In the rapidly densifying landscape of Toronto, where a growing array of boisterous architectural statement pieces compete for attention, a new home designed by interior designer Gillian Gillies stands as a welcome reprieve. Sustainability, so often associated with clinical engineering, soaring towers, expansive campuses, and stark, performance-driven aesthetics, is here reimagined as a “warm embrace.” Located in the upmarket “urban village” neighborhood of Leaside, the Net Zero Ready Home project proves that advanced environmental stewardship and joyful, idiosyncratic interiors can coexist.

Photography by Doublespace Photography

The project is the result of a tight collaboration between Gillian Gillies (the designer’s eponymous practice), Dewson Architects, and builders Cliff & Evans. While the technical foundation is rooted in passive house principles—featuring meticulously tested air and moisture control layers to ensure a consistent year-round temperature—the sensory quality of the home is defined by texture, color, and family connection. “Comfort was paramount,” Gillies says, “and that meant a home that was properly constructed as well as [comfortable furniture].”

Photography by Doublespace Photography

Gillies, originally from Edinburgh, brings a sensibility rooted in the permanence of neoclassical and Georgian architecture, translated here through a palette of natural materials including white oak, walnut, and wool. Each room is tailored to its intended function, while bold floral wallcoverings and textured tile add personality. Rather than the sterile “newness” typical of contemporary high-performance homes, the interiors embrace deliberate juxtaposition.

Photography by Doublespace Photography

“We don’t perfectly match textiles,” Gillies explains. “Instead, we like a little bit of tension, a little bit of a mismatch that makes the home feel more settled.”

This philosophy is most evident in the communal spaces, where the design explicitly fosters human interaction. A double-sided sofa in the living room invites simultaneous yet distinct modes of engagement. A floating box window seat in the foyer provides a quiet nook for reflection. The color story—a grounding base of greens and blues punctuated by vibrant flashes of yellow and red—mirrors the family’s love of travel and the natural world.

Photography by Doublespace Photography

Throughout the four-story structure, strategically placed architectural and decorative lighting shapes the mood. A Lutron HomeWorks system seamlessly transitions the atmosphere from energetic to intimate. Sculptural pendants from Montreal-based boutique producers Lambert & Fils and Gabriel Scott add a layer of contemporary craft. Vintage Brazilian furniture and Oaxacan woven baskets reinforce the space’s warm, tactile quality.

Photography by Doublespace Photography

Ultimately, this Toronto home stands as a testament to the idea that thoughtful architecture can improve everyday life. By prioritizing the wellbeing of both the planet and a specific family, Gillies created a structure that does more than just store carbon; it’s a space that holds life in all its complexity.

“We create homes to be lived in and not simply looked at,” she says. In striking this careful balance, the designer has created a home that will undoubtedly last through the generations.

Photography by Doublespace Photography

Retail stores often take a more-is-more approach, filling their spaces with an overwhelming array of goods, so when one has just the right combination of products and aesthetic appeal, it can give the retailer an edge. That’s what MUJI in Cambridge, Massachusetts, banked on.

In North America, the Japanese company is evolving from a purveyor of stationery into a full lifestyle retailer. For its new location in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, Mapos Architects, in collaboration with ACTWO Architects, was tasked with renovating the Design Research building in Harvard Square—in just 10 weeks.

Photography by Gunnar Glueck, Flaunt Boston.

When the Design Research building opened in 1969, it served as a showcase for architect Ben Thompson’s shop, which included European and Scandinavian housewares. For the MUJI revamp, the architects took a deliberately light-touch approach, revealing rather than replacing the building’s defining architectural elements.

“We uncovered the existing textures to leverage what was already there and bring back the original beauty of the space,” says Colin Brice, co-founder and partner at Mapos Architects.

Photography by Gunnar Glueck, Flaunt Boston.

With a lightness not typical of the period, the structure boasts a balance of concrete and glass curtain walls, forming a jewel-box-like setting that feels surprisingly contemporary and welcoming.

“It’s really an exceptional example of Brutalist architecture and how open it can be,” explains Caleb Mulvena, co-founder of Mapos Architects and partner in charge of the project. “The entire storefront opens to the community, and customers can start shopping from the street as they look in.”

Photography by Gunnar Glueck, Flaunt Boston.

Enhancements begin at the entry, where brick flooring retains its patina, complemented by upgraded lighting and ceilings. Concrete columns, concrete masonry walls, and floating staircases were exposed to add character to the interior. White and gray tones are paired with accents of green and MUJI’s signature red. Accent walls made of locally sourced heart pine introduce warmth and align with the brand’s commitment to sustainable reuse.

Photography by Gunnar Glueck, Flaunt Boston.

Set across four levels, the 12,000-square-foot store encourages easy movement through an expansive, emporium-like layout. In the top-floor café, shoppers will find a robot barista, introducing a hospitality-inspired experience that reflects MUJI’s growing emphasis on stores as destinations rather than simply places to shop.

“It was really about leaning into the space as we found it,” Mulvena adds. “By keeping our touch light, we were able to celebrate these features.”

It is this simplicity, rather than ostentation, that makes the greatest impact. As the first step in MUJI’s broader North American evolution, the Cambridge location demonstrates how thoughtful restoration can reinforce a brand’s identity.

Photography by Gunnar Glueck, Flaunt Boston.

