As 2025 comes to a close, this final list in our annual round-up pulls together the installations that shaped the most immersive encounters of the year. Across deserts, plazas, courtyards, coastlines, and museums, artists and designers turn movement, light, sound, and material experimentation into living environments that ask us to slow down, listen, and look again.

A single year brought iridescent glass shimmering in the Coachella Valley, a fictional equestrian mystery unfolding inside a New York warehouse, plush flowers blooming under Rockefeller Center’s flags, and a rotating library of 3,000 books glowing at the heart of Milan. Elsewhere, flip-flops became a pneumatic orchestra, porcelain bowls drifted across a vast water basin, inflatables mimicked granite landscapes, recycled mats mapped a nation’s plastic waste, bamboo baskets harvested rain and fog, and a bench began to dance.

Apart from spectacle, what connects these works is the way they reshape public space inviting touch, play, introspection, or collective rhythm. Many of the projects lean into circularity and low-impact construction, while others explore the emotional weight of collective rituals, ancestral crafts, and cultural histories. As we wrap up 2025, these are the ten installations that capture the year’s evolving sensory and spatial imagination.

KIMSOOJA’S GLASS WORK BATHES DESERT X IN IRIDESCENT LIGHT

image by Lance Gerber, courtesy Desert X

For Desert X 2025, Kimsooja presents To Breathe – Coachella Valley, an iridescent glass installation, wrapped in diffraction film that refracts sunlight into a spectrum that evolves throughout the day. The work extends the artist’s long-standing exploration of movement and interconnectedness. Its grid-like surface, etched with vertical and horizontal scratch lines, echoes textile structures.

As the sun moves, the installation behaves like a living canvas, altering both itself and the surrounding view. To Breathe – Coachella Valley also forms a conceptual bridge to her installation in AlUla, linking two arid landscapes through light-based interventions. Infused with East Asian philosophies and resonant with the Light and Space lineage of the American West, the piece underscores the universality of natural elements across distant geographies.

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HERMÈS INSTALLS INTERACTIVE ‘MYSTERY AT THE GROOMS’ IN NYC

image © designboom

At Pier 36 in Manhattan, Hermès stages Mystery at the Grooms’, an immersive installation that turns a former warehouse into a fictional French estate built around a playful disappearance. Visitors move through six theatrical rooms, from the Head Groom’s Office to the Laundry, where lighting, scent, and sound shape a shifting atmosphere.

The experience revolves around a mobile-based hunt for a herd of missing horses, linking digital clues with physical

exploration. Objects from Hermès’ sixteen métiers blend into the scenography, doubling as both set pieces and hiding places, while hidden safes, peepholes, and material details punctuate each space. Performers dressed as grooms guide the journey, joined by the disembodied voice of fictional detective Mr. Honore, who adds narrative momentum. Those who solve the entire mystery receive Hermès-designed keepsakes, as the installation continues its global tour after New York.

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CJ HENDRY’S FLOWER MARKET BLOOMS AT ROCKEFELLER CENTER 

image © Cj Hendry Studio

Cj Hendry brings Flower Market 2.0 to Rockefeller Center, with her greenhouse-like installation filled with hand-crafted plush flowers. Visitors move through rows of oversized botanicals and assemble their own bouquet, extending the work out into the city as blooms circulate through the streets.

This second edition scales up the viral concept, introducing twenty-seven new plush flower designs and placing the installation under the plaza’s world flags, overlooking the iconic sunken courtyard. The immersive setting is accompanied by editioned wall sculptures and limited merchandise that expand the visual language of the project. A satellite Flower Cart at Top of the Rock pushes the installation beyond ground level, offering an exclusive twenty-eighth flower tied to observation-deck entry.

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ES DEVLIN’S ROTATING LIBRARY LIGHTS UP MILAN COURTYARD

all images by Monica Spezia

Es Devlin transforms the 17th-century Cortile d’Onore into a revolving sanctuary of books with Library of Light, a kinetic installation that casts the historic courtyard as a luminous theater of reflection. The 18-meter-wide circular structure holds more than 3,000 illuminated books, rotating slowly to redirect sunlight by day and becoming a glowing lantern by night. Visitors read, pause, or step into readings and performances embedded within the library’s program, turning the installation into a living cultural space.

Mirrors, moving light, and shifting shadows interact with the courtyard’s colonnades, while recorded voices, from Benedict Cumberbatch to Devlin herself, echo through the space. The work draws inspiration from the neighboring Braidense National Library and the legacy of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, whose presence within the courtyard resonates with Devlin’s focus on knowledge, introspection, and the transmission of ideas. As books donated by Feltrinelli circulate through the installation and back into the Milan Library System, Library of Light becomes an evolving public archive.

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MERIEM BENNANI STAGES A 201-FLIP-FLOP ORCHESTRA IN PARIS 

all images by Aurélien Mole

Meriem Bennani employs the humble flip-flop and creates a kinetic orchestra for Sole Crushing, a large-scale installation within the vertical volume of Lafayette Anticipations with 201 pneumatically animated sandals. The work becomes a living instrument shaped by ladders, spirals, floor clusters, and a suspended drum pulse with coordinated beats composed in collaboration with producer Reda Senhaji (Cheb Runner).

Each flip-flop strikes different surfaces, including wood, plexiglass, fabric, and metal, resulting in a shifting percussive environment where visitors can walk through. Drawing from Moroccan rhythmic traditions like dakka marrakchia, Bennani channels the ecstatic energy of crowds, chants, and collective rituals. The installation builds toward a shared pulse that feels equal parts protest, stadium fever, and street celebration. Her use of flip-flops, cheap, elastic, universal, transforms an everyday object into a metaphor for play, resistance, and the democratic nature of communal rhythm. 

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WATER-DRIVEN SOUNDSCAPE FILLS BOURSE DE COMMERCE 

image courtesy of Bourse de Commerce—Pinault Collection

Céleste Boursier-Mougenot transforms the Rotunda of the Bourse de Commerce into an aquatic soundscape with clinamen, an installation where porcelain bowls drift across an eighteen-meter basin and create delicate, unpredictable chimes as they collide.

The still surface mirrors the dome of the museum, turning the space into a quiet, resonant field of water, movement, and sound. The work expands the artist’s long exploration of self-regulating sonic systems. Powered by invisible currents, the bowls operate like a living organism, producing music that resists control and evolves moment by moment. The Rotunda’s circular geometry, framed by Tadao Ando’s concrete ring and capped by the glass roof, amplifies this sense of breath and atmosphere. Drawing on the Epicurean idea of clinamen, or the random swerve of atoms, the installation embraces chance as its central force. 

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ENESS’ INFLATABLE ROCKSCAPE GLOWS IN MELBOURNE 

all images courtesy of Ben Weinstein

ENESS brings Iwagumi Air Scape to Prahran Square, installing a field of large inflatable rock forms that play with perception and scale. Inspired by the Japanese concept of Iwagumi, the work introduces a sculptural landscape that interrupts the urban setting with an artificial wilderness. By day, the inflatables mimic granite through detailed photographic textures; by night, they glow with shifting light and an immersive soundscape.

Sixteen air-filled structures create narrow passages and canyon-like routes that visitors can walk through. As people move across the site, sounds of native birds, insects, and flowing water activate unpredictably, weaving natural atmospheres into the city’s ambient noise. Founder Nimrod Weis frames the project as a contemporary interpretation of Japanese rock gardens, a playful translation of traditional stone compositions into soft, inflatable forms.

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MVRDV’S WOVEN MEGA MAT TRANSFORMS PLASTIC WASTE

image © Depth of Field Co.

MVRDV presents Mega Mat in central Bangkok, transforming more than 500 recycled plastic mats into an 860-square-meter public platform that doubles as a data-driven artwork on Thailand’s plastic waste crisis. The modular installation reinterprets the traditional Thai sua-mat at urban scale, turning Laan Kon Muang Plaza into a colorful communal surface for sitting, gathering, and learning.

Color functions as both texture and information: red, orange, yellow, and green map the flows of plastic waste across the country, from unprotected landfills to the percentage that is actually recycled. One elevated corner forms a shaded exhibition space, echoing the rooflines of nearby temples and offering visitors an interactive look into Thailand’s recycling system. After Bangkok Design Week, the installation was dismantled and repurposed, redistributed to temples, reused as yoga mats, or upcycled into bags.

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CANALSIDE STUDIO’S BASKETS COLLECT RAINWATER IN HONG KONG 

image courtesy of Canalside Studio

Canalside Studio introduces the Blue Water Catcher in the rural landscape of Kuk Po, Hong Kong fraturing five large, droplet-shaped structures made from painted rattan, bamboo, and porous fabric that act as both sculptural markers and functional devices, collecting rain and fog through a modular, low-impact system. The installation revives historical irrigation practices from the former Hakka village, echoing the old networks that once sustained local agriculture.

