everglow compact music sketchbook uses generative AI for real-time sound compositions

Everglow: A Compact Interface for Real-Time AI Sound Creation

 

Everglow is a compact music interface that integrates generative AI technology with tactile hardware design to facilitate immediate sound creation and composition. Developed by designer Woojin Jang, the project rethinks how musicians capture and develop ideas by merging intuitive performance controls with algorithmic sound generation.

 

The device features a triangular key layout designed to replicate elements of both keyboard and guitar playing. Each key is pressure-sensitive, capable of detecting taps and upward sliding motions to enable expressive techniques such as pitch bends and vibrato. This layout allows for fluid transitions between melodic and rhythmic gestures, accommodating a wide range of musical styles and levels of technical familiarity.

all images courtesy of Woojin Jang

 

 

like a music sketchbook, Everglow Reimagines Musical Expression

 

Beyond individual note input, the system interprets multiple soft touches as a strumming motion, producing guitar-like sounds generated by a built-in neural engine. This capability expands the range of interaction between performer and instrument, offering a level of responsiveness typically associated with acoustic playing. Designed for handheld use, Everglow places essential controls, including scale switching and volume adjustment, on the back of the device, allowing performers to access them without interrupting play. This configuration supports mobility and improvisation, removing the constraints of fixed, tabletop-based setups.

 

By combining tactile precision with adaptive digital synthesis, Everglow, developed by designer Woojin Jang, establishes a bridge between analog performance and AI-assisted creativity. It serves as both an expressive tool and a prototyping instrument, enabling musicians to translate spontaneous ideas into sound in real time.

Everglow integrates generative AI with tactile hardware for real-time music creation

the triangular key layout merges aspects of keyboard and guitar performance

pressure-sensitive keys detect both tapping and sliding motions

designed by Woojin Jang, the device redefines how musicians capture ideas

multiple soft touches are interpreted as a strumming motion by the system

a built-in neural engine generates guitar-like sounds in response to gestures

designed for handheld use, the device supports mobility during play

scale and volume controls are positioned on the back for uninterrupted access

 

Everglow’s compact form enables composition anywhere, from studio to street.

 

project info:

 

name: Everglow
designer: Woojin Jang | @woojinjid

 

 

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

 

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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santiago calatrava sculpts haus zum falken in zurich with folded glass facade

santiago calatrava completes haus zum falken in zurich

 

In Zurich, Santiago Calatrava marks the completion of Haus zum Falken, a mixed-use building that breathes new life into the Stadelhofen Station area. Located at the eastern edge of Stadelhofer Platz, the project closes an architectural gap beside the historic main building that accommodates the station while introducing a public square, a large underground bicycle station, and light-filled interior spaces. The development (find designboom’s previous coverage here) continues Calatrava’s long-standing engagement with the area, which began in the 1980s when he designed the adjacent Stadelhofen Station. ‘The area around the Haus zum Falken is very familiar to me, as I was involved in the construction of the Stadelhofen Station here for eight years,’ he recalls. ‘That was followed by seven more stations that I had the opportunity to build in various locations.’

 

Calatrava describes Haus zum Falken as ‘an artistic event in the city.’ Its glass facade undulates across five levels, with vertical profiles and reflections shifting light and movement. Its articulated cornice and folded geometry lend the building a presence that changes with the time of day.

all images by Ingo Rasp

 

 

redefining stadelhofen’s urban landscape

 

Haus zum Falken anchors the east end of Stadelhofer Platz, completing a network of connected public spaces stretching from Lake Zurich to the Opera House and Sechseläutenplatz. Together with the Olivenbaum building to the west, it frames the historic structure of the station. A recessed ground floor creates Falkensteg Square, an open public area defined by the existing stair bridge that connects the station to the neighborhood above.

 

On Kreuzbühlstrasse, the eastern edge of the building introduces a small forecourt lined with greenery, offering views toward Zurich’s Grossmünster towers. One of the project’s most ambitious components lies beneath the surface. Responding to the City of Zurich’s initiative to reorganize bicycle traffic, Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava integrated an underground bicycle station with capacity for more than 800 bikes. The three-level facility frees Stadelhofer Platz from open-air parking, returning its surface to pedestrians and urban greenery. Building this structure in the tight, waterlogged site presented major technical challenges, ultimately resolved through an intricate foundation system and waterproofing strategy. Now complete, the subterranean complex stands as a critical piece of Zurich’s sustainable mobility network.

in Zurich, Santiago Calatrava marks the completion of Haus zum Falken

 

 

light-filled interiors and environmental performance

 

The stone plinth of the structure extends material dialogues with Zurich’s traditional facades along Bahnhofstrasse. Slender stone pillars mark the entrances, while the facade above transitions to glass and metal. Inside, a four-story atrium and sculptural staircase form the spatial heart of the building, hosting a sinuous interior volume. The upper floors are conceived as column-free rental spaces, adaptable to varied uses. Large windows frame views toward the promenade and the city beyond, while the dense rhythm of the facade creates a sense of privacy within.

 

The building meets rigorous environmental standards, achieving LEED Gold certification and exceeding Minergie-P benchmarks. A photovoltaic roof generates on-site energy, and the building envelope is optimized for thermal and acoustic performance. Even with trams and trains running just meters away, interior noise remains minimal. Wood and gold-toned finishes complete the double-height foyer, echoing the rhythm of the exterior facade, creating a warm, luminous space that welcomes visitors from Stadelhofer Platz and the elevated promenade.

this mixed-use building that breathes new life into the Stadelhofen Station area

the project closes a key architectural gap beside the historic main building

introducing a public square, a large underground bicycle station, and light-filled interior spaces

the glass facade undulates across five levels

the upper floors are conceived as column-free rental spaces

the building envelope is optimized for thermal and acoustic performance

a four-story atrium and sculptural staircase form the spatial heart of the building

wood and gold-toned finishes complete the double-height foyer

welcoming visitors from Stadelhofer Platz and the elevated promenade

 

project info:

 

name: Haus zum Falken

architect: Santiago Calatrava | @calatravaofficial

location: Zurich, Switzerland

area: 2,275 square meters

The post santiago calatrava sculpts haus zum falken in zurich with folded glass facade appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

plastic marble display shelf turns upcycled materials into reconfigurable furniture

Modular System Turns Recycled Materials into Functional Design

 

