London’s unmistakable Brutalist colossus, the Barbican Centre, is set to pause its regular operations and close its doors for a full year beginning in June 2028 as part of an ambitious renovation program. The project will be led by Allies and Morrison, Asif Khan Studio, and Buro Happold.

The Barbican, a Grade II-listed cultural powerhouse designed by Chamberlin, Powell & Bon and built between 1965 and 1982, has since stood as an iconic mixed-use development with residential, recreational, and cultural facilities. It houses one of Europe’s most celebrated multi-arts portfolios, including the Barbican Art Gallery, Curve, Level 2 Gallery, a world-class concert hall, theatre spaces, cinemas, and the much-loved Conservatory. The building was captured in recent photographs by David Altrath.

images © David Altrath

the year-long ‘barbican renewal programme’

Nearly forty-five years after the centre’s opening, wear and aging infrastructure have begun to show, prompting a renovation dubbed the Barbican Renewal Programme. Led by Asif Khan Studio, Allies and Morrison, and Buro Happold, the extensive overhaul aims at securing the center’s future for decades to come. The project will see key public spaces — from the dramatic foyers and lakeside terrace to the landmark Conservatory — restored and reimagined, while vital infrastructure is modernized to meet contemporary standards of accessibility, sustainability, and creative flexibility. 

the centre was designed by Chamberlin, Powell & Bon and built between 1965 and 1982

the renovation: What Will Close and What Will Remain Open

The closure will run from the end of June 2028 until summer 2029. During this time, most of Barbican programs and spaces will be under construction. However, the Barbican cinemas on Beech Street will remain open, and the surrounding residential estate will stay accessible. In addition, creative partnerships and off-site programming are expected to help maintain the Barbican’s cultural presence across London while the walls are quiet.

The City of London Corporation has already committed a £191 million funding package toward the first phase of renewal, representing roughly eighty per cent of the required investment, with the remainder to be raised through a fundraising campaign. This ambitious pause comes at a defining moment with the Barbican’s fiftieth anniversary on the horizon in 2032.

the closure will run from the end of June 2028 until summer 2029

project info:

name: Barbican Renewal Programme | @barbicancentre

architects: Allies and Morrison, Asif Khan Studio, Buro Happold

closure dates: June 2028 — Summer 2029

photography: © David Altrath | @davidaltrath

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Photographer David Altrath walks the Barbican Centre, tracing how elevated walkways, heavy concrete masses, and layered water landscapes shape one of Britain’s boldest experiments in high-density urban living. Designed by Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon and completed in 1982, the estate rises from post-war London. Altrath focuses on the constant shifts of light, weather, and movement that animate the megastructure of the Brutalist icon.

The scale of the estate is felt in the sweeping view of its terrace blocks rising over the central green. Narrow balconies wrap the long facades, filled with red flowers, potted plants, and the everyday objects of residents. Below, a lawn dotted with picnics and a small playground softens the geometry, revealing the original intention of the architects to merge high-density housing with generous public space. Behind the horizontal stack of apartments, the crisp verticality of newer office towers reminds viewers of the role of the estate as a cultural enclave carved into the commercial center of the city.

all images by David Altrath

elevated paths and water gardens shape the brutalist landmark

Moving into the complex, Hamburg-based photographer Altrath focuses on its elevated pedestrian routes, the system of brick-tiled walkways that binds the estate together. One corridor curves under a low concrete canopy, framed by slender black steel posts and lit by a soft glow that pushes the eye outward toward surrounding trees. Another walkway runs straight into a thicket of cylindrical columns, their rough-cast surfaces catching the daylight. A painted yellow line down the center subtly hints at the estate’s circulation logic, a city built for walkers above the traffic of the ground plane.

At the water gardens, layered terraces, fountains, and planted islands unfold in a slow gradient toward the lake. Altrath catches families perched on a circular brick island feeding ducks, reeds rustling in the wind, and sunlight flickering through the surface of the ponds. The rhythm of the fountains runs parallel to the long reflections of the residential towers, tying the vertical and horizontal scales of the Barbican into one continuous landscape.

David Altrath walks the Barbican Centre

london’s urban past through concrete, water, and film

From beneath the terrace blocks, the camera turns to the estate’s undercrofts, vast yet quiet spaces where columns descend straight into the water and the echoes of the city fade. Altrath frames these supports as sculptural elements, highlighting the surprising delicacy in their arrangement despite the weight they carry overhead.

Throughout the series, fragments of older London appear between concrete planes through church windows, pale stone facades, and medieval remnants peeking through the estate’s elevated pathways. These juxtapositions underline the Barbican’s layered history, a reconstruction of a bombed district, a proclamation of modernist ideals, and now a cultural landmark continuously reshaped by its users.

Shot on Kodak Vision3 250D and 500T, the photographs embrace the warmth, grain, and atmospheric softness of film. Altrath uses the medium to pull out the shift of color across aggregate surfaces, the texture of water meeting brick, and the way planted edges soften the monumental presence of the estate. 

elevated walkways, heavy concrete masses, and layered water landscapes shape the complex

one of Britain’s boldest experiments in high-density urban living

designed by Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon and completed in 1982

Altrath focuses on the constant shifts of light, weather, and movement that animate the megastructure

the scale of the estate is felt in the sweeping view of its terrace blocks rising over the central green

narrow balconies wrap the long facades

the camera turns to the estate’s undercrofts

brick-tiled walkways bind the estate together

moving into the complex, Altrath focuses on its elevated pedestrian routes

rough-cast surfaces

the photographs embrace the warmth, grain and atmospheric softness of film

Altrath uses the medium to pull out subtleties often overlooked in Brutalist structures

the cultural landmark is continuously reshaped by its users

a cultural enclave carved into the commercial center of the city

project info:

name: Barbican Centre

photographer: David Altrath | @davidaltrath

architects: Chamberlin, Powell and Bon

location: London, Great Britain

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The Flatiron Building’s renovation and conversion into private residences in Manhattan offers a new view into one of New York City’s most closely observed landmarks. New interior renders released by Studio Sofield — the firm responsible for the interiors of SHoP Architects’ ultra-thin tower at 111 West 57th Street — reveal how the triangular icon is being reshaped from office spaces into a collection of homes. While the 1903-built structure is shaped strongly by its site and steel frame, its tapering geometry guides the plan of each unit. With this in mind, designer William Sofield emphasizes measured proportions that work with the narrow footprint rather than against it.

visualizations © Visualisation One

the iconic building becomes 38 residences

The overall project unfolds as a full renovation of the Flatiron Building, with a team of specialists leading an extensive preservation of its ornamental exteriors. Terra-cotta units, limestone bands, and decorative brickwork have been either repaired or replaced, sustaining the building’s familiar presence on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Broadway.