Plastic pipes reference these vanished infrastructures, now enveloped by wetlands that support mangroves, egrets, and mudskippers. Each structure channels mist or rainfall into a nearby well, anchored by water-filled counterweights buried in the soil. Lightweight and transportable, the Blue Water Catcher is designed for remote deployment and educational use. Its vibrant blue forms stand in sharp contrast to the landscape, drawing on visual cues from large-scale environmental artworks. The installation can be dismantled, moved, and reassembled, reinforcing its role as a tool for environmental awareness and hands-on learning around water scarcity.

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SOFT BAROQUE’S KINETIC BENCH SWAYS AND TWISTS IN SPAIN 

image courtesy of Josema Cutillas

Soft Baroque brings movement into the public realm with the Dancing Bench, a kinetic installation presented at Concéntrico in Logroño. What looks like a simple geometric bench reveals its true character only when someone sits down. Then, parallel planes rotate under the weight of the user, creating a gentle ripple that shifts perception and turns sitting into a shared, slightly uncanny motion. The bench transforms a passive piece of street furniture into an active participant in public space. As users sway or shift, the structure sways with them, creating an experience that sits somewhere between a rocking chair and a hammock. The piece draws on mid-century visual cues while pushing them toward performative ends. The crisp geometry and minimal palette veil a playful, meditative mechanism that only comes alive in use, reimagining everyday urban furniture as an instrument of motion and attention.

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see designboom’s TOP 10 stories archive:

2024 — 2023 — 2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 —  2018 — 2017 — 2016 — 2015 — 2014 — 2013

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We continue our annual roundup series with a look back at some of our favourite design projects of 2025. Design objects increasingly prioritized recyclability, sustainability, and sensory assistance, while material experiments shifted toward biology, technology, and innovation. Across disciplines, designers tested how materials could do more than shape form, carrying identity, function, and environmental responsibility. This year, we saw projects like BioHybrid, a biodegradable gaming controller made from living bacteria and yeast, and Yamaha’s digital piano crafted from unused rare wood extending the life of precious materials, to a modular pen, which stimulates the fingertips through 12 grips designed to support focus and idea generation, and a fungi-made prosthetic organ that extracts and breaks down microplastics inside human bodies.

Taken together, these projects point to a growing interest in materials as active participants, responsive, living, and purposeful, shaping how design engages with ecological cycles, human perception, and the future of production. Before we move into 2026, we highlight some of the most inspired projects and material applications featured on designboom, making this year’s top 10 list of design objects and materials.

BIOHYBRID: A GAMING DEVICE GROWN FROM BACTERIA AND YEAST

image courtesy of M. Nicolae and V. Roussel

Kicking off our selection is a project that rethinks how technology is made by merging biological processes with digital interaction. The BioHybrid Device is a video game controller that merges biological growth with digital manufacturing. Designed by Vivien Roussel, Madalina Nicolae, and Marc Teyssier, the device is grown using SCOBY (a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast), with conductive elements, sensors, and output components integrated directly into the material during its natural growth process. By applying biofabrication techniques, the project points toward a future of more sustainable interactive technologies, proposing devices that can evolve, adapt, and eventually biodegrade.

Although developed as a gaming interface, the implications of the BioHybrid Device extend beyond play. It serves as a proof of concept for biologically grown interactive objects that could translate to various contexts. Imagine keyboards, wearables, or even architectural components cultivated through biofabrication. The potential to grow technology rather than construct it opens the door to a new era of material innovation.

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FUNGAL PROSTHETIC ORGAN SAFELY DIGESTS MICROPLASTICS

image courtesy of Odette Dierkx

From biofabricating gaming devices to harnessing fungi for human health, these projects highlight how bio-based design can transform both objects and bodies. The fungi-made prosthetic device, 79th Organ, is designed to filter, extract, and break down microplastics inside the human body. The project takes its name from the premise that the human body currently has 78 organs, but in the future, a 79th may become necessary. Designer Odette Dierkx refers to research from 2011 that uncovered plastic-eating mushrooms, envisioning their application in a prosthetic organ that could help humans survive in a plastic-polluted world by 2110. Enters the 79th Organ, which is made from fungi such as the Pleurotus ostreatus (the humble oyster mushroom), bioengineered to make it capable of digesting certain plastics.

At the core of the device is a fungal mycelium structure that releases enzymes capable of degrading plastics through bioremediation, a process in which microorganisms safely digest harmful organic or inorganic materials. The prosthetic organ functions by extracting microplastics from the bloodstream. Once the plastic particles enter the organ, they pass through a filter lined with bioengineered mycelium, where enzymes decompose them into harmless components. This turns the organ into a living detox system, processing material that the body cannot remove on its own.

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MICROALGAE PIGMENTS AS A SUSTAINABLE COLOR SOURCE

image by Masayuki Hayashi

Beyond fungi that help detoxify the human body, we move to microorganisms that offer sustainable color solutions. SO-Colored, by Tokyo-based design studio we+, is a material-focused research project that investigates the color potential of microalgae. While microalgae have been widely studied for their applications in food production and biofuels, their chromatic characteristics remain underexplored. This project proposes a design-oriented approach to understanding and utilizing microalgae-derived pigments as a sustainable source of color.

Microalgae are microorganisms present across various environments, from water and rocky surfaces to roadsides and indoor spaces. Having emerged approximately 2.7 billion years ago, they are significant to the Earth’s ecological history, particularly for their role in oxygen production and biodiversity development. Contemporary research highlights their potential in fields such as CO2 absorption, pharmaceutical development, alternative energy sources, and functional food.

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YAMAHA’S DIGITAL PIANO AND KEYBOARD MADE OF RARE WOOD

image courtesy of Yamaha

Just as microalgae offer sustainable and naturally derived colors for design, traditional materials like wood can also be thoughtfully repurposed to create rich musical instruments. Yamaha recycles unused rare wood, Grenadilla or African Blackwood, into an all-black keyboard for the digital piano, Torch T01. Around the keyboard, the digital piano features wood boards that are hand-finished with natural oils, highlighting the material’s texture and warmth. The musical instrument’s body, as well as the sides of the accompanying chair, also utilize African Blackwood with distinctive bark patterns. These details are added using laser engraving technology, similar to that employed by car brands for vehicle interiors.

The chair’s seat is crafted from Hinoki cypress and other materials, instead of the usual PVC sheets. The edges of both the body and seat are hand-finished, and the volume knob is also carved from recycled African Blackwood. Because the keyboard is made from natural wood, its color evolves over time, along with the wood used for the piano’s body, responding to temperature, humidity, and other environmental factors. Users can also apply wax to achieve a glossy finish.

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SONIC BENCH TRANSFORMS HUMAN TOUCH INTO SOUND

image courtesy of Can Touch This Studio and Anders Hellsten Nissen

Beyond musical instruments crafted from recycled wood, designers are also exploring how everyday objects and furniture can transform human touch into interactive sound experiences. We take a look at Indikator, a modular, mobile installation designed to convert human touch into sound, enhancing public space interactions. Developed through extensive research and experimentation on interactive sound benches, the project integrates tactile engagement with urban design.

This iteration of Indikator results from a collaboration between Can Touch This Studio and designer Anders Hellsten Nissen. Since 2019, Can Touch This Studio has explored interactive seating, and the Indikator Sonic Bench builds upon these studies. The installation is designed for adaptability, making it suitable for various environments and events. The project is based on Playtronica’s TouchMe device, introduced in 2018, which enables touch-sensitive sound generation.

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PEN’S PROTRUDING SHAPES ACTIVATE USERS’ CREATIVE THINKING

image courtesy of Toshiyuki Kawada

Just as Indikator turns touch into sound, objects like the concept modular pen NEWRON engage users’ fingertips to stimulate creativity and new ideas. The pen, conceived by Toshiyuki Kawada, can make people think of new ideas by stimulating their fingertips with protruding shapes. The object comes in three parts: top, middle, and bottom. Twisting the parts together assembles the full body of the tool. The pen comes in, and at last, the crown at the top seals the object. Once everything is in place, users click the top, allowing them to use the writing tool and begin thinking.

Design-wise, the parts of the instrument are 3D printed. Their shapes range from having multiple stacked discs and a flowy, paper lantern-like exterior to semi-pointed, geometric tips, like the ones used in massage tools. There are 12 grips included in the concept modular pen NEWRON. The grip puts enough pressure on the users’ fingertips as they write and draw. The project aims to help activate the users’ thinking hats for new ideas through this action.