The Plastic Marble Display Shelf is a modular furniture system developed by DLS World Official in collaboration with WOULD YOU LOVE Seoul. The project explores the potential of upcycled industrial waste as a primary design material rather than a secondary substitute. At the core of the system is Plastic Marble, a composite made from recycled industrial byproducts. Each panel displays a distinct marbled pattern, resulting from the specific mix and processing of the reclaimed materials. This approach emphasizes variation as a design feature, positioning recycled matter as a source of visual and structural individuality. The shelf employs a custom clip-joint system that enables tool-free assembly. Components interlock through a precise connection mechanism, eliminating the need for screws or adhesives. This construction method allows users to assemble, disassemble, and reconfigure the structure easily, supporting both flexibility and long-term material reuse.

all images courtesy of DLS World Official and WOULD YOU LOVE Seoul WYL

 

 

Plastic Marble Display Shelf is Scalable and Reconfigurable

 

Functionally, the design operates as an open-ended system. Individual modules can be combined to form small tables, shelving units, or larger storage walls, depending on spatial and practical requirements. The adaptability of the structure reflects an architectural approach to furniture, scalable, reconfigurable, and responsive to change. Through its material and system design, the Plastic Marble Display Shelf, developed by the collaborative team between DLS World Official and studio WOULD YOU LOVE Seoul, demonstrates a model for circular manufacturing and participatory use. It positions upcycling not only as an environmental strategy but as a formal and functional design process, integrating sustainability into the aesthetics and logic of everyday objects.

modular furniture system designed by DLS World Official and WOULD YOU LOVE Seoul

the Plastic Marble Display Shelf explores the potential of upcycled industrial waste

recycled materials are treated as a primary design resource, not a substitute

each unit is composed of panels made from industrial byproducts

the composite material forms a marbled surface with distinct visual character

modular joints enable quick assembly and disassembly

the structure can be easily reconfigured to suit changing needs

components interlock without screws or adhesives

the shelf uses a custom clip-joint system for precise, tool-free assembly

 

project info:

 

name: Plastic Marble Display Shelf

designers: DLS World Official | @dls.world_official x WOULD YOU LOVE Seoul | @wouldyoulove.seoul
design team: Lim Sungmook (DLS), Julia (WYL), Adi (WYL)

 

 

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

 

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

The post plastic marble display shelf turns upcycled materials into reconfigurable furniture appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

designboom radar: exhibitions to see around the world this november

november exhibitions from DESIGNBOOM RADAR

 

November continues with exhibitions that transcend disciplines and generations, exploring the intersections of art, design, and architecture through material and memory. From Gerhard Richter’s sweeping retrospective in Paris to Ruth Asawa’s survey in San Francisco, the month’s highlights trace how artists transform process into poetry.

 

In Milan, Alchimia. The Revolution of Italian Design revisits a radical era of experimentation, while Histories of Ecology at MASP in São Paulo redefines our relationship with the natural world. Janet Echelman’s Radical Softness reveals the quiet power of form and light, and Jeff Koons’s Porcelain Series transforms myth into modern art.

 

Some of the exhibitions highlighted in earlier radars and our dedicated event guide remain on view, giving designboom readers more time to encounter them in their travels. On the whole, the broad list of exhibitions shows the range of themes taken by both designers and galleries across the world. 

 

kaws Family

 

KAWS: FAMILY invites visitors into the artist’s vibrant and emotionally charged world. Presented as the artist’s first major museum exhibition on the West Coast, the show spans three decades of work, tracing his ability to tap into shared feelings and collective culture.

 

Paintings, drawings, sculptures, and interventions, from ad takeovers to collaborations and toys, show the breadth of KAWS’s evolving visual language, built around recurring figures and reimagined pop imagery.

 

At its center stands FAMILY (2021), a monumental bronze sculpture that gathers KAWS’s well-known characters together. Their gestures of tenderness and fragility mirror our own experiences of care and connection. By reframing familiar animated icons through his own lens, KAWS turns nostalgia into reflection, creating space for empathy and shared cultural memory.

 

name: KAWS Family
artist: KAWS
museum: SFMOMA
location: San Francisco, USA
dates: November 15th, 2025 — May 3rd, 2026

KAWS Family, 2021, courtesy the artist © KAWS

 

 

Meriem Bennani: sole crushing

 

For her solo exhibition at Lafayette Anticipations, Meriem Bennani transforms the Fondation into a vast resonant instrument with Sole Crushing, a multi-floor sound installation where more than two hundred flip-flops perform a composition blending orchestral harmony with the energy of collective noise.

 

As they strike surrounding surfaces, the flip-flops evoke the pulse of crowds — protests, stadiums, or dakka marrakchia gatherings — turning a simple, familiar sound into a meditation on community and individuality.

 

Reimagined from its 2024–25 presentation at Fondazione Prada, this version features a new soundtrack by Reda Senhaji (Cheb Runner) and a site-specific design attuned to Lafayette Anticipations’ architecture.

 

name: Meriem Bennani: Sole Crushing
artist: Meriem Bennani
gallery: Lafayette Anticipations
location: Paris, France
dates: until February 8th, 2026

view of Meriem Bennani’s exhibition Sole Crushing at Lafayette Anticipations, Paris, courtesy the artist and François Ghebaly Gallery (LA), Lodovico Corsini Gallery (Brussels), and Sadie Coles Gallery (London) © Aurélien Mole

 

 

shigeru ban: architecture and social contributions

 

Opening at the Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology in Kraków, the exhibition devoted to Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban will span two floors of the Europe-Far East Gallery and remain on view for six months.

 

Showcasing Ban’s inventive use of materials — especially wood and cardboard — the exhibition traces his work across diverse contexts, from private residences and corporate buildings to public institutions and humanitarian projects responding to crises such as earthquakes and wars.

 

Original models arriving from Japan, France, and Ukraine, along with reconstructions, drawings, photographs, and diagrams, will illuminate Ban’s balance of structural experimentation, spatial clarity, and social purpose.

 

name: Shigeru Ban: Architecture and Social Contributions
architect: Shigeru Ban
museum: Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology
location: Kraków, Poland
dates: until May 3rd, 2026

Mount Fuji World Heritage Centre, Japan, 2017, image by Hiroyuki Hirai, © Shigeru Ban

 

 

paola pivi: I Don’t Like It, I Love It

 

At the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Paola Pivi — I Don’t Like It, I Love It transforms AGWA’s Brutalist spaces into a vivid, imaginative world where humor and gravity meet. Known for her surreal scenarios — feathered polar bears, inverted airplanes, zebras in snow — Pivi explores coexistence, empathy, and environmental fragility.

 

The exhibition features new commissions, including a giant inflatable comic cell made with Big Nate creator Lincoln Peirce, three new polar bears, and a rooftop installation of suspended trays filled with colored liquid that play with light and space. Pivi blends joy with reflection, and invites viewers to experience art as a space of connection and wonder.

