Design

Design

Designers are constantly forced to second-guess themselves: Should you charge a day rate or a project fee? Are you earning as much as your peers? Is AI taking work/jobs away from you? Today we're launching a new, data-driven effort in partnership with the American Institute of Graphic Arts to help you answer those questions and more with confidence.

The human eye can only focus on one thing at once. As much as we might insist otherwise, we are meant to see this way - evolutionarily, it hasn't been worth it to change. This helps our balance as bipeds, and lessens workload on the brain, parsing out information in a way we can truly understand. We process visual data similarly, and can extend this function even further to product.

Architecture is often evaluated through finished forms, yet some practices operate in a different register, one where design unfolds through relationships, time, and use rather than through a single outcome. For CatalyticAction, participation is not a parallel social activity, but the means through which spaces are conceived, constructed, and sustained over time. Based between Beirut and London, the practice has worked across the Middle East and Europe, developing public spaces, schools, playgrounds, and everyday urban infrastructures through long-term collaboration with local communities.

Architecture And Project Coordination: Paulo Tormenta Pinto Collaboration: Rosa Maria Bastos, Joao Costa, Bernardo Vicente, Mariana Brito Foundations And Structures: Miguel Villar, Paulo Mendonca Hydraulics: Jorge Pinheiro, Rita Duarte Electrical Infrastructure And Scs: Jorge Loureiro Ferreira, Daniel Moreira Safety: Renata Costa Carvalho Acoustics: Renata Costa Carvalho Gas Network: Susana Costa e Sousa Interior Roadways: Susana Costa e Sousa Landscaping: Monica Farina Partnerships: Betar and JCT Promoter: GoPorto Gestao e Obras do Porto, EM Procedure Manager: Helder Pereira Contractor: CT - Calculos & Titulos Construcoes Unipessoal Construction Management: Carlos Quaresma, Domingos Brito Supervision: KN Engenharia, Lda Technical Supervision: Luisa Outeiro, Sandra Araujo

There is a moment at dusk when the boundary between sky and water dissolves. The sun hangs low, the tide softens, and the surface of the sea becomes a trembling mirror, holding light in fragments. Studio Haran's Sandscape Collection seems to trap that exact instant. These sculptural luminaires do not simply resemble waves. They resemble the reflection of something luminous hovering above them, as though the moon or sun has descended and dissolved into ripples.

If you're not the kind of person who gets excited when they see an all-beige living room spread in a home decor magazine, you've come to the right place. Sure, we get the appeal of keeping things chic and minimalist, but sometimes you want your house to feel fun and playful. Whether you're into whimsymaxxing, dopamine decor, or just have an affinity for all things cute and colorful, you're going to love the picks on this list.

While we started designing a retail space for the brand, we perceived Gully Labs as a celebration of Indian street culture, glorified, unified, and expressed through sneakers and apparel that pay homage to Indian craftsmanship and the raw vibrancy of the streets. Every element, from design to detailing, reflects this authenticity, positioning the brand not just as a retail destination but as a cultural movement.

When designing a neutral space, you might initially assume you're working with a limited color palette. And while using a select group of more subdued hues might be the key to achieving that calming effect, it doesn't mean the room has to be boring or one-dimensional. That's where texture (think: the "70-20-10" rule) comes into play. Texture was a major part of Chloe Livington's design plan when mapping out her organic-modern Jersey City studio apartment.

Instructions I created. Instructions I am continuing to hone - instructions that required me to study my own old essays, identifying what I do when I write. The sentence rhythms. The way I move between timescales. The zooming in and out from concept to detail. The instructions tell Claude how I would like ideas composed. I pull together concepts and experiences from my lived expertise to formulate a point of view - in this case, on this new AI technology.

The concept's core is the classic Bialetti Moka Pot, iconic for its compact build of faceted aluminum. In this proposal, the upper chamber is recast in Hermès orange with a sculpted horse forming the lid's finial and body. The animal's legs extend down the sides of the upper chamber to transform the pot into a small stovetop design object. visualizations courtesy Jane Morelli

The design of this pantheon challenges the classic structures aiming to host the eternity. Unlike the traditional pantheons in the area, this project full of meaning and coherence balances unusual materials within the traditional enclave in the Requena cemetery.

Located on the southeastern edge of the University of Indonesia's Faculty of Economics and Business, AlIqtishad redefines the role of a campus Mushola, shifting from a discreet endpoint to a civic and spiritual threshold within the FEB UI Masterplan.