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PORCELAIN TABLEWARE’S FORM ENHANCES TASTE PERCEPTION

image courtesy of HAK Studio

Extending our focus on sensory-driven design, other objects apply tactile and visual cues to influence perception, shaping how we experience taste. HAK Studio introduces UMA, a tableware collection developed through research in gastrophysics, a field of neuroscience exploring how sensory stimuli shape taste perception. The series includes a swirling porcelain dessert plate and a rough, unglazed, salty bowl. a Designed to support individuals experiencing reduced taste sensitivity, such as older adults or those who have lost their sense of taste following COVID-19, UMA uses color, texture, and form to enhance the perception of flavor. Studies by Professor Charles Spence at the University of Oxford demonstrate that the brain forms taste expectations before food reaches the mouth. Elements such as color, texture, and shape can intensify or alter taste experiences, enabling healthier eating by reducing the need for sugar, salt, or other additives.

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SWISS PASSPORT REIMAGINES CARTOGRAPHIC TRADITIONS

image courtesy of RETINAA

Tactile design is also used to guide perception and meaning in everyday documents, where touch reinforces identity, and navigation. Designed by RETINAA, Switzerland’s next-generation passport, issued in fall 2022 by the Federal Office of Police, continues the country’s legacy of innovation in graphic arts combined with advanced counterfeit protection. In partnership with Thales and Orell Füssli, the Geneva-based studio was commissioned to create a concept that reflects Swiss identity while integrating state-of-the-art security features, revitalizing the red passport that has been regarded as one of the world’s most sophisticated and secure travel documents since 1959.

The concept reinterprets cartographic traditions, honoring the country’s natural and built landmarks through 3D-modeled landscapes. The pages depict an imagined journey along Switzerland’s waterways, from the Alpine peaks down to the valleys, through the 26 cantons, and out to the world beyond. The first page features Pizzo Rotondo, a summit in the Saint-Gotthard Massif, located at the crossroads of the country’s linguistic regions. Under ultraviolet light, contour lines emerge to reveal the topography, enhanced with architectural landmarks that reflect cultural heritage and history.

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TURBO MOKA’S SPIRAL DESIGN REINVENTS THE ICONIC COFFEE POT

image courtesy of Turbo Moka

Designers are also reworking iconic, everyday objects, preserving their familiar identities while reinterpreting them through contemporary technologies and performance-driven innovation. Turbo Moka, designed by Matteo Frontini, reinterprets the moka pot, originally invented in 1933 by Alfonso Bialetti and Luigi De Ponti. While maintaining the recognizable form and function of the classic design, the project introduces significant technical and material innovations aimed at improving energy efficiency and performance.

At the core of Turbo Moka’s redesign is its helical spiral base, inspired by aircraft turbine geometry. Engineered according to principles of fluid dynamics and thermodynamics, the spiral structure increases the surface area in contact with the flame by 93% compared to a traditional moka pot. This enhancement allows for greater heat capture and more uniform energy distribution during coffee brewing. The configuration also prolongs the contact time between the flame and the boiler, improving thermal efficiency and reducing energy consumption by up to 50%.

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FOOD SELF-SUFFICIENCY THROUGH CLAY 3D PRINTED HYDROPONICS

image courtesy of Logman Arja

Finally, this project explores how emerging technologies and natural materials can reshape urban food systems through sustainable design. EcoTech Lab, led by architect Logman Arja, introduces ClayPonic V1, a sustainable, deployable urban farming system that rethinks food production. Designed to address climate change, soil degradation, and water scarcity, the clay 3D printed hydroponics system saves up space with a vertical setup while creating a multisensory, immersive experience. By combining ceramics and 3D printing, it supports food self-sufficiency and transforms urban farming into a therapeutic and educational practice.

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see designboom’s TOP 10 stories archive:

2024 — 2023 — 2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 —  2018 — 2017 — 2016 — 2015 — 2014 — 2013

The post TOP 10 design objects and materials of 2025 appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

In our TOP 10 personal gadgets for 2025, many of the devices are specific to the users’ needs, portable enough to bring, use single materials, and revive the styles of old technologies. At times, there are no extra components or parts needed to make these gadgets work, like the GamiFries holder that uses magnets to connect to the game console, or the PP-1 turntable, which is made from one block of aluminum. Some of them preview the possible future of compact devices, as is the case with the Zero mini smartphone, which folds into a card-sized device.

Many of the devices in our TOP 10 personal gadgets of 2025 remove familiar components, such as Studio Waiting for Ideas’ PP-1 turntable, which deletes the tonearm and flips the record upside down, or the Atomic Keyboard that cancels out the Escape key and mouse. Even Google Japan’s rotary-dial keyboard also revisits older interfaces, replacing keys with rotating discs. Even speculative projects follow the same logic. Kodak’s Charmera compresses a camera into a keychain object, while the fungi-based 79th Organ imagines a wearable system that filters microplastics like a removable body part. Together, these designs show a shared interest in simplifying interaction, exposing function, and reshaping everyday objects into tools that feel direct, personal, and intentional.

ALUMINUM PP-1 TURNTABLE PLAYS VINYL WITHOUT TONEARM

image courtesy of Waiting for Ideas | all photos by Mathilde Hiley

The PP-1, a turntable made by Studio Waiting for Ideas, is made from one solid block of aluminum, cut and shaped to form the body. The device has no tonearm, so the user plugs it in, puts the vinyl record upside down on the surface, and presses the play button on the side. It reads the record, then, using its internal sensors, which can identify the record speed of 33 or 45 RPM. The PP-1 can also move from one track to another without user input. The device, which forms part of our top 10 personal gadgets, comes with two buttons: the left button sets the speed or lets the system detect it, while the right one controls play, pause, next, previous, and volume. 

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TEENAGE ENGINEERING RELEASES CHEAPEST COMPUTER CASE

image courtesy of Teenage Engineering

Teenage Engineering presents computer–2, a mini-ITX computer case made from one sheet of polypropylene plastic. The company cuts the sheet into a flat shape with lines that work as living hinges, letting the sheet bend without breaking. The latter also has snap hooks that hold the parts together, and because of this system, the case does not need screws, tools, or extra fasteners. Computer–2 is part of the company’s ‘25 the flipped out year’ campaign, which explores how to reduce production cost. By using one sheet of PP plastic, the team removes metal parts, machining, and multi-step assembly, bringing the production cost to zero.

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GOOGLE JAPAN MODERNIZES ROTARY PHONES AS KEYBOARD

image courtesy of Google Japan

Google Japan creates Gboard Dial Version, an experimental keyboard that reimagines rotary phones as keyboards. Its design draws heavily from the retro aesthetic and mechanical function of rotary phones, and in fact, the central feature is a large circular dial designed for character input. The user inserts a finger into a keyhole and rotates the dial to select letters. To minimize the device’s footprint while retaining a full character set, the dial is divided into three stacked, parallel layers. This layered design allows for inputs to be registered faster than pressing keys across a wide surface and even permits parallel operations. For supplementary functions, smaller dials are placed around the main unit for the Enter, number, and cursor keys, allowing simultaneous, multi-rotary control.

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INFINIX SMARTPHONE FOLDS INTO A CARD-SIZED DEVICE

all images courtesy of Infinix Mobility

Infinix’s Zero mini smartphone uses a triple-folding system to transform into a card-sized device. The structure includes two hinges that let the phone fold and unfold vertically, and this system changes the shape of the phone depending on how the user positions the hinges. When the device is folded, the user can attach it to gym machines, bike handlebars, or backpack straps. Infinix includes a strap that connects to the phone, which also works as a mount, so the phone can clip onto different objects. The Zero mini smartphone, which is included in our top 10 personal gadgets of 2025 list, can stand upright on a flat surface to support hands-free calls and video viewing. The dual-hinge layout also allows the phone to act as a dashboard camera to record the road driving activities.

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REAL-LIFE SEVERANCE KEYBOARD IS MISSING THE ESCAPE KEY

image courtesy of Atomic Keyboard

Atomic Keyboard makes a real version of the keyboard shown in the TV series Severance. Called MDR Dasher, its design is based on the Data General Dasher terminal from the 1970s and 1980s. Even if it has 73 keys, it doesn’t include Escape, Control, or Option keys. The case has a dark blue top surface and a white border, and the key layout uses two blue tones. The main typing keys use a lighter blue, and the other keys use a darker blue. On the right side, the number pad has no numbers. It only has arrow keys arranged in a cross shape. Next to the number pad, Atomic Keyboard places a trackball, replacing the mouse and still following the design used in the show.