MUJI Harvard Square is open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays) at 48 Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Chai keeps its own time. Milk climbs to a boil while tea and spices steep loose in the pot, and the strength shows itself in color, deepening shade by shade until the foam begins to rise. The traditional method of making chai demands attention; it’s a process that has changed very little over time. Dostea, a compact countertop chai maker, was designed to preserve that ritual while bringing the process down to the push of a button.

Photography courtesy of Analogy Design

In 2021, the UK startup behind Dostea engaged Analogy Design, an industrial design studio in India whose portfolio spans housewares and consumer electronics. Together, they took the beverage appliance from concept to product readiness. What Analogy set out to protect was the character of the drink itself while creating an appliance that people would want to leave on the counter, rather than hide away.

“Our goal wasn’t to simplify the ritual but to preserve what people love about it while making it more intuitive for modern kitchens,” says Divya Rao, co-founder of Analogy.

The Analogy Design team built the first prototype. Photography courtesy of Analogy Design.

While coffee has inspired generations of dedicated equipment—from espresso machines to pour-over systems—chai has largely remained a stovetop ritual involving multiple utensils, constant attention, and personal technique. Analogy worked without a template, arriving at a restrained form that combines warm color, material, and finish choices with detailing that references both Indian craft traditions and contemporary European minimalism. Its minimal controls reflect the familiarity of a drink made every day.

“We wanted the product to feel rooted in the warmth and familiarity of chai while introducing a clean, contemporary aesthetic,” Rao adds.

Working on a cardboard prototype of Dostea. Photography courtesy of Analogy Design.

Inside, the mechanism was engineered alongside the shell, its part count pared down to fit the small footprint. The harder work was upstream of the hardware. “One of the biggest challenges was ensuring users could still customize their tea, whether that’s the strength, milk ratio, or brewing style, without losing the convenience of one-touch operation,” Rao explains. The machine preserves that flexibility, letting each household keep its own version of the cup.

Analogy led the project from industrial design through product development and manufacturing planning, shaping not only how Dostea works but how it fits into contemporary kitchens.

Photography courtesy of Analogy Design

To learn more about the project and its launch timeline, visit Analogy Design or follow the studio on Instagram.

Originally from Los Angeles, Bryan Young noticed buildings even when he was young, and one by Louis Kahn left a lasting impression. As a teenager, he surfed Black’s Beach in San Diego, California, where you could see the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

“It is still one of the clearest and most authentic buildings I have visited,” Young says.

He decided to pursue his interest in the built environment at UC Berkeley, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in architecture, before completing his studies at Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Founded in 2010, Young’s NYC-based studio, Young Projects, emphasizes materiality and often explores unique fabrication techniques like growing crystals or pulling plaster by hand.

Young is also interested in interiors and display objects. He collaborates with artisans to develop one-of-a-kind items and runs VERSO, a Tribeca design gallery he founded in 2022 with Amauri Aguiar; its curated collection includes bespoke furniture and art pieces.

Today, Bryan Young joins us for Friday Five!

Photography by Bryan Young

1. Girard

When you stare at something for a long time over many years, it is exciting to realize that it is becoming more interesting.

The Blue Triangles by Alexander Girard dates to 1972 — my wife Marina’s birth year, which made it a lovely 40th birthday gift in 2012. Over the past 14 years, we have repeatedly examined this seemingly simple silkscreen with extreme fascination. Groups of triangles bundle together. Groups of groups of triangles bundle together. The blue triangles are both figures and ground to the naked white triangles of the canvas. After some duration of time, the surface seems to vibrate.

Under very close examination, one can see that some triangles actually do not touch while others clumsily overlap. Discovering these nuances and related optical effects influenced the development of the tiling strategy at our Glitch House project in the Dominican Republic, and the subsequent silkscreens we completed in collaboration with the Soho gallery a83.

Photography by Raina Lee

2. Van Gogh’s Roses by Raina Lee

When you know a painting for as long as you can remember and then see it anew, it is deeply mesmerizing.

Raina Lee’s ceramic Roses, which sit in our kitchen in Brooklyn, is based on Van Gogh’s Roses from 1890, which are on display as part of the permanent collection at The Met. Her version is a truthful replica, restoring the pink color of the roses originally painted in geranium lake and faded over time. Yet the effect of the ceramic glaze casts an uncanny reflection on the masterpiece, as the surface’s sheen and the clay’s subtle dimensionality create a sense of depth that is both analogous to and foreign to Van Gogh’s brushstrokes.

Lee’s unique glaze to make the pink color is the result of a chemical reaction between chrome and tin. A hand technique in which craft emerges through trial and error, and the actual making is engaged in the final aesthetics.

Photography by Bryan Young

3. The Parrot and The Falcon

When things so familiar start to change because of their proximity to other things, it is quite exciting.

The yellow-headed parrot inhabits the lowland forests of Central Mexico. The artwork came to me via my grandmother, who was a docent at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. My brothers Mike and John and I share the Millennium Falcon by Kenner, which was released in 1979. The cockpit cover has been missing since 1981.

Nostalgia and pop-culture references are as important to our concepts as novelty. The strange juxtaposition of the Parrot with the Falcon in front of my mom’s floral sofa is at once a collage of memories and at the same time seeks to provoke otherworldly qualities through their proximity. As objects from my childhood, these pieces fueled a fascination with collecting, shoebox dioramas, plex vitrines, and fictional narratives.

