Architecture/Design News

Since opening its first espresso bar in Hong Kong in 2018, local coffee shop chain Coffeelin has been on a mission to enrich the city’s coffee scene with a touch of Milanese-style café culture. Launched a few months ago its latest location, Coffeelin Central, expands on the brand’s coffee-to-cocktails concept with a space that conjures the retro vibes of a Milanese bar, interpreted through the lens of Hong Kong’s cosmopolitan energy.

In the sun-drenched hills of Alaior, Menorca, a 19th century farmhouse has found a second life as a refined summer residence, Estancia San José, courtesy of French architectural practice Atelier du Pont.

Located in SoHo’s tree-lined Thompson Street, The Manner, which opened its doors in September, offers a bold reimagination of what a boutique hotel can be, seamlessly blending the intimacy of a private residence with the allure of a members-only club. The debut of a new concept by Standard International, The Manner shares The Standard’s playful design ethos, while embracing understated sophistication with striking interiors that feel both nostalgic and contemporary.

Located between the vibrant neighbourhoods of Exarcheia and Kolonaki at the foot of Lycabettus Hill, an unassuming 1970s apartment has been reimagined by Oikonomakis Siampakoulis Architects as a sanctuary of art and design.

Walking into the recently unveiled Manuela restaurant in SoHo, New York, you’d be excused for thinking you’ve stepped into a gallery. Museum-quality works created by the likes of Andy Warhol, George Condo, and Jenny Holzer line the walls, while large murals and intricate installations dot the space. Yet, the restaurant remains surprisingly and what’s more refreshingly free of pretence.

Brazilian designer Leo Lauge has always been known for navigating the space between opposites. Born in southern Brazil, where verdant landscapes often meet the stark lines of industrial coal mines, his formative years instilled in him a fascination with contrasts based on the  raw and refined, and the natural and man-made.

Standing majestically at the ocean’s edge in Yantai, China, the Sun Tower—OPEN Architecture’s newly inaugurated cultural venue—is extraordinary in both form and concept.

Nestled amongst the Apuan Alps of Tuscany, the Carrara marble quarries have supplied exquisite stone to the world for over two thousand years, giving rise to masterpieces that have been endlessly admired through the ages. On a rainy day in October, we set out to visit one of these quarries courtesy of Salvatori, the award-winning Italian design company that specialises in natural stone.

Located in the heart of Helsinki, more precisely at the iconic Aleksanterinkatu 13, which was once Finland’s first fully commercial structure, Bouchon Carême introduces a fresh, sophisticated take on French bouchons, a type of traditional Lyonnaise restaurant known for its cozy, casual atmosphere and hearty, rustic dishes, in a landmark setting steeped in history. An emblem of urban elegance for over a century, the building underwent a significant three-year renovation, reopening its doors in the fall of 2024 a

Since establishing her eponymous design studio in 2017, French interior and furniture designer Emmanuelle Simon has gained a reputation for immaculately curated interiors underpinned by a soulful vocabulary of natural textures and abstract forms that fuses the playful geometries of the Art Deco style with the organic imperfection of the wabi-sabi philosophy.