Biodegradable fireworks, light shows, and drones can offer an alternative and cleaner change to the future of traditional pyrotechnics. For hundreds of years, fireworks have meant loud bangs and bright colors in the sky as a way to mark celebrations, like New Year’s Eve, national holidays, weddings, and victories. But what happens after the fireworks fade? Our deep dive explores the current climate of traditional fireworks and the potential of the biodegradable ones alongside drone technology and light shows as cleaner alternatives. Chemically, traditional fireworks get their colors from metals: red from strontium, green from barium, and blue from copper. When these metals burn, they don’t disappear but turn into tiny metal particles that float in the air, making it dangerous to inhale, especially for those who suffer health problems and asthma.

While old fireworks were wrapped in paper, the modern ones often use plastic casings because they are cheaper and can hold the chemicals better. In this case, when fireworks explode, those plastics don’t burn up. They instead shatter and fall into parks, rivers, oceans, and fields, and over time, they break into microplastics, which create water pollution and harm the environment. Not to mention that since a single firework can be louder than 120 decibels, or as loud as a jet engine, the furry pets and other animals find the noise terrifying and threatening, even encouraging animals to change where they live and nest long after the shows are over, as seen in the case of Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang and Arc’teryx’s large-scale fireworks event in the Tibetan Himalayas.

image courtesy of Pyroemotions

biodegradable fireworks and light shows as pyrotechnics

Pyrotechnics can imagine a cleaner future, one that’s filled with biodegradable fireworks, drones, and light shows. For the former, they try to offer a solution to plastic waste and toxic smoke by using thick cardboard, paper bonded with starch glue, and clay plugs that turn into dust instead of burning metals. Companies like Chorlton Fireworks in the UK already sell biodegradable fireworks with mostly paper-based parts, which break down in soil in months instead of hundreds of years. Others are also testing bioplastics made from cornstarch, cellulose film, and other plant-based components that are non-toxic, including events companies Pyroemotions, Red Apple Fireworks, and KEDE New Material, but this area of pyrotechnics is still evolving. There’s a cleaner chemistry involved too when it comes to using biodegradable fireworks, drones, and light shows for pyrotechnics. 

Traditional fireworks use chemicals called perchlorates to explode, which are inorganic salts that dissolve in and can poison water and affect people’s thyroids. With the newer fireworks, they use nitrogen-rich fuels, and they can burn a bit cleaner, but they still mostly release nitrogen gas and carbon dioxide. They also use less metal for color, which means fewer toxic particles in the air. On top of this, many biodegradable and green fireworks remove the salute, the part that makes the big bang, and instead use softer bursts, let the sparks drift instead of explode, and stay around 70 to 90 decibels compared to the 120 from traditional fireworks. The downside is that these dubbed cleaner and biodegradable fireworks cost more because of the new materials; the cleaner components are much more difficult to make, and there are no big factories yet that can produce them at scale.

image courtesy of Pyroemotions

Drones light up the sky without explosions and noise

If not the biodegradable fireworks, the future of pyrotechnics can still glow without exploding at all. Here come the drones and light shows, posing as fireworks that fly instead of burst. Drone shows use hundreds or thousands of small flying drones with LED lights. Each drone is controlled by software, like a tiny robot actor in a giant sky theater. In some cases, the GPS tells each drone exactly where to go, the LEDs change color instantly, and computers plan their movements 100 times per second. Unlike fireworks, drones don’t make smoke, leave debris, and can be reused again. Some studios and companies are already leading this, such as Studio DRIFT in the Netherlands. 

Their drone project named Franchise Freedom, which appeared at Art Basel and Burning Man, among many others, moves freely in the sky as it glows and without exploding. Aerial production studio SkyMagic, as well as Verge Aero, has also used drones in their pyrotechnic shows, even bringing these flying devices to Super Bowls and Olympic ceremonies. On the other hand, drones can use lithium batteries, which are not healthy for the environment because mining lithium causes pollution. Unlike fireworks, however, drones can be reused many times and still offer less pollution, harm, and microplastics during celebrations.

Chorlton Fireworks sell fireworks with mostly paper-based parts | image courtesy of Chorlton Fireworks

Some designers, artists, and creatives even go further, using nature itself as the light source. Glowee, a French company, works with glowing bacteria found in the ocean, which naturally produce light without heat or electricity. The team grows them inside transparent containers filled with nutrients, and the result emits a soft, blue glow that produces no waste, uses no power grid, and is completely biodegradable, unlike traditional fireworks. At the moment, the company uses it for signs and installations, not sky shows, but it points toward a future where light doesn’t need fire at all. There’s also the Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde, who created SPARK.

It is a show that looks like fireworks made of floating stars. Instead of explosions, it uses tiny biodegradable bubbles, light and wind, and human movement. The result is participatory in nature, silent for the environment, poetic in concept, and leaves nothing behind, allowing the artist to describe it as ‘organic fireworks.’ Some studios allow these future-oriented pyrotechnics to happen around instead of above us. Take the Canada-based Moment Factory, which creates immersive night experiences instead of short shows. Their Lumina Night Walks turn forests and parks into glowing stories using light projections, sound, and storytelling, and the project invites visitors to walk slowly through these illuminated spaces without smoke and explosions; just light and time.

AURA Église Saint-Roch, 2025, Québec City | image courtesy of Moment Factory

Still, companies use traditional fireworks during pyrotechnics shows, but a few of them have started modifying the program. Groupe F, who’s famous for shows at the Eiffel Tower and Burj Khalifa, now mixes fewer fireworks, more drones, and additional projection mapping and live performers to complete their shows. The others, however, are still yet to take their steps towards a cleaner alternative. When it comes to regulations, fireworks are mostly guarded for safety, not the environment. They’re legal in the US, except in Massachusetts, which imposes a complete ban, and in the EU, the use of chemicals has restrictions, but the label ‘green’ fireworks is yet to be discussed.

While fireworks are not disappearing, they’re slowly changing and evolving as the environment faces their consequences. Pyrotechnics imagine a future where these celebratory means burn fewer metals, use more biodegradable and low-noise ones, and incorporate more drones, lights, and immersive experiences into the shows. These alternative and biodegradable ones are yet to be scaled and commercialized due to their cost and question of material resource, but thanks to the active creatives making the shift – like Studio DRIFT, Roosegaarde, SkyMagic, and Moment Factory – the future of pyrotechnics can light up the environment quietly, cleanly, and still brightly.

AURA Église Saint-Roch, 2025, Québec City | image courtesy of Moment Factory

Wind of Change by Studio DRIFT | image courtesy of Studio DRIFT; photo by Lance Gerber, courtesy of DCT Abu Dhabi

drones can also be an alternative to biodegradable fireworks and pyrotechnics | image courtesy of Studio DRIFT; photo by Lance Gerber, courtesy of DCT Abu Dhabi

Franchise Freedom by Studio DRIFT | image courtesy of Studio DRIFT; photo by Ossip van Duivenbode

Glowee works with glowing bacteria, which naturally produce light | image courtesy of Glowee

image courtesy of Glowee

project info:

companies and studios: Chorlton Fireworks, Pyroemotions, Red Apple Fireworks, KEDE New Material, Studio DRIFT, SkyMagic, Verge Aero, Glowee, Moment Factory, Groupe F | @chorltonfireworks, @pyroemotionsltd, @redapplefireworks, @studio.drift, @skymagicdroneshows, @vergeaero, @weloveglowee, @momentfactory, @groupe.f

artist: Daan Roosegaarde | @daanroosegaarde

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Just southwest of Paris, at the intersection of Andrea Palladio and Frank Lloyd Wright streets in the suburb of Guyancourt, 18 colossal female figures stand together to support one of the most surreal manifestations of postmodernist architecture.

Together, the monumental replicas of the Venus de Milo compose Les Caryatides, two identical apartment blocks standing across from each other, performing their own kind of concrete theater in full view of the public. The project was designed in 1992 by architect Manuel Núñez Yanowsky, who was one of the original team members of Ricardo Bofill’s Taller de Arquitectura in early 1960s Barcelona, and went on to develop several important works, including the iconic Arènes de Picasso in Noisy-le-Grand on the outskirts of Paris. More than three decades after its construction, Les Caryatides de Guyancourt remains legendary to some, absurd to others, but undeniably unforgettable. For its admirers, the project rethinks classical forms and motifs. For its critics, it’s kitsch masquerading as grandeur, a surreal eyesore amid the suburban landscape. As with much of Yanowsky’s work, this project demands attention.

The architect himself calls the building Venus 18, a title that deepens the intrigue. In an Instagram post, he plays with mystery, asking, ‘Is it because she’s 18 years old? Because she’s 2 meters and 18 centimeters tall? Or because she has 17 friends just like her?’ As big fans of the work, designboom paid a visit to Les Caryatides in Guyancourt to explore the building in person and unveil its beauty and peculiarities in the following photographic essay.

all images © designboom

venus de milo as structural element

Spanish-born architect Manuel Núñez Yanowsky’s apartment dwellings are instantly recognizable for their oversized take on classical sculpture. Equal parts theatrical and ironic, the structures critique the enduring performative power of architecture.

The rigid, modular facades of the buildings, punctuated by square windows and recessed panels, rest atop colonnades of towering sculptures, monumental replicas of the Venus de Milo, that icon of broken-limbed antiquity. Each Venus is rendered at an exaggerated scale, perched atop oversized plinths that elevate them from art object to architectural load-bearer. They hold the residential superstructures like postmodern Atlases, serene, idealized, and surreal in context. The figures face outward, indifferent to the weight above or the traffic below, wrapped in flowing drapery that echoes their classical origins. Their missing arms, a signature of the original sculpture, are left uncorrected, heightening the sense of theatrical irony.

18 massive female figures stand together

France’s grands ensembles and villes nouvelles

Set within the Villaroy district of Guyancourt, Venus 18 occupies a unique place in the timeline of French urbanism. The project forms part of the new town of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, one of the post-war initiative ‘villes nouvelles’ developed around Paris from the 1970s onward. These satellite cities were conceived to decentralize the capital, manage population growth, and correct the failings of the earlier ‘grands ensembles’ housing boom.