Inside, the shift from commercial floors to thirty-eight private residences introduces a new typology to the wedge-shaped plan. Historic railings, ironwork, and traces of early twentieth-century craftsmanship uncovered during the process informed key design decisions. These fragments help anchor the new interiors to the building’s original construction without depending on literal period recreation.

the Flatiron Building’s conversion brings new homes shaped by the tower’s triangular geometry

sunlit interiors by studio sofield

Newly unveiled visualizations of the Flatiron Building renovation show open interiors organized surrounded by large, arching windows, allowing daylight to enter deep into each room. The curvature of the building’s southern tip appears in several layouts, expressed as living areas that gradually widen. The effect relies on restraint as austere materials and precise detailing allow the shard-like geometry to play a central role.

Material choices reference the building’s long history. Plaster walls, stone thresholds, and metal accents echo the weight and texture of the early skyscraper, while contemporary finishes introduce a quieter rhythm suited to residential life.

historic ironwork, railings, and mosaics inform key interior details

office space repurposed for domestic use

Studio Sofield’s plan prioritizes circulation that follows the building’s inherent lines. Corridors track alongside the angled exterior walls, and rooms align with window bays that were originally spaced to lighten the steel frame. These deep openings now frame views that shift gradually as one moves through the triangular footprint, from the canyon of Fifth Avenue to the openness of Madison Square.

The new visuals highlight the way the renovation adapts the building’s thin floor plates to domestic scales. Kitchens, living rooms, and bedrooms unfold in sequences shaped by the taper of the plan, allowing each residence to occupy a distinctive portion of the tower. The varying widths create a range of spatial conditions, from intimate corners to elongated, outward-facing rooms.

interior plans follow the building’s angled footprint

daylight reaches deep into each residence through restored window bays

Studio Sofield’s interiors use calm materials and clear proportions suited to domestic life

restraint in material and color allows the architecture to guide the experience

project info:

name: Flatiron Building renovation

architecture: Studio Sofield | @studio_sofield

location: New York, NY

developer: The Brodsky Organization, The Sorgente Group 

visualizations: © Visualisation One | @visualisationone

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An icon of Brutalist architecture in New York, the Breuer Building reopens this week as the new global headquarters of Sotheby’s. The Marcel Breuer-designed museum has stood at 945 Madison Avenue since 1966, and has since been home to the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Frick. Its latest transformation by Herzog & de Meuron marks the continuation of its public legacy. designboom attended a preview of the renovated building to learn about the project from the Sotheby’s team and architect Wim Walschap, Senior Partner at Herzog & de Meuron.

‘This building is an example of postwar modernism and Brutalism with a very distinct beauty,’ says Walschap. ‘It was designed specifically for public use. It has endured as an icon and much-loved landmark in New York, proving also its timeless appeal.

‘Our goal was to preserve the building’s integrity, its purpose, and legacy, while preparing it for a dynamic new use that puts art at the center.’

the Marcel Breuer-designed museum has stood at 945 Madison Avenue since 1966. image © designboom

herzog & de meuron’s sensitive renovation

The Breuer Building”s adaptive reuse for Sotheby‘s, undertaken by Herzog & de Meuron with New York–based PBDW Architects, is approached with respect for its legacy as a New York icon. The architects retain the weight and texture of Marcel Breuer’s bush-hammered concrete, which continues to express itself as both surface and structure. Along Madison Avenue, a subtle lighting scheme renews the facade’s sculptural presence after dark.

Inside, the reconfiguration restores the original gallery sequences conceived for the Whitney Museum while equipping them for Sotheby’s program of exhibitions, auctions, and events. Office partitions have been removed to reestablish spatial continuity, while updated environmental systems and new lighting calibrate the galleries for both fine art and design objects.

‘We worked closely with Sotheby’s to ensure that the building does more than just retain its identity,’ Walschap explains. ‘We’ve tried to reactivate it and prepare it for the next generation of use, balancing preservation and transformation.’

Sotheby’s Breuer building lobby. image © designboom

new galleries for sotheby’s global headquarters

The new galleries for Sotheby’s Global HQ at the Breuer Building in New York open with exhibitions drawn from The Leonard A. Lauder Collection, The Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection, and Exquisite Corpus, a major private collection of Surrealist art. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Crowns (Peso Neto) (1981) and Maurizio Cattelan’s America (2016) also feature among the inaugural displays. These shows remain free and open to the public, extending Breuer’s original vision of accessibility.

‘The opening of Sotheby’s at the Breuer is a historic moment for New York City, the art world, and our company,’ says Steve Wrightson, Sotheby’s Global Head of Real Estate, Facilities & Security. ‘The Breuer building, deeply woven into the architectural landmarks and history of New York, perfectly complements our portfolio of marquee locations in Hong Kong, Paris, London, and Zurich.’