 

name: Paola Pivi: I don’t like it, I love it
artist: Paola Pivi
gallery: AGWA
location: Perth, Australia
dates: November 8th, 2025 — April 26th, 2026

‘Paola Pivi: I don’t like it, I love it,’ image courtesy AGWA

 

 

strates

 

To mark its tenth anniversary, Philia presents STRATES, a major exhibition staged across two brutalist icons in Noisy-le-Grand — Jacques Kalisz’s iconic Mont d’Est parking structure and Ricardo Bofill’s Espaces Abraxas. Bringing together one emblematic work from each Philia artist, the exhibition retraces a decade of dialogue between art, design, and architecture.

 

Set within the sculptural concrete spirals of Kalisz and the theatrical facades of Bofill, STRATES explores how memory and projection shape both objects and place. Extending Philia’s commitment to architecture as context and community as medium, the project activates Mont d’Est’s evolving public realm through installations and workshops with artists. See designboom’s coverage here!

 

name: Strates
gallery: Galerie Philia
location: Paris, France
dates: until November 30th, 2025

Espaces Abraxas by Ricardo Bofill, image © Studio Brinth, courtesy Galerie Philia

 

 

wes anderson: The Archives

 

The Design Museum presents a landmark exhibition offering rare access to Wes Anderson’s personal archives, revealing over thirty years of the filmmaker’s creative world. For the first time in Britain, more than 600 objects — from storyboards and polaroids to puppets, costumes, and miniature sets — trace the evolution of Anderson’s craft and collaborations.

 

Visitors can explore highlights like the pink model of The Grand Budapest Hotel, vending machines from Asteroid City, Margot Tenenbaum’s FENDI fur coat, and the stop-motion puppets from Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. These artifacts all together illuminate Anderson’s devotion to detail and design, and show how his handmade sensibility and visual precision have shaped a whimsical and deeply human cinematic universe. See designboom’s coverage here!

 

name: Wes Anderson: The Archives
artist: Wes Anderson
museum: Design Museum
location: London, UK
dates: November 21st, 2025 — July 26th, 2026

Wes Anderson © Searchlight Pictures, image by Charlie Gray

 

 

juergen teller: you are invited

 

The inaugural exhibition at the Onassis Foundation’s new Athens space, ‘you are invited,’ offers a wide-ranging view of Juergen Teller’s evolving practice. Bringing together photographs, videos, and new, previously unseen images from the 1990s to today, the exhibition traces Teller’s distinctive blend of intimacy and irony across portraits, still lifes, and personal scenes.

 

Alongside his iconic images of figures like Iggy Pop, Kate Moss, and Charlotte Rampling, the show reflects a deepened emotional register shaped by recent experiences — photographing Pope Francis at a women’s prison during the Venice Biennale, documenting Auschwitz’s 80th liberation anniversary, and ongoing collaborations with his wife, Dovile Drizyte. Balancing humor and gravity, Teller’s work here takes on a renewed sense of purpose, exploring faith and fragility with an openness that’s at once personal and universal.

 

name: Juergen Teller: you are invited
artist: Juergen Teller
gallery: Onassis
location: Athens, Greece
dates: until December 30th, 2025

Leg, Snails And Peaches No.43, London, 2017, image courtesy Juergen Teller

 

 

Learning from design Maestros

 

21_21 DESIGN SIGHT presents Learning from Design Maestros, an exhibition directed by Noriko Kawakami and Kaoru Tashiro that reflects on six visionary figures whose ideas continue to shape the way we think about design and life: Bruno Munari, Max Bill, Achille Castiglioni, Otl Aicher, Enzo Mari, and Dieter Rams.

 

Through films, archival materials, and key works, the exhibition reveals how these designers fused creativity, teaching, and social awareness to redefine their disciplines. It also highlights the perspective of Shutaro Mukai, whose friendships with Bill and Aicher helped establish Japan’s Science of Design.

 

By revisiting these masters’ lessons in an era of rapid change, the exhibition invites visitors to consider how design remains a vital means of understanding and shaping the world.

 

name: Learning From Design Maestros
gallery: 21_21 Design Sight

location: Tokyo, Japan
dates: November 21st, 2025 — March 8th, 2026

Enzo Mari, Timor, 1967, image courtesy Danese Milano

 

 

Jeff Koons: Porcelain Series

 

Gagosian presents Porcelain Series, an exhibition of new sculptures and paintings by Jeff Koons, marking the first show devoted entirely to this body of work. Drawing on imagery that ranges from the everyday to the mythological, Koons transforms familiar forms into radiant, reflective icons that explore beauty, desire, and cultural memory.

 

His mirror-polished stainless-steel sculptures, crafted through advanced digital and mechanical processes, invite viewers into their gleaming surfaces, blurring the line between object and observer.

 

The accompanying paintings layer natural landscapes, gestural brushwork, and metallic leafing with motifs from art history, creating luminous compositions that bridge centuries of visual tradition. Across both mediums, the artist reflects on humanity’s enduring pursuit of transcendence through art.

 

name: Jeff Koons: Porcelain Series
artist: Jeff Koons
gallery: Gagosian
location: New York, USA
dates: November 13th, 2025 — February 28th, 2026

Jeff Koons, Three Graces, 2016-22 (detail), image courtesy Gagosian

 

 

petersen automotive

 

The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles opens a new exhibition, Performance and Prestige: A History of Aston Martin, tracing the British company’s evolution from its 1913 origins. Installed in the Meyers Gallery, the presentation gathers more than a dozen vehicles that embody the changing language of speed and craftsmanship that has defined Aston Martin for over a century.

 

The Aston Martin exhibition is the first in the museum’s history. The collection of models is organized to convey the shifting priorities of automotive design, which evolved from the pragmatic, streamlined sculpting of post-war racing prototypes to the expressive surfaces of contemporary hypercars. See designboom’s coverage here!

 

name: Performance and Prestige: A History of Aston Martin
museum: Petersen Museum | @petersenmuseum

location: Los Angeles, California
dates: October 30th, 2025 — October 2026

1979 Aston Martin Bulldog, image courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum

 

 

Gerhard richter

 

Fondation Louis Vuitton presents a sweeping retrospective dedicated to Gerhard Richter, one of the most influential artists of the past century. Bringing together 275 works spanning more than six decades, the exhibition offers an unparalleled view of Richter’s practice — from early photo-based paintings to his final abstractions, as well as glass and steel sculptures, works on paper, and overpainted photographs.

 

Tracing his lifelong engagement with both image and material, the exhibition reveals how Richter continually redefined painting’s possibilities, filtering reality through photography, memory, and abstraction. Organized chronologically, it highlights the artist’s restless experimentation and his enduring fascination with perception, history, and the act of making.