While Les Caryatides emerge from the same lineage, they mark a definitive stylistic and conceptual departure. Unlike the austere, repetitive blocks typical of the grands ensembles era, Yanowsky’s design embraces ornament, irony, and historical reference, reimagining the caryatid, borrowed from ancient Greek architecture, as a postmodern load-bearing icon.

With just 110 apartments, the scale of Les Caryatides is more intimate than its mid-century predecessors, yet its ambition is no less radical. The project reflects the goals of the villes nouvelles: to humanize suburban life, inject architectural diversity, and create urban environments rich in meaning and memory. Set within this context, Les Caryatides questions the assumptions underlying post-war housing. These were never meant to be faceless dormitory suburbs; they were envisioned as vibrant urban futures. Yanowsky’s intervention revives that ambition. Why shouldn’t social housing be monumental? Why can’t everyday architecture embrace theatricality? These provocations are etched into the very fabric of the building.

Venus 18 was designed by Manuel Núñez Yanowsky in 1992

monumental housing before les caryatides

Les Caryatides isn’t Yanowsky’s only foray into urban mythology. Just a few years earlier, he completed another monumental housing complex outside Paris: Les Arènes de Picasso in Noisy-le-Grand (1980–1984). Nicknamed le Camembert by locals, supposedly because Yanowsky showed Jean Nouvel a round of the famous cheese during a site visit,  the building is made up of 540 social housing units clad in boldly patterned, precast concrete. The elevation panels were designed to override the regular grid with a strong visual identity, a tactic Yanowsky used to mask repetition with theatricality. The structure’s circular form and sculptural flourishes seem almost extraterrestrial. In a tongue-in-cheek anecdote relayed by critic Philip Jodidio, Yanowsky joked that the rotating disc of the central structure tilts 15° every morning at 7:00 a.m., launching residents from their beds to the toilet, then to the kitchen, and finally into their cars on the way to work. It’s a myth, of course, but like much of his architecture, it blurs the line between satire and speculation.

each sculpture is rendered at an exaggerated scale

irony becomes infrastructure

Postmodernism looms large over Les Caryatides, bringing with it the era’s embrace of irony, ornament, and symbolic form. But while many postmodern facades stop at surface-level play, Manuel Núñez Yanowsky embeds his classical references deep into the structure.

The project sits squarely within the wave of French postmodernism that crested in the early 1990s. Architects like Ricardo Bofill and Christian de Portzamparc were reintroducing historical motifs, geometric symbolism, and theatrical scale into a landscape dominated by functionalism. Yanowsky aligns with this ethos but pushes it further with a literal, more surreal, and deliberately more provocative approach.

At first glance, the sculptural colonnade may seem like a whimsical gesture. But these stylized Venus de Milo figures serve a structural purpose, bearing the weight of the apartments above. Echoing ancient Greek caryatids, they are reimagined through the lens of late-20th-century monumentalism, transformed into hyperbolic load-bearers that are both expressive and functional.

a project that refuses to go unnoticed

Cult classic or suburban spectacle?

More than 30 years on, Les Caryatides endures as a landmark dressed in enigma. Tourists stumble across it with disbelief. Locals pass it by without fanfare. Architecture students dissect it as an example of how far and how oddly public architecture can go. Whether loved or dismissed, the building continues to perform.

Public response has always been mixed. For some, it’s a refreshing break from the sterile rationalism of post-war planning. For others, its scale and visual language feel jarring, even alien, within the suburban fabric. But this friction is exactly what gives the project its vitality. Yanowsky refuses the notion that public housing must be modest or invisible, arguing for grandeur in the everyday. 

Today, Les Caryatides has achieved a kind of cult status among architecture fans and urban explorers. Its arresting imagery circulates widely on social media, often labeled one of France’s most unexpected buildings. Yet beneath the spectacle lies a serious architectural proposition: that form can provoke thought, that symbolism can enrich lived experience, and that history, handled with both rigor and irreverence, still has the power to shape the city.

monumental replicas of the Venus de Milo

Les Caryatides has aged into a landmark that provokes memory and debate

the project rethinks classical forms and motifs

with their supporting role, the female forms evoke ancient Greek caryatids

circular openings punctuate the building

a building that refuses to go unnoticed

oversized plinths elevate them from art object to architectural load-bearer

the figures face outward, indifferent to the weight above or the traffic below

project info:

name: Les Caryatides / Venus 18

architect: Manuel Núñez Yanowsky | @manolonunezyanowsky

location: Guyancourt, Île-de-France, France

year: 1992

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In an age when storefronts compete for attention in both the physical and digital realms, some brands are taking retail facades to fantastical new heights. From Tokyo to Toronto, brands are embracing sculptural exteriors, oversized surreal forms, and material experimentation to turn their storefronts into immersive visual landmarks. Imagine a luxury boutique shaped as a giant ship docked on a city street, or a jewelry storefront bursting open as a life-sized elephant strides out. These are real examples of conceptually quirky, surreal, and sculptural facades around the world. Far from mere branding gimmicks, these facades invite passersby into a story or even a dreamscape before they ever step inside. designboom explores several recent standout projects and the playful design nature behind them, from giant objects-as-buildings to material wizardry and nature-inspired fantasies.

Isabel Marant Aoyama Flagship in Tokyo | image courtesy of Isabel Marant

The ‘SITE’ Legacy and the Roots of Retail Irony

A precedent for these experiments can be traced back to the early 1970s, when James Wines and his New York-based architecture studio SITE designed a series of conceptually charged facades for the now-defunct BEST Products company. These included a crumbling brick wall, a forest piercing through the showroom, and a facade that opened like a mechanical drawer. While most of them have since been lost, their influence is undeniable. Wines’ ironic, often cheeky approach to the commercial box paved the way for contemporary facades that defy expectations.

SITE treated each facade as ‘a subject matter for art,’ turning the dull masonry boxes into ironic sculptures and visual commentary. Their designs for BEST stores became legendary in retail design and foreshadowed today’s push for experiential retail. They proved facades could be cheeky, conversation-starting, and participatory, essentially Instagrammable long before Instagram.

These iconic facades did not survive the ravages of time and commerce. When BEST Products liquidated in the 1990s, most of Wines’s masterpieces were either demolished or defaced by new owners. The famous peeling brick wall was partially stripped off by a pawn shop tenant, the forest and notch facades were removed or remodeled, and one Tilt showroom was completely razed to make way for a generic strip mall.

Yet the spirit of those experiments lives on. Today, in an era of ‘experience economy’ buzzwords and competition from e-commerce, designers and brands are doubling down on facades that grab attention and spark wonder, effectively picking up where SITE left off. Contemporary retail facades around the globe are embracing quirky, playful, and subversive designs to draw in sightseers and shoppers alike. Below, we explore a selection of recent projects that exemplify this trend, from Asia to Europe to the Americas.

BEST Products Company, Inc, Houston, TX, USA, main facade view from parking lot | image courtesy of SITE

Luxury Brands Use Architecture to Shape Urban Identity

In Tokyo’s Aoyama district, Isabel Marant’s flagship distills the spirit of spatial play into a vivid yellow house. Designed with artist Yutaka Sone, the two-story building takes on an almost cartoonish presence. Its obsidian-inspired forms and lava-like detailing result in a surreal, sculptural object signaling from the street with its unapologetically bright palette and expressive plasticity.

OMA’s Louis Vuitton flagship in Shanghai is designed to resemble a sailing vessel, the building curves upward like a ship’s prow, clad in metallic skin perforated with monogram motifs. Inside, stacked trunk-like forms evoke the travel legacy of the brand, while from the outside, the structure reads as both kinetic and monumental.

A quieter but equally sculptural approach defines Christian de Portzamparc’s Dior flagship in Geneva. The facade is composed of towering petal-like shells in glass fiber-reinforced concrete, a nod to Dior’s floral and couture heritage. Rising to over 20 meters, these interlocking forms overlap and taper, casting subtle shadows and creating rhythmic patterns of solid and void. Lit from within at night, the flagship turns into an urban lantern, evoking both architectural grace and sartorial drama.

The Louis by OMA | image courtesy of Louis Vuitton

Material Alchemy: Surface as Signature

Material performance becomes the main actor in Cartier’s flagship in the Miami Design District. Diller Scofidio + Renfro encases the boutique in undulating fluted glass, its curved bays etched with a Cartier brooch motif from 1909. The rippling, iridescent facade shimmers by day and glows from within by night. I

In Toronto, Partisans apply digital craft to their design for the Rolex Boutique. Carved from parametric limestone, the shell moves in soft ripples and arches. Inspired by the mechanics of Rolex watches, its fluid geometry suggests motion within stillness. On one side, a guilloché-like pattern has been CNC-etched into the stone, a reference to classic watch dials.

Material experimentation continues in MVRDV’s Tiffany flagship in Shanghai, where the brand’s jewelry heritage is magnified into a facade of thousands of handcrafted glass diamonds. These gem-like modules are suspended over a transparent structure, transforming the storefront into a crystalline veil. During the day, the facade glistens in natural light; by night, it glows in Tiffany blue.

Loewe’s Casa in Shanghai takes a similar approach to tactile spectacle, this time using over 35,000 golden ceramic tiles crafted by Studio Cumella. The ceramic cladding undulates across the facade, creating depth and shimmer through hand-glazed surface variation. Referencing both Spanish craft and the gilded roofs of nearby temples, the store is wrapped in a skin that is at once contemporary and steeped in regional dialogue.

Studio RAP’s Ceramic House in Amsterdam also harnesses digital craft, combining 3D printed bricks and tiles into a flowing, textile-inspired facade. Waves of clay rise and fall across the building, echoing stitch patterns and baroque ornamentation. While it nods to historic Dutch craftsmanship, the execution is entirely futuristic, making it a standout on the city’s luxury shopping corridor.

CASA LOEWE Shanghai | image courtesy of LOEWE

Figurative Facades and Playful Spectacle

Literal figuration enters the scene in Wuhan, where AntiStatics Architecture designed a jewelry store featuring a life-sized elephant sculpture that bursts through the facade. Constructed with 3D printed steel latticework, the elephant carries one of artist Yue Minjun’s grinning figures on its back. The surrealism continues inside, with the cave-like, crystalline aesthetic.