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3D PRINTED FRIES HOLDER SITES NEXT TO NINTENDO SWITCH 2

image courtesy of 7R135

GamiFries, a 3D-printed add-on made for the Nintendo Switch 2, uses the console’s magnetic connectors to include a dedicated fry holder so gamers can eat while they play. A fan artist named 7R135 designed the model, with the goal being to hold a McDonald’s medium fries box on the console during gameplay. The back of the holder includes areas that line up with the Switch 2 magnets. When the user prints the model, the piece can attach to the console with a direct magnetic snap. No screws, clips, or extra parts are required. The holder, which forms part of our top 10 personal gadgets of 2025, works in both the handheld and docked controller modes. When attached, the fries box sits near the controls so the user can reach it without pausing the game.

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HEADPHONES CARRY CD PLAYER ABOVE USER’S HEAD 

image courtesy of Pud

Pud creates headphones with a CD player, remote control, and jewel case mounted on a frame above the head. The frame holds all the parts in a fixed position, and each part works separately but connects to the same audio system. The CD player sits in the front of the frame above the forehead, where users can insert compact discs. Then, the remote control is on the left side of the headphones, which comes with buttons for play, pause, skip, and volume. The frame uses metal and has mounting points for each component. It also includes a battery pack at the back, powering the CD player and headphones, so users do not need to plug the device in. The frame also spreads the weight of the frame across the head to help users wear the headphones for longer periods.

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KODAK REVIVES RETRO CAMERAS WITH MINIATURE ‘CHARMERA’

image courtesy of Kodak

Kodak’s Charmera is a miniature digital camera that revives the retro point-and-shoot design aesthetic. Paying homage to the brand’s 1980s throwaway cameras, like the KODAK Fling, its compact, portable form factor is key; the device is so small it can function as a keychain collectible. A design to note is its transparent shell, visually exposing the internal digital image sensor and hardware. This device on our top 10 personal gadgets of 2025 is a modern, yet retro-futuristic design, eliminating film while retaining the desired analog look. The built-in software automatically applies seven distinct retro-style filters and four Kodak-branded decorative frames, including classic film sprocket holes and a date stamp feature, directly channeling the aesthetics of film-era photography. 

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ATTACHABLE MINI ROBOT NÉKOJITA FUFU BLOWS ON HOT DRINKS

image courtesy of Yukai Engineering

Yukai Engineering’s Nékojita FuFu, unveiled at CES 2025, is a portable mini-robot that blows on hot drinks and food, so users don’t need to do so. It is small enough to carry while still being functional with its cooling fan inside its mouth. The attachable device operates as a stand-alone unit powered by a rechargeable internal battery, requiring no external plug-in during use. The robot’s silhouette resembles a small cub, giving it a friendly aesthetic. The design incorporates paws that serve as the anchor of the device, so the mini-robot can hang securely onto the straight edge of virtually any foodware. The Nékojita FuFu, which forms part of our top 10 personal gadgets, houses an internal fan that directs cooling air through its mouth, randomized so the blowing strength mimic the same way people do.

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PROSTHETIC ORGAN EXTRACTS MICROPLASTICS FROM BODIES

image courtesy of Odette Dierkx

Designer Odette Dierkx creates a concept device called the 79th Organ, which can filter and break down microplastics from human bodies. Made from fungi, like the oyster mushroom, the prosthetic organ cleans microplastics from the blood using suction when users attach it to their belly area. The organ’s center is a mycelium structure from the fungi, and this structure has enzymes that break down the plastics, like a detox system for the body. The physical device has a domed capsule shape, and inside, there are gills, like a real mushroom. At the top, a round glass piece acts like a magnifier to let the user see the microplastics being cleaned. On the side, a dial shows danger levels, which let users know how much contamination is inside.

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2018 — 2017 — 2016 — 2015 — 2014 — 2013

The post TOP 10 personal gadgets of 2025 appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

In 2025, public architecture asserts itself with renewed civic ambition, revealing how cultural institutions, parks, museums, and libraries are being reimagined for a rapidly shifting world. This year’s most compelling projects extend far beyond their physical footprints: they restore historic landmarks, rewrite urban narratives, and create new frameworks for collective experience — whether through adaptive reuse, socially driven programming, or architectural innovation at the scale of cities.

Across continents, architects are embracing porous edges, hybrid typologies, and participatory spaces that invite the public to inhabit them in unexpected ways. From the preservation of iconic modernist buildings and the debut of major cultural centers in Asia and Europe, to community-driven religious spaces and theatrical interventions in industrial ruins, the 2025 selection reflects a discipline increasingly attuned to memory, access, and transformation. Read on for designboom’s top 10 public spaces of the year.

herzog & de meuron-restored breuer building opens in NYC

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 teams at Herzog & de Meuron and Sotheby’s.

‘This building is an example of postwar modernism and Brutalism with a very distinct beauty,’ says architect Wim Walschap, Senior Partner at Herzog & de Meuron. ‘It has endured as an icon and much-loved landmark in New York. 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.’

Breuer Building renovation, Sotheby’s HQ, Herzog & de Meuron, image © designboom

MAD’s fenix museum of migration opens in rotterdam

On May 16th, 2025, Rotterdam officially opens Fenix, a museum dedicated to the art and stories of migration, marking MAD’s first cultural building in Europe. Ahead of the public opening, designboom previewed of the museum to experience the space firsthand and speak with architect Ma Yansong on site. 

Activating a 1923 port warehouse in the historic Katendrecht district of the city, the project is a milestone in the regeneration of Rotterdam’s waterfront and reflects the layered history of the site, once the departure point for millions of emigrants crossing the Atlantic.

The Tornado, a dramatic double-helix staircase, crowns the Fenix museum. This centerpiece pierces through the old warehouse and flows upward, culminating in a rooftop platform, offering views over the city. ‘The people’s behavior and reactions complete the work,’ Ma Yansong tells us. ‘Otherwise, it’s just a staircase.’ See designboom’s coverage of the museum as it came alive in Rotterdam here.

Fenix, MAD Architects, image © Iwan Baan

SANAA unveils taichung art museum with translucent facade

SANAA unveils Taichung Art Museum, part of the newly completed Taichung Green Museumbrary, set to open on December 13th, 2025. Located in Taiwan’s second-largest city, the project integrates the city’s central library with a metropolitan art museum, establishing a combined cultural facility that presents a new institutional model.

The Taichung Green Museumbrary sits on the northern edge of Central Park, a 67-hectare green space within the 254-hectare Shuinan Trade and Economic Park, formerly a military airport decommissioned in 2004. Positioned at the heart of this redevelopment area, the project has been described as Taiwan’s most significant cultural initiative of 2025.

SANAA’s design follows the guiding idea of creating ‘a library in a park and an art museum in a forest.’ The building is lifted above ground level, allowing natural light and park breezes to move freely through shaded plazas that provide open, permeable access from all sides.

Taichung Art Museum, SANAA, image © YHLAA – Yi Hsien Lee

DS+R builds world’s first contemporary women’s mosque in doha

zaha hadid architects’ sinuous shenzhen museum opens in china

gentle monster’s ‘haus nowhere’ in seoul with giant dachshund

Gentle Monster’s parent company, IICOMBINED, launches Haus Nowhere Seoul in Korea, marking the first architectural chapter of its long-term Future Retail vision. Conceived as ‘a space found nowhere,’ the venue merges art, design, and commerce into an experimental environment.

Inside its multi-story building, visitors encounter Max Siedentopf’s More Is More, a surreal landscape of swelling plastic bags animated by a hyperreal elderly man; Sunshine, a monumental dachshund who drifts between fairytale scenes and futuristic transformations; and Nudake Teahouse, a kinetic, color-saturated lounge that transforms the ritual of tea into a sensory performance.

The presence of a giant dachshund threads through multiple levels the space. Introduced by Tamburins, the character first appears in a whimsical slumber, rendered with a dewy nose, soft paws, and gentle breaths, before re-emerging in a ‘parallel universe’ clad in shining armor, recast as a futuristic warrior. Visitors can step into Sunshine’s world through an AI-powered Twin Look photo booth, where the dachshund mirrors their appearance in sticker-like portraits. 

Haus Nowhere, Gentle Monster, IICOMBINED, image via @hausnowhere

a giant pool opens in new york’s central park

In April, 2025, New York City officially opened a major addition to Central Park, the Davis Center at the Harlem Meer. Designed by architect Susan T Rodriguez in collaboration with Mitchell Giurgola, the renovation project replaces the old Lasker Rink and pool with a recreational facility that’s built directly into the landscape, restoring nature, reconnecting paths, and creating a year-round space for community activity.