Photography by Bryan Young

4. Playa Grande

When you live in the concrete jungle where dreams are made of, the landscape of the actual jungle is even more dynamic than you can ever dream of.

The photograph is of Young Projects’ partner, Noah Marciniak, standing in front of a magnificent ficus tree during an early site visit to Playa Grande in the Dominican Republic in 2015. It is a place that insists on being felt before it can be understood. Light moves through the canopy in rays. The air is thick and alive on your skin. It was clear from the beginning that any architecture placed here would have to answer to all of it.

The main house for the retreat at Playa Grande takes its cues from the undulating canopy above. Its roof—assembled from 160 scissor trusses that shift and rotate—mimics the restless, fluid geometry of the jungle without touching it. At the center of the house, a courtyard holds another ficus tree. The architecture wraps around it like a conversation rather than a frame.

Courtesy of Bryan Young

5. Shows

When you have not done something you love for a long time, and then you get to do it again, it is astonishing to realize how much you had missed it.

My first concert after lockdown was The Flaming Lips at Brooklyn Steel in October 2021. The room was full of people who had not been in a room full of people for a very long time, and everyone knew it. Something was released that night, something that had been held tightly for two years of isolation. Wayne Coyne reminded everyone in his space bubble that we must remain connected, even in bubbles.

What followed is an ongoing list of concerts across five years: Kendrick Lamar with SZA, Billie Eilish, Bob Dylan, Wet Leg, IDLES, Iggy Pop under the Kosciuszko Bridge, Cameron Winter, The Boss at Barclays, Earl Sweatshirt and Peggy (with no beef on who is experimental). Small rooms and enormous ones. Solo acts and massive bands. The venues themselves are mapped throughout NYC: Bowery Ballroom, Carnegie Hall, Kings Theater, Warsaw, the Knockdown Center, MSG.

What stays with you is not the setlists, but the people you went with. It is the special electricity of strangers dancing wildly next to people you love. Being fully in it. Being stoked.

Works by Young Projects

Photography by Iwan Baan and Karla Read

1. The Glitch House in the Dominican Republic

The Glitch House nestles into the jungle further inland from the Retreat House at Casa Las Olas. The small structure provides both guest accommodations as well as necessary landscape and maintenance workspaces for the overall property. The building’s exterior is clad in encaustic cement tiles handmade in the Dominican Republic.

The simple quarter-arc pattern of each tile interferes with the shadows and graphic legibility of the staggered concrete block walls to a vibrating, oscillating effect.

The Glitch House is the first structure a guest sees upon arriving at Casa Las Olas. Rather than marking this moment with a defined boundary or gatehouse, the Glitch House strangely smears itself into the jungle landscape and hints towards the immersive experiences that guide the design for the retreat in general.

Photography by Gieves Anderson

2. Soho Loft in New York City

This loft, located in Soho within a warehouse conversion, elevated a previously renovated three-bedroom layout. A plastered mob foyer, ending in a Scagliola archway, marks the entry to the open living area. Millwork of walnut and stainless steel helps ground the kitchen within the open floor plan, while a series of library bookcases wrap around framing entry to the primary suite, powder room, and laundry.

Photography by Brooke Holm

3. French Quarter Cottage in New Orleans, Louisiana

An interior renovation of an 1820s Creole cottage compound with one of the largest private courtyards in the French Quarter, the property includes a main house and carriage house with a gallery overlooking a walled courtyard, swimming pool, and majestic old-growth trees.

A classic four-square plan houses the primary rooms: bar, music room, salon, and dining room. The four adjacent rooms are treated as distinct spaces varying in color, finish, material, and furnishings. Each of the primary rooms is linked via “portals,” custom ombre-patinated gold-leafed open doorways serving as thresholds crossing from one distinct space to the next.

Photography by Iwan Baan

4. Casa Las Olas in the Dominican Republic

Located on a previously undeveloped site, the Retreat House takes full advantage of the pristine beachscape at the front of the property, balancing expansive views of the Atlantic Ocean with the lush, dense jungle that dominates most of the site. Further inland, the Porch House and Glitch House provide additional guest accommodations and supplementary
program.

In the most diagrammatic sense, the Retreat House is simply a transformed courtyard parti. Directed by solar orientation, natural ventilation, and the desire to preserve all existing trees and vegetation, the evolved form is a drifting ring that shifts in plan and section just below the jungle’s canopy. The roof is a ruled surface of 160 scissor trusses; each is dimensionally unique, but simple in joinery and construction. The result is a highly complex and fluid structural condition that shifts along corridors, curves through primary double-height spaces, and rotates to navigate the geometry at each corner. The design facilitates a panoramic experience of the site, from its
diverse jungle landscape to its vast ocean views.

Photography by Michel Passos Zylberberg; co-designed and fabricated by Art in Construction in Brooklyn, New York; represented by VERSO

5. Upside Down Chair

Young Projects worked closely with master plaster artisans Art in Construction to develop this one-of-a-kind piece that combines the 17th-century plaster technique of scagliola with the aesthetics of rough concrete. The outcome is a vibrant marble-like finish that shifts from a smooth, refined sitting surface to a rough geological exterior. The Upside Down Chair’s durable but elegant form and material allow it to be used equally well indoors or outdoors.