Playful literalism also defines the Dage Curtain Store by Molos, where a giant sculpture of a vintage sewing machine becomes window display. Set against an otherwise minimalist backdrop, the oversized object hints at the dedication of the brand to fabric and tailoring while creating a dramatic visual hook from the street.

Dage curtain store by Molos | all images by Leonit Ibrahimi

Nature, Fantasy, and Urban Storytelling

Other recent examples lean into natural symbolism and immersive materiality. In Seoul, the flagship for beauty brand Skin1004, designed by LMTLS, appears as a rocky outcrop transplanted from Madagascar. The rich textures and earthy palette of the facade are a direct expression of the brand’s use of natural ingredients. UNStudio’s Huawei flagship in Shanghai interprets flower petals into a layered white facade. Biophilic and sleek, it evolves in scale and rotation as it ascends the building, creating a sense of blooming in the urban fabric. 

A fairytale aesthetic defines the new Papa Don’t Preach boutique in Delhi. Sculptural wooden flowers, pastel-hued carvings, and marine creatures wrap the building in a whimsical skin. Designed by DesignHex, the facade recalls childhood fantasies and couture drama, creating a storefront that functions like a dream sequence. From elephants to obsidian to ceramic couture, these recent facades aim to make architecture expressive, immersive, and delightfully bizarre. 

Ceramic House by Studio RAP in Amsterdam | video © Oculus Film

Partisans’ Rolex Boutique in Toronto | image by doublespace photo

Cartier flagship in Miami | image courtesy Diller Scofidio and Renfro

Dior Boutique in Geneva by Christian de Portzamparc | image © LVMH

Tiffany & Co.’s store in Stuttgart’s Dorotheen Quartier by MVRDV | image © Gionata Xerra Studio

I DO by antistatics architecture | images courtesy of Dachou Wang

Papa Don’t Preach flagship in Delhi’s Dhan Mill | image by Janvi Thakkar – Wabi Sabi Studios

The post quirky and sculptural retail facades: a global tour appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Each winter, ice and snow become building materials. From vernacular structures such as igloos and temporary snow shelters to snowmen shaped by hand, frozen water has long been used to form space, mark presence, and test the limits of climate and material. In contemporary practice, architects and artists work against time and temperature, shaping environments that last only as long as the cold allows. In Sweden, the ICEHOTEL has been rebuilt every year since 1989 using ice cut from the Torne River, combining architectural construction with immersive, artist-designed rooms. In Quebec, Canada, Hôtel de Glace, North America’s only seasonal full-scale ice hotel, rises each winter from thousands of tonnes of snow and carved ice, following a new theme each season. In China, the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival uses ice and snow to create walls, vaults, and large-scale structures, often illuminated with LED lighting to form an extensive winter environment.

Beyond hotels and festivals, smaller-scale works show how frozen materials can operate between architecture and art. Finland’s Snow Show in 2004 brought together architects and artists including Zaha Hadid, Tadao Ando, and Morphosis to create spatial works made entirely from snow and ice. In Stockholm, Ulf Mejergren Architects built a temporary ‘primitive hut’ from 4,000 snowballs, while Japanese floral artist Azuma Makoto has explored cold as a creative condition, freezing floral arrangements in ice and staging large pine tree installations within snowy landscapes.

In this deep dive, designboom looks at how designers build with cold, from large-scale ice hotels to experimental installations and sculptural works, and how ice and snow shape spaces that exist only briefly, before melting back into the environment.

structures in the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival | image by Joy Ru via Unsplash (head image by Miguel Baixauli via Unsplash)

ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden

Each winter, when the Torne River freezes, creators from around the world gather in Jukkasjärvi to build the ICEHOTEL. Ever since 1989, the hotel has been reconstructed annually, taking on entirely new forms each season. What began as a single ice gallery by founder Yngve Bergqvist has grown into a globally recognized Arctic destination, where architecture and art are shaped directly by the elements.

The hotel is built almost entirely from ice harvested from the Torne River, one of Sweden’s last untouched waterways. Massive ice blocks are cut in spring, stored through summer, and combined with ‘snice’, a durable mix of snow and ice, to construct walls, floors, and ceilings. Molds shape the ice into stable arches and corridors, allowing artists to create intricate designs safely. The construction process takes about six weeks, after which artists transform each room into a unique work of art. When spring arrives, the hotel and its artworks melt back into the river, continuing a cycle of creation and return. Each year, ICEHOTEL invites artists from around the world to submit proposals. About 15 are selected from roughly 150 applications. Lighting is carefully integrated into each suite, highlighting textures and enhancing the sculptural qualities of the ice.

the exterior of ICEHOTEL | image courtesy of ICEHOTEL

the Art Suite 365 interior | image courtesy of ICEHOTEL

Hôtel de Glace in Valcartier Vacation Village, Canada

Hôtel de Glace, North America’s only full-scale seasonal ice hotel, opens each year from January to mid-March. Constructed entirely from snow and ice, the hotel is rebuilt annually, introducing new spatial compositions and design elements each season. The complex includes a Grand Hall, Ice Chapel, ice slide, and themed suites, as well as the Ice Bar, where drinks are served in glasses made of ice. The suites feature beds and furniture carved from ice, set on insulated wooden platforms and paired with high-performance Arctic sleeping bags designed for temperatures between -3°C and -5°C. Throughout the hotel, carved surfaces and sculptural details demonstrate the technical precision required to work with frozen materials at an architectural scale. Each edition is organized around a guiding theme that brings together art, light, and atmosphere. Lighting plays a central role, shifting the perception of space between day and night and animating the ice after dark.  Designed to be experienced both during the day and overnight, Hôtel de Glace exists as a temporary architectural environment that explores how ice and snow can shape space, structure, and sensory experience within a limited timeframe.

the suites feature beds and furniture carved from ice | image courtesy of Hôtel de Glace

carved surfaces and sculptural details can be found throughout the rooms | image courtesy of Hôtel de Glace

Harbin Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin, China

Held from late December to mid-February, the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival is the largest ice and snow festival in the world. Taking place in Harbin, northeastern China, the event transforms the city into a vast landscape of temporary architecture and sculpture built entirely from ice and snow harvested from the frozen Songhua River. The festival includes two main exhibition areas. On Sun Island, enormous snow sculptures form a large-scale outdoor exhibition. Ice and Snow World, the festival’s most prominent site, features full-scale buildings and urban ensembles constructed from thick blocks of ice, many illuminated with multicolored lighting and open to visitors from afternoon into the night. Rebuilt every year with new designs, the site has reached up to 800,000 square meters in recent editions, making it one of the largest temporary architectural environments in the world.

Construction relies on industrial-scale ice harvesting and carving techniques, using saws, chisels, and molds to create walls, vaults, towers, and bridges. Deionized water is often used to produce ice with high transparency, enhancing the visual effect of light and color after dark. The resulting structures reference a wide range of architectural typologies, from monumental landmarks to abstract and fantastical forms.

on Sun Island, enormous snow sculptures form a large-scale outdoor exhibition | image courtesy of Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival

Ice and Snow World features full-scale buildings constructed from thick blocks of ice, illuminated with multicolored lighting | image via @ctl888

Snow show (2004) in Finland 

In 2004, Finland’s Snow Show brought together leading international architects and artists to create temporary structures made almost entirely from snow and ice. Curated by Lance Fung, the project paired creatives in collaborative groups to explore how ephemeral materials could shape space, form, and sensory experience under Arctic conditions. Conceived as a testing ground rather than a conventional exhibition, the Snow Show examined the shared origins and methods of art and architecture through direct collaboration.

The exhibition took place in Kemi and Rovaniemi, towns near the Arctic Circle, where sub-zero temperatures enabled the construction of works up to eight meters high and 80 square meters in surface area. Around 30 structures were realized using compressed snow and ice, often combined with pigments, lighting, sound, or minimal supporting materials. By replacing familiar, permanent building materials with fragile and unfamiliar ones, the project encouraged designers to rethink structural logic, authorship, and the relationship between concept and construction. Notable works included Zaha Hadid and Cai Guo-Qiang’s monumental, ocean-liner-inspired structure composed of curving terraces and translucent ice, which was dramatically activated during the opening through the ignition of vodka poured into carved channels. Tadao Ando and Tatsuo Miyajima’s Iced Time Tunnel formed a parabolic passage of ice blocks, using curvature and transparency to create a luminous spatial experience. Carsten Höller’s Meeting Slides introduced an interactive element, with visitors moving through channels carved into compacted snow. Morphosis, working with Do-Ho Suh, created Fluid Fossils, using pigmented ice and molded plastic sheeting to allow frozen material to harden into unexpected forms guided by its own physical behavior.

Displayed until the spring thaw, the Snow Show emphasized impermanence as a productive design condition. More than a collection of sculptural works, it functioned as a laboratory for collaboration, demonstrating how artists and architects can work together to challenge disciplinary boundaries and explore new possibilities for spatial design using ice and snow.

Tadao Ando and Tatsuo Miyajima’s Iced Time Tunnel | image © Fung Collaboratives

Zaha Hadid and Cai Guo-Qiang’s monumental, ocean-liner-inspired structure

Ulf Mejergren Architects’ Snowball Hut in Stockholm, Sweden 

During a cold winter in Stockholm, Ulf Mejergren Architects (UMA) constructed a temporary structure using a single, readily available material: snow. Titled Snowball Hut, the project marked the first installment in the studio’s Primitive Huts series, an ongoing initiative focused on creating simple architectural forms using one material, preferably sourced directly from nature.

The hut was built entirely from 4,000 hand-formed snowballs stacked into a small, enclosed structure. According to the architects, optimal conditions for construction occur at temperatures of around 2–3°C, when snow holds together without freezing too rigidly or melting. During construction, slight warming caused the snowballs to fuse naturally, softening the structure and making the internal hollows more pronounced. Openings and the entrance were shaped by selectively removing snowballs as the material settled.