At the heart of the new design is a transformative water feature that shifts with the seasons, from a skating rink in winter to a lush green lawn in spring and fall and a pool in the summer.

Located at its northeast corner, the new Davis Center is part of a broader initiative by the Central Park Conservancy to restore the landscape, enhance ecological health, and reopen one of the most picturesque, yet historically overlooked, areas of Manhattan’s beloved park.

Davis Center, Susan T Rodriguez, Mitchell Giurgola, image courtesy Central Park Conservancy

jean nouvel’s fondation cartier reopens in paris

The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain’s new building, designed by Jean Nouvel, opens on October 25th, 2025, at 2 Place du Palais-Royal, Paris. The architectural project for the institution reinvents the 19th-century Grands Magasins du Louvre as a mobile organism.

Exposition Générale, the inaugural exhibition, designed by Formafantasma, brings together over 600 works by more than 100 artists, including David Lynch, Claudia Andujar, Sarah Sze, Cai Guo-Qiang, Junya Ishigami, Giuseppe Penone, and Diller Scofidio + Renfro to map forty years of contemporary creation through a scenography that reactivates the very notion of what a museum can be.

Jean Nouvel’s architectural transformation of the Fondation Cartier’s new home reimagines the Haussmannian landmark as a kinetic machine for art. Within the restored shell of the former Grands Magasins du Louvre, Nouvel introduces a system of five monumental moving platforms that rise and descend to endlessly reshape the exhibition spaces.

Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, Jean Nouvel, image © Martin Argyroglo

first look inside LACMA’s peter zumthor-designed galleries

Peter Zumthor’s long-awaited redesign of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) takes a step forward as LACMA reveals the David Geffen Galleries, its new architectural centerpiece, before art installation begins ahead of the grand public opening in April 2026 (find designboom’s previous coverage here).

Images by Iwan Baan offer the first interior look at the museum’s 10,220-square-meter exhibition level. LACMA welcomed the public to select areas of the new building in summer 2025, signaling a gradual activation of the most ambitious architectural transformation in its history. The museum is now home to Jeff Koons’ Split-Rocker, a towering 37-foot-tall sculpture covered in over 50,000 living plants.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Peter Zumthor, image © Iwan Baan

wutopia lab’s green facade transforms factory into theater

Verdant Ridges by Wutopia Lab’s Wuto-mills is built within the concrete ruins of the historic Xinguang Silk Weaving Factory, revitalizing an industrial structure into a contemporary theater. Located within Suzhou’s Taohuawu district in China, the project offers a fresh approach to architectural restoration, reinterpreting its material history, rather than treating the factory as a fixed artifact, by interweaving symbolic references and various stylistic narratives.

Verdant Ridges’ interplay of contrasts stems from the artistic philosophy of Ming Dynasty painter and poet Tang Bohu, who developed a style combining disciplined brushwork with expressive color, completing distinct monochrome landscapes and vivid figure paintings.

The exterior landscape, sculptural and layered, deeply speaks to this history, featuring a foreground of perforated metal mesh alluding to an abstracted mountain silhouette, with solid cladding behind it. Inside the theater, the palette shifts to more theatrical yet subdued tones of black, white, and gray that allow the performances to take visual precedence.

Verdant Ridges by Wutopia Lab, image © Liu Guowei

2024 — 2023 — 2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 

2018 — 2017 — 2016 — 2015 — 2014 — 2013

The post TOP 10 public spaces of 2025 appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Moments from 2025 were captured through the lenses of photographers across the globe, showcasing a diverse range of projects that caught our eye here at designboom. Spanning expansive volumes and standalone series, artists offered compelling glimpses of the world, from Christopher Herwig’s vibrant documentation of South Asia’s trucks and tuk-tuks to Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze’s daring portraits of bamboo scaffolding workers navigating the heights of Hong Kong. The year also brought haunting aerial compositions by Reuben Wu, who combined drones, lasers, and long exposures to mesmerizing effect, alongside a collection of unusual houses around the world, documented in a book published by Hoxton Mini Press.

After revisiting the striking photography projects we covered over the past 12 months, we’ve curated a selection of the top 10 that continue to inspire us. Read on to explore the full list.

REUBEN WU’S AERIAL GEOMETRIES ACROSS REMOTE LANDSCAPES

image by Reuben Wu

In his series Thin Places, multidisciplinary visual artist, photographer, and director Reuben Wu inscribes light onto remote natural environments through experimental photographic interventions. Known for his haunting aerial compositions using drones, lasers, and long exposures, the artist has developed a unique visual language that brings photography, design, and speculative technology together. In Thin Places, Wu frames landscapes where artificial light and natural terrain seem to meet halfway. The images are captured entirely on-site, in single exposures, using drones and lasers to trace fleeting geometries into the environment.

One standout work from the series, Surface Tension, was photographed at a remote salt lake under a moonless sky. Using a custom aerial laser swept just above the water’s surface, Wu renders a floating curtain of light, revealing crystalline salt structures caught between the stars above and their reflections below. 

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ROMAIN JACQUET-LAGRÈZE’S HONG KONG SCAFFOLDING WORKERS

image by Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze

While Reuben Wu illuminates remote landscapes with ethereal light, Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze turns his gaze to human skill and labor within Hong Kong’s dense urban fabric. In Echoing Above, he documents the extraordinary practice of bamboo scaffolding, focusing on its structural and spatial nuances and the precision required to navigate it safely. Bamboo scaffolding, particularly the Fei Paang (飛棚, or ‘flying shed’) type, remains a defining feature of renovation work in compact residential areas. Assembled directly onto building exteriors with minimal anchoring, it allows workers to perform targeted maintenance tasks, from air conditioning repairs to facade cleaning. Suspended at dizzying heights, they move along narrow ledges and supports, often holding long bamboo poles in a single hand, showcasing remarkable agility and dexterity. 

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THE LOUVRE THROUGH FRANCK BOHBOT’S LENS

image © Franck Bohbot

From Hong Kong’s soaring scaffolds, the focus shifts to the hushed interiors of one of Europe’s most iconic cultural landmarks. Franck Bohbot turns to Paris’s Musée du Louvre, capturing a side of the institution rarely seen by its millions of annual visitors. In his series, Bohbot presents an unusually tranquil, architecturally attentive portrait of the museum. Granted rare carte-blanche access, the French-born, New York–based photographer explores the Louvre’s interiors with a quiet precision, revealing its structural rhythm and enduring material presence. Part of his broader Parisian Interiors project, the work reframes the Louvre not as a global destination but as what Bohbot calls ‘a living architectural organism.’ His images distill the museum into a sequence of calm spatial encounters, captured entirely in natural or available light. Daylight subtly gradients across galleries, vanishing lines draw the eye through layered histories, and the textures of stone, wood, and marble anchor each composition in a sense of stillness and permanence. 

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GAURI GILL PHOTOGRAPHS INDIA’S ADAPTABLE PROTEST SHELTERS

image © Gauri Gill | courtesy of the artist and Vadehra Art Gallery

From the stillness of the Louvre’s monumental interiors, the list shifts to a landscape shaped by collective action and improvisation. In The Village on the Highway, Gauri Gill documents the improvised shelters built by India’s protesting farmers, revealing a terrain defined by resilience and resourcefulness. Exhibited at Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi, the series comprises 90 large-format analog photographs tracing how roadside encampments evolved into self-sustaining settlements. Farming vehicles became shelters, tarpaulin and bamboo formed walls and partitions, and fabric enclosures were cut to create makeshift doors, creating spaces adapted for rest, cooking, bathing, and gathering.

Even the road became a site of cultivation, with small vegetable plots providing sustenance. Everyday objects such as pots, coolers, and mosquito nets take on sculptural presence in Gill’s images, underscoring the ingenuity of these lived environments and the realities facing India’s marginalized farmers. 

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SOUTH ASIA’S TRUCKS AND TUK TUKS BY CHRISTOPHER HERWIG

image by Christopher Herwig

Leaving India’s improvised protest structures behind, we move to the bustling streets of South Asia where Christopher Herwig captures a vibrant, often-overlooked form of mobile artistry. Trucks and tuk tuks, ordinary vehicles for daily transport, are transformed by their drivers into moving canvases, adorned with intricate patterns, bold colors, and personal motifs that express identity, pride, and aspiration. Herwig’s book Trucks and Tuks, published by FUEL, draws on four years and 10,000 kilometers of travel across the region. The series documents not just the visual details of the vehicles themselves, but also the culture, communities, and stories that animate them. 