Inspired by Courchevel's glamorous heyday in the 1960s, when the jet set swarmed the ski resort's sun-drenched slopes, interior designer Tristan Auer (behind some of France's most revered revamps, like Hôtel de Crillon, a Rosewood Hotel) wanted the property to feel more like an intimate chalet than a traditional hotel. "We have reimagined the Alpine estate to create a dynamic and unexpected hub of conviviality,"

A Gothic cathedral can take centuries to complete. A world exposition pavilion may stand for six months. A ritual structure in Kolkata rises and vanishes within five days. Yet each draws pilgrimage, shapes collective memory, and reorganizes urban life. If heritage has long been defined by what endures, architecture repeatedly shows that cultural authority can also belong to what gathers people.

Meet Wingcube, a box that transforms from a foldable tentwooden cabinet-like structure into a wing-looking mobile shelter. Combining the structure of a tent with the concept of a compact cabin, the project, which is till in development, focuses on being modular so users can transport it anywhere with their vehicles. It can be towed easily, and once it finds its spot, the structure extends outward like a fan, creating a raised mini cabin.

In basket mode, the structured wooden body has a built-in handle and a container that can hold the messy mix of picnic items, fruit, napkins, a book, or a small speaker. The form feels sturdy rather than floppy, carrying like a proper object with a clear handle instead of a tote that collapses when you set it down. That sturdiness is what makes the flip transformation credible.

If you follow concept design on social media, there's a good chance you've already stumbled across Jane Morelli's work. She's the designer behind that Lacoste x Bialetti moka pot that went viral not too long ago, and now she's back with something that somehow manages to feel even more covetable. For the Year of the Horse, she has created a concept coffee set that imagines what a Hermès x Bialetti collaboration could look like, and the result is genuinely breathtaking.

My husband and I just upgraded our apartment here in Germany to one with much more space. The downsides of this is we have hard marble floors and a tall-ceilinged living room (oh woe is us!). It's very echo-y and looks directly into our neighbors across the street. The windows have external shutters, so light-blocking isn't needed, but we'd love to get

Using Voronoi polygon modelling, the design team mapped how pressure from a sleeping head distributes across the pillow's surface, then engineered protrusions and recesses to respond to that data. The front face features raised cellular structures that increase the contact area between pillow and skin, improving comfort while simultaneously channelling airflow to keep things cool. The back face offers four distinct tactile zones depending on orientation, giving users a degree of customisation that is rare in camping gear. Also, a little warning but: trypophobia alert.

For decades, the LEGO Group has demonstrated an unusual ability to translate real-world engineering into tactile storytelling. From architectural landmarks to Technic supercars, its most compelling releases are often those rooted in authentic industrial design. The new LEGO 40955 Maersk Dual-Fuel Container Vessel follows that same philosophy, drawing inspiration from one of the most significant advances in modern maritime transport.

Concéntrico is an urban innovation laboratory that invites reflection on the city through architecture and design. Since 2015, it has carried out more than 180 interventions in Logroño, Spain. The new 2025/2026 season of the festival expands on this experimental spirit with three international calls for proposals that bring the ideas in the book Concéntrico: Laboratorio de Innovación Urbana (Park Books, 2025) into action.

KITONOKO is a community-oriented complex located in a suburban commercial district, conceived as a place where architecture quietly connects people, work, and everyday life. Surrounded by large-scale retail and roadside developments, the project seeks to introduce a more human-scaled, open, and approachable environment within a typically car-oriented context. Rather than operating as a closed commercial facility, the building encourages local residents, visitors, and staff to naturally intersect through spatial openness and continuity.

Located on the outskirts of Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu, , Paati Veedu by Koodu Architecture is a compact rural developed under financial constraint and material limitation. Built on a 1,200-sqft site within a neighborhood of small houses and agricultural fields, the project is defined by , adaptation, and resource-conscious construction. The house was constructed using 10,000 accumulated over time by the client, forming the primary material basis for the design.

If you don't want to commit to yellow floral wallpaper or invest in an avocado-green oven, we invite home cooks to consider the ceramic frog sponge holder. These frog figurines were popular in the '70s and '80s, situated beside the kitchen sink to hold sponges or dish scrubber pads in their wide-open mouths. It's admittedly kitschy, but charmingly straddles the intersection of playful fun and practical utility.

Whether it is Scandinavian innovation, a handmade rope crossing in the Peruvian Andes, or a skyline-defining landmark in a global city, the world would look very different without bridges. For centuries, people have found ways to span rivers, valleys, and rainforests, sometimes working with nature itself to create structures that feel as much like art as engineering. There are millions of bridges across the planet and countless candidates for any best-of list.