Rather than relying on formal construction techniques, Snowball Hut explores how environmental conditions, material behavior, and manual assembly can define architectural form. The project demonstrates how snow can function as both structure and surface, resulting in a modest yet thoughtful experiment in ephemeral, site-responsive design.

the hut was built entirely from hand-formed snowballs | image courtesy of Ulf Mejergren Architects (UMA)

4,000 snowballs were needed to complete the ephemeral structure | image courtesy of Ulf Mejergren Architects (UMA) 

Azuma Makoto’s Frozen Flowers and Trees in snowy janapese landscapes

Japanese floral artist Azuma Makoto uses extreme environments to examine the life cycle, materiality, and perception of plants. In his Frozen Flowers installations (2021 and 2023), Makoto encased vivid floral arrangements in ice, using sub-zero outdoor conditions to suspend the flowers between preservation and decay. Created in Hokkaido, the works allow color and structure to remain visible through the ice while the surrounding snowfield emphasizes their fragility and impermanence. Ice functions not as a structural element, but as a transparent medium that alters time and perception as the sculptures slowly transform and dissolve.

Makoto has also explored scale and suspension in Shiki Tou (Winter Tower), a monumental installation realized in Asahikawa, Hokkaido. The work consists of a large pine tree suspended from a five-meter cubic steel frame, elevated above a snow-covered field. Carefully bound with rope and wire, the tree’s exposed root system becomes a central visual element, hovering just above the ground from which it was removed. Over time, snowfall partially conceals the structure, causing the sculpture to appear and disappear within the landscape.

Across both bodies of work, Makoto treats cold, gravity, and time as active design conditions. Whether freezing flowers or suspending entire trees, his installations frame botanical life within temporary states, allowing natural transformation to complete the work.

Frozen Flowers (2023) | image courtesy of Azuma Makoto

Frozen Flowers (2023) | image courtesy of Azuma Makoto

Architecture and Art That Accept Their Own End

Across these projects, snow and ice are not treated as novelties, but as serious design materials with their own structural logic, limits, and possibilities. Working with cold demands an acceptance of change, collapse, and disappearance, shifting attention from permanence to process. Whether at the scale of hotels, festivals, installations, or intimate shelters, these works demonstrate how architecture and art can emerge from climate itself, shaped by time, temperature, and environment, and completed not by endurance, but by return.

Shiki Tou (2017) | image courtesy of Azuma Makoto

Shiki Tou (2017) | image courtesy of Azuma Makoto

Shiki Tou (2017) | image courtesy of Azuma Makoto

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Maison Margiela unveils Maison Margiela Residences, marking the House’s first venture into residential living. The project translates its codes of deconstruction, trompe-l’oeil, and transformation into a luxury living environment in one of Dubai’s most exclusive settings. The announcement situates Margiela among a growing constellation of fashion houses redefining luxury through architecture. From Armani and Bulgari to Versace, Fendi, and Dolce & Gabbana, high-fashion labels are increasingly translating their aesthetics into brick and mortar, creating hotels, condos, and branded residences that allow clients to live inside the signature world of each brand. On the occasion of Margiela’s debut, designboom takes a closer look at why and how fashion brands are expanding into real estate and what it reveals about the evolving relationship between design, lifestyle, and architecture.

Fendi Chateau Miami

from couture runways to luxury residences

High-fashion houses are no longer confined to boutiques and runways, moving over to creating spaces to experience the brand in a more intimate way. Over the past three decades, labels from Armani to Versace have extended their aesthetic worlds into architecture and real estate. The phenomenon began around the turn of the millennium, when visionary designers recognized real estate as the ultimate medium for immersive brand storytelling.

Gianni Versace and Diesel founder Renzo Rosso were among the earliest pioneers. Versace’s Palazzo Versace on Australia’s Gold Coast (opened 2000) brought the Baroque glamour of the house to five-star hospitality, while Rosso transformed Miami Beach’s Pelican Hotel into an eccentric fashion playground as early as 1990. 

Armani Beach Residences, a collaboration with architect Tadao Ando in Dubai

a lifestyle beyond flagship stores

For today’s fashion houses, real estate represents a design opportunity and a business evolution. Hotels and residences offer a way to materialize the lifestyle philosophy of the brand in three dimensions, inviting clients to inhabit the label’s universe in a different way from what a flagship store does. The late Giorgio Armani described it as ‘exploring my idea of living,’ a natural continuation of Armani/Casa’s design character.

Through licensing partnerships and co-developments, fashion houses gain revenue streams and long-term brand visibility. In markets like Dubai, Miami, and Marbella, branded residences often command price premiums. The Residences by Armani/Casa tower in Sunny Isles Beach, designed with César Pelli, sold out 308 units, buoyed by the allure of the Armani name and interiors tailored to the brand’s signature design. As Renzo Rosso, founder of OTB Group, Maison Margiela’s parent company, puts it, these projects ‘define the unmistakable style of each fashion house’ while transforming creative vision into built form.

Fendi Private Suites in Rome

transcribing fashion codes into architecture

Each fashion-led development mirrors the house’s aesthetic language. At Palazzo Versace Macau, the latest addition to Versace’s hospitality portfolio, every mosaic, carpet, and tile channels the House’s Italianate opulence, Medusa motifs swirl across terrazzo floors, and the mosaic pattern from Versace’s Milan palazzo reappears in the lobby.

Bulgari’s hotels, by contrast, exude refined craftsmanship. Designed by Milan’s Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel (ACPV), each property, from Milan to Paris and Shanghai, features hand-finished marble surfaces, silk, and bronze detailing.

The Armani Hotel Dubai and Armani Residences within Burj Khalifa flow in earthy tones and low-lit calm, every material chosen to create a harmonious atmosphere and add texture. As the brand expands with Armani Beach Residences, a collaboration with architect Tadao Ando, the minimalist vision reaches new architectural heights.

Missoni’s approach, meanwhile, is unapologetically chromatic. The Missoni Baia tower in Miami, Missoni Sky in Toronto, and the Missoni Resort Club in Mykonos translate the brand’s zigzag knits into structural geometry, while vibrant interiors evoke the optimism and color that define its fashion. 

Missoni Baia tower in Miami

from karl lagerfeld’s dreams to dolce & gabbana’s palazzi

Some designers have taken the leap even further. The late Karl Lagerfeld’s hotel in Macau, opened posthumously in 2021, is an East-meets-West fantasy of chinoiserie and Art Deco, complete with a 360-square-meter library and a literal fountain centerpiece. Every object, from the key-patterned walls to the antique volumes, bears his personal touch. By the mid-2010s, Fendi had also unveiled a boutique hotel, Fendi Private Suites, a set of seven plush suites above its Rome flagship in 2016, and partnered on the beachfront Fendi Château Residences condo in Miami.

Dolce & Gabbana’s recent ventures represent the next evolution. The duo is developing the 888 Brickell tower in Miami, a 90-story condo-hotel featuring Murano glass chandeliers combined with animal-print velvet, and Marbella Design Hills in Spain, a 92-unit complex furnished entirely with Dolce&Gabbana Casa pieces.

Even Diesel, rooted in denim and counterculture, has entered the space with Diesel Wynwood Condominium in Miami, the first Diesel-branded residential project. Designed with Zyscovich Architects, it channels the brand’s industrial energy through raw concrete, street art, and Diesel Living furnishings, targeting a younger generation of design-savvy buyers.

888 Brickell Miami Residences And Hotel by Dolce & Gabbana

Diesel Wynwood in Miami

Design Hills Marbella by Dolce&Gabbana

Maison Margiela Residences in Dubai

The Karl Lagerfeld Macau

Palazzo Versace Dubai

Bulgari Resort Dubai

The post why and how fashion’s biggest names expand into architecture and real estate appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

3D printed food like salmon, meat, pasta, and dessert can take over the future of the gastronomic industry as software-controlled meals. At first, researchers were curious about whether or not machines could print food. Now, that has been proven, and the topic has broadened. Engineers and scientists use printers to produce personalized food using softened ingredients. Researchers look at these meals as essential kits for astronauts embarking on space exploration and long-term missions. Studies have found that 3D printed food can address medical needs, including making food with specific textures for the elderly and for those who have problems swallowing, known as dysphagia.

Companies and startups have started creating their food with printers to replicate the texture, taste, and look of traditional eats. Chefs tap into the technology to realize designs they’ve wanted to bring out into the culinary sphere. 3D printed food explores food waste production too by using less conventional sources and precisely controlling the amount of ingredients used. Then, computers and digital tools set up and design the food, printers pump out the softened ingredients from the nozzles, and nutritional additives can be added to produce healthier meals. In our deep dive, we look into the reason 3D printed food started, the limitations of the current design software, the engineering behind it, as well as using food waste as ingredients and other new technologies to make food.

Digital Meat: Food Texture Mapping | image courtesy of Dr. Jonathan Blutinger, study here

A brief look into the past of software-controlled meals

For a brief history, the concept of 3D printed food began around 2006 with Cornell University’s Fab@Home project. It’s one of the earliest initiatives that produced the pioneering open-source, multi-material 3D printer that could use chocolate, cookie dough, and cheese as components. At that time, until 2009, Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories had CandyFab under its belt, a machine that used hot air to make sugar sculptures. Other companies tried their hands at producing 3D printed food: Philips with Food Creation Printer in 2008, Choc Edge with chocolate printer in 2012, Natural Machines with food printer in 2014, and 3D Systems and Hershey’s with a chocolate printer in 2014. Recently, companies have built on the existing technologies to improve the software-controlled meal printers.

Even then, there are still limitations to conquer before 3D printed food can make its way into continuous production and consumption. 3D printed food mainly works using an extrusion system tailored for viscous food masses. In general, conventional printers churn out hard plastic or polymers. With food, the ingredients need to be softer, like a paste or similar to bread dough. Take Revo Foods, the startup that uses mycoprotein, or fermented mushroom protein, to produce commercially available 3D printed salmon and cod. ‘In our process, we can integrate two different materials together, such as proteins and fats. This leads to new functional behavior, such as typical flakiness similar to that in fish fillets. Because the fat is integrated into the protein when heated, it melts and creates a new texture,’ Robin Simsa, CEO of Revo Foods, explains to designboom in an interview.

extruded food for people with dysphagia | image courtesy of Dr. Alexandros Stratakos and Oluwatobi Fatola

Digital tools and parametric design to make 3D printed food

The printing process begins with a digital algorithm, at least with Artisia, the 3D printed pasta sibling of the brand Barilla. Antonio Gagliardi, Artisia’s Design and Technology Lead, shares with designboom that they develop their 3D printed pasta using parametric design. Once they have the instructions on hand, they fire up their machine, and it extrudes fresh pasta dough through multiple nozzles simultaneously, building each shape layer by layer. ‘The result is a shape that holds its structure during cooking. Of course, 3D printing is just one step in a broader process. After printing, the pasta undergoes a careful drying phase, making it shelf-stable and ready to be shipped worldwide. It can be cooked like any traditional pasta,’ he shares with designboom.