 

Continuing the Fondation’s tradition of major monographic exhibitions, this presentation stands as the most comprehensive exploration to date of Richter’s vision, and demonstrate his deep impact on contemporary art.

 

name: Gerhard Richter
artist: Gerhard Richter
museum: Fondation Louis Vuitton
location: Paris, France
dates: until March 2nd, 2026

Gerhard Richter, 4900 Farben, 2007. laquer on Alu Dibond, 196 panels, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris © Gerhard Richter 2025, image © Primae / Louis Bourjac

 

 

fungi: Anarchist Designers

 

FUNGI: Anarchist Designers reimagines mushrooms not as materials for human use but as autonomous collaborators in shaping the world. Curated by anthropologist Anna Tsing and architect-artist Feifei Zhou, the exhibition at Rotterdam’s Nieuwe Instituut challenges the human-centered narratives of ‘sustainable design,’ and positions fungi as unruly co-designers that flourish in the margins and ruins of capitalism.

 

Through installations, sculptures, sound, and multimedia works — many created in collaboration with scientists — the exhibition explores how fungi connect species, environments, and economies, from decaying forests to nuclear fallout zones.

 

Rejecting polished notions of eco-innovation, FUNGI embraces decay and unpredictability as creative forces, inviting visitors to reconsider design as a shared, anarchic process among humans and other living beings.

 

name: FUNGI: Anarchist Designers
museum: Nieuwe Instituut
location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
dates: November 21st, 2025 — August 9th, 2026

Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Fungi Anarchist Designers, n.d. digital photograph. courtesy the artist. from the 2025 grant to Nieuwe Instituut for the exhibition FUNGI: Anarchist Designers. image courtesy Graham Foundation

 

 

ruth asawa: A retrospective

 

‘I’m not so interested in the expression of something. I’m more interested in what the material can do,’ said Ruth Asawa, whose six-decade career is celebrated in Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective at MoMA. Gathering nearly 300 works across mediums — wire and bronze sculptures, drawings, prints, and public commissions — the exhibition traces the artist’s lifelong fascination with material transformation and spatial tension.

 

From her early studies at Black Mountain College to her San Francisco studio, Asawa pursued the possibilities of humble materials like paper and wire, creating forms that merge abstraction and representation.

 

Deeply committed to community and arts education, she approached making as an extension of living, seeing creativity in every act. This retrospective honors that vision, inviting viewers to experience the quiet radicalism of an artist who found infinite variation in the simplest of means.

 

name: Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective
artist: Ruth Asawa
museum: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
location: New York, USA
dates: until February 7th, 2026

Ruth Asawa: A Retrospective, installation view, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. digital image © 2025 The Museum of Modern Art, photo by Jonathan Dorado

 

 

alchimia

 

Alchimia. The Revolution of Italian Design is the first comprehensive retrospective devoted to the Milanese collective founded by Alessandro and Adriana Guerriero in 1976. Following its debut in Berlin, the exhibition returns to Milan in an expanded form with a new display conceived by Alessandro Guerriero himself — a poetic ‘carpet-raft’ that invites visitors into the group’s imaginative, utopian world.

 

Active until 1992, Alchimia emerged during a time of social transformation, fusing design, architecture, art, fashion, and performance into a free-spirited laboratory of experimentation. Rejecting the constraints of functionalism through their concept of ‘banal design,’ the collective reasserted design’s emotional and symbolic potential.

 

Featuring over 150 works, from furniture and objects to paintings and films, the exhibition traces Alchimia’s radical redefinition of design as a space for irony, storytelling, and visionary thought.

 

name: Alchimia: The Revolution of Italian Design
gallery: ADI Design Museum
location: Milan, Italy
dates: November 11th, 2025 — January 22nd, 2026

image courtesy ADI Design Museum

 

 

cerith wyn Evans: forms in Space… Through light (in time)

 

Forms in Space… by Light (in Time) presents a monumental installation by Cerith Wyn Evans, composed of an intricate network of white neon suspended in the Oval Gallery. The work unfolds as both sculpture and choreography of light, tracing rhythm and motion through space.

 

Joined by sound pieces, installations, and videos, the exhibition reveals the conceptual depth and sensory precision that define Wyn Evans’s practice. The Welsh artist’s work originated with experimental cinema, and has since expanded with influences from music, literature, and philosophy to create experiences that are cerebral and atmospheric.

 

name: Cerith Wyn Evans — Forms in Space… through Light (in Time)
artist: Cerith Wyn Evans
museum: MAAT: Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology
location: Lisbon, Portugal
dates: until February 16th, 2026

image by Bruno Lopes, courtesy MAAT

 

 

adam pendleton: Who owns Geometry Anyway?

 

Friedman Benda presents Who Owns Geometry Anyway?, an exhibition by Adam Pendleton marking the artist’s first collaboration with the gallery and his debut exploration of furniture as form. Known for weaving together expressionism, minimalism, and conceptual rigor, Pendleton reimagines geometry as both language and structure.

 

Circles, squares, and triangles — recurring motifs in his paintings and sculptures — reappear here in wood, onyx, and granite, transformed into functional objects that merge precision with poetics. The works engage the surrounding architecture through painted geometric interventions, creating a total environment that blurs the line between art and design.

 

Evoking Isamu Noguchi’s belief that art should be inseparable from its setting, Pendleton’s installation reflects on form, tension, and openness—suggesting that geometry, like meaning, is always contingent, shifting, and shared.

 

name: Adam Pendleton: Who Owns Geometry Anyway?
designer: Adam Pendleton
gallery: Friedman Benda
location: New York, USA
dates: November 7th — December 19th, 2025

Adam Pendleton, EXTENDED FORM ONE, 2025, image courtesy Friedman Benda

 

 

Histories of Ecology

 

In the year Brazil hosts COP30 in Belém, MASP presents Histories of Ecology, an exhibition that broadens the idea of ecology beyond the climate crisis to encompass the intertwined relationships between human and more-than-human worlds.

 

Bringing together works by 116 artists — many from the Global South — the exhibition examines how colonialism, environmental racism, and capitalism have shaped contemporary ecological realities while foregrounding resilience, solidarity, and interconnectedness. Rejecting the notion of ‘nature’ as something separate from society, it instead proposes ecology as a living network of forces — fluid, relational, and constantly transforming.

 

Organized into five thematic sections, Histories of Ecology traverses spiritual, territorial, and planetary dimensions, inviting viewers to imagine more inclusive ways of inhabiting the world and to see the future as a shared, collective endeavor.