Sotheby’s third-floor Breuer galleries, featuring works from the Modern Evening Auction, highlighted by Dorothea Tanning’s ‘Interior with Sudden Joy’, Frida Kahlo’s ‘El sueño (La cama)’, and Victor Brauner’s ‘Maison hantée’ [left to right]. photography by Stefan Ruiz, courtesy Sotheby’s

Herzog & de Meuron’s intervention works largely through precision rather than addition. The rhythm of exposed concrete, dark granite floors, and carefully proportioned window openings remains central to the experience. The gallery ceilings are stripped back to their original profiles, and support new track lighting systems that adjust between exhibition and salesroom use. On the second floor, a flexible hall now accommodates talks and events.

A restaurant designed by Roman and Williams will open in the spring, completing the building’s reactivation. ‘Those who knew it in earlier incarnations will be moved by how we’ve reimagined 945 Madison Avenue,’ says Lisa Dennison, Sotheby’s Executive Vice President and Chairman, Americas. ‘Breuer’s design, with its remarkable ability to embrace many styles and eras of art, is especially meaningful for Sotheby’s.’

The Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection. image © designboom

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Crowns (Peso Neto) (1981). image © designboom

Sotheby’s Breuer lobby gallery, featuring works from the Collection of Dorothy and Roy Lichtenstein, photography by Stefan Ruiz, courtesy Sotheby’s

The Leonard A. Lauder Collection. image © designboom

Sotheby’s fourth-floor Breuer galleries, featuring Gustav Klimt’s ‘Blooming Meadow (Blumenwiese)’, ‘Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer (Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer)’ and ‘Waldabhang bei Unterach am Attersee (Forest Slope in Unterach on the Attersee)’, from The Leonard A. Lauder Collection [left to right]. photograph by Stefan Ruiz, courtesy Sotheby’s

project info:

name: Breuer Building

original architect: Marcel Breuer (1966)

renovation architect: Herzog & de Meuron | @herzogdemeuron

executive architect & preservation: Platt Byard Dovell White Architects (PBDW) | @pbdwarchitects

location: 945 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, USA

site area: 1,200 square meters (12,916 sqft)

gross floor area (GFA): 7,268 square meters (78,232 sqft)

previous coverage: August 2025

client: Sotheby’s | @sothebys

design team: Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Wim Walschap (Partner in Charge), Philip Schmerbeck (Associate, Project Director), Jackie Bae (Associate, Project Manager), Bethany Herrmann (Project Designer), Farhad Ahmad, Marija Brdarski, Javier de Cárdenas Canomanuel, Sebastian Frowein, Nathan Mehl, Melodie Sanchez

structural engineering: Silman Structural Solution / TYLin

MEPFP engineering: AMA Group USA

lighting design: Tillotson Design Associates

AV & low voltage consulting: TMT Technology

acoustic consulting: Eligator Acoustics Associates

geotechnical consulting: Langan Engineering and Environmental Services

vertical transportation: DTM Inc.

life safety: Homes Keogh Associates

code consulting: Gillman Consulting Inc.

waterproofing & special inspections: Socotec Engineering, Inc.

contractor: J.T. Magen

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Le Corbusier’s iconic residential buildings, originally conceived as experiments in how people can live together, are still welcoming residents more than seventy years later. Recent property listings in Marseille, Paris, and Geneva show that these apartments are opportunities to live inside some of the most influential works of modern architecture. From the massive Cité Radieuse on the Marseille waterfront to the glass-fronted Molitor building in Boulogne-Billancourt, each space reflects Le Corbusier’s ideas about design, proportion, and community.

These buildings were meant to be lived in, adapted, and tested over time, housing real homes with terraces, kitchens, and fireplaces, where everyday life continues inside structures that once redefined modern living.

originally conceived as experiments in how people can live together | image © Valérie Ruperti photographe

Duplex Apartment in Cité Radieuse preserves original furnishings

In Marseille, the Cité Radieuse, completed in 1952, remains the most emblematic of Le Corbusier’s ‘unité d’habitation’ models. To purchase an apartment here is to become part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but also part of an active community that still echoes with the optimism of postwar reconstruction.

One of the apartments currently on the market is an ascending Type G duplex occupying a high floor, offering 127 square meters of living space over two levels. The lower level features an entrance with storage that opens into a living space under a double-height ceiling. The open kitchen, designed by Charlotte Perriand, integrates with the dining and lounge areas, which extend toward a terrace framed by the glass facade and sea views.

A Jean Prouvé staircase leads to the upper level, a cross-through space dedicated to the night area. This includes a master suite with a bathroom and terrace overlooking the sea, two children’s bedrooms with balconies, a shower room, a fourth bedroom with its own bathroom, and generous storage. The children’s bedrooms are arranged in elongated layouts divided into three zones: a toilet and wash area, a rest area, and a play area connected to the neighboring room through a sliding partition.

the Cité Radieuse was completed in 1952 | image © Valérie Ruperti photographe

Modernist Living in Paris: 5th-Floor Apartment in Molitor

In Paris, the Molitor building (1931–34), designed in collaboration with Pierre Jeanneret and classified as a Historic Monument in 2017, stands as the city’s first residential block with a fully glazed facade, a precursor to the glass-and-steel towers of international modernism. Anchoring Boulogne-Billancourt, a neighborhood that in the interwar years attracted avant-garde artists, filmmakers, and designers, the building once housed Le Corbusier’s own apartment and studio on its upper floors.

The 112-square-meter renovated apartment listed occupies the 5th floor and opens onto a 9-square-meter continuous balcony with unobstructed views of the Jean Bouin Stadium and the sculptural Parc des Princes. Its living space includes a living room and dining area with an open kitchen, allowing light to pour in through the large glass roof and glass-brick balcony railing. The sleeping quarters include a master suite with balcony access, a secondary bedroom, a shower room, and separate toilets, while a cellar and parking space complete the offering.