Because the meals are software controlled, it’s in the hands of the maker to design the food. Engineers can even integrate two different materials together, such as proteins and fats. With fish fillets, for example, the printers can produce the typical ‘flakiness’ often seen in the traditional ones. ‘It’s because the fat is integrated into the protein. When heated, it melts up a bit, which creates the texture,’ Robin Simsa tells designboom. Having to use software and digital tools also allows for design freedom. At one point, Revo Foods printed fish shaped like tennis rackets and sets of balls. The CEO says this shows the kind of flexibility the technology offers to the food industry.

software-controlled desert | image courtesy of Dr. Jonathan Blutinger, study here

Even with the advanced technologies these days, 3D printed food still faces software, design, and production limitations that can hinder it from becoming the future of the gastronomic industry, at least as an affordable option. ‘Most software used in 3D food printing today comes from industrial or architectural modelling and doesn’t fully accommodate the specific behaviors of edible pastes or fluids,’ Antonio Gagliardi tells designboom. Because of this, among others, software-controlled meals lack internal structure. They also tend to look similar or singular, and some of the machines used are relatively for single-use only. The current 3D printers can be slower than other food production methods. They also have a limited volume of materials they can process at once. Because of these, making it commercially available immediately is costly and takes time. 

Printers may need to be adapted too for each specific food material, so there’s no one-printer-prints-all. Then, the initial and maintenance costs can be quite high. In terms of visual appeal to the consumers, 3D printed food hasn’t established a loyal following yet. It’s a hit or miss, depending on the texture and taste of the meal. So far, Artisia has already started resolving some of these issues. Antonio Gagliardi admits to us that Artisia has developed a multi-head printer that produces 36 pieces of pasta simultaneously. ‘That said, many of our manufacturing steps remain manual and artisanal, hence the name Artisia. The most labor-intensive stages are dough preparation and packaging. Customization is key – not just in shapes and doughs, but also in packaging – and full automation would compromise the quality and flexibility,’ he says.

pastes are the most optimal form for printing | image courtesy of Dr. Jonathan Blutinger

Startups and companies serving 3D printed food are confident about the customization of the software-controlled meals. In the process, however, especially with extrusion-based style, these bites can lose their (innate) vitamins and minerals. The way food is handled after it’s 3D printed, like cooking or drying, also impacts its nutritional value, at times more than the process of printing itself. The researchers at the University of the West of England, Bristol, share with designboom that post-printing, the protein structure of the food may change, which affects how our bodies absorb it. Thermal treatments can also change the texture and digestibility of the food, known as starch gelatinization, as well as break down the natural antioxidants of the meals, reducing their health benefits.

Dr. Alexandros Stratakos, Associate Professor in Sustainable Agri-Food Production, and Oluwatobi Fatola, PhD candidate in 3D printing, School of Applied Sciences, add that traditional food preparation methods – like boiling and frying – also affect nutrients a lot, not just 3D printed foods. In ways, then, the real nutritional impact comes from how the food is cooked or processed, not necessarily how it’s printed. The researchers note that the engineers and designers can incorporate specific nutrients into the food matrices. Machines can produce meals enriched with vitamins and minerals, making the food designed for those with nutritional deficiencies. ‘Another example is multi-ingredient 3D printed food developed for people with dysphagia, designed to meet both their textural and nutritional requirements. Also, the use of protein-rich ingredients in 3D printing formulations can improve both the structural integrity and the nutritional value of printed foods. Incorporating proteins into the printing material has been shown to enhance shape fidelity as well as the health benefits of the final product,’ the researchers tell designboom.

The Filet by Revo Foods | image courtesy of Revo Foods, read more here

Because 3D printed food is customizable, the machines can also develop allergen-free meals. The systems allow for a careful selection and exclusion of specific allergens like gluten, soy, or nuts. ‘Because 3D food printing operates in a highly controlled environment, the risk of cross-contamination is substantially reduced,’ say Dr. Alexandros Stratakos and Oluwatobi Fatola. ‘The automation and precision of the process further help to minimize human error and unintended allergen exposure, which is a key concern in traditional food manufacturing. Moreover, this technology opens the door to personalised allergen-free foods that can be tailored to the specific needs of individuals or groups for example, children with multiple food allergies or hospital patients on restrictive diets.’ 

Still, it’s worth noting that users still need to overcome technical challenges. As the researchers explain to designboom, not all allergen-free ingredients have the properties that are suitable for 3D printing. On the upside, it’s an ongoing area of 3D printed food research, including keeping the structure after printing, making visually appealing printouts, and producing digestible bites in terms of texture and flavor. Another post-printing concern related to 3D printed food being the future of meals is its shelf life. Dr. Jonathan Blutinger, a design engineer formerly at Columbia University’s Creative Machines Lab and now with the U.S. Army’s Combat Feeding Division at the Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center, tells designboom that it largely depends on the form of the input ingredients and whether they are thermally processed pre- or post-printing.

the startup uses fermented mushroom protein to produce 3D printed salmon | image courtesy of Revo Foods

He adds that ‘the printing process itself doesn’t alter the quality, freshness, or chemical make-up of the food product; it’s merely an intricate assembly technique, so it’s more so a function of the ingredients themselves.’ For a longer shelf life, food makers should consider starting with ingredients in their most basic powder form. Then, they mix it with other liquids before printing them since ‘pastes are the most optimal form for printing Otherwise, storing ingredients in airtight containers prior to printing tends to be the best way to preserve freshness, and then cooking ingredients immediately after printing to kill any potentially harmful bacteria,’ says Dr. Jonathan Blutinger. Still, it’s best to eat the 3D printed food a while after it has been produced rather than letting it sit on the shelf for weeks.

What about the food waste? The software-controlled meals are dubbed to help streamline food production: less conventional sources, less waste. There are ways to recycle 3D printed food’s waste into ingredients for another series of production. The design engineer informs us that the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) has a project called Cornucopia. ‘It aims to utilize resources from the natural environment, on-site where soldiers will actually be eating, to produce food for their field feeding. It could reduce the logistical burden of carrying food and supplies on their person in addition to reducing vulnerabilities in the supply chain. And as part of the U.S. Army’s Combat Feeding Division (CFD), DEVCOM Soldier Center, I see application of 3D food printing technology towards this Cornucopia effort, as a way to craft palatable meals from local resources,’ explains Dr. Jonathan Blutinger.

detailed view of the printed salmon | image courtesy of Revo Foods

Other than the Cornucopia, the 3D printing technology also upcycles food waste materials like fruit peels, vegetable trimmings, and even stale bread into new, edible products. Dr. Alexandros Stratakos and Oluwatobi Fatola share with us that these streams can be processed into printable pastes, or food inks, which are then extruded to create new food. ‘Beyond reducing environmental impact, this method supports a circular food economy by transforming underutilized resources into high-value foods. It also offers opportunities to enhance nutrition, for example, by enriching food inks with fiber, protein, or antioxidants naturally present in the original waste materials,’ the researchers add. Looking into the future, 3D printed food isn’t the only kind that’s ready to innovate the way we eat our meals. Dr. Jonathan Blutinger says that laser cooking can also offer multi-dimensional and versatile cooking possibilities. In this case, machines follow a design and blast a laser to produce cooked products ready to be sold.

Dr. Alexandros Stratakos and Oluwatobi Fatola suggest computational gastronomy, which combines data science with culinary arts to make food. Basically, it uses machine learning and data analytics to generate personalized food meeting the diet needs. This is valuable in the healthcare industry, a strong contender to the ‘bland’ food served at the hospitals. Smart appliances that can cook food on their own are also strong candidates in the future-of-meals discussion. ‘Moreover, cooking and food assembly appliances that aren’t software-enabled or part of the IoT will have a hard time competing with the smarter appliances that are constantly learning and adapting from user habits to become more efficient food-crafting robots,’ says Dr. Jonathan Blutinger. Recently, the growing presence of vertical farming is also noticeable, growing crops in stacked layers using controlled indoor environments. 3D printed food is one of the many technologies revolutionizing the way we eat. As it slowly makes its way into large-scale commercial production, other ways to make food picks up the pace, continuously changing the landscape of gastronomy.

Salix pasta by Artisia | from here, all images courtesy of Artisia

windmill-shaped pasta by Artisia

Artisia uses parametric design to produce its pasta

Artisia’s machines extrude fresh pasta dough via multiple nozzles

project info:

discussion: 3D printed food

researchers: Dr. Alexandros Stratakos, Mr. Oluwatobi Fatola, Dr. Jonathan Blutinger

institutions: University of the West of England, Bristol, Columbia University, Creative Machines Lab, US Army Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center | @uwebristol, @columbia, @usarmy

companies: Revo Foods, Artisia by Barilla | @revo_foods, @artisia_pasta

The post 3D printed salmon, pasta and dessert: inside the future of food with software-made meals appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

As the final episode of Severance’s Season 2 airs today, March 21st, viewers are left to ‘hang in there’ (remember that Breakroom poster?) while waiting for the next. Aside from setting a new record for Apple TV+ as its most-watched overall show, the series could be a masterclass in world-building through design. Directed by Ben Stiller and created by Dan Erickson, the show curates an environment that combines mid-century modernism, brutalist corporate aesthetics, and retro-futuristic technology to craft a sleek and unsettling world. Every architectural detail, furniture choice, and object reinforces the eerie duality of Lumon Industries—a workplace that feels familiar yet alien.

Severance uses design as a psychological tool to shape its retro-futuristic dystopia. From the sterile, symmetric corridors of the Severed floor, to the warm yet curated domestic spaces outside its walls, every element serves a purpose. Explore how mid-century modernist architecture is warped into a mechanism of control, how Dieter Rams’ minimalist, industrial pieces contribute to the company’s unsettling aesthetic, and how color, typography, and art shape this hypnotic world as we deep dive into the design elements that make Lumon Industries.

all images courtesy of Apple TV+ | Eero Saarinen’s Bell Works houses Lumon Industries

MID-CENTURY MODERNISM through a dystopian lens

Filmed primarily at the Bell Works in New Jersey, designed in 1962 by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, Lumon Industries headquarters is a corporate labyrinth that distorts the idealism of mid-century modernism into something ominous. The symmetrical layouts and smooth curves, typically symbols of innovation, here create an atmosphere of cold uniformity.