 

name: Histories of Ecology
museum: MASP
location: São Paulo, Brazil
dates: until February 1st, 2026

Aycoobo Wilson Rodríguez, Calendário, 2024, image courtesy MASP

 

 

janet echelman: Radical Softness

 

Radical Softness offers an intimate view of Janet Echelman’s remarkable career, tracing her evolution from early experiments in drawing, painting, and textiles to the monumental net sculptures that have transformed cityscapes worldwide.

 

Known for using ancient fishing-net techniques together with advanced engineering, Echelman creates vast, floating forms that render wind, light, and motion visible — poetic expressions of humanity’s connection to the natural world.

 

The exhibition explores her use of softness as both material and philosophy, revealing how pliancy, transparency, and suspension become acts of strength and empathy. Featuring works from across four decades, alongside new cyanotypes, Radical Softness reflects on the power of art to unite people and invite stillness within the rhythms of contemporary life.

 

name: Janet Echelman: Radical Softness
artist: Janet Echelman
gallery: Sarasota Art Museum
location: Sarasota, Florida, USA
dates: November 16th, 2025 — April 26th, 2026

Janet Echelman (American), Enfold, Hill House Montecito, CA, 2022, image by Joe Fletcher, courtesy the artist

The post designboom radar: exhibitions to see around the world this november appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

the architecture of fear: iconic horror movie sets and how they came to life

Revisit iconic horror movie sets for halloween

 

This Halloween 2025, we explore some of the iconic horror movie sets and architecture and revisit how they came to their production life. From Psycho, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Shining to Suspiria, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and The Exorcist, architecture plays a role in instilling fear into the viewers, but not all of them are shot organically. Some of them are fabricated, transformed by the production’s team specifically for the movie. For several landmark horror films, the primary ‘house’ was less a building. For Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), the Bates House and Bates Motel that were built in 1960 inside Universal Studios in California were not full houses but were mostly facades, or outside walls made for the camera. The rooms inside were filmed in different soundstages, mainly Stage 28 for the house and Stage 18 for the motel. 

 

Behind the motel, the studio used a painted background called a matte painting to make the area look larger than it was. In the end, the house was moved three times within the Universal backlot to make space for other film projects. In the iconic horror movie The Shining (1980), the Overlook Hotel was realized with a mix of a real hotel and studio sets. Director Stanley Kubrick captured the exterior shots at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood in Oregon, while the inside of the hotel, including the long hallways and main lobby, was built at Elstree Studios in England. The real Timberline Lodge is a working hotel and ski resort, and the hotel room used in the book, Room 217, is now known among guests. In the film, Stanley Kubrick changed the room number to 237 so the hotel could avoid too much attention. He also designed the interior sets to make the hotel look confusing. Rooms do not connect correctly, and windows appear where they should not to make the viewers feel lost.

Psycho (1960) | still image courtesy of Universal Pictures via Movieclips on Youtube

 

 

Horror cult classics that used existing residential homes

 

Then, there’s Beetlejuice (1988) by the filmmaker Tim Burton, which used East Corinth, a small town in Vermont, as the location for the town of Winter River. The main house of the Maitland family was not real but was a shell built on a hill to make it easier to control how it looked on screen. The interior scenes, including the Day-O sequence and the Neitherworld waiting room, were shot at Culver Studios in California. After filming, the house was taken down. Today, visitors to East Corinth can view the landscape and the hill where the house once stood, but the physical structure no longer exists. Other iconic horror movie sets, especially the ones from the 1970s and 1980s, used existing residential homes, referring as well to the familiarity of the American suburb. In Halloween (1978), the childhood home of Michael Myers in Haddonfield, Illinois, is, in reality, a dilapidated Victorian dwelling located in South Pasadena, California, built in 1888 and often called the Century House.

 

During production for John Carpenter’s 1978 classic, the film crew executed only minimal changes, primarily cosmetic: they fixed up the exterior and whitewashed the entire front and bottom right-hand side to achieve the desired appearance for the opening sequence. The film was shot entirely within this practical house, and the architecture later on was slated for demolition in 1987 to clear the way for a hospital project. Luckily, the structure was salvaged and physically moved from its original address at 709 Meridian Street to its current location at 1000 Mission Street. The house occupied by Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), supposedly located at 1428 Elm Street in Springwood, Ohio, is in reality a two-story Dutch Colonial in the Spaulding Square neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The exterior of this house has been featured in other productions as well, including John Carpenter’s Halloween, and after filming, it has been renovated, even repainting the recognizable blood-red door, a nod to the film’s theme, with a stately black color.

The Shining (1980) | still image courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment via Youtube

 

 

real-world events inspired the movie sets

 

In the final act of Scream (1996), Stu Macher’s house is a remote hilltop mansion known today as Spring Hill Estate, located in Tomales, California. Director Wes Craven chose the house specifically for its remote location in Sonoma County, which was essential for isolating the characters during the lengthy final sequence. The house’s architecture and layout were so integral to the film’s atmosphere that its design was replicated on soundstages for sequels, including Scream 3 and Scream 5. In the years since the film’s release, the Spring Hill Estate has been transformed into a highly successful commercial venture, with its owners converting the property into an event venue for weddings and specialized Scream-themed tours. The other iconic horror movie sets draw their design from real-world events. With The Amityville Horror (1979), for example, it is the mass murder site at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island, New York. For the 1979 film adaptation, the actual Long Island house was generally avoided for privacy so the exterior filming went for substitute locations across three different New Jersey towns. The Dutch Colonial house is distinctive for its attic windows, which resemble glowing jack-o’-lantern eyes.

 

For the MacNeil residence in The Exorcist (1973), the filmmakers used a real house at 3600 Prospect Street in Washington, D.C. They built an extra part on the side of the building and added a fake third floor so the story’s key scenes matched the layout shown in the film. The interior sets were built in New York City, and the crew used special cooling machines inside the studio to make the actors’ breath visible. The staircase next to the house became one of the most famous film landmarks, and in 2019, it was recognized as a historic site. The house itself remains private property. Then, there’s the Victorian-era farmhouse in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), which served as the primary setting for the film and was originally situated on Quick Hill Road in Round Rock, Texas. Like the Myers House, this structure faced demolition because of the suburban development, so it was moved to Kingsland for preservation. It now stands inside the Antlers Inn resort and was restored into a restaurant named Hooper’s, after the film’s director and a bench near the entrance includes an engraved line from the movie.

