Architecture/Design News

Architecture and design are inseparable, with one framing the other, shaping experiences through both form and function.

Underground public spaces are rarely thought of as exciting. Functional? Yes. Necessary? Often. But inspiring? Rarely. With BREWTOWN in Shenzhen, China, AIM Architecture has turned this expectation on its head, transforming a subterranean public passageway—an often-overlooked conduit of transit—into an engaging, thematically rich experience that seamlessly connects to the vibrant food hall that essentially anchors the project.

What’s real is unfamiliar: Why it makes sense to talk about an experimental project in its first edition with a community of 200 talented creatives.

With its opening in the 1950s, Asteria beach club was one of the first luxury resorts on the Athenian Riviera. An emblem of post-war optimism and Mediterranean glamour, it quickly became a beloved retreat for Greece’s elite, international royalty and Hollywood celebrities, who were drawn to its modernist bungalows, open-air restaurant, and iconic pool. Through decades of change, Asteria, which means ‘stars’ in Greek, has always retained its allure, with a series of establishments having reinforced its status as a cultural landmark and social epicentre.

Nestled on a verdant hillside overlooking a tranquil bay in Corfu, Greece, a newly completed holiday home by architects Tony Wynbourne, Georgios Apostolopoulos, and engineer Makis Gisdakis showcases a masterful synthesis of the island’s vernacular architecture with a pared-back contemporary aesthetic. At its core, the project is an exercise in balance—between tradition and modernity, structure and landscape, and solidity and openness.

Located in London’s Belgravia, this Georgian townhouse has been reimagined by London-based design practice Child Studio as a nostalgia-infused retreat where bespoke craftsmanship takes centre stage. Drawing inspiration from early 20th-century European modernist villas, the designers have balanced old-world charm with soulful modernism through a lens of contemporary sophistication.

Celebrated as China’s “ceramic capital,” Yixing is a city with a rich history of pottery production that goes back over a millennium—its famed zisha (purple clay) teapots were the first designed specifically for brewing tea. And yet, as mass production eclipsed the artistry of hand-thrown pottery, this legacy risked fading into mere nostalgia. Enter Kengo Kuma & Associates, whose newly opened UCCA Clay Museum propels Yixing’s pottery artistry into the 21st century with artful bravado.

After its inaugural event last year, Matter and Shape returned to the Jardin des Tuileries for its second edition (March 7–10, 2025), attracting a discerning crowd of design professionals and aficionados as well as scores of fashion insiders also attending Paris Fashion Week. Marking the centenary of the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, the salon paid homage to the landmark exhibition that catapulted Art Deco onto the global stage and helped define modern design.

Led by architects Diana Żurek and Gutek Girek, Furora Studio has built a reputation for crafting refined interiors that balance a sense of timeless elegance with playfulness. Their latest project, an apartment in Kraków, is a striking testament to this ethos, seamlessly blending classical influences with contemporary elements.

Best known for the iconoclastic, zany furniture and objects of the Memphis Group, the postmodernist design collective he founded in 1980, Italian designer Ettore Sottsass is often less recognized for his architectural endeavours. A new photographic exhibition curated by Federica Sala at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Cologne, “New Archeology?