In the sixth episode of season 2 of the Apple TV+ show, the Gerald Luss House, a modernist residence in upstate New York, is introduced as the home of ‘Outie’ Burt and his husband Fields. Built in 1955 as the first residential project of architect, sculptor, and furniture designer Gerald Luss, the home, located in a region renowned for mid-century architecture, brings postwar corporate modernism into a domestic setting, complete with original Luss-designed furniture, like the iconic Time-Life couch.

Taghkanic House by Thomas Phifer and Partner

the diverging architectural narratives of timber and glass

The After Hours episode (S2, E9) opens at the home of the Lumon CEO Jame Eagan, and his daughter Helena, filmed at the Taghkanic House by Thomas Phifer and Partners. Tucked within a pine forest in rural upstate New York, the residence unfolds as two volumes with panoramic views of the Hudson River Valley and the distant mountains. The house’s glass and steel pavilion, perched above the landscape, creates a striking contrast with the solid lower level built into the hillside. 

In contrast, the Bier House—home to Mark’s sister Devon and her husband Ricken Hale—offers warmth and natural materials, yet still feels oddly staged. Designed by American-Japanese architect Kaneji Domoto in 1949, the Usonian home reflects his teacher Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic architecture principles, with a cantilevered living room, skylights, and a dining terrace wrapped around a tree. 

Lumon Industries headquarters is a corporate labyrinth

The Cold Precision of Dieter Rams inside lumon industries

The Severance production design team, led by Jeremy Hindle, curates furniture and objects that heighten the unsettling tone of the show. Pieces by Dieter Rams, a pioneer of minimalist industrial design, appear throughout Lumon, reinforcing the company’s clinical, function-over-form aesthetic. In the Chikhai Bardo episode (S2, E7), we visit the testing floor of Lumon Industries. There, we find Ms. Casey, Mark S.’s deceased wife, seated in the Fauteuil 620 armchair by Dieter Rams. In the same episode, more iconic designs by the German industrial designer make their appearance. Among them are the Braun FS-80 television, the Braun Wandanlage audio system, the HUV 1 Cosmolux lamp in collaboration with Reinhold Weiss, and the Bureau RZ-57, which contribute to the distinctive retro-futuristic aesthetic of Severance.

Beyond Rams, other furniture choices deepen the corporate sterility. The Fauteuil Nimrod by Marc Newson, the Fauteuil Fardos by Ricardo Fasanello, and Joe Colombo’s Chaise Universale and Vanity Dilly Dally all contribute to the eerie, hyper-controlled environment.

fluorescent-lit, linoleum-floored hallways evoke an institutional setting akin to hospitals

muted tones and stark typography

The color palette within Lumon is a crucial storytelling device. The soft greens of the office carpeting contrast against the stark white corridors, creating a hypnotic, almost hospital-like sterility. This choice is not accidental—green is often associated with focus and calmness, yet in Lumon’s context, it amplifies the unnatural stillness of the space.

Materiality plays an equally important role. Wood veneer paneling and muted earth tones in executive spaces suggest authority, while the fluorescent-lit, linoleum-floored hallways evoke an institutional setting akin to government facilities. The absence of natural light throughout the Severed Floor makes the workplace feel like an endless loop where employees exist in a world without time.

Typography and branding follow suit. Sans-serif fonts, minimalist icons, and corporate paperwork draw from mid-century government and business design, reinforcing Lumon’s faceless bureaucracy.

the Testing floor looks like an endless corridor

Art as Corporate Propaganda

At Lumon, even art serves as a tool of psychological control. The paintings that line the halls of the company—particularly the bizarre depictions of employees engaged in exaggerated, cult-like camaraderie—echo the visual language of Soviet-era propaganda and corporate motivational murals, reinforcing a manufactured sense of unity and devotion.

A significant aspect of the visual identity of Severance is the collection of oil paintings tied to Lumon’s lore and its founder, Kier Eagan. Stored and maintained by the Optics & Design department, these works, rendered in various styles, depict scenes from Eagan’s life and illustrate his philosophies, fostering an omnipresent, almost cult-like reverence for him. Through these images, Lumon carefully curates its own mythology, using art to shape the perception of its employees. In contrast, Irving Bailiff offers a deeply personal form of artistic expression. A prolific painter in his spare time, ‘Outie’ Irving fixates on a single subject: the Exports Hall leading to the Testing Floor.

Outside of Lumon, art takes on a different role. In the Attila episode (S2, E6), inside Burt and Fields’ kitchen, we catch a glimpse of Agnello Clown (1949) by Robert Springfels. While their home provides a stark contrast to Lumon’s sterile, hyper-controlled world, the clown’s eerie gaze lingers in the background, a subtle reminder that unease is never far away. Even in a space that should offer refuge, the presence of this unsettling painting hints at the fragility of their sanctuary.

Miss Huang in front of ‘Kier Pardons His Betrayers’ painting

pieces by Dieter Rams, a pioneer of minimalist industrial design, appear throughout Lumon

mid-century modernism, brutalist corporate aesthetics, and retro-futuristic technology

Fauteuil Nimrod chairs by Marc Newson

art serves as a tool of psychological control

furniture choices deepen the corporate sterility

employees sit at the Bureau RZ-57 office

green is often associated with focus and calmness

The post severance: a closer look into the mid-century, brutalist, and retro-futuristic universe of lumon appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

On the occasion of BMW’s Art Car 50th anniversary, we dive into some of the most iconic models in the collection. These include Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Esther Mahlangu, Jeff Koons, Julie Mehretu, Cao Fei, John Baldessari, Jenny Holzer, Olafur Eliasson, and more. So far, there are 20 BMW Art Cars in the collection that artists have transformed into ‘rolling sculptures.’ They all exude art movements, from minimalism and pop art to abstraction and digital art. These art cars are set to go on a world tour, exhibiting them across five continents. The BMW Art Car World Tour begins in Europe and Asia. On March 20th and 21st, 2025, the models by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, David Hockney, and Jeff Koons are on display at the Museum of Applied Arts and the SPARK Art Fair in Vienna as part of the BMW Group Niederlassung Wien event ‘(R)Evolution of Art.’

The 20th BMW Art Car in the collection, the BMW M Hybrid V8 by Julie Mehretu, appears at Art Basel in Hong Kong from March 28th to 30th. The 13th Art Car by Sandro Chia shows up at Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este at Lake Como in May 2025. Then in July and August, the Louwman Museum in The Hague presents eight BMW Art Cars collections in an exhibition. The BMW Museum also hosts an exhibition combining the anniversaries of the BMW Art Cars and the BMW 3 Series (the series marks its 50th anniversary in 2025). Starting June 16th, the museum showcases the history of all BMW 3 Series models as well as the BMW M3 Art Cars by Sandro Chia, Michael Jagamara Nelson, and Ken Done.

all images courtesy of BMW AG

Alexander Calder, 1975

BMW Art Car 1 by Alexander Calder | photo by Jean-Marie Bottequin

The first BMW Art Car in the collection is created in 1975 when artist Alexander Calder designs a bold livery for the BMW 3.0 CSL. Commissioned by auctioneer and racing driver Hervé Poulain, the project comes to life in collaboration with BMW Motorsport Director Jochen Neerpasch. Here, Alexander Calder applies his signature red, yellow, blue, and white patterns to the car.

The Calder-designed BMW 3.0 CSL makes its debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1975. Sam Posey, Jean Guichet, and Hervé Poulain drive it, though it retires from the race after seven hours due to a mechanical failure. The artist’s influences for the BMW art car in this collection extend from engineering to avant-garde art, drawing inspiration from Piet Mondrian and Joan Miró.

Check out designboom’s coverage on Alexander Calder’s BMW Art Car here.

the Calder-designed BMW 3.0 CSL makes its debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1975 | photo by Enes Kucevic 

Frank Stella, 1976

BMW Art Car 2 by Frank Stella | photo by Robert Kröschel

Frank Stella designs the BMW 3.0 CSL Art Car in the collection back in 1976, drawing on his early Abstract Minimalist Black Paintings. He creates a black-and-white grid pattern resembling oversized graph paper, inspired by the car’s precision engineering. The design highlights the contours and lines of the vehicle, reflecting technical accuracy. Applying the design requires extensive work over hundreds of hours.

Frank Stella’s BMW 3.0 CSL races at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1976, driven by Brian Redman and Peter Gregg, but technical issues prevent the car from finishing. A similar outcome occurs at the Dijon 6 Hours on 5 September 1976, with Ronnie Peterson and Gunnar Nilsson as drivers. During the 1960s, he becomes known for abstract color paintings exhibited worldwide. From the 1980s, he focuses on relief paintings and sculpture.

Frank Stella designs the BMW 3.0 CSL Art Car in the collection back in 1976 | photo by Enes Kucevic

Roy Lichtenstein, 1977

BMW Art Car 3 by Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein designs the BMW 320 Art Car of the collection to depict motion even when the car is stationary. The lines on the bodywork symbolize the road, while abstract representations of light and landscape suggest passing scenery. The doors display images of the sun, one rising and one setting, referencing the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Lichtenstein’s Art Car debuts twice—first at the Centre Pompidou in Paris as an artwork and then at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June 1977 as a race car. 

Carrying the number 50 and driven by Hervé Poulain and Marcel Mignot, the BMW Art Car in the collection finishes ninth overall and first in its class. Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) is one of the founders of American Pop Art. His early works include Cubism and Expressionism, but he does not explore comics and advertising until the late 1950s. In 1961, he creates his first Pop Art paintings, developing a visual language of large dots and clear contours

Roy Lichtenstein designs the BMW 320 Art Car of the collection to depict motion | photo by Enes Kucevic

Andy Warhol, 1979

BMW Art Car 4 by Andy Warhol | photo by Jean-Marie Bottequin

Instead of using pop culture references, Andy Warhol paints the BMW M1 Art Car himself. He covers it in colors and textures with broad brushstrokes in 28 minutes. The artist’s design represents speed, with contours and colors intended to create the effect of motion. Hervé Poulain, founder of the BMW Art Car Collection, observes Warhol painting the car and compares it to a live dance performance.