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‘WEIRD BUILDINGS’ SNAPSHOTS ARCHITECTURE AT ITS STRANGEST

Casa do Penedo | image © Marc-Philipp Keller / Alamy

Weird Buildings, a new photo book from Hoxton Mini Press, gathers some of the most unconventional structures in the world, featuring places where architecture slips into humor, surrealism, or pure creative refusal. From sculptural homes to roadside mascots, the book documents buildings that bend logic, ignore convention, and embrace a sense of play.

The selection spans global oddities: Portugal’s Casa do Penedo, wedged between massive boulders; the Inntel Hotel in Zaandam, a 12-story stack of traditional facades; Lebanon’s Airplane House shaped like an Airbus A380; New York’s iconic Big Duck roadside shop; and Robert Bruno’s rust-colored Steel House in Texas, a spaceship-like form welded over three decades. Weird Buildings frames these structures as expressions of personal vision and architectural risk-taking. Some exist as local landmarks, others as private passions or experiments in form and material. Together, they highlight a lineage of designers, from Gaudí to Gehry to contemporary studios like BIG, who stretch architecture into the unexpected.

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GREG GIRARD DOCUMENTS JAPAN’S FADING SAKURA SNACK BARS

Snacks in Naha, Okinawa | images courtesy of Greg Girard

In Snack Sakura, photographer Greg Girard traces a thread running through Japan’s nightlife and frames the countless small ‘snack’ bars of the country, many of which share the same name: Sakura. Shot over six years across all 47 prefectures, the series captures the intimate, low-lit interiors where regulars gather around a counter, guided by a mama or master who anchors the room with conversation, karaoke, and routine.

Originating in the 1960s as bars that skirted midnight curfews by serving food, snacks evolved into hyper-local refuges for older clientele, often hidden from the digital world. Girard’s discovery that Sakura is the most common snack name becomes the backbone of the project, sending him to locate, photograph, and sometimes simply record the traces of these elusive establishments, many of which are unlisted, renamed, or demolished. His images reveal a culture defined by soft neon, vinyl stools, quiet rituals, and the small communities that form inside.

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FOX & KNORR TRACE EVERYDAY AMERICA ALONG ROUTE 1

Karen Knorr and Anna Fox, Biscayne, Blvd 2025

For Rencontres d’Arles 2025, Anna Fox and Karen Knorr revisit U.S. Route 1, the 2,400-mile corridor first photographed by Berenice Abbott in 1954, to examine how the cultural landscape of the road has shifted in a fractured political era. Moving from the Florida Keys to Maine, the duo documents motels, diners, storefronts, signage, and small-town detritus, using the highway as a barometer of present-day American identity. Their photographs echo Abbott’s original journey but sidestep nostalgia, capturing the subdued, uneasy quiet that lingers along Route 1 today, embodied in shuttered businesses, hyperlocal politics, faded optimism, and the architecture of economic decline. The work blends DSLR, medium format, and iPhone images, reflecting how visual culture now circulates across devices and feeds. That digital reality enters the project directly, with Fox and Knorr incorporating social media, sourced images, including scenes from the January 6th Capitol riot, to underscore how public life is increasingly mediated.

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RAPHAËLLE PERIA SCULPTS DECAY DIRECTLY INTO HER IMAGES

Cueillir les murmures by Raphaëlle Peria

Raphaëlle Peria debuts Traversée du fragment manquant at BMW’s Rencontres d’Arles 2025 exhibition, a photographic series curated by Fanny Robin that revisits her childhood images of the Canal du Midi, a landscape now devastated by canker stain, the fungus that has already killed tens of thousands of its historic plane trees. Working from her father’s archives, Peria engraves, scratches, and carves directly onto the photographs, revealing the white substrate beneath or, for the first time, printing on plexiglas to create transparent, sculptural surfaces.

Copper leaf appears throughout the series, echoing the copper-toned discoloration of the infected trees and marking the gradual takeover of the fungus. Seen from one angle, the works read as photographs; from another, they resemble drawings or etched reliefs, bringing together Peria’s background in engraving with her photographic practice. The series becomes a meditation on disappearance, the before-and-after of a landscape recorded by chance in childhood images and revisited now through material erasure. 

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DRUTEL PHOTOGRAPHS METROS AS SERENE MIRRORED SPACES

Stockholm | image by Thibault Drutel

In Symmetric Subway, photographer Thibault Drutel turns Europe’s underground networks into precise, meditative compositions. Shot across stations in Munich, Stockholm, Berlin, Hamburg, and Brussels, the series reframes metros, typically fast, crowded, and utilitarian, as quiet architectural environments where symmetry, light, and geometry hold the frame.

Drutel moves through a spectrum of underground design languages, from Eastern Bloc austerity to Scandinavian minimalism and Central European retro futurism. His images isolate mirrored platforms, repeated patterns, and long vanishing points, revealing the intentionality usually lost in the blur of daily commutes. Waiting for rare pockets of stillness, Drutel captures the instant when architecture, illumination, and movement fall into alignment.

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see designboom’s TOP 10 stories archive:

2024 — 2023 — 2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 —  2018 — 2017 — 2016 — 2015 — 2014 — 2013

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From high-tech hoverbikes to solar-powered two-wheelers, our TOP 10 Motorcycles of 2025 show an updated in personal mobility, where form, systems, and user experience drives the new designs. Engineers and designers are rethinking vehicles not just as machines, but as transport experience, similar to James Bruton’s omnidirectional bike with circus balls as rotating wheels as well as Jake Carlini’s wearable electric motorcycle transforms the rider into part of the vehicle, with a rear-wheel motor strapped to his leg. Energy independence and thinking of environmental impact are also recurring themes on this list, with MASK Architects’ SOLARIS that uses retractable photovoltaic wings and a lithium storage unit to operate entirely on solar power.

Volonaut Airbike uses jet propulsion and carbon-fiber structures for its personal mobility, relying on stabilization and compact design to allow its aircraft to hover. Then, cultural references shape other vehicles, as seen in Ichiban’s electric motorcycle that channels Akira’s anime, complete with a Godzilla mode. There’s also Kaminari Superbike, which combines cyberpunk and anime with mechanical structures reminiscent of robot arms, vertical handlebars, and neon displays. The Honda Pokémon Koraidon motorcycle, on the other hand, shows a play between character-inspired forms and interactive surfaces. Across all these projects, a pattern emerges: designers fuse technology, mobility, and identity, turning vehicles into extensions of user’s preferences, needs, and imagination, experimenting modern capabilities for what a motorcycle, hoverbike, or concept vehicle can be.

DRIFT BIKE WITH WHEELS MADE OF CIRCUS BALLS GLIDES

image courtesy of James Bruton

James Bruton builds a bike that moves in all directions using three wheels instead of two. Each wheel uses a plastic circus ball as the contact point with the ground, replacing the normal tires, as they allow sliding, rotation, and sideways movement. The three wheels sit under the frame to let the bike, which made it to our top 10 motorcycles of 2025, move forward, backward, sideways, and rotate in place. Only two wheels connect to motors, and the third wheel stays free and supports balance. Small rollers sit around the wheels to create sideways motion while the ball rolls on the ground. Together, the ball and rollers act as a flexible tire system that can balance itself.

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WEARABLE MOTORCYCLE MAKES USERS RIDE WHILE PLANKING

image courtesy of Jake Carlini

Jake Carlini creates a wearable electric motorcycle suit by reusing parts from his broken electric bike. The rider moves in a planking position, close to the ground, without a seat. The rear wheel has the electric motor, and the designer removes it from the bike frame and attaches it directly to his legs. He uses painter’s stilt straps to hold the wheel forks against his shins to lock his lower legs into the motor assembly. The wheel then provides forward motion through a leg-mounted drive. Power comes from the original bike battery that the designer places into the back pocket of a vest. Since the pocket is too small, he cuts openings and reinforces the fabric with glue. The vest becomes the housing for the battery and wiring, and cables run from the vest along his arms to the controls.

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SELF-CHARGING SOLAR MOTORCYCLE FREES RIDERS FROM FUEL

image courtesy of MASK Architects

MASK Architects presents SOLARIS, a self-charging solar motorcycle developed under the studio’s ‘Invent and Integrate’ design method. It is built to study mobility systems that do not depend on fuel stations, power grids, or charging points, as the motorcycle, which forms part of our top 10 motorcycles of 2025, produces and uses its own energy. The core of the project is the solar charging system. SOLARIS uses circular photovoltaic wings mounted on the body that fold out when the motorcycle is parked. In this position, they collect sunlight and send energy to an onboard lithium battery. When riding, the wings retract, and the vehicle runs as an electric motorcycle powered by stored solar energy. In this way the motorcycle acts as both a vehicle and a charging unit.