Beetlejuice (1988) | still image courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment via Youtube

 

 

One of the iconic horror movie sets focuses more on abstract, hyper-stylized design rather than the precise or practical locations. That’s Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977), which was set around the fictional Tanzakademie (Dance Academy) in Freiburg, Germany. Inside the academy, the visual identity was characterized by lavish golden columns and vibrant pink walls, but the building itself was not real. It was a studio creation, a set built for the camera that no longer exists. The exterior facade was meticulously replicated on a soundstage, taking inspiration from the Neo-Gothic Haus Zum Walfisch (Whale House) located in Freiburg. 

 

The resulting set design used a highly saturated color palette to create an unsettling presence, and for this style of horror, the architecture is secondary to the psychology of visual design. Some parts of the movie were filmed in real German cities such as Munich, and one scene was filmed in Königsplatz square while another used the BMW Tower as a location. The set for the academy no longer exists, but Haus Zum Walfisch still stands and can be visited. The architect and iconic horror movie sets have different futures. Some stay on studio grounds, some become landmarks, and others turn into businesses. Whether they are facades on a backlot, remodeled homes, or themed venues, each demonstrates how architecture and cinema stay linked through ongoing design and function.

Halloween (1978) | still image courtesy of Compass International Pictures via Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers on Youtube

Scream (1996) | still image courtesy of Paramount Movies via Youtube

The Amityville Horror (1979) | still image courtesy of American International Pictures via Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers on Youtube

The Exorcist (1973) | still image courtesy of Hoya Productions via Movie Clips Classics on Youtube

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) | still image courtesy of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre via Youtube

 

project info:

 

movies: Psycho (1960), The Amityville Horror (1979), Halloween (1978), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), The Exorcist (1973), The Shining (1980), Beetlejuice (1988), Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Scream (1996), Suspiria (1977)

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zaha hadid architects draws from silk embroidery of hangzhou with serpentine footbridge

hangzhou sees a new bridge for pedestrians and cyclists 

 

Construction has concluded on the Grand Canal Gateway Bridge in Hangzhou, a new pedestrian and cyclist crossing by Zaha Hadid Architects. When it opens later this year, the bridge will unite the east and west banks of the Grand Canal, anchoring the 800,000-square-meter Seamless City masterplan and serving as the centerpiece of River Middle Park, an expansive 14.7-hectare public landscape along the water.

 

The Grand Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is the world’s oldest and longest man-made waterway, linking Beijing to Hangzhou and connecting the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers to the Qiantang. The new bridge re-establishes this ancient infrastructure as a civic spine, framing views of the river’s edge and offering residents and visitors a new way to traverse the canal’s breadth. It also integrates public spaces, housing, and workplaces along the banks, transforming the historic waterway into a daily passage once again.

images © Xue Liang

 

 

zaha hadid architects bridges the silver dragon

 

Zaha Hadid Architects’ new bridge spans Hangzhou’s Qiantang River is known for its ‘Silver Dragon’ waterway which flows from Hangzhou Bay with waves reaching nine meters in height. The Grand Canal Gateway Bridge provides secure vantage points to witness this natural event. Its elevated walkways and open plaza gently contour around the landscape, accommodating both the dynamic flow of people and the immense forces of nature below.

 

The architects draws inspiration from Hangzhou’s heritage of silk embroidery, reinterpreting the act of stitching as a spatial system. Steel arches intertwine to form a continuous loop of movement and support. The bridge’s geometry weaves together pathways and structure, creating a surface that is both structural and tactile.

the Grand Canal Gateway Bridge links the east and west banks of Hangzhou’s historic canal

 

 

the serpentine structure

 

The 390-meter-long bridge uses a tied three-arch steel system, carefully calibrated to the site’s soft ground at the confluence of the canal and river. The form reduces bending moments and lateral forces, ensuring both stability and efficiency. Prefabricated modular elements were assembled on-site to streamline construction and limit disruption to the 100,000 barges that still travel the Grand Canal each year. The resulting structure is lighter than a concrete equivalent while maintaining exceptional strength and durability.

 

Every aspect of the project reflects an emphasis on precision and sustainability. Digital modeling minimized material use, while locally sourced finishes supported regional craftsmanship. Integrated LED lighting — powered by rechargeable batteries fed by renewable energy — illuminates the bridge at night, tracing its contours in quiet reflection against the river. The bridge’s sculpted concrete pier halves the required span and grounds the structure within the island dividing the canal’s two waterways, reinforcing both equilibrium and visual clarity.

Zaha Hadid Architects designed the bridge as the centerpiece of River Middle Park

the bridge restores pedestrian connection across the UNESCO World Heritage Grand Canal

its elevated walkways frame views of Hangzhou’s powerful Silver Dragon tidal bore

prefabricated modular construction reduced waste and minimized disruption to river traffic

 

project info:

 

name: Grand Canal Gateway Bridge

architect: Zaha Hadid Architects | @zahahadidarchitects

location: Hangzhou, China

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regenerative plan turns decaying structures into civic playgrounds on manhattan’s waterfront

Reconfiguring Manhattan Through Building and Unbuilding

 

Constructive Deconstruction by architect Siyu Zhu examines how processes of construction and dismantling can shape new forms of public space on Manhattan’s waterfront. The project positions architecture as a transitory system rather than a fixed object, drawing from utilitarian structures such as scaffolding and fencing. These elements are reinterpreted as mediators between body, structure, and landscape.

 

Focusing on the Lower West Side, the proposal introduces two temporal interventions across distinct urban sites: the selective disassembly of the deteriorating Pier 40 and the installation of a self-assembling seasonal shelter at James J. Walker Park. Together, they establish a dialogue between permanence and impermanence, proposing architecture as an adaptable framework that supports play, movement, and civic interaction.

the interventions occur in two Lower West Side parks, Pier 40 and James J. Walker Park, two of many voids within New York City’s urban fabric | all images courtesy of Siyu Zhu

 

 

From Industrial Relic to Recreational Landscape

 

Constructed in 1962 as a terminal for the Holland America Line, Pier 40 has undergone multiple transformations, from cargo infrastructure to parking deck and sports ground. Decades of neglect have left the structure in a state of uncertainty between demolition and reuse. Constructive Deconstruction by architect Siyu Zhu engages this transitional condition by transforming partial demolition into a design strategy.

