1,000-foot-tall (304 metres) vine at the scale of the city's skyline."

The stepped terraces slowly cut into the building's floor plates as they ascend, reducing the overall volume of the tower towards its top.

The outdoor spaces created by the terraces total 13,000 square feet (1,207 square metres) and are populated with a mixture of drought and wind-resistant plant species native to the American prairie, shrubbery and trees that will bloom in the wintertime, and trellises adorned with English and Boston Ivy.

The plant arrangement differs depending on orientation to the sun and high-velocity winds. A water management system will sequester rainwater for redistribution through the landscape.

The 2.8 million-square-foot (260,128 square metres) structure will host offices and a private event space on the uppermost floor.

Some floors contain double-height amenity spaces and "the option to connect adjacent floors via a grand staircase",  as an alternative to elevators and to encourage interaction amongst colleagues.

The lobby contains cladding in "seven different metals", meant as a homage to the industrial heritage of the surrounding Hudson Yards neighbourhood, while its stepped design nods to other Manhattan skyscrapers like the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center.

The Spiral was developed by Tishman Speyer and built by Turner. BIG collaborated with Adamson Associates and structural engineer WSP Cantor Seinuk on its design.

The team is pursuing LEED Silver certification for the building.

BIG unveiled the design for The Spiral in 2016 to mixed reviews by Dezeen commenters. Elsewhere in New York, the studio has released images for mixed-use skyscrapers along the Williamsburg waterfront.

The photography is by Laurian Ghinițoiu.

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Local landscape studio Field Operations has opened a swath of land in Staten Island's Freshkills Park, which was once home to the world's largest landfill.

The opening marks a significant milestone in a 30-year master plan created by Field Operations for the 2,200-acre (890-hectare) site located along the west side of Staten Island – a borough of New York City – that is currently being transformed from a landfill into parkland.

It is the first phase of North Park, a 240-acre (97-hectare) site located in the northern part of Freshkills Park.

The first phase is a 21-acre (8-hectare) swath of land that connects the pre-existing Schmul Playground and surrounding neighbourhood to the park's interior wetland.

"This is an exciting moment in the continually evolving life of Freshkills, marking significant new public access, ecological renewal, and social amenity," said Field Operations founding partner James Corner.

"Once people get into the heart of the site, they will be astounded by the extraordinary scale and character of the larger park, with its palpable sense of nature, extensive vistas, and opportunities to explore."

The first phase of North Park features a gently curving central pathway bordered by seven acres of native seed plots, picnic lawns and groves of trees.

The site gradually grows wider as it moves towards Main Creek, concluding in a lookout deck and bird-watching tower that overlooks the surrounding wetlands.

"The 'arc' is designed as an engineered earthwork, curving gently in both profile and plan to dramatize the visitor's journey from the neighbourhood to the serene tranquillity of the wildlife refuge," said the team.

"The visitor slowly ascends to the new horizon of the interior preserve and then drops down to an overlook and park area."

The landscape design of North Park will grow over time to create a bio-diverse ecosystem.

This first phase of North Park opening is "just the beginning" of the redevelopment of Freshkills Park, which is expected to be completed in 2036 over a series of additional phases.

It once contained five "massive" landfill mounds before it closed to the public in 2001 to undergo redevelopment.

Once completed, it will be "three times" the size of Central Park and will consist of spaces for active and passive recreation, event spaces and miles of trails.

"The park seeks to showcase the unusual combination of natural and engineered beauty on the site, including creeks, wetlands, expansive meadows, and spectacular vistas of New York City." said the team.

Field Operations – formerly known as James Corner Field Operations – continues to work with the NYC Department of Sanitation and the Department of Parks & Recreation on the ongoing project.

Among other projects, the studio recently completed Manhattan's "first public beachfront" and a "magical lookout" on top of a residential building in London.

The photography is courtesy NYC Parks / Malcolm Pinckney and Field Operations.

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A "sacred space" made from CLT panels and a cloud canopy made from strips of woven bamboo are among the pavilions being shown at New York City's Design Pavilion event.