Andy Warhol’s BMW Art Car in the collection races for the first and only time at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1979. Numbered 76, the M1 is driven by Manfred Winkelhock from Germany and Hervé Poulain and Marcel Mignot from France. The car finishes sixth overall and second in its class. The celebrated artist is a key figure in modern art and a leading proponent of Pop Art.

Andy Warhol paints the car with broad brushstrokes in 28 minutes | photo by Stephan Bauer

Esther Mahlangu, 1991

BMW Art Car 12 by Esther Mahlangu

For her Art Car in the BMW collection, Esther Mahlangu applies traditional Ndebele painting to the BMW 525i. She brings tribal art to a modern vehicle. The artist’s geometric patterns and vivid colors, typically seen on house facades, cover the art car. To familiarize herself with the new medium, she first paints the door of another BMW before completing the Art Car in a week. She becomes the first woman and the first African artist to design an Art Car. Esther Mahlangu’s BMW Art Car in the collection is created for exhibition and has never been driven in a race.

Born in South Africa (1935), Esther Mahlangu learns traditional Ndebele painting techniques from her mother. Ndebele murals, known for their patterns, are traditionally created by women. The artist is recognized as a leading figure in this field, with exhibitions in institutions such as the British Museum in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In 2024, the Iziko Museums of South Africa in Cape Town hosts a major retrospective of her work. 

Check out designboom’s coverage on Esther Mahlangu’s BMW Art Car here.

Esther Mahlangu applies traditional Ndebele painting | photo by Clint Strydom

Jenny Holzer, 1999

BMW Art Car 15 by Jenny Holzer

American conceptual artist Jenny Holzer’s BMW Art Car in the collection features messages similar to those in her Truisms series. The car displays one of her most well-known ones, ‘PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT,’ on the bonnet. It critiques the endless desires of capitalism, placed on a 580-bhp, 340-km/h racing car. To make sure viewers see it during the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Holzer uses reflective chrome letters and phosphorescent paint. The letters reflect the sky during the day and glow BMW blue at night, releasing the daylight they absorbed.

In May 1999, Jenny Holzer’s Art Car in the BMW collection participates in the qualifying round for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Although it does not make it into the race, another BMW V12 LMR competes and wins, driven by Joachim Winkelhock, Pierluigi Martini, and Yannick Dalmas. Born in Ohio in 1950, Jenny Holzer focuses on using text as an artistic medium, projecting her messages onto various surfaces such as posters, benches, photos, and LED displays. She begins her career in Ohio and moves to New York in 1977, where she creates her Truisms series.

the car displays the message PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT | photo by Siegfried Hofmann

Olafur Eliasson, 2007

BMW Art Car 16 by Olafur Eliasson | image courtesy of Studio Olafur Eliasson and BMW Group

For his Art Car in the BMW collection, Olafur Eliasson transforms a hydrogen-powered prototype, the H.R. He removes its body and then replaces it with a reflective wire mesh, covering the entire car. The artist also layers the mesh with ice, turning the car into an ice sculpture. The artwork weighs around two tons and is internally illuminated. The BMW H.R research vehicle is Olafur Eliasson’s BMW Art Car. It sets nine records for vehicles powered by hydrogen combustion engines. It has been tested on a high-speed track in Miramas, France.

Olafur Eliasson’s BMW Art Car in the collection is also intended solely as an exhibition piece. It has never been driven on the road or in a race. Born in Copenhagen in 1967 to Icelandic parents, he has created installations that explore natural phenomena like light, water, movement, and mist. He is best known for his large-scale works, such as The Weather Project (2003), exhibited at Tate Modern in London. The piece features an artificial sun made of monochromatic lights, mist, and mirrors, which made the vast Turbine Hall appear even larger. 

Olafur Eliasson transforms a hydrogen-powered prototype into an ice sculpture

Jeff Koons, 2010

BMW Art Car 17 by Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons creates a design for the 17th BMW Art Car in the collection using the M3 GT2 as his base. He applies bright colors and streaks of light. The design includes clusters of lines suggesting speed and energy across the bodywork. There are graphic explosions at the rear, representing the power of the engine. Jeff Koons uses 20 Pantone colors reproduced with digital printing techniques. The challenge lies in finding the brightest possible white for the basecolor on the special vinyl wrap. 

Jeff Koons’s BMW Art Car in the collection makes its world premiere on June 2nd, 2010 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The car competes in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 12 June 2010. It comes with a number 79 to pay homage to Andy Warhol’s 1979 Art Car. Andy Priaulx (UK), Dirk Müller (DE), and Dirk Werner (DE) drive the BMW Art Car. It becomes a fan favorite but faces technical issues and withdraws after five hours of racing.

Check out designboom’s coverage on Jeff Koons’ BMW Art Car here.

Jeff Koons’ design includes clusters of lines suggesting speed across the bodywork | photo by Enes Kucevic

Julie Mehretu, 2024

BMW Art Car 20 by Julie Mehretu | photo by Tereza Mundilová

For her Art Car in the BMW collection, American artist Julie Mehretu works with various media on large canvases. These include photos, social media posts, musical motifs, and literary quotations. She distorts, pixelates, and paints over them, adding her visual gestures. While working on a painting called Everywhen, the model of a BMW M Hybrid V8 arrives at her studio. She considers the possibility of the car racing through the painting. Her outcome merges the worlds of art and motorsport, creating a kind of performative artwork.

The BMW Art Car in the collection has its world premiere on May 21st, 2024, at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The car competes in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 15 June 2024. The team includes Robin Frijns, Sheldon van der Linde, and René Rast. After five hours, the car drops out due to a driver error. The car makes a lap of honor 24 hours later. In 2024, the prototype BMW M Hybrid V8 covers 82,400 km in tests and races.

Check out designboom’s coverage on Julie Mehretu’s BMW Art Car here.

there are graphic explosions at the rear, representing the power of the engine | photo by André Josselin

project info:

name: 50 years of BMW Art Car Collection

car manufacturer: BMW | @bmw, @bmwgroupculture

art car artists: Alexander Calder (1975), Frank Stella (1976), Roy Lichtenstein (1977), Andy Warhol (1979), Ernst Fuchs (1982), Robert Rauschenberg (1986), Michael Jagamara Nelson (1989), Ken Done (1989), Matazo Kayama (1990), César Manrique (1990

), A.R. Penck (1991), Esther Mahlangu (1991), Sandro Chia (1992), David Hockney (1995), Jenny Holzer (1999), Ólafur Elíasson (2007), Jeff Koons (2010), Cao Fei (2017), John Baldessari (2016), Julie Mehretu (2024)

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Retro designs in modern tech rekindle ‘old’ days

Retro designs have made their comeback as modern tech, from the Barbie and Motorola flip phones to the Polaroid camera in LEGO form. Their functions and buttons have since gotten a massive upgrade, but away from these modern touches, it’s nostalgic to have them back. They look and feel familiar, reframed into statement must-haves relieving the simpler days. Recent technology operates like rapid-fire: one touch is all it takes for features to activate. It wasn’t like this in the past. Users needed to click number ‘six’ three times on their cellphone’s keypad if they wanted to type the letter ‘O’, and they had to wait for the camera film to show them what they photographed.

They must plug the cables to their sound devices for the speaker to start playing music, and the gaming controllers had their own consoles, unlike the two-in-one fix these days with smartphones and the downloadable games and apps. Some users have embraced modern technologies; others miss the gadgets from the past. But there are those who want the best of both worlds, the modern tech with retro designs, and they’re the ones who can enjoy the keypad on the Barbie flip phone, the ejecting film in the LEGO Polaroid camera, the tactile buttons on GameSir’s gaming controller, and the retro pixel-art animation on Divoom’s Ditoo Bluetooth speaker.

HMD Barbie Flip Phone | image courtesy of HMD

upgraded flip phones from barbie to motorola and samsung

Fans can appreciate the renaissance of retro designs in modern tech, but bringing back the vintage designs for a nostalgic flick isn’t always the case, at least not so much with the arrival of the official Barbie phone. It was part of the Barbie mania that took over brands and cities across the globe during the premiere of the movie in 2023. Its wick keeps burning because Mattel continues the buzz when they team up with Human Mobile Devices (HMD), the company that used to make Nokia smartphones, to release the official Barbie phone.

But it’s not an all-screen phone. It’s a flip phone with a tactile keypad. It has a soft click when the user folds it up because of the hinges. There’s a click-clack sound again and again when the user types on the keypad, and that’s a kind of feeling smartphones these days can’t replicate, even with vibrate on keypress. Mattel and HMD aren’t the only ones because Motorola has also released the Razr 40 Ultra, and Samsung, a long-term player in the flip phone game, has introduced several models, including its recent Galaxy Z Flip6. But the Barbie phone gets an edge because, among these names, it’s the only one that hasn’t abandoned the tactile keypad (yet).

the Barbie flip phone has a tactile keypad

modern retro cameras include LEGO polaroid and fujifilm instax

At times, giving in to the retro designs of modern technology can sound as if people were joining just for the recent trend. And why not when the modern retro gadgets do contend as must-have items or gifts? Some of them look cool, but others just tap into the hibernated inner child in people. The latter is a possibility the moment LEGO Ideas releases their Polaroid OneStep SX-70 because it’s a building set for adults who want to recreate the Polaroid camera in the past, but in LEGO form. It’s for both beginner and master photographers, and to top it off, it operates just like a real vintage Polaroid camera model.

No, it can’t take actual pictures, but photographers can load one of the included photographs and eject them out of the camera when they click on the shutter. If users still want an actual camera that takes pictures while still keeping the retro vibes of the design, they can also snap up the Fujifilm Instax Pal. It’s a pocketable digital camera that looks like a surveillance cam, and it prints photos as soon as they click on the shutter. Fujifilm adds a built-in speaker into the model, so users can hear the ‘click’ sound, and when the films stop rolling because there aren’t any pieces left, they can plug in a microSD card to save the photos and transfer them to their computer or cloud drive later.