 

The intervention removes selected slabs, girders, and columns along the pier’s original expansion joints, exposing daylight to its deep interior. The resulting voids generate double-height spaces that accommodate basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts. Netting and fencing trace the pier’s former facade, redefining its enclosure as a porous extension of Hudson River Park. Within this reconfigured grid, jogging paths and play surfaces emerge from the logic of the existing structure, shifting the pier’s function from industrial storage to civic recreation. Through subtraction rather than addition, the design transforms an obsolete industrial artifact into an open framework for collective use, an environment where structural memory and contemporary activity coexist.

both parks are organized around sports fields. the interventions explore how architecture regulates these fields and how the fields, in turn, guide human movement

 

 

A Device of Assembly and Disassembly

 

Located a few blocks inland, the intervention at James J. Walker Park provides a counterpoint to the pier’s deconstruction. The compact urban park, characterized by fragmented courts and aging fences, becomes the setting for a lightweight, self-assembling shelter. Formed from a scaffold frame and tensile nets, the structure adjusts to seasonal use: shading courts in summer, enclosing play areas in winter, and retracting entirely during inactive periods. Its operation follows the cyclical rhythms of urban life, enabling the park to function as a flexible social space. This system of assembly and disassembly emphasizes reversibility and reuse, expanding the park’s capacity to accommodate changing activities without permanent alteration to the landscape.

as disassembly begins, ships carry away removed elements. when excavation ends, paving and painting follow. the new emerges from the old, with marks and nets forming its architecture

 

 

Transitive Architecture for the Public Realm

 

By combining the dismantling of Pier 40 with the seasonal transformation of James J. Walker Park, Constructive Deconstruction defines architecture as an ongoing process of negotiation between structure, use, and time. Temporary and utilitarian systems, often viewed as peripheral, are reframed as spatial frameworks that support civic engagement. The project proposes an alternative model for urban design, where construction sites and residual infrastructures can become active public terrains. Through its focus on adaptability and collective use, Constructive Deconstruction situates architecture as a practice of transformation, continuously shaped by the dynamics of the city.

the repaved roof hosts basketball courts; the ground floor becomes open fields with jogging tracks, benches, and minimal rooms, all enclosed by new fences and nets forming courts and divisions

rusted hangars give way to new fences tracing their original height, dividing courts while redefining the building’s appearance with nets and enclosures

in summer, the structure becomes a handball cage, pool light posts, and spectator decks, while in winter, it disassembles, merging with the park and leaving traces that await the next season of play

the modest CLT structure acts as a theatrical prop, hosting sports and performances. its seasonal disassembly lets the handball alleys transform for new forms of play and community gathering

the old and new share a syntax born from action, each exerting forces across scales. from object to building to city

transitive gestures use ordinary spatial rules to mediate people and space, forming architecture that both hosts and shapes daily life

everyday structures embody New York’s cycle of building and rebuilding, a synecdoche where each part holds the whole, and the whole resides in every part

fields and courts are architectures of marks and measures, manifestations of rules shaping human action. the proposal explores how spatial devices regulate and are regulated by play

in the 1950s, Pier 40 served as a cargo terminal marked for cars and trucks, a machine infrastructure. in 2005, partial repaving revived it. now, its phased disassembly reverses its original assembly

 

project info:

 

name: Constructive Deconstruction
architect: Siyu Zhu | @siyuzzzzzzzz

 

 

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

 

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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please help: teary-eyed stickers on lunch boxes encourage customers to reduce food waste

Familymart series of stickers hopes to reduce food waste

 

A series of tearful-eyed stickers on meals cry for help to encourage customers to buy them and help reduce food waste. Named the Tearful Eye Sticker by the convenience store FamilyMart, the design shows a cartoon character with teary eyes and a short message that says, ‘Please help.’ The purpose of the teary-eyed stickers is to draw the customers’ attention to them and make them realize not to waste food by buying them instead of the new stocks. These illustrations are not alone because sitting next to them are the discounted prices of the products.

 

By combining these two, the project hopes that customers become more aware that food is food, at the end of the day, and that it’s such a waste to throw it out just because they want to choose the recently stocked ones of the same kind. The teary-eyed stickers, which hope to combat food waste, were first introduced in March 2025 for the discounted items in FamilyMart, typically attached onto meal items like rice balls, sandwiches, and lunch boxes. During the national rollout, the company made small design changes by making the ‘Please Help’ text larger as well as the crying characters so they could be seen more clearly and instantly.

all images courtesy of FamilyMart

 

 

Tearful Eye Sticker design free for public use

 

In October 2024, FamilyMart ran a test in several stores using the teary-eyed stickers to see if they could reduce food waste. The company says that its results showed a 5 percent increase in purchase rate compared to the old sticker that only showed the discount amount, meaning more customers were buying meals close to expiration. Based on this, FamilyMart estimated that if the sticker were used in all stores, it could reduce food waste by around 3,000 tons per year. The company adds that the customer feedback also supported the refreshed sticker design because some said the playful label made them want to buy the food because it looked like it needed help. 

 

Based on this feedback, FamilyMart launched the project in all stores nationwide in March 2025, and in April 2025, it tested the stickers at ten stores in Tokyo. The results again showed that the sticker increased sales of discounted food and that customers said it was easier to buy food with the new sticker than with one showing only a price cut. The company added another twist to the campaign: when customers buy discounted food, a small character now appears on the cash register screen to thank them. The project expanded again in October 2025, when FamilyMart made the Tearful Eye Sticker design free for public use so that any business or store that sells expiring meals can use the teary-eyed stickers on their own and help spread the campaign to reduce overall food waste.

the design is accompanied by a short message that says, ‘Please Help’

the stickers are typically attached onto meal items like rice balls, sandwiches, and lunch boxes

the design comes with a discounted price on the side

the company says more people have bought expiring food because of the campaign

the design is free to download and for public use

 

 

project info:

 

name: Tearful Eye Sticker

company: FamilyMart | @familymartid

stickers: here

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‘learning from the local’ book by piers taylor links locality with new era of sustainable design

Learning from the Local: architect Piers Taylor’s new book

 

An exploration of context-specific, locally sourced, and sustainable architecture, Learning From the Local is the new book by British architect and broadcaster Piers Taylor. As the world questions the sustainability of globalised design, a new architectural movement is gaining momentum—one that seeks not to replicate tradition but to reimagine the ‘local’ in radically contemporary ways.

 

Learning from the Local: Designing responsively for people, climate and culture, a new publication written by celebrated architect and broadcaster Dr Piers Taylor, and published by RIBA Publishing, brings together over 30 of the world’s most compelling architectural case studies to investigate this powerful shift. Far from nostalgic calls to restore lost traditions or imitate the vernacular, Learning from the Local explodes the myth that identity in architecture must be rooted in style. Instead, it focuses on how geography, geology, waste, ecology, community engagement and local making processes are shaping a new era of low-carbon, place-responsive design. These case studies, which span countries as diverse as Burkina Faso, Japan, Greece, Pakistan and Australia, represent some of the most innovative and best-resolved architectural responses to context and culture from across the globe. Featured architects include globally-recognised figures such as Frank Gehry, Glenn Murcutt, Kéré Architecture and Lina Ghotmeh, alongside a host of rising talents whose work champions new definitions of localism.