For most young professionals, the prospect of renting a decently sized apartment in the center of a major U.S. metropolis like New York, Denver, or Miami can seem impossible. The cost of living in highly desirable urban centers has far outpaced overall salary increases. Urby is seeking to rectify this widespread dilemma and flip the script on what urban living looks like.

Launched in 2010 by seasoned developer David Barry, the chain has expanded into secondary and tertiary markets near these major urban cores, with suitable transportation links. Though the units are smaller, the emphasis is placed on the communal spaces.

Photography by Robert Tsai; courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam

“Apartment living in the United States has become especially transitory and sterile,” Barry says. “My goal has always been to create a more human experience and better facilitate social interaction.”

In locations like Staten Island, Jersey City, and Washington, D.C., these complexes have emerged as alternatives—fully amenitized, condensed communities, but not hermetically sealed enclaves. Rather, they’ve been successfully implemented to open up and embrace their surroundings.  Innovative, concept-oriented Dutch architecture firm Concrete Amsterdam has been involved since day one.

Photography by Robert Tsai; courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam

The company has been instrumental in defining smart layouts and finishing options for the compact, flexible studio to three-bedroom residences, as evidenced in Urby’s latest property in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood. Beta-tested in a factory before being introduced at scale, these units were designed to more closely align with the needs of Millennial and Gen-Z renters. The kitchens are galley-style but feature all of the essential top-line appliances. Large enough to accommodate queen-size mattresses and a dresser, bedrooms are separated in the layout so roommates have privacy.

Photography by Robert Tsai; courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam

Concrete Amsterdam has also been a crucial partner in shaping the program and design of shared spaces at each location, which include everything from a multifunctional work-from-home lounge that moonlights as a party room to an onsite hotel-style lobby restaurant, a fitness center, outdoor patios, and even a dog park.

After 15 years of collaboration, Fishtown Urby represents how the two companies have developed a distinctive yet refined approach through trial and error. “You’re always balancing your own experience with how trends are shifting,” says Barry. One such tendency that has emerged in the past few years is the ability to seamlessly move between social and fitness spaces.

Photography by Robert Tsai; courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam

At Fishtown Urby, a larger-than-average gym sits on the ground floor. It connects directly to a large backyard barbecue area and dog park. Nearby, a well-lit living room features soundproof office pods and banquette seating. The lobby is preceded by a semi-enclosed entrance courtyard designed with native plants by Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets. Percy, a retro-style cafe serving regional staples, also opens into this calm green space.

On the top floor, a hidden door leads into a purple-clad disco-style speakeasy with a picture window perfectly framing the Downtown Philly skyline. The rooftop patio serves as yet another gathering space; the strategically introduced cutaways help bring down the sheer scale of the block-wide, all-brick building, better aligning it with the proportion of the repurposed industrial structures and rowhomes in its vicinity.

Photography by Robert Tsai; courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam

“Every architectural detail here is designed to enhance daily living, from the robust brick envelope to the smartly positioned transom windows that balance privacy with daylight,” says Erikjan Vermeulen, partner at Concrete Amsterdam. “It’s about creating spaces that are not only beautiful, but genuinely functional for urban life.”

The most critical factor, Urby and Concrete’s key strategy across the chain, has always been to carefully introduce site-responsive elements that are functional, aesthetic, and allow the buildings to blend into the neighborhood. In Fishtown, the structure is emblazoned with a distinctive mural that honors the area’s industrial and creative heritage as well as the Dutch heritage of its maker, noted tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher.

Photography by Robert Tsai; courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam

True to form when considering the particular strain of ironic irreverence that has defined Dutch design over the past few decades, Schiffmacher collaborated with Royal Delft, the renowned ceramic producer, on a series of Delft Blue plates. The traditional painted pottery features playful, tattoo-inspired patterns and imagery, including dragons, crying hearts, swallows, sailors, and clipper ships.

One of many in Fishtown, the mural also recalls the age-old tradition, developed by Dutch craftspeople in the 16th and 17th centuries, to imitate Chinese painted porcelain, which was hard to find at the time. Adding to the complex of cultural references embedded in the work, Schiffmacher also drew inspiration from the sacred songline motifs used by Aboriginal Australians as a form of wayfinding. Here, this type of pattern, introduced between the transom windows, is also chosen to honor the local indigenous Lenape people, who used beadwork as a means of communication.

Photography by Robert Tsai; courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam

The rest of the layered imagery nods to the more recent past and present of the location: tools used in the seafood industry that once thrived and the supplies of many of the artists that now live here. The blue-on-white paint scheme is what brings everything together.

Rather than functioning as a standalone apartment block, Fishtown Urby uses architecture, interiors, and public art alike to weave itself into the neighborhood it now calls home.

Photography by Robert Tsai; courtesy of Urby and Concrete Amsterdam

At first glance, The White Arcade feels almost weightless. Bathed in natural light and wrapped in a palette of warm whites, creamy stone, pale oak, and soft brass, the renovated Dubai villa could easily read as austere. Instead, thanks to a thoughtful interplay of sculptural architecture, tactile materials, and bespoke furnishings, D’Ora Tokai Designs has transformed the once-heavy Spanish-style home into a serene retreat that prioritizes restoration over spectacle.

Photography by Casa Mia Visuals

Created for a senior global executive, her husband, and their three children, the 7,265-square-foot residence in Dubai’s The Villa community was conceived as an antidote to the pace of everyday life. Having previously completed three homes for the family, D’Ora Tokai Designs approached the renovation with an intimate understanding of the client’s lifestyle.