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MOTORCYCLE FOR THE SKIES GLIDES FOR THE FIRST TIME

image courtesy of Volonaut

Volonaut Airbike is a personal flying vehicle developed by Tomasz Patan, known for Jetson ONE. The project tha’s on our top 10 motorcycles of 2025 focuses on a single-rider air vehicle that lifts from the ground and moves forward in open air. The first public flight took place on May 1, 2025, and the demonstration showed vertical lift, forward motion, and controlled hovering. The Airbike uses a structure based on carbon fiber and 3D-printed parts. The design removes a surrounding frame and places the rider in an open position, who leans forward, similar to a motorcycle posture. There is no cabin, no cage, and no enclosure to give the rider a full field of view in all directions.

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FLYING TRICYCLE CAN HOVER ON ITS OWN

image courtesy of Kuickwheel

Kuickwheel presents Skyrider X6 as a vehicle that moves on land and in the air. The project combines an electric tricycle with a vertical takeoff and landing system, with a structure that follows a three-wheel layout. The design places one wheel at the front and two wheels at the rear. The rear wheels connect to a mid-mounted electric drive system, and it supports balance when the vehicle moves on roads and when it lands after flight. On land, the vehicle operates like an electric tricycle. The body structure uses carbon fiber and aviation-grade aluminum. These materials support flight loads and road use. The vehicle includes six exposed rotors for lift, enabling vertical takeoff, hovering, and vertical landing. The flight system also supports automatic takeoff, route planning, cruising, and landing. 

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ICHIBAN MOTORCYCLE FEATURES A GODZILLA RIDING MODE

image courtesy of Ichiban Motorcycles

Ichiban Motorcycles introduces an electric motorcycle inspired by Shotaro Kaneda’s bike from the anime Akira. The team also draws ideas from 1980s motorcycle designs and full-wheel-drive models. The vehicle has a feature called Godzilla mode. Riders can twist the throttle to activate it, which temporarily increases torque and power for 10 seconds. This boosts acceleration and top speed during short bursts. The exterior design follows the Japanese principle of Kanso, which means simplicity or purity so the two-wheeler, which is on our top 10 motorcycles of 2025, has two gray panels covering the engine and geometric shapes defining the body and seat. 

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HONDA RELEASES POKÉMON KORAIDON MOTORCYCLE

image courtesy of Honda

Honda presents the Pokémon Koraidon motorcycle, a vehicle designed to resemble the character Koraidon from Pokémon Scarlet. The motorcycle was displayed at Honda Welcome Plaza Aoyama in Tokyo from March 7th to March 9th, 2025, as part of the Honda Koraidon Project and is supervised by The Pokémon Company. The main technological feature of the motorcycle is balance control through Honda Riding Assist, a system that was first shown at CES 2017. It allows the motorcycle to remain upright without a kickstand, and it can balance itself if the rider briefly removes their hands from the handlebars. This makes the vehicle stable during slow speeds or stops. The Honda Pokémon Koraidon motorcycle also has moving parts that bring the character to life. Its hands, feet, neck, face, eyes, and eyelids move, replicating the character’s animation from the video game.

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KAWASAKI UNVEILS FOUR-LEGGED ROBOT THAT WALKS

image courtesy of Kawasaki

Kawasaki introduced CORLEO at Expo 2025 Osaka in its pavilion, Mobile Instincts. The project is a hydrogen-powered off-road mobility concept that moves on four robotic legs instead of wheels, designed to combine the riding experience of a motorcycle with the ability to navigate rugged terrain, including mountains, slopes, and steps. The chassis of CORLEO is shaped to let the rider sit in a forward posture similar to a motorcycle. Each of the four legs has a swing arm that absorbs shocks and adjusts to uneven surfaces. At the end of each leg, there is a hoof made from split, slip-resistant rubber. These hooves can conform to surfaces such as grass, gravel, and rock, and this system, as seen on our top 10 motorcycles of 2025, keeps the vehicle stable even over complex terrain.

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ROTATABLE YAMAHA MOTORCYCLE CAN TWIST 180 DEGREES

image courtesy of Yamaha Motor Corporation

Yamaha introduces the MOTOROiD:Λ, an electric motorcycle that can rotate its rear section 180 degrees while moving. This concept follows the MOTOROiD2 project from 2023 and was shown at the Japan Mobility Show 2025 in Tokyo. The motorcycle has an arch-like frame connecting its front and rear sections and allows the rear part to twist sideways and then return to its original position automatically. The system also uses AI to control movement, balance, and turning without help from the rider. The MOTOROiD:Λ learns from both its own behavior and the riding habits of its owner. The AI adjusts speed, braking, and tilt to maintain balance while turning, and this machine learning allows the vehicle to make decisions in real time. The frame is lightweight and bendable, helping the motorcycle handle stress during movement tests and maintain stability when standing or moving without a rider.

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KAMINARI SUPERBIKE REFERS TO CYBERPUNK FOR ITS SCI-FI DESIGN 

image courtesy of Braz de Pina

The Kaminari Superbike, which is part of our top 10 motorcycles of 2025 is a concept motorcycle inspired by cyberpunk, anime, and metal hero designs. Brazilian designer Braz de Pina created two 3D models, one in silver called Silver Arrow and another in white with red accents. The engine design is unusual: it stretches like a robot arm and anchors the front and rear wheels. Large screws are placed along the engine and near the tires, giving a mechanical, sci-fi feel. The wheels differ by colorway. The silver model uses sleeker tires, while the white model has chunkier wheels, which suggests more aggressive cruising. The upper body of the bike does not have conventional support. The front part hangs above the engine and balances using the seat trunk, which is connected at the rear of the engine. This upper section has shapes that resemble stairs or futuristic devices.

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2018 — 2017 — 2016 — 2015 — 2014 — 2013

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As 2025 draws to a close, we’re once again looking back at the stories that shaped the intersection of architecture, art, design, and technology. This year, fashion delivered its own share of striking moments: unexpected, imaginative, and sometimes delightfully bizarre. These are the creations that twisted familiar garments and accessories into something entirely new, earning their place under our fashion design phenomena tag. Because for every piece that gets it perfectly right, there’s always one curious outlier that gets everyone talking.

From Iris van Herpen’s haute couture illuminated by reactive bioluminescent algae and Vollebak’s virus-killing copper jacket to Gustaf Westman’s viral spiral baguette holder and a wearable AirPod backpack by Bravest, here are the top 10 fashion stories that captured our attention and defined the past 12 months.

REACTIVE BIOLUMINESCENT ALGAE DRESS BY IRIS VAN HERPEN

image courtesy of Chris Bellamy of Bio Crafted

Surrounded by darkness, Iris van Herpen’s dress came to life with the glow of reactive bioluminescent algae during Paris Haute Couture Week 2025. Co-created with biodesigner Christopher Bellamy, also known as Bio Crafted, the piece features 125 million bioluminescent algae, illuminated against a runway set designed with light sculptures by artist Nick Verstand. In an interview with designboom, Bellamy explains that he initially developed the technique for encapsulating the microalgae in collaboration with indigenous artists and scientists in French Polynesia. ‘A bespoke 35-step process was developed, which encapsulates the algae in a nutrient gel and protective coating, allowing them to survive for many months,’ he says.

Once encapsulated, the algae require only regular sunlight to photosynthesize and maintain their circadian rhythm. The biomaterial can thrive for months, even in hot conditions, and Bellamy notes that some samples have survived for over a year. ‘However, as this material is still highly experimental, we are continuing to study its behavior and understand exactly how it functions,’ he adds.

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VIRUS-KILLING COPPER JACKET BY VOLLEBAK

image courtesy of Vollebak

From illuminating the runway with millions of living microalgae in Iris van Herpen’s couture to actively defending against invisible threats, fashion this year explored the power of the microscopic in bold new ways. Vollebak’s Full Metal Jacket takes this concept from spectacle to protection, using copper to neutralize viruses and bacteria before they can even grow. The technical garment features three layers of textile woven with 11 kilometers of copper wire, transformed from industrial rods into fine, uniform yarns using precision lasers.

Each strand is carefully measured for softness and consistency, coated with a thin layer of lacquer to prevent corrosion, and then woven through a six-day curing process that includes scouring, heat-setting, and drying. The copper layer is paired with Vollebak’s c_change membrane, a waterproof and breathable barrier that adapts to temperature and humidity. In hot conditions, the jacket opens to release heat and moisture; in cold weather, it closes to retain warmth, offering both protection and comfort.