The apartment’s volume is articulated by the structural pillars of the building, while the renovation embraces a restrained palette and high-quality finishes that enhance the geometric clarity and spatial logic of Le Corbusier’s design.

an ascending Type G duplex | image © FLC/ADAGP 2025 © Magali Joannon

Through-Flat Apartment with Terraces in Geneva’s Clarté

Further north in Geneva, the 1932 Clarté building distills yet another vision. Known as the Maison de Verre (House of Glass), it was created for an affluent clientele who sought the advantages of modern construction without abandoning comfort. With its modular concrete frame and prefabricated components, Clarté exemplified industrial rationalization while still offering flexible layouts. Its glazed facades incorporate wooden sun-shading galleries and stairwells illuminated through glass-block floors. After threats of demolition, the building was saved, restored by Pascal Häusermann and Bruno Camoletti in the 1970s, and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016. 

The 169-square-meter through-flat currently for sale occupies a prime position within the building. Meticulously renovated, the apartment preserves the Corbusian character of Clarté through generous volumes, high ceilings, and quality materials that complement the building’s original architectural features. Residents also benefit from the building’s celebrated communal design, featuring transparent landings and glass-block staircases that diffuse light throughout the core. A cellar completes the offering, rounding out one of the most desirable properties in this emblematic house of glass.

Another apartment in the building for sale, designed with an ascending logic, spans 277 square-meters over two levels. The lower floor includes an entrance hall, a versatile smoking room that can function as a bedroom or office, and a double-height living room illuminated by a striking facade of armored and clear glass, opening onto a running balcony. 

a living space under a double-height ceiling | image © FLC/ADAGP 2025 © Magali Joannon

Turning Bold Architectural Ideas into Ordinary Lives

These three buildings show how Le Corbusier’s ideas about housing changed over time and place: from the experimental community in Marseille to the open, airy designs in Paris to the precise, clear forms in Geneva. What were once bold visions for how people could live are now prized addresses in the real estate market. Yet it’s the people who continue to live in them that keep them alive, modernist ideas turned into everyday life. Living in one of these apartments lets you experience modern design as a part of daily life.

inside a UNESCO World Heritage Site | image © FLC/ADAGP 2025 © Magali Joannon

the apartment features the original furnishings | image © FLC/ADAGP 2025 © Magali Joannon

the Molitor building in Paris, designed with Pierre Jeanneret | © FLC / ADAGP 2025 © Manuel Bougot

the building once housed Le Corbusier’s own apartment and studio | image © FLC / ADAGP 2025 © Manuel Bougot

the city’s first residential block with a fully glazed facade | image © FLC / ADAGP 2025 © Manuel Bougot

the 1932 Clarté building is known as the Maison de Verre | image © FLC / ADAGP 2024

inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016 | image © FLC / ADAGP 2024

designed with an ascending logic | image © FLC / ADAGP 2024

a double-height living room illuminated by a striking facade | image © FLC / ADAGP 2024

the 169-square-meter through-flat occupies a prime position within the building | image © FLC / ADAGP 2024

the apartment preserves the Corbusian character of Clarté | image © FLC / ADAGP 2024

project info:

name: Le Corbusier’s apartment listings

architects: Le Corbusier

location: Cité Radieuse, Marseille, France | Molitor building, Paris, France | Clarté building, Geneva, Switzerland 

real estate agency: Architecture de Collection | @architecturedecollection

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Herzog & de Meuron restores one of New York’s iconic examples of urban Brutalism, the Breuer Building, set to open to the public in late 2025 as the new global headquarters of Sotheby’s, marking the latest chapter in the life of a structure that has continually adapted to house some of the city’s most significant art collections.

The restoration, in collaboration with local firm Platt Byard Dovell White Architects (PBDW), embraces a ‘light-touch’ approach, retaining Breuer’s original materials and spatial intentions while updating infrastructure to improve accessibility, curatorial flexibility, and the visitor experience. The character-defining features of the building remain intact, including bush-hammered concrete walls, coffered ceilings, mahogany finishes, and bluestone floors. Yet new interventions, such as a discreetly inserted elevator and revamped lighting systems, prepare the building for diverse programming. 

UPDATE August 12th, 2025: Sotheby’s announces the opening date for this worldwide headquarters as Saturday, November 8th, 2025. The opening will be free and open to the public and will coincide with an exhibition of Modern and Contemporary art.

‘On November 8, we will be honored to welcome the global art community back into this remarkable museum quality space,’ comments Charles F. Stewart, Sotheby’s Chief Executive Officer. ‘On behalf of all of us at Sotheby’s, I extend our gratitude to our partners Herzog & de Meuron for their brilliant work in amplifying the Breuer’s historical and material legacy for the Sotheby’s era. They have devoted the same level of care and respect to the building as you would a great work of art. I’d also like to thank the New York City Landmarks Preservation Committee for their support and praise for our ‘spectacular’ use of the space. We think visitors will agree.’

945 Madison Ave, New York, Ny, Usa, Marcel Breuer, 1966 (As The Whitney Museum) | images courtesy of Sotheby’s

A New Chapter for new york’s Brutalist Icon

Originally completed in 1966 by Bauhaus-trained architect Marcel Breuer for the Whitney Museum of American Art, the inverted ziggurat form, with its recessed windows and robust concrete facade, was designed to provoke. Since its opening, the building has served as a home for art, temporarily housing the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Frick Collection after the Whitney’s departure in 2014. Now, nearly 60 years later, Sotheby’s takes over as steward of the building’s next phase, preserving its cultural role while offering free public access for the first time in its history. 

The project embraces the contradictions of the building, retaining the severe materiality of the lobby, including bronze, concrete, and wood finishes, but now integrates vitrines and display counters in dialogue with Breuer’s original benches. On the gallery floors, the design team at Herzog & de Meuron reinterprets the irregular window openings as curatorial assets, using them to organize the space and reintroduce a connection with the street. Formerly dim interiors are brightened through layered lighting strategies that allow the building to support new media and a wider range of exhibitions.

© Frank Stella / Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York, © 2025 The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

a shift from museum to auction house

According to Jacques Herzog, the firm sees this project as part of a long-standing practice of working with existing buildings. ‘We have always admired the Breuer Building,’ he notes, describing it as ‘an architectural icon of postwar modernism.’ Like their earlier work on the Park Avenue Armory, the design team approaches this intervention with a sense of excitement and responsibility, aiming to restore lost spatial clarity and make the building relevant for a new audience and function.