“Her life is fast, complex, and in constant motion,” says founder D’Ora Tokai. “She wished for a home that restores her the moment she steps inside.” That desire shaped a renovation guided by the studio’s philosophy of “artful minimalism, sculptural softness, and emotional clarity.”

Photography by Casa Mia Visuals

Rather than erase the villa’s Spanish architectural roots, the studio chose to reinterpret them through a softer, more contemporary lens. Existing arches became the project’s defining motif, reappearing across doorways, windows, and passageways in a rhythmic sequence inspired by Moorish traditions. As Tokai explains, “arches became the architectural heartbeat of the project” and connect the home’s original character with the family’s Emirati heritage and the refined European sensibility they were seeking. Picture-frame wall moldings and light oak herringbone flooring provide a sense of order that balances the fluidity of the curves, resulting in interiors that feel both contemporary and timeless.

Photography by Casa Mia Visuals

The home’s strongest architectural moment unfolds in the central courtyard, a double-height, glass-roofed atrium where layered arches frame one another like a series of sculptural portals. Originally sunken, tiled, and visually disconnected from the rest of the house, the space was raised to align with the main floor, allowing daylight to pour through the overhead glazing and into the surrounding rooms. Mature trees soften the composition, while the curved DOT Objects sofa echoes the surrounding openings, blurring the line between furniture and architecture.

Photography by Casa Mia Visuals

Set just beyond the entry, the courtyard establishes the home’s quiet rhythm from the moment you step inside. “It sets the emotional tone immediately,” Tokai says, describing it as “welcoming, calm, and quietly powerful.”

That bespoke approach extends throughout the home. Nearly every major furnishing—from the living room seating to the dining tables and beds—was designed by Tokai’s furniture brand, DOT Objects, allowing the interiors and architecture to speak the same visual language. The monumental formal dining table, crafted from two slabs of white onyx resting on arched bases, required 15 people to assemble, underscoring the studio’s commitment to treating furniture as an extension of the architecture rather than an afterthought. Even transitional spaces receive the same attention, with a softly curved staircase that transforms circulation into another elegant architectural gesture.

Photography by Casa Mia Visuals

Despite its monochromatic appearance, the home’s material palette is rich with subtle variation. White is layered through textured plaster, Carrara marble, travertine, white onyx, quartz, and natural oak, creating depth through materiality rather than contrast. “White, for us, is a form of clarity and discipline,” Tokai says. “It heightens proportion, reveals light, and allows daily life to feel ordered without feeling strict.”

Photography by Casa Mia Visuals

The restrained palette also echoes Pantone’s 2026 Color of the Year, Cloud Dancer, while the only intentional departure—a tucked-away sage-green preparation kitchen glimpsed through a playful circular interior window—adds warmth and personality without disrupting the home’s serene atmosphere. Delicate lighting fixtures that resemble floating leaves further soften the architecture, reinforcing the project’s emphasis on quiet beauty over visual excess.

Throughout The White Arcade, restraint never feels minimal for minimalism’s sake. Every arch, carefully framed view, and custom furnishing contributes to a home designed around emotional well-being. “We sought to create architecture that supports people’s inner lives—spaces that restore, refine, and elevate everyday living,” Tokai says. It’s a philosophy that transforms the renovated villa into something more meaningful: a place where architecture doesn’t simply shelter its occupants but helps them exhale.

Photography by Casa Mia Visuals

Hospitality design often leans into a destination’s most recognizable visual cues. In New Orleans, that can mean saturated colors, ornate detailing, or overt references to the city’s cultural iconography. For Charles & Julia, however, Anna Nicole Interiors chose a quieter approach.

Located inside Hotel Perle, in a 1916 former Stutz motorcar dealership, the new cocktail lounge and rooftop bar draws more on the feeling of a lived-in European home than on a traditional hotel bar. Rich materials, collected furnishings, and layered textures transform the industrial shell into a series of intimate spaces, while subtle references to New Orleans keep the project grounded in its surroundings rather than relying on familiar clichés.

Photography by Laura Steffan

The approximately 3,000-square-foot lounge occupies the building’s original ground floor, where soaring ceilings and exposed brick offered character but also posed the challenge of making an expansive space feel comfortable and inviting. Rather than subdividing the room, the design team used residential strategies—vintage rugs, generous drapery, conversational seating groupings, softened lighting, and custom millwork—to create a sequence of smaller moments throughout the interior.

Photography by Laura Steffan

The result is a space that feels collected rather than decorated. Oxblood velvet drapery frames the street-facing windows, while grape-toned Bruno Rey chairs sit alongside vintage European furnishings and layered kilim rugs. A custom stained oak back bar anchors the room, complemented by a dramatic Calacatta Viola marble bar fabricated locally. Botanical wallpaper inspired by George Ehret’s 1773 Plantae Selectae introduces another layer of texture, balancing the weight of stone, wood, and brick with a softer visual texture.

Photography by Laura Steffan

Although the interiors evoke European residential design, the palette remains quietly connected to New Orleans. Rather than referencing Mardi Gras literally, muted chartreuse, aubergine, oxblood, and warm gold appear throughout the space in restrained ways, creating an atmosphere that feels timeless instead of thematic. The concept is loosely inspired by the fictional romance between Charles and Julia, whose imagined journey through Europe informs the layered aesthetic. Rather than telling the story literally, the narrative unfolds through materiality instead.

