My hope is that this new community building and George Street public plaza will become a cherished destination in Sydney's city center, a generative place for people to connect, recharge, reflect, and take a pause from the rhythm of a fast-transforming city.
PHARE YLLIAM is a lighthouse developed by architecture firm for the waterfront of Geneva, Switzerland. Lighthouses carry a clear functional purpose and a distinct spatial presence. As singular vertical structures positioned at the edges of landmasses, they serve as navigational markers and contribute to the reading of the surrounding landscape. The project works within this typology while adapting it to the specific conditions of Geneva's harbor.
Situated between the City of Arts in Valencia and the piles of containers in the port of Pinedo, the area of La Punta is barely surviving the macro-projects that surround it. Several dozen creators have been defending local culture for some time now in Pluto, a safe and collaborative working environment in La Punta, just a 10-minute bike ride from the city centre.
Even though Gwyneth Paltrow is known for her influence in the wellness industry, she's also unintentionally (or intentionally?) a decor authority, too. So, when Paltrow recently dropped her favorite home finds that she's gifting this holiday season - even though they're a bit more expensive - I was all ears. Spoiler: It's the perfect gift for the candle-loving folks in your life.
Perched in the exclusive landscape of La Zagaleta in the hills of Benahavís, near Marbella, , Villa Geneve is a benchmark for contemporary bio-architecture, designed by Manuel Ruiz Moriche of ARK Architects. This design balances natural beauty, sophisticated architecture and contemporary sustainability to create a residence that exists in perfect harmony with its surroundings. The is guided by ARK's unique philosophy of bio-architecture, a transformative approach that uses architecture as a mediator between humans and nature to enhance well-being.
Vintage items are the pieces are the best way to personalize your kitchen - especially if you're working on designing the retro kitchen of our dreams. Even if kitchen design trends come and go, vintage treasures are never outdated. Plus, it's exciting to hunt for them - and you can usually buy them at a bargain. Lately, there's an especially charming item to add to your list of best finds for a vintage kitchen: pie keepers.
After that, she looked for designers she already liked, including Hella Jongerius. "Hella's Vitra Polder sofa?" she says, name-checking like a true fan. "It's freaking one of my favorite sofas." Though it wasn't intentional, she swears, she happened to choose women designers, from Faye Toogood to Patricia Urquiola. Searching Lumen's inventory by color left room for discovery, like the lollipop-shaped Lasvit light-"I'm drawn to the aesthetics of happiness," she says-that she sourced for the windows.
Bold blocks of color and chunky geometric forms define The Walala Lounge, Camille Walala's permanent public installation in downtown Bentonville, Arkansas. Spread across the streets of the market district, the project transforms benches and planters into oversized sculptural steel , using saturated hues and graphic contrasts. Curated by justkids, the pieces work collectively to establish a visual cadence along the street, transforming moments of rest, waiting, and gathering into shared encounters with form and color.
At just a glance, the Elogio Sofa conjures a world of possibilities as connections construct themselves: lounging on a five-piece sectional with a large group; sitting quietly with a partner on a two-seater for intimate conversation; and gazing out a window from the chaise with a steamy mug in hand. Originally designed in 1974 by Afra and Tobia Scarpa as an evolution of their Erasmo sofa, this collection invites softness within the architectural structure, creating a sense of warmth in any configuration.
For much of modern architectural history, images have functioned as interpretive tools rather than literal records. Renderings, drawings, and competition visuals were traditionally understood as speculative instruments, offering atmospheres, intentions, and possible futures rather than fixed realities. This ambiguity allowed architects to communicate ideas that were still in formation, and it shaped a visual culture in which representation was valued as much for its suggestive quality as for its precision.
Text description provided by the architects. FNN Sustainability Center was designed within Tekfen Construction's Machine Maintenance Facilities in Ceyhan for archive, museum, and administrative office use. In the project area, which also includes a steel manufacturing workshop, the main purpose was to highlight the steel, which forms the structural system of the building, as a design element. The archive is a completely self-enclosed program, the museum is a completely extroverted program, and the office acts as an organism that is partly closed and partly open.
Eclectic maximalist style has been all the rage for a while now - and designers say the trend will continue into the new year, with a strong focus on vintage finds. As a part of our sixth annual State of Home Design survey, Apartment Therapy asked designers, what's one vintage item you think we'll be seeing everywhere in 2026?