As the city continues to grow and build in all directions, the transformation of the Breuer Building offers an approach that values the past while shaping the future. Once a museum and soon to be an auction house, the building is shifting from one part of the art world to another, remaining a striking presence.

Willem de Kooning: © 2025 The Willem de Kooning Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Ellsworth Kelly: © Ellsworth Kelly Foundation, courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery. Joan Mitchell: © Estate of Joan Mitchell

© 2025 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc., Courtesy David Zwirner, This rendering includes a reproduction of Georgia O’Keeffe’s, Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, 1932, that will not be on view on Sotheby’s © 2025 Georgia O’Keeffe Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Jackson Pollock: © 2025 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Lucio Fontana: © 2025 Estate of Lucio Fontana / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY

recessed windows punctuate the robust concrete facade

Herzog & de Meuron restores the Breuer Building

project info:

name: Sotheby’s Global Headquarters

building: The Breuer Building (originally Whitney Museum of American Art)

original architect: Marcel Breuer (1966)

renovation architect: Herzon & de Meuron | @HerzogdeMeuron

executive architect & preservation: Platt Byard Dovell White Architects (PBDW) | @pbdwarchitects

location: 945 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, USA

site area: 1,200 square meters (12,916 sqft)

gross floor area (GFA): 7,268 square meters (78,232 sqft)

client: Sotheby’s | @sothebys

design team: Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Wim Walschap (Partner in Charge), Philip Schmerbeck (Associate, Project Director), Jackie Bae (Associate, Project Manager), Bethany Herrmann (Project Designer), Farhad Ahmad, Marija Brdarski, Javier de Cárdenas Canomanuel, Sebastian Frowein, Nathan Mehl, Melodie Sanchez

structural engineering: Silman Structural Solution / TYLin

MEPFP engineering: AMA Group USA

lighting design: Tillotson Design Associates

AV & low voltage consulting: TMT Technology

acoustic consulting: Eligator Acoustics Associates

geotechnical consulting: Langan Engineering and Environmental Services

vertical transportation: DTM Inc.

life safety: Homes Keogh Associates

code consulting: Gillman Consulting Inc.

waterproofing & special inspections: Socotec Engineering, Inc.

contractor: J.T. Magen

The post sotheby’s HQ to open november 2025 in NYC herzog & de meuron-restored breuer building appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

From concrete megastructures to surreal modernist homes, music videos and pop culture have long leaned on architecture to set a tone. The trend is back in the spotlight with Bad Bunny’s newly released single, NUEVAYoL, which stages a festive quinceañera at one of New York’s lesser-known Brutalist icons: Marcel Breuer’s Meister Hall. The video turns the building’s stark geometry into a vivid, cinematic setting — its ribbed walls, cantilevered overhangs, and heavy concrete surfaces all pulled into focus through stylized camerawork and framing as a backdrop to the music’s narratives.

NUEVAYoL is just one example of how musicians have utilized architectural landmarks to play a central role in their visual storytelling, drawing from their drama, scale, or symbolism to enhance the mood, meaning, and cultural layer of their work. From Harry Styles running through the Barbican Estate’s labyrinthine walkways to Solange perched atop Robert Bruno’s almost alien Steel House, we’ve rounded up some standout music videos where iconic structures have played a starring role.

NUEVAYoL, Bad Bunny | image via YouTube

nuevayol by bad bunny at Marcel Breuer’s Meister Hall, new york

Bronx Community College — Marcel Breuer building | image by Enki323 via Wikimedia Commons

NUEVAYoL plays out at Marcel Breuer’s Meister Hall, designed in the late 1950s as an extension to the Bronx Community College campus, and recognizable for its rugged concrete surfaces, angular geometries, and stripped-back material palette. It was originally built as part of a Cold War-era campus plan, demonstrating a structural clarity and massing that typifies Breuer’s architectural language, with intricately textured details echoed in the other three Breuer-designed campus buildings.

The video transforms various planes of the architecture’s austerity into a richly stylized backdrop celebrating Latin culture. It opens with tiered cakes being wheeled across the terraced plaza and pans through dark interiors, their ribbed concrete detailing and ambient lighting adding theatrical texture to the track. At one point, Bad Bunny appears dwarfed against the vastness of the facade as he stands atop a cantilevered overhang, his teal suit and casual posture cut against the harsh modernism in a scene that feels both ironic and nostalgic.

Jalousie by Angèle at Oscar Niemeyer’s french communist party headquarters in paris

Jalousie, Angèle | image via YouTube

In Jalousie, Belgian pop singer Angèle dances through the futuristic, wave-like halls, circular corridors, and plush, confined interiors of Oscar Niemeyer’s French Communist Party Headquarters in Paris. Completed in 1971, the building bears Niemeyer’s unmistakable touch with sweeping curves, stark concrete forms, and sensual, organic geometries that here break from the rigidity of traditional institutional architecture. Most iconic is the domed subterranean meeting hall, an otherworldly, white sculptural void, which appears in the video as a stage of mirrored movement.

Niemeyer, a lifelong communist and master of Brasília’s monumental language, envisioned the building as a democratic space with undulating surfaces that seem to reject hierarchy altogether. His belief in democratic openness is given a surreal, almost pop twist, reinforcing the song and video’s themes of emotional duplicity and reflection.

the dome of Espace Niemeyer | image via Espace Niemeyer

As It Was by harry styles at london’s Barbican center

As It Was, Harry Styles | image via YouTube

Harry Styles’ As It Was is choreographed across several memorable London locations, including the Royal Horticultural Halls and the London Zoo’s former penguin pool. A somewhat melancholic reflection on change, loss, and love, earlier scenes depict the singer walking across an endlessly looping platform before he runs out through the concrete expanse of the Barbican Centre. It is one of London’s most iconic examples of Brutalist architecture, designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon and completed in the early 1980s atop a post-war bomb site to form a self-contained neighborhood with cultural and residential facilities.