Upstairs, the mood shifts completely. While the lounge embraces darker tones and richly layered interiors, the rooftop terrace offers a lighter counterpoint inspired by Sicily and Southern Europe. Sculptural iron furnishings, woven textures, lush greenery, and skyline views evoke an elevated garden overlooking downtown New Orleans. Together, the two levels function as complementary experiences—one intimate and enveloping, the other open and relaxed.

Photography by Laura Steffan

The project also extends its residential sensibility through collaborations with New Orleans artists and makers. Hand-painted lampshades by Rachel Loyacono, original artwork by Tracy Mose, Jenn Leverett, and Casey Langteau, botanical installations by Luna Botanicals, and locally fabricated marble and custom upholstery reinforce the sense of a space assembled over time rather than installed all at once.

Instead of recreating the New Orleans visitors might expect, Charles & Julia offers an alternative interpretation—one where the city’s history, craftsmanship, and hospitality are expressed through restraint and layered materials.

Photography by Laura Steffan

Charles & Julia is open daily at Hotel Perle, 757 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, Louisiana.

Editorial Transparency: This article was developed with the assistance of AI tools, which may have been used for research, outlining, editing, or copy refinement. Reporting, fact-checking, and editorial decisions were made by the Design Milk editorial team.

Public art is meant to be observed, but Sharmistha Ray’s latest commission invites people to actually step into the composition. At Pittsburgh’s new Arts Landing civic space, the artist has transformed a pair of pickleball courts into a colorful geometric mural that doubles as a fully playable surface. Each match becomes part of the artwork itself.

Photography by Ross Ribblett; courtesy Pittsburgh Cultural Trust

Titled Geometry of Play, the installation marks Pittsburgh’s first artist-designed pickleball courts and joins seven other public art commissions at Arts Landing, a new gathering space developed by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. The boundaries of the court serve as the foundation for an abstract composition, which was inspired by the visual logic of historic game boards.

Drawing from board games such as the Indian game Pachisi (later adapted into Parcheesi in the United States), the mural layers interlocking circles, triangles, grids, and pathways into a kaleidoscopic composition. The design spans the full ROYGBIV color spectrum; the rainbow reference serves as a symbol of inclusion while encouraging shifting visual relationships as players move across the surface.

Guests play pickleball at the unveiling of ‘Geometry of Play.’ Photography by Chris Uhren; courtesy of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

Geometry of Play changes as the courts are used. The movement of players activates the design, reinforcing pickleball’s reputation as an accessible, social sport while transforming the courts into a shared civic space for recreation and gathering.

The commission continues Ray’s interdisciplinary practice, which spans painting, installation, and public art. Born in Kolkata and raised in Kuwait before moving to the United States, the artist frequently draws from South Asian visual traditions while exploring themes of identity, belonging, and cultural exchange through geometric abstraction.

Photography by Chris Uhren; courtesy of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust

Ray’s recent projects include a large-scale installation at Grand Central Terminal, a commission for Pittsburgh International Airport’s new terminal, and animated works created with an original score by Grammy Award-winning musician Arooj Aftab.

Designed by landscape architecture firm Field Operations, the $31 million Arts Landing development brings together public art, performance, recreation, and community programming in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. Geometry of Play joins installations by artists including Vanessa German, Thaddeus Mosley, Shikeith, Mikael Owunna and Marques Redd, Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis, Darian Johnson, and John Peña, with the inaugural commissions remaining on view for at least one year.

Photography by Ross Ribblett; courtesy of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust

Arts Landing is free and open to the public daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Editorial Transparency: This article was developed with the assistance of AI tools, which may have been used for research, outlining, editing, or copy refinement. Reporting, fact-checking, and editorial decisions were made by the Design Milk editorial team.

For the past decade, Hotel Hubertus has made headlines for its bold, architecturally adventurous amenities. Now, the 75-key resort has turned its attention to the rest of its wellness spaces, applying the same design language to a reimagined lobby, bar, and panoramic sauna. Earlier additions include the dramatic 82-foot-long cantilevered Sky Pool, introduced in 2016, and the equally “diabolical” Heaven & Hell sauna and cold plunge facility from 2022. Both suspended structures embrace a pared-back aesthetic while subtly referencing the alpine architecture of the Dolomites.

A panoramic sauna at Hotel Hubertus. Photography by Markus Ranalter.

Jutting out over the valley, the heated infinity pool is supported by timber beams sourced from the region. Also constructed from locally sourced timber, the sauna features a gabled roof shape mirrored upside down on its lower level.

The pristine, sparsely populated region of northeastern Italy is known for its tall, jagged limestone peaks and clear blue lakes. Above all, these wellness spaces are designed to take full advantage of the striking vista that Hotel Hubertus frames from its eastern-facing mountainside perch. Overlooking the resort is Kronplatz, one of the region’s premier ski destinations, whose slopes become an extensive network of hiking and mountain biking trails during the warmer months.

The Sky Pool was revealed at Hotel Hubertus in 2016. Photography by Nicho di Biasi.