Created by Shanghai-based studio llLab and designer Michael Bennett of Studio Kër, the two pavilions display sustainable building materials and techniques. The structures are on show for Design Pavilion, an event by NYCxDesign, part of the programming for the city's yearly architecture festival, Archtober.

"This is about materials," said NYCxDesign executive director and founder of Design Pavilion, Ilene Shaw. "They're both about materials. They're about strong, durable, sustainable architectural building materials."

Located in Gavensvoort Plaza in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, the exhibitions sit side by side.

llLab's Bamboo Cloud pavilion is a continuation of a previous project installed in the city of Guilin, China, where the studio created a series of canopies and inhabitable pods using strips of woven bamboo for shelter from rain.

In New York City, the pavilion takes a similar form, consisting of two amorphous "clouds" of bamboo supported by structural columns that run into silver-coated, organically shaped benches at each base.

"While still retaining the beauty of a handcrafted basket with its woven structure, the installation breaks the conventional boundaries of the material by boldly showcasing its strength," said the team.

"Composed of bamboo strips woven into a porous surface, the pavilion naturally uses its internal force for form finding and eventually stabilizes as a hollow space, which is structurally resilient with the potential to be used at building scale."

The uppermost structures were created with a hand-woven technique used by local populations in China, which the llLab team learned in order to create and assemble the pavilion.

llLab founding partner Hanxiao Liu told Dezeen the general shapes of the bamboo forms were created by local weavers "who understand bamboo".

Liu explained that while in Guilin, the pavilion was intended to connect people with nature, the Design Pavilion exhibition introduces passersby to the materiality of bamboo and provides a community space for its New York City neighbourhood.

"The most important thing is to make the neighbourhood enjoy the space," Liu said. "To make people feel the thing itself."

llLab worked with the lighting design studio L'Observatorie International to illuminate the pavilion at night, which is lit from underneath with a warm glow.

For the Public Display pavilion, designer Michael Bennett created a community space using large-scale cross-laminated timber panels.

One panel creates a structural wall, while the other rests against it at a gentle angle. A semi-circle of wooden chairs faces the vertical panel and a bench was installed on the other side, beneath the sloping CLT.

Thin, rectangular cut-outs were interspersed throughout the structure, with a large, central opening cut into the angeled panel.

"[It's] an opportunity to take the material and show it in its purest form," Bennett told Dezeen. "Not to do too much with it, is the idea. I could shred it and make something crazy, or I can show it in a way that's just enough so people can feel sacred space and also to get to interact with the material."

The installation also explores community and sacred spaces as a place of refuge, with nods to environments like a church.

"Can you be in a space that's surrounded by calamity but still feel a sense of clarity?" asked Bennett. "That's something I think about a lot."

Also part of the Design Pavilion exhibition is a series of animated digital portraits projected onto the four sides of the World Trade Center Podium, which spans 200 feet (60 metres).

Conceptualized by artist Marjorie Guyon as part of the ongoing I Was Here project, with video and animation co-created by Marc Aptakin, Roy Husdell, and Yoel Meneses of Yes We Are Mad, the animations depict "ancestor spirit portraits".

"When I was three, I took the ferry and climbed to the very top of Lady Liberty to see the land and sea through her eyes," said Guyon.

"Like the Statue of Liberty, the Ancestor Spirit Portraits of the I Was Here project are iconic – their presence allowing our city, our country, and our world to see through their sacred, ancient eyes,"

Design Pavilion is part of the NYCxDesign programming, which hosts the NYCxDesign Festival in May.

For the festival this past year, local designer Jean displayed birdhouses, seating and other public architecture at the Naval Cemetery Landscape and salvaged furniture found in New York's public parks were displayed in an abandoned Chinatown building for an exhibition by Marta Gallery.

The photography is by Jennifer Trahan unless otherwise stated.

Bamboo Cloud and Public Display will be on show at Ganesvoort Plaza in NYC from 12 to 19 October, with I Was Here running through 22 October. For more exhibitions, talks and events during New York's design week, visit Dezeen's dedicated NYCxDesign guide.

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