Barbican Sculpture Court | image by Max Colson, via Barbican

Intriguing in both scale and form, the Barbican appears almost fortress-like — its exposed concrete surfaces, elevated walkways, and maze-like structure forming a complex and imposing environment in central London. The design draws on Le Corbusier’s modernist ideals, layered with Roman, Mediterranean, and Scandinavian references, and was envisioned as a hopeful post-war symbol of renewal. Its visual austerity seems to mirror the sentimental undercurrents of As It Was, a song that sounds upbeat but carries a sense of longing.

I Dare you by the xx at lloyd wright’s Sowden House and john lautner’s rainbow house

I Dare You, The XX | image via YouTube

The XX’s I Dare You is as much a love letter to Los Angeles as it is a moody portrait of youth, filmed across two iconic houses tied to Southern California’s modernist history. The first is the Sowden House, designed in 1926 by Lloyd Wright, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright. Known for its Mayan Revival style, the house is characterized by a dramatic geometry, with its facade of textile blocks with jagged edges, a central courtyard framed by theatrical colonnades, and interiors saturated with shadow and mystique.

the Sowden House by Frank Lloyd Wright | image via The Sowden House

Equally striking is the Rainbow House (also known as Garcia House) by John Lautner, a longtime apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright and a major figure of expressive mid-century design. The house’s name comes from its sweeping rainbow-shaped roofline and the vivid, multicolored glass panels that throw colored light across the interiors. Both locations serve as cinematic vessels in a nostalgic haze, the cinematography’s emotional undertones bridging minimalism and theatrical modernism through architectural design.

I Dare You, The XX | image via YouTube

image © Aaron Kirman

Outside by Injury Reserve at Paolo Soleri’s Acrosanti in arizona

Outside, Injury Reserve | image via YouTube

Shot almost entirely at Arcosanti, Outside by Injury Reserve captures a posthuman eeriness that echoes the equally evocative and warped musicality of the track. Designed by Paolo Soleri in the 1970s as a desert utopia, Arcosanti is a hand-built experimental micro-city that fuses architecture with ecology, its domes, vaults, and amphitheaters forming a strange harmony with the Arizona desert.

In the music video, wide tracking shots and static frames highlight the vastness and emptiness of the complex, inside and out, built largely from poured concrete. The camera lingers on these monumental yet half-finished forms, such as vaulted corridors, sunlit terraces, and exposed rebar, revealing a place caught between utopian ambition and gradual decay.

the amphitheater at Arcosanti by Paolo Soleri | image by Jessica Jameson Photo, via The Cosanti Foundation

Cranes in the sky by solange at robert bruno’s Steel House, texas

Cranes in the Sky, Solange | image via YouTube

Solange’s Cranes in the Sky is filmed across many scenic landscapes in the American Southwest, but one of its most unforgettable settings is Robert Bruno’s Steel House in Ransom Canyon, Texas. The artist appears atop its almost alien form as a small silhouette towards the end of the video, coinciding with the song’s emotional release. Perched on a cliff like a rusted spaceship, the house is made entirely of welded steel (around 110 tons of it), bent, sculpted, and slowly assembled by Bruno over more than three decades until his death in 2008. Part sculpture, part home, the structure features bulbous forms, curving tunnels, and oddly intimate window openings that frame panoramic views of the canyon below. 

Steel House by Robert Bruno

n95 by Kendrick Lamar at Fort Worth Water Gardens and Renzo Piano Pavilion at Kimbell Art Museum

N95, Kendrick Lamar | image via YouTube

Kendrick Lamar’s music video for N95, released during the pandemic, confronts societal structures of power, isolation, and virtue signaling. We see several modernist architectural locations from Texas activated as visual metaphors and cinematic stages to these conversations, moving between surreal montages and austere compositions, and monochrome vignettes and saturated overlays. The brutalist Fort Worth Water Gardens designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee in 1974, become a notable dramatic backdrop as we see Lamar descend through a landscape of cascading concrete and water.

aereated pool of the Fort Worth Water Gardens, by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, Fort Worth, Texas | image by Carol M. Highsmith, via Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons

The scenes depict a rugged contrast between the raw built environment and the fluidity of the natural world, paralleling the ideas of exposure, vulnerability, and cleansing that N95 grapples with. In a more calculated counterpoint, Lamar takes to the stage in the quiet Renzo Piano Pavilion, illuminated as a silhouette as he plays a grand piano. A symphony of glass, concrete, wood, and steel, the space was designed as an extension to Louis Kahn’s original Kimbell Art Museum built in the 1970s.

N95, Kendrick Lamar | image via YouTube

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After four years of renovation, the Grand Palais in Paris fully reopens following a major transformation led by Chatillon Architectes (find designboom’s previous coverage here). The project, which began with the unveiling of the restored Nave for the 2024 Olympics, is the most extensive restoration in the building’s 120-year history. Spanning 77,000 square meters, the work improves public access, brings back long-concealed architectural elements, and adapts the historic structure to meet modern cultural and technical needs. During the Centre Pompidou’s own renovation period, its exhibitions will be temporarily housed in the newly restored galleries of the Grand Palais.

images © Charly Broyez for Chatillon Architectes, unless stated otherwise

Chatillon Architectes reveals the true identity of the building

Paris-based Chatillon Architectes focused on restoring the original layout of the building, which had become fragmented over time. They studied over 3,000 archival plans and drawings to guide the work, aiming to respect the original design of the monument while updating it for contemporary use. New exhibition spaces, restaurants, and circulation routes are added, with over 40 elevators and 30 staircases introduced to make the building fully accessible.