Takasugi-an by Terunobu Fujimori | image courtesy of © Edmund Sumner

 

 

Piers Taylor Redefines the Meaning of Belonging in Architecture

 

The author, Dr Piers Taylor, is an award-winning architect celebrated for his rugged, pared-back design aesthetic and hands-on approach to building. As founder of Invisible Studio, Taylor has led projects that challenge architectural conventions and embrace material experimentation. In parallel with his design work, Taylor has forged a distinguished career in broadcast media, co-presenting the acclaimed BBC Two series The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes and The House That £100k Built, among others—introducing audiences worldwide to architecture that is imaginative, resourceful and deeply contextual.

 

‘Architecture today is more plural, more situated, and more entangled than ever before. In the shifting terrain of the 21st century, the binary of local versus global has been destabilised. We inhabit a world where climate emergency, technological flux, geopolitical fragmentation, and social inequity demand new forms of architectural engagement. “Learning from the Local emerges from this context—not as a manual or doctrine, but as a set of overlapping investigations into what it means for architecture to ‘belong.’ The question is no longer ‘How should buildings speak of their place?’ but rather ‘How can they?’ This shift implies an openness to contingency, to process, and to the voices of others—human and nonhuman,’ shares Dr Piers Taylor, the author.

Ningbo Museum by Wang Shu of Amateur Architecture Studio | image courtesy of © Amateur Architecture Studio

 

 

Pritzker Prize-winning architect, Glenn Murcutt, adds ‘From the time I first met him in Sydney in 2001, Piers Taylor has always had a wonderful energy and yet his work is always beautifully simple and resolved. But his work is more than that. We share the restless search for an architecture generated by a responsibility to the land and a meaningful connection to place and its culture. He is experimenting with ideas. He is experimenting with materials that are local and unassuming. He understands how materials can be assembled; simply and without being too precious. There’s a magnificent inventive energy in what he does. Architecture must always be about experimenting with ideas, and moving them on—testing them and improving on them. When I’m asked which of my buildings is a favourite, I must always answer: the next one. I think Piers is also driven to make the next one really count.’

 

Stirling Prize-winning architect, Peter Clegg, comments ‘Piers Taylor is himself a living example of Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. He often makes reference to the seminal 1966 text by Venturi and Scott Brown which changed the course of architectural theory and in this book the focus is on the contradiction between the global and the local. Inevitably, he concludes that we need to accept and rejoice in the ‘both/and’ rather than the ‘either/or.’ Visually rich with over 200 pages of full-colour photography, drawings and plans, Learning from the Local is both an inspirational resource for architects and a timely manifesto for how we might build more responsibly in an age of ecological and cultural complexity.

Gando Primary School by Kéré Architecture | image courtesy of © Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk

Sanjaynagar Slum Redevelopment Project by Community Design Agency | image courtesy of © Rajesh Vora

House in an Olive Grove by Invisible Studio | image courtesy of © Piers Taylor

Amateur studio by Invisible Studio | image courtesy of © Piers Taylor

Tecla House by Mario Cucinella Architects | image courtesy of © Iago Corazza

Collage House by S+PS Architects | image courtesy of © S+PS Architects

La Borda Lacol Aquitectura Cooperativa | image courtesy of © LLuca Miralles

Learning From the Local cover | image courtesy of © RIBA Publishing and Piers Taylor

 

project info:

 

name: Learning from the Local: Designing responsively for people, climate and culture
author: Piers Taylor – Invisible Studio | @invisible_studio

publisher: RIBA Publishing

 

 

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

 

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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selgascano composes transparent seaside café from three parallel glass volumes in china

selgascano’s chiringuito café bridges pine forest and sea in china

 

Between a dense black pine forest and the vast shoreline of Rizhao, China, Chiringuito Café, also known as Coffee and Sea Cafeteria, by Selgascano offers a pause between two natural worlds. Conceived as a transparent bridge between forest and sea, the 690-square-meter structure distills the architects’ signature play with light, color, and permeability into a quiet, reflective space that almost vanishes within its setting.

 

Three elongated glass rectangles, slightly stepped and aligned parallel to the sea, compose the building, forming a sequence of open, transparent spaces suspended just above the sand. Each of the three volumes is elevated at different levels, rising in 70-centimeter increments from the forest side toward the water. This simple topographic gesture organizes the program of the café while preserving unobstructed views of both the pine canopy and the horizon line. At just 6.8 meters above the ground, the section maintains an intimate scale, framing the landscape. Sliding doors on both sides allow the interior to dissolve entirely into the beach, bringing in the salt air.

all images © Iwan Baan | @iwanbaan

 

 

reflections turn architecture into landscape

 

The client commissioned Selgascano to design a new venue that would anchor this coastal site in China, long cluttered by unplanned constructions. Apart from a new café, the brief called for a reorganization of the area, a visual and spatial cleanup that could restore the link between nature and architecture. 

 

The ceiling and sunshades, crafted from recycled aluminum tubes painted in five colors, extend the chromatic rhythm of the building outward, filtering light and infusing the glass structure with a sense of play and vibrancy characteristic of the Madrid-based architecture duo’s work. 

 

Viewed from the beach, the café nearly disappears, as its glass surfaces reflect the forest and sky until the landscape itself becomes the architecture. Only the soft hues of the aluminum sunshades and the movement of people within betray its presence. As the architects note, they affectionately called the project Chiringuito, recalling the informal beach bars found along the Spanish coast, simple, open-air structures that host seaside life.

Chiringuito Café, also known as Coffee and Sea Cafeteria, by Selgascano offers a pause between two natural worlds

elongated glass rectangles, slightly stepped and aligned parallel to the sea, compose the building

the 690-square-meter structure distills the architects’ signature play with light, color, and permeability

a reflective space that almost vanishes within its setting

a sequence of open, transparent spaces suspended just above the sand

the ceiling and sunshades are crafted from recycled aluminum tubes and painted in five colors

color infuses the glass structure with a sense of play

viewed from the beach, the café nearly disappears

 

project info:

name: Chiringuito Café

architects: Selgascano | @selgascano

location: Rizhao Beach, Shandong Province, China

site area: 1,200 square meters (12,917 square feet)

total floor area: 690 square meters (7,427 square feet)

 

principals: José Selgas & Lucía Cano

project team: Paolo Tringali, Ying Zhu, Justo Díaz, Inés Olavarrieta

client: Bailuwan Town Development

photographer: Iwan Baan | @iwanbaan

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