Motorola Razr 40 Ultra | image courtesy of Motorola

retro pixel art in speaker design and modern gaming controller

It’s nice, though, to have retro-designed modern gadgets around. They can be a well of references for creatives who want to shake up the design of their works. They also remind us of what we left behind, a time that has passed but we still associate good memories or experiences with. It might be a familiar feeling with game consoles as they improve, but luckily, the brands have maintained the physical buttons on the controllers. GameSir, though, takes advantage of people’s use of smartphones and devises X2S. It’s a Type-C mobile gaming controller for iPhone 15, Android, and HarmonyOS smartphones, so users don’t have to keep tapping their screens. The design recreates the buttons of Nintendo 2Ds, complete with analog triggers, clicky buttons, and a joystick. 

It’s also expandable to fit the majority of smartphone sizes these days, and it’s rubber-coated so it doesn’t slip from the gamers’ grip as they spend hours on their screens. While they’re at it, they can also play music in the background using Divoom’s Ditoo retro pixel art Bluetooth speaker. It resembles the arcade machines in the past with its tube-TV-like screen, which is home to its speaker, and the tiny keyboard-like buttons with a tiny joystick. When it plays songs, the keyboard illuminates in neon colors, and the screen lights up with retro pixel animation. The speaker feels nostalgic to have these retro looks back into the present time. Their design elements might just prove how they’ve already stood the test of time, and by the looks of it, they’re not dying down anytime soon.

unlike the Barbie Flip Phone, the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra only has a screen without tactile keypad

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 | image courtesy of Samsung

so far, the Z Flip6 is the most recent flip phone Samsung has released

LEGO Ideas Polaroid camera | image courtesy of LEGO Ideas

the LEGO Polaroid can eject images like a real instant camera

Fujifilm Instax Pal | image courtesy of Fujifilm

users of the Fujifilm Instax Pal can add their microSD card to save their photos to an external source

GameSir’s X2S mobile gaming controller | image courtesy of Gamesir

the GameSir X25 controller is suitable for iPhone 15, Android and HarmonyOS smartphones

Divoom’s Ditoo retro pixel art Bluetooth speaker | image courtesy of Divoom

the speaker’s screen projects retro-pixel animation when music plays

project info:

gadgets: HMD Barbie, Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, Samsung Galaxy Flip6, LEGO Ideas Polaroid OneStep SX-70, Fujifilm Instax Pal, GameSir X2S Controller, Divoom Ditoo Retro Pixel Art Bluetooth Speaker

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This fall season introduces a lineup of blockbusters where architects take on the lead character. We’re talking about Megalopolis, The Brutalist, and E.1027, three exciting storylines starring big names like Adam Driver and Adrien Brody. In Megalopolis, Cesar Catilina is a controversial architect intent on creating a utopian city, but his obsession leads to personal and social conflicts. The Brutalist follows László Toth, a Hungarian architect navigating poverty and prejudice in America, as he seeks to maintain his artistic integrity while succumbing to the demands of powerful patrons. Conversely, E.1027 centers on Eileen Gray, an Irish architect challenging gender norms in her pursuit of recognition in a male-dominated field, emphasizing a more personal struggle for artistic expression.

While all three characters share an unwavering passion for architecture and innovation, their individual realities trigger different responses to societal pressures—Catilina’s political struggles, László’s immigrant experience, and Eileen’s fight against patriarchy​. In this feature, designboom highlights and offers tribute to cinematography centered around the art and life of architecture through love, tragedy, and unrest. We round up the latest titles and dug up some classics from the archives. Enjoy! 

image: still, Megalopolis (2024) Official Trailer | courtesy Lionsgate Movies

ARCHITECTS AS PROTAGONISTS IN FILMS

MEGALOPOLIS (2024) BY FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA

Signed by American film director Francis Ford Coppola, MEGALOPOLIS is a Roman epic set in an imagined Modern America. The City of New Rome must change, causing conflict between Cesar Catilina (played by Adam Driver), a genius artist who seeks to leap into a utopian, idealistic future, and his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (played by Giancarlo Esposito), who remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero (played by Nathalie Emmanuel), the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties. 

image: still, Megalopolis (2024) Official Trailer | courtesy Lionsgate Movies

THE BRUTALIST (2024) STARRING ADRIEN BRODY 

Hitting the screen in December 2024, The Brutalist tells the story of visionary architect László Toth, arriving in America after escaping post-war Europe in 1947 to rebuild his life and work alongside his wife Erzsébet after being forced apart during wartime by shifting borders and regimes. On his own in a strange new country, László settles in Pennsylvania and witnesses the birth of modern America. At some point, he crosses paths with the wealthy and prominent industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren, who recognizes his talent for building, only to be sucked into the consequences of power and legacy. The movie stars Adrien Brody as László Toth, Felicity Jones as Erzsébet Toth, and Guy Pearce as Harrison Lee Van Buren. 

image courtesy A24 Films

E.1027 – EILEEN GRAY AND THE HOUSE BY THE SEA (2024)

In the 1930s Parisian art scene, a love triangle and artistic rivalry unfold in a stylish docufiction starring Natalie Radmall-Quirke as Eileen Gray, the iconic Irish artist and architect. Gray’s modernist masterpiece, E.1027, a house on the Riviera, embodies her unique vision, blending design with nature. The Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier becomes obsessed with the house, overshadowing Gray’s work. The film explores how male colleagues overshadowed her contributions despite her groundbreaking achievements. It celebrates her legacy through striking visuals inspired by her design sensibilities. The movie is set to be released on November 28, 2024. 

image courtesy IMDb

CLASSICS: PETER GREENAWAY’S THE BELLY OF AN ARCHITECT (1987)

Directed by Peter Greenaway, The Belly of an Architect tells the story of Stourley Kracklite (played by Brian Dennehy), a meticulous and obsessive architect who journeys from America to Rome with his younger wife, Louisa (played by Chloe Webb), to curate an exhibition honoring 18th-century architect Etienne-Louis Boullée. During the trip, the couple conceives a long-desired child. Still, Stourley’s growing fixation on Louisa’s pregnancy, suspicions of her infidelity, and his own worsening abdominal pain drive him to the brink, spiraling into a dangerous obsession.

image courtesy IMDb

CLASSICS: THE FOUNTAINHEAD (1949) STARRING GARY COOPER

America’s earliest star, Gary Cooper, brought the ‘architect’ to life in The Fountainhead, a classic black-and-white movie directed by King Vidor. The film is adapted from Ayn Rand’s bestselling 1943 novel, with Rand also penning the screenplay. It centers on Howard Roark, a fiercely independent architect who refuses to compromise his artistic vision, even if it means enduring obscurity. Roark battles against the conservative architectural establishment to design modern buildings. His relationships with those who support or oppose him add layers of romantic drama and philosophical depth. Roark symbolizes Rand’s ideal of the human spirit, with his journey reflecting the broader conflict between individualism and collectivism.

image courtesy IMDb

ARCHITECTure AS a PROTAGONIST IN FILMS

COLUMBUS (2017) BY KOGONADA

This critically acclaimed production takes the audience on a path of meditation on love, loss, and architecture. Envisioned by South Korean director Kogonada as his debut film, Columbus stars John Cho as Jin Lee, the son of a renowned architecture scholar, and Haley Lu Richardson as Casey, a recent high school graduate and library worker. Casey lives with her mother, a recovering addict, in a little-known Midwestern town haunted by the promise of modernism. Jin, a visitor from the other side of the world, attends to his estranged, dying father. The movie traces the blossoming of their friendship, finding respite in one another and the architecture surrounding them — including the North Christian Church and Irwin Conference Center designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen. 

image courtesy IMDb

HIGH-RISE (2015) STARRING TOM HIDDLESTON

When we think of architecture as the protagonist’, we cannot skip High-Rise, a dystopian thriller that weaves the aesthetics of brutalism with an unsettling narrative. The movie stars Tom Hiddleston as Dr. Robert Laign, Jeremy Irons as Anthony Royal, Elisabeth Moss as Helen Wilder, Luke Evans as Richard Wilder, and Sienna Miller as Charlotte Melville. Set in a 40-story luxury tower built by Royal in 1975 on the outskirts of London, the film follows residents enjoying modern conveniences, gradually isolating themselves from the outside world. As the building’s infrastructure fails, tensions rise, plunging the tower into chaos. 

image: still, HIGH-RISE – Official Trailer | courtesy StudiocanalUK

EX MACCHINA (2014) STARRING OSCAR ISAAC AND ALICIA VIKANDER

Directed by Alex Garland, Ex Machina follows programmer Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), who spends a week at the private estate of Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac), his internet firm’s CEO. He soon finds out he was selected to participate in a Turing test to evaluate the consciousness of Ava (Alicia Vikander), a highly advanced robot. As the test progresses, it becomes clear that Ava is far more self-aware and manipulative than Caleb or her creator, Nathan, initially anticipated. Throughout the movie, architecture takes center stage- from Bateman’s all-glass minimalist residence to the underground laboratory, which showcases technological aesthetics that emphasize the story’s focus on AI and machinic relations.

image courtesy IMDb

PARASITE (2019) BY BONG JOON HO

This award-winning South Korean black comedy, envisioned by filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, tells the story of the financially struggling Kim family who lives in a semi-basement flat in Seoul and devise a plan to infiltrate the wealthy Park family after receiving a scholar’s rock from university student Min-hyuk, symbolizing wealth. Throughout the movie, architecture is central to the film’s exploration of social class dynamics and the relationships between characters. The most obvious one is the illustration of contrasting spaces: the semi-basement flat symbolizes poverty and marginalization, being dark and cramped. In contrast, the Park family’s modern home represents wealth, comfort, and privilege, with spacious designs and natural light echoing high status. 

image courtesy IMDb

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN’S INCEPTION (2010)

Probably the most iconic ode to architecture of the last two decades is director Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending masterpiece, Inception — starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a skilled thief who specializes in extracting information by penetrating the subconscious of his targets. He is presented with an opportunity to have his criminal record expunged in exchange for planting an idea into a target’s subconscious. In the process, he recruits a young architecture graduate, Ariadne (Elliot Page), who helps him construct the blueprints of the dream. — from bending Haussmanian architecture in Paris to forging top-secret brutalist facilities in the snowy highlands. 

image courtesy IMDb

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