When it came time to reimagine the rest of Hotel Hubertus’s spa and social spaces, it made sense to do so with the same distilled site-responsivity, without skimping on the effect of grandeur. A reimagined lobby includes a bar and a brand-new panoramic sauna, tucked beneath a green roof that extends from a sprawling grass terrace.

The reimagined Hotel Huberto lobby. Photography by Markus Ranalter.

Replacing a set of small cabins, the new sauna is wrapped in a striking herringbone-patterned wood paneling. It plays host to guided infusion rituals at 180 degrees, bio-based treatments at a much more restorative 131 degrees, and steam baths at 112 degrees. Regardless of what guests choose, they’ll always have sweeping vistas in front of them.

This is a far cry from most resorts, even those nearby, that tend to bury their wellness facilities in basements or away from the most captivating views. Here, every space—including all categories of accommodation—looks out over the valley and soaring mountains in the distance. The minimalist design language keeps the surrounding landscape front and center. The underlying intent is for Hotel Hubertus to integrate more fully into its natural setting.

Photography by Manuel Kottersteger

“It looks like one piece of architecture now,” says Markus Gasser, the resort’s second-generation co-proprietor. “We made sure these enhancements stayed true to the surroundings but have a contemporary look and feel.”

Rather than relying on traditional chalet motifs, the redesign lets the landscape remain the focal point.

Hotel Hubertus’s Heaven & Hell sauna and cold plunge experience. Photography by Davide Anzimani & Rebecca Paviola.

“Hotel Hubertus began as a place for my grandfather to gather with friends after a day of hunting,” Gasser explains. “Over the past five decades, we’ve slowly but surely expanded it into what it is now. The focus has always been on providing our guests with the best amenities possible, doing everything to help them enjoy the area, not necessarily maximizing our profit margins.”

Photography by Manuel Kottersteger

Many of the significant changes he and his family have introduced could only have been made because the operation remains so small. Unlike a larger hotel chain, Gasser doesn’t have to run these projects by a supervisory board or a group of outside investors.

“While we’ve expanded over the years, we’ve kept the room number below 75,” he explains. “The idea is to have our most loyal customers come back time and time again and have something new for them to discover each time.”

Photography by Manuel Kottersteger

Looping around the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, the Tren Maya is a 966-mile-long railway route that spans five states, connecting towns and cities, tourist destinations, historic Maya ruins and archaeological sites, jungle landscapes and sandy beaches. A multi-year project, the route features 34 stations (20 major and 14 smaller stops), which serve local passengers and visitors traveling across the region. One key stop is Maxcanú Station, designed by Gi21 Arquitectura.

Photography by OHFA

The Mexico City–based firm conceived the 68,470-square-foot terminal as more than a utilitarian passenger-boarding facility: Gi21 co-founders Eduardo Ramírez Plata and Ximena Beltrán Plata describe it as a “transitional space that offers visitors a place for contemplation and rest.”

For Gi21, architecture begins with observing a place. The partners spent time in Maxcanú, roughly 40 miles west of Mérida, the capital of the Mexican state of Yucatán, before beginning the design. They said they wanted to “stand and watch everything, to visit the people and to see how they live.” Experiencing the nuances of sites—how the morning sun differs from the afternoon, the weather patterns, the vegetation, the surrounding architecture—informed a great deal of the end result.

Photography by OHFA

A historic colonial town, Maxcanú is known for its jicama production, Maya ruins, cenotes, and the Iglesia de San Miguel Arcángel, which dates back to the 16th century and boasts a stunning ochre-toned exterior. To maintain visual connection to these surroundings, the station (one of two on the Tren Maya line designed by Gi21) was devised as a curved volume that provides access through multiple entry points and views to the exterior from any position inside.

Drawing on the ancient Maya city of Palenque in neighboring Chiapas, where vertical columns support horizontal platforms, the station translates that structural language into full-height plastered concrete brackets that frame entrances and guide circulation. The brackets also facilitate cross-ventilation and provide a system of sunshades to further control indoor temperatures.

Photography by OHFA

The entire building is tinted a deep terracotta made using a natural dye extracted from cochineal insects. The pigmented hue is significant in Indigenous cultures and was inspired by the nearby church’s tone. The red is complemented by local tropical wood pivot doors, which can be left open during the day to enhance ventilation and easily closed at night when the station is not in use.

Above the doors are a series of lattice-like panels made from prefabricated concrete. The basket-weave detail of the panels references regional textile patterns while also increasing the amount of light and air that flow through the interior. A tighter weave pattern was used for panels on the platforms themselves, which provide shade and a sense of privacy and protection. In both scenarios, the interplay of light and shadow evokes the feeling of being under the canopy of the Maya Forest.

Photography by Pavelín

Classified as Category A infrastructure, the station is built on a shallow foundation and reinforced concrete footings, a decision made to contend with the site. During construction, archaeological remains and cenotes were discovered, requiring a sensitive building process and further fueling criticism of the larger Tren Maya project.

Collaborating with the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and the Ministry of Environment (along with SEDENA and the Government of Mexico), the architects accommodated the limestone terrain and subterranean structures while also meeting all seismic, subsidence, and wind load requirements.

Photography by Pavelín

Inside the station, programming is organized around a central atrium and includes ticket offices, lobbies, courtyards, and restrooms. An exposed beam-and-vault system reinforces the overall openness and helps minimize maintenance needs. Local travertine marble tiles line the floor, with the exposed metal framework painted a rich black for graphic contrast.