Business Insider asked four interior designers which bathroom trends are in and out for 2026. Tech features, statement tiles, and warm, earthy palettes are on the rise. However, all-white bathrooms, glossy finishes, and synthetic materials are becoming less popular. Each year brings a new wave of design trends that continue to evolve home spaces, including bathrooms. So, Business Insider asked four interior designers to share
The Red Bull Extra Aerobatic Plane showcases this aviation-first approach to LEGO building. Rather than simply creating a brick shell shaped like an airplane, the builder constructed an actual airframe using proper longitudinal bracing and wing structures. At just under 1,000 pieces and 1/14 scale, this model balances impressive size with buildable complexity, making it a compelling candidate for LEGO's official product lineup.
At the scale of the built environment, these themes are echoed in three projects shaping future urban conditions: Powerhouse Company's transformation of a former limestone quarry into a mixed-use neighbourhood in Bærum, near Oslo; the groundbreaking of Riverside Wharf, a hospitality-led development contributing to the regeneration of Miami's River District; and Foster + Partners' approved retrofit of 1 St James's Square in London, focused on structural retention and long-term urban resilience.
THE MAGARIGAWA CLUB Clubhouse is nestled into the forested hills of Chiba, Japan as a study in managed contradiction - a private driving club's hospitality venue where Joyce Wang Studio choreographed the psychological arc of high-performance driving into architectural form. Automotive culture demands contradictions that few spaces manage to resolve - the heightened alertness required for performance driving exists in direct opposition to the restoration needed afterward.
The best chess sets are more than functional; designers, architects, and luxury brands have all put their own spin on the form with new interpretations. Some hardly look like chess sets at all these days; the game's 32 pieces have been rendered in a variety of shapes and materials, from luxe marble to sturdy wood, by everyone from furniture designer Isamu Noguchi to surrealist Man Ray, who was known to face off against fellow artist and chess enthusiast Marcel Duchamp.
Fuzhou ESUO Future Kindergarten by Dika Architectural Design Center in Fuzhou, China, reimagines early childhood education through a playful, irregularly shaped building crowned with a rooftop astronaut sculpture. The structure transforms traditional kindergarten layouts into a three-dimensional exploration system that spans from ground level to corridors and rooftops. Corridors function as all-weather adventure paths, while each floor becomes an interactive playground. The astronaut sculpture atop the building serves as a visual and conceptual anchor, inviting children to imagine themselves as cosmic explorers
Guided by the rhythms of rivers, forest canopies, grasses, and bark, the collection designed by founder Priyanka Narula captures the serenity of the forest through woven contours and earthy tones. Each piece is rooted in a specific natural inspiration, revealing a story shaped by texture, movement, and craft. Flowering Vines is a modular lighting system - fitting, since flowers are rarely found alone.
The commission emerged from a donation by an elder of a local church, and the brief invited a chapel that was both modest and purposeful. ' The site revealed itself,' lead architect Yoo Ehwa shares. She describes perceiving the contours of the campus as resembling a sheep, with the chosen hill forming its heart. This elevated position allows the subterranean structure to be read from surrounding buildings, with the form of its rooftop cross visible only from the sky and the interior.
If your social feeds feel a little more fairytale than usual this year, you're not imagining it. The "Cinderella" Christmas tree is quickly becoming one of the holiday season's biggest decorating trends, with Pinterest boards and TikTok videos full of baby-blue branches, frosty pastels, and ornaments that look borrowed from a snow-globe palace. What started as a niche aesthetic has officially tipped into full-blown trend territory.
There's something quietly rebellious about seeing delicate leather straps wrapped around cold, hard steel. It's unexpected, a bit contradictory, and exactly what makes Nara Lee's Pul collection so captivating. The Paris-based architect just unveiled this sculptural furniture series at The Sun Room exhibition in Seoul, and it's turning heads for all the right reasons. What strikes you first about these pieces isn't just their minimalist beauty, but the story they tell about urban nature.
Once confined to the aerospace and automotive industries, composite materials have taken on an increasingly central role in contemporary architecture. By combining two or more components, such as fibers and polymers, they offer lightness and strength, high durability, formal freedom, and enhanced environmental performance. Their incorporation into architectural practice marks a profound transformation in how we design, fabricate, and inhabit space.
The best part? For a shade with so much personality, olive green still plays well with others. Its current popularity can at least partially be attributed to the fact that so many hues pair beautifully with it, from chocolate brown to powder pink. It's a storied shade that masquerades as a neutral, giving designers and homeowners alike the best of both worlds as they build their palette and room's design scheme.
A rare bar in the shape of a hippopotamus by François-Xavier Lalanne sold for $31.4m (with fees) at a Sotheby's design auction in New York on Wednesday (10 December), breaking the artist's secondary-market record and becoming the most valuable design object ever sold at auction. Like many of the whimsical-yet-practical designs created by Lalanne (and in collaboration with his wife and design partner Claude Lalanne), the hippo is a fully functioning bar.