‘The Grand Palais is a powerful symbol of France’s cultural legacy – iconic and instantly recognisable, yet so much of its beauty has been hidden for decades,’ says François Chatillon, founder of Chatillon Architectes. ‘We didn’t set out to reinvent it, but through a process of revelation we wanted to uncover its identity. This renovation was about bringing it back to life, staying true to its spirit while opening it up for the future and giving the monument back to the people.’

Built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition, the Grand Palais was originally designed by a team of architects led by Charles Girault. It combined Beaux-Arts architecture with then-revolutionary materials like steel and glass. In later years, parts of the building were damaged, altered, or closed off, reducing access and hiding many of its key features.

The renovation reopens the original central axis, allowing visitors to move freely from Square Jean Perrin to the Seine. This new connection forms what the architects call a ‘place centrale’, an open area created by combining the Rotonde d’Antin, the Salon Seine, and other interior spaces. One major change was the removal of a wall separating the Nave from the Palais de la Découverte, restoring a sightline that hadn’t been visible since 1937.

the Grand Palais in Paris fully reopens to the public | image © Antoine Mercusot for Chatillon Architectes

Centre Pompidou Moves Exhibits to Renovated Galleries

Lighting and technology enhancements throughout the galleries have transformed them into versatile spaces for a wide range of exhibitions. The Centre Pompidou will use these spaces while its own museum is being renovated. Other public areas include a mezzanine-level café, Le Réséda, led by Michelin-starred chef Thierry Marx, and a new brasserie, Le Grand Café, overlooking the Champs-Élysées gardens with interiors by Joseph Dirand.

Interior partitions are replaced with glass to bring in light and expose the building’s original proportions. Every element, from doors over six meters tall to statues, ornaments, and 150 windows, was carefully restored. ‘At Chatillon Architectes, we strive to revitalize historic landmarks, such as the Grand Palais, as both emblematic monuments and vibrant cultural spaces,’ shares Simon Chatillon, partner of Chatillon Architectes. ‘We approach cultural projects with a strong sense of place, developing thoughtful and innovative interventions that bring renewed energy and help define their future.’

The gardens surrounding the building have also been redesigned, visually connecting to the nearby Champs-Élysées. More than 60,000 plants from 250 species were added to support biodiversity, using a rainwater-fed irrigation system built into the renovated roof. A new pedestrian entrance at Square Jean Perrin replaces a former road and improves the site’s integration with the city.

Chatillon Architectes’ project is the most extensive restoration in the building’s 120-year history

the work brings back long-concealed architectural elements

adapting the historic structure to meet modern cultural and technical needs

Chatillon Architectes focused on restoring the original layout of the building

new exhibition spaces, restaurants, and circulation routes are added

40 elevators and 30 staircases introduced to make the building fully accessible

the centre pompidou will use these spaces while its own museum is being renovated

the renovation reopens the original central axis | image © Antoine Mercusot for Chatillon Architectes

lighting and technology enhancements transform the galleries | image © Antoine Mercusot for Chatillon Architectes

interior partitions are replaced with glass to bring in light | image © Antoine Mercusot for Chatillon Architectes

the gardens surrounding the building have also been redesigned

project info:

name: Grand Palais | @le_grand_palais Restoration
architect: Chatillon Architectes | @chatillonarchitectes
location: Paris, France

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Running until September 21st, 2025, Richard Rogers: Talking Buildings opens at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London. The exhibition looks back at the 50-year career of Richard Rogers (1933-2021), a British architect known for designing some of the world’s most recognizable buildings and for using architecture to express his political and social beliefs. Rather than offering a career overview, the show presents his work as a journey through eight important projects, allowing visitors to witness how his ideas evolved across time.

These eight projects include both built and unbuilt works, starting with the experimental Zip-Up House from 1967, and ending with his final work, the Drawing Gallery of 2020, brought to vivid life in pink for Château La Coste’s annual exhibition in 2023 (find designboom’s previous coverage here). Other featured buildings include the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Lloyd’s building in London, celebrated for their high-tech designs.

Curated and designed by Richard’s son, Ab Rogers, the exhibition presents this selection in an engaging way through large-format drawings, models, and moving imagery that deconstruct Rogers’ work with clarity.

all images by Gareth Gardner

Talking Buildings draws parallels between the two architects

Central to Rogers’ work is the idea of legibility, the belief that buildings should clearly show how they are built and what they are for. Instead of hiding technical elements like pipes, beams, or ventilation systems, the Pritzker-winning architect often left them exposed and treated them as part of the design. He wanted people to understand how a building worked, just as you can understand how a machine works by looking at its parts. This approach reflected his belief that architecture should be transparent, honest, and open to everyone.

Richard Rogers: Talking Buildings also draws a parallel between Rogers and Sir John Soane, the 19th-century architect whose former home is now the museum. Though they worked in very different times, both architects believed in architecture as a tool for education and public engagement. Soane created his house-museum to teach students and visitors about design, while Rogers brought radical ideas into public space, reshaping how cities like London function and feel. Both used light, space, and structure to make architecture more human and more accessible.

Richard Rogers: Talking Buildings opens at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London

architecture as a response to challenge

Two specially commissioned films by Marina Willer offer fresh insights into Rogers’ perspectives on the featured projects. Complementing the exhibition, the Foyle Space hosts a specially commissioned installation by RSHP titled RSHP Architects in Dialogue. This display showcases RSHP’s past, present, and future projects, highlighting their ongoing influence on modern architecture and urban design, both in London and around the world.

The exhibition also shows that Richard Rogers was deeply engaged with the world around him. Throughout his career, he used architecture to respond to major social and environmental challenges, from affordable housing and climate change to the design of more democratic and accessible cities. Public space played a central role in his work, seen as a vital setting for connection, interaction, and community.