Respectful of its surroundings and providing much-needed infrastructure to the area, Maxcanú Station is not only a stop on the railway line, but also a destination in its own right.

Warm minimalism usually depends on empty space and quiet surfaces. This 14,500 sq. ft. home in Wellesley, 20 minutes west of Boston, applies that restraint to a house occupied by an active family of five, a large dog, and frequent entertaining. Tharon Anderson McEvoy, owner and principal of Tharon Anderson Design, treats minimalism as a durable framework rather than a set of precious surfaces, prioritizing tactile materials that withstand daily use.

Photography by Matt Kisiday; production by Karine Monié; styling by Katja Greef

Ivory, gray, taupe, brown, and black establish a neutral field that Anderson McEvoy describes as both her default and a palette a client will not tire of. She builds variation through texture and tone rather than pattern, layering natural oak, plaster, stone, mixed metals, wool, linen, and mohair. Roman Clay walls in Portola limewash add hand-troweled depth to rooms that would otherwise read flat; it’s a finish closer to old-world fresco preparation than to modern paint.

Photography by Matt Kisiday; production by Karine Monié; styling by Katja Greef

Photography by Matt Kisiday; production by Karine Monié; styling by Katja Greef

Indoor-outdoor performance fabrics, normally used outside, move indoors to withstand the daily traffic of three children and the dog, keeping upholstery soft and serviceable. Anderson McEvoy designed each gathering space—from the open kitchen and great room to the living room and a dedicated cigar lounge—around the client’s request that a single room accommodate both adult dinner parties and weekend gatherings for the children.

Photography by Matt Kisiday; production by Karine Monié; styling by Katja Greef

Photography by Matt Kisiday; production by Karine Monié; styling by Katja Greef

She conceived the project just after the pandemic, without the travel that usually informs her work, and drew instead on her classical architecture training and her early exposure to the traditional-coastal interiors of Nantucket. The result reflects that evolution, tailored and modern where her earlier work leaned coastal, and calm by intent.

Photography by Matt Kisiday; production by Karine Monié; styling by Katja Greef

Photography by Matt Kisiday; production by Karine Monié; styling by Katja Greef

Catalano Architects gave the house its New England exterior, white-painted brick, stucco, and a cedar roof beneath steep peaks that reference tradition while the interiors remain modern. Soderholm Custom Builders completed the two-year build, with landscape design by Dan Gordon.

Photography by Matt Kisiday; production by Karine Monié; styling by Katja Greef

The furnishings and commissions are substantial, including a Lindsey Adelman chandelier over the dining table, Apparatus lighting in the great room, Porter Teleo hand-painted wallpaper, and artwork by Kenny Nguyen and Holly Addi.

Across three levels and six bedrooms, the basement is given over to family use, with a game room and a sports court where Babson basketball players run practices for the children and their teammates.

Photography by Matt Kisiday; production by Karine Monié; styling by Katja Greef

Wrapped in elaborate, multi-directional striped fabrics, the cushions in Armando Cabral’s new USM-assembled furnishings reinterpret the centuries–old weaving traditions of Portugal’s Alentejo region in a new way. Featuring a daybed, love chair, bookshelf, side table, and valet wardrobe, the recently expanded NKYINKYIM A CASA collection reflects the value of cross-cultural exchange and demonstrates how furniture can serve as a means of personal and shared cultural expression. For Cabral, a former top-ranked model and now lifestyle entrepreneur, the fresh offering in the Haller System is a chance to reflect on his own multinational upbringing.

Photography by Inês Silva Sá

Born in Guinea-Bissau, raised in Portugal, educated in London, and now based in New York, Cabral’s reference points are diverse but also inherently interconnected. The first word of the eight-piece collection, “NKYINKYIM,” derives from the Adinkra symbol (a visual language developed by the Akan people of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire) that represents the intertwining paths of progress and overcoming challenges, both as an individual and as a collective. “A Casa” is the Portuguese phrase for “at home.”

Photography by Inês Silva Sá

USM’s iconic Haller System reflects a hyper-rationalist mindset, one that might seem devoid of clear cultural identity, echoing the ideals of post-World War I modernism. Ironically, the pared-back, form-follows-function philosophy embodied by the modular furniture solution is emphatically Swiss: hyper-efficient and neutral. Despite its near-endless interpretations through USM’s many collaborations over the past few years, the Haller System still carries that sophistication—which serves as a canvas for Cabral’s exploration.

Photography by Inês Silva Sá

“To me, the modular nature of USM’s designs symbolizes the way each component forms a cohesive, functional structure,” he says.

Through experimenting with color palettes and asymmetrical compositions, Cabral worked within the confines of the brand’s signature system. The result is a collection that integrates seamlessly with other components of the Haller System. In doing so, he pushed the potential of its use and function even further. It’s a sort of provocation for the viewer to reconsider what furniture, overall, can accomplish.

Photography by Inês Silva Sá

For example, the Uno Bookcase takes on the unexpected shape of geometric symbolism through its steel tube-and-connector-ball structure, accented by colored insert panels. Meanwhile, the Bassarel Love Chair boldly reprises the age-old tête-à-tête typology. Two chairs are placed side by side while facing opposite directions to facilitate more intimate, gossipy exchanges. The collection balances both visual and practical attributes in a coherent, playful, yet refined fashion.

Photography by Inês Silva Sá