By presenting Rogers’ work in dialogue with the legacy of Sir John Soane, Talking Buildings invites visitors to reflect on the broader role of architecture in shaping society. Soane imagined a more enlightened London through his ambitious plans in the 19th century, while Rogers, in his time, helped build a more open, flexible, and inclusive city. 

the exhibition looks back at the 50-year career of Richard Rogers

the British architect is known for designing some of the world’s most recognizable buildings

the show presents his work as a journey through eight important projects

model of the Zip-Up House (1967) by Richard + Su Rogers | image courtesy of RSHP

the exhibition features a selection of works through large-format drawings, models, and moving imagery

curated and designed by Richard’s son, Ab Rogers

Talking Buildings also draws a parallel between Rogers and Sir John Soane

Millenium Dome (known as The O2) by Richard Rogers | courtesy of RSHP Drawings

Rogers House (1969) | | image courtesy of RSHP

the Foyle Space hosts a specially commissioned installation by RSHP

project info:

name: Richard Rogers: Talking Buildings

location: Sir John Soane’s Museum | @soanemuseum, London, UK

curator: Ab Rogers | @abrogersdesign

dates: June 18th – September 21st, 2025

The post in london, sir john soane’s museum unpacks the ideas behind richard rogers’ iconic works appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Casa Batlló, one of Antoni Gaudí’s most emblematic residential works, has been undergoing an ambitious process of restoration over the past year, led by architect Xavier Villanueva. The project, now set to open to the public on June 19th, focuses on returning the vivid intricacy of the building’s rear facade, private courtyard, and garden to their original condition as first designed in 1906. This period marked Gaudí’s mature phase within the Catalan modernisme movement in which he began synthesizing structural experimentation, ornamental craft, and spatial poetry into unified architectural compositions.

Over the years, the iconic dragon-scaled elevation has continued to draw crowds as it animates the Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona, while also becoming a platform for key cultural initiatives, from Sofia Crespo’s projection-mapped facade to Kengo Kuma’s shimmering staircase and Refik Anadol’s digital interventions. While that elevation has evolved into an icon of modern Barcelona, the lesser-seen rear facade remained largely hidden from view as its character gradually faded with time and became obscured by later additions over the past century. Now, as Casa Batlló marks 20 years as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the concealed domestic spaces are set to reemerge with the clarity and vibrancy Gaudí intended.

Restoration teams uncovered the original hues of the stucco, ironwork, and carpentry hidden beneath layers of pale repainting, while discovering previously unseen spatial and structural features such as a spiral-shaped vaulted support system of brick and iron beneath the balconies. Mosaic patterns, parabolic pergolas, handcrafted planters, and original Nolla tilework were also reassembled with the help of skilled artisans, bringing back texture, rhythm, and intention. ‘When we discovered the original colors, we couldn’t believe it, The facade as it stands is now like the photographic negative of the original by Gaudi,’ says Villanueva. ‘The discoveries we made relate in shapes, colors, and materials to the rest of Casa Batlló.’

pergola after restoration | image © Claudia Mauriño

hidden Color, craftsmanship, & structure return to Casa Batlló

Casa Batlló was designed as a private garden space for the Batlló family, and its courtyard was conceived as a place of retreat from the city’s bustle, amid tiled paths, parabolic pergolas, and handmade planters. This restoration is the first full intervention on the courtyard and back facade since its completion, recovering lost elements while reinterpreting them through an exacting study of archival drawings and photographs, stratigraphic testing, and material research.

The interventions seem to foster a dialogue between the building’s past and present through a particular focus on materiality. Over 85,000 pieces of Nolla mosaic, originally laid at the start of the nineteenth century in the courtyard, have been restored or replicated by hand, using enhanced materials to ensure durability outdoors. The trencadís mosaics, Antoni Gaudí’s signature patchwork of ceramics and glass, were largely preserved in situ where possible, or carefully reproduced using 3D scans and high-resolution archival imagery, keeping their original patterns intact.

facade after restoration | image © Claudia Mauriño

Ironwork, including railings and pergola structures, has been restored by Enric Pla Montferrer’s workshop in Alpens. Where previous repairs had introduced welds, the team reinstated Gaudí’s original bolted modular system that was discovered thanks to original construction markings found on site. During the restoration, the team found that even the hidden structure supporting the balconies revealed surprises, such as a spiraling system of brick and reinforced vaults, radical for its time, and undocumented until this recent intervention.

Wooden elements, from the original muntins to balcony doors, were restored or recreated by heritage carpenter Josep Bartolí. Crucially, the original hues — long buried under decades of repainting — were uncovered through stratigraphic analysis, revealing a palette that echoes the green tones of Casa Batlló’s main facade. The stucco too revealed a dramatic shift from a bold black that had faded to a warm cream, reshaping how the entire rear facade is perceived in contrast to the theatrical flourish the building is otherwise celebrated for.

courtyard after restoration | image © Claudia Mauriño

the landmark celebrates 20 years as UNESCO heritage site

For the restoration team, the project forms part of a broader five-year initiative to reframe Casa Batlló as a living cultural space. Now marking its 20th anniversary as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the building is celebrated as an architectural landmark — a pivotal work within Gaudí’s built legacy — as well as an evolving site of public engagement. This approach stretches the impact of conservation beyond historical fidelity, and considers it in the context of public access, education, and craft.

To realize this vision, the team brought together a multidisciplinary group of artisans including ceramicists, carpenters, ironworkers, and glaziers, who worked collaboratively to recover Gaudí’s original materials and techniques. Their work is being documented and shared through a short film and accompanying on-site exhibitions, allowing visitors to understand the process and labor behind the final restoration. These efforts speak to a broader goal to make the house more accessible and legible, inviting the public into Gaudí’s world by illuminating the layers of experimentation, technique, and creative labor that continue to define it more than a century on.

ironwork after restoration | image © Pere Vives

trencadís after restoration | image © Casa Batlló

mosaic restoration process | image © Casa Batlló

mosaic restoration process | image © Casa Batlló

trencadís restoration process | image © Casa Batlló

ironwork restoration process | image © Óscar Rodbag

trencadís restoration process | image © Casa Batlló

project info:

name: Casa Batlló restoration | @casabatllo

location: Barcelona, Spain

lead restoration architect: Xavier Villanueva

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