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UNIFORMS WITH BUILT-IN ELECTRIC FANS BY ANREALAGE

image courtesy of Anrealage

Just as Vollebak used copper to defend wearers from microscopic threats, Anrealage turned to airflow and cooling to help humans adapt to their environment. At the NTT Pavilion during  Expo 2025 Osaka, the brand decided to equip staff uniforms with built-in electric fans, keeping wearers comfortable in the heat while pushing the boundaries of functional fashion. Inspired by the concept of parallel travel, the clothing uses wind to evoke the sensation of moving through time and space. Hundreds of blue dots across the white fabric symbolize connection with distant beings.

The staff uniforms consist of five pieces: outerwear, a polo shirt, a bag, a hat, and a logo badge. It’s the outerwear that houses the electric fans, allowing staff to stay cool while moving through the Expo. The fans are positioned on the lower-left side of the jacket, with protective grilles to prevent any contact with the spinning rotors. When activated, the airflow causes the outerwear to balloon, giving the wearer the ethereal appearance of a floating ‘cloud.’

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ZZZN PUFFER JACKET FOR SLEEP

photo by Yusuke Maekawa courtesy of ZZZN SLEEP APPAREL SYSTEM

While Anrealage focused on external comfort and climate adaptation, other designers explored clothing that responds to our internal rhythms. ZZZN’s Sleep Apparel System takes this concept to the next level, transforming a puffer jacket into wearable sleepwear that helps users rest anywhere, anytime. It uses biometric data monitoring as well as headphones that play two types of music with frequency bands to help people fall asleep. The ZZZN puffer jacket for sleep modernizes Yagi, which is a traditional Japanese winter or nightwear. The apparel has drawstrings on the sleeves and hem, all adjustable to fit the user’s body type. The wearer can also adjust the cuff tabs to their fit, making sure that they’re comfortable when they’re about to sleep.

The ZZZN puffer jacket for sleep uses photoelectric fiber as its padding. With this in mind, the sleepwear is lighter than it looks. It also keeps the internal temperature warm for the users, especially during cold and extreme weather conditions.

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RICE STRAW-MADE RAINCOAT AND MICRO-SHELTER BY FABULISM

photo by David Carson courtesy of Fabulism

The piece is shaped to provide shelter, forming a dome-like silhouette that covers the wearer’s upper body. Its elongated, rounded top fits comfortably over the head without adding weight, allowing the raincoat to function as both an expressive fashion statement and a lightweight, wearable umbrella.

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HARIBO GUMMY BEAR CROCS

image courtesy of Crocs

From natural‑materials protection to pop‑culture delight, fashion doesn’t just serve function; it also indulges in fun. Enter Crocs’ gummy-inspired collaboration with Haribo, turning the classic clog into eye‑candy footwear. The upper is made from a translucent material that mimics the look of the candy, giving the shoe a playful appearance. The design comes with Jibbitz charms, including oversized Goldbears, one of Haribo’s most recognizable symbols. Even the sole of the clog features embossed Goldbears, making the Crocs Haribo Classic Clog a novelty footwear piece.

In addition to its themed design, the footwear is water-friendly and buoyant, so users can wear it in various settings, including wet or outdoor environments. It is lightweight, weighing only a few ounces, which enhances comfort and reduces strain during prolonged wear. 

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HAVAIANAS’ FIRST-EVER 3D PRINTED FLIP-FLOPS BY ZELLERFELD

image courtesy of Zellerfeld and Havaianas

Staying in the world of clogs and sandals, Zellerfeld and Havaianas have introduced the brand’s first-ever 3D printed flip-flops, featuring a rounded toe cap for added comfort and protection. The footwear’s top still has a Y-shaped strap, a familiar design of the sandals company’s products. It connects between the big and second toe and extends along the sides of the foot.

The brand’s name is printed on the strap, along with a textured pattern, which is a prominent part of the 3D printed design. The toe area is covered with a rounded front piece, wrapping over the front of the foot and linking it to the base. This toe covering helps to hold the foot in place and protect it from being exposed. 

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SANDALS SHAPED LIKE ZIGZAG PAVER BLOCKS BY PDM BRAND

image courtesy of PDM Brand

Continuing in sandal territory, PDM Brand took things a step further with unisex sandals shaped like zigzag paver blocks, designed so that wearers ‘fill in’ gaps on the sidewalk as they stroll. Chunky like the real blocks but made from a cushiony, rubbery material instead of stone or concrete, the sandals maintain a concrete-gray color, helping the wearer blend in while staying safe on uneven surfaces. The sandals feature a matching toe strap, and even the packaging mirrors the design of real concrete bricks. 

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SPIRAL BAGUETTE HOLDER BY GUSTAF WESTMAN

image courtesy of Gustaf Westman

From rethinking how we walk to reimagining how we carry, Gustaf Westman has designed a spiral baguette holder that carries a loaf of bread like a handbag. The playful accessory is designed to fit a baguette snugly around three loops and is part of a summer-long pop-up experience, in which the designer takes over private residences across different European cities instead of traditional exhibition spaces.

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AIRPODS WEARABLE BACKPACK BY BRAVEST

image courtesy of Bravest

If Gustaf Westman made bread portable in style, Bravest makes gadgets wearable in the most literal way. The streetwear brand’s AIRPACK is a backpack shaped like Apple AirPods, featuring removable ‘earbuds’ interior pouches. The backpack stays faithful to Apple’s original design: the white AirPods shape is scaled up, and instead of a magnetic lock like the AirPods case, it has a zipper that runs around the bag. Unzipping the top reveals two removable interior pouches shaped like the iconic earbuds themselves. 

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2024 — 2023 — 2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 —  2018 — 2017 — 2016 — 2015 — 2014 — 2013

The post TOP 10 fashion design phenomena of 2025 appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

2025 has been a busy and exciting year for art, with exhibitions ranging from immersive installations to large-scale retrospectives. At designboom, we experienced many of these shows, some in person and others virtually, and took note of the ones that stayed with us. As the year comes to a close, we look back at the top exhibitions that made the strongest impression and are likely to be remembered for years to come. In Melbourne, Yayoi Kusama unveiled a dazzling new infinity room at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). At Tate Modern, Do Ho Suh presented intricate fabric architectures and during Milan Design Week 2025, A.A. Murakami filled Museo della Permanente with floating, mist-filled bubbles , together offering a glimpse into the creativity that shaped art this year.

Throughout 2025, designboom’s monthly radar series spotlighted exhibitions worth visiting, providing a guide to some of the most compelling shows around the world. In this feature, we revisit some of those highlights and celebrate the exhibitions that defined the art landscape of 2025. Read on to see the full list!

DO HO SUH’S ‘WALK THE HOUSE’ SOLO EXHIBITION AT TATE MODERN

Do Ho Suh, Nest/s, 2024, polyester, stainless steel, 410.1 x 375.4 x 2148.7 cm | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London, image by Jeon Taeg Su © Do Ho Suh

Tate Modern’s The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House marked a major moment for the Korean artist, presenting his first solo show in London in more than two decades. Known for his translucent fabric installations that explore home, memory, and identity, Suh transforms architectural details into delicate, almost dreamlike reflections on belonging. The exhibition brought together sculpture, video, drawing, and large-scale installations, showcasing key works from the past three decades alongside new site-specific pieces created for Tate Modern. ‘The space I’m interested in is not only a physical one but also an intangible, metaphorical, and psychological one,’ Suh shares. ‘For me, ‘space’ is that which encompasses everything.’

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FIFTY YEARS OF LAND ART BY ANDY GOLDSWORTHY IN EDINBURGH

Andy Goldsworthy, Edges made by finding leaves the same size. Tearing one in two. Spitting underneath and pressing flat on to another. Brough, Cumbria. Cherry patch. 4 November 1984, 1984 Cibachrome photograph | image courtesy of the artist

At Tate Modern, Do Ho Suh transformed architectural details into delicate reflections on home, memory, and identity, inviting viewers to reconsider the spaces they inhabit. In Edinburgh, Andy Goldsworthy took a similarly immersive approach, but on a grand, natural scale. Andy Goldsworthy: Fifty Years transformed the Royal Scottish Academy into a sweeping landscape, his largest indoor exhibition to date. Spanning five decades of land art and over 200 works, the show turned the historic galleries into a continuous, site-specific installation of cracked clay walls, windfallen oak branches, suspended reeds, and stones collected from more than 100 graveyards in Dumfriesshire. Responding directly to the RSA’s architecture, Goldsworthy’s work used space, light, and materials as active elements, extending his long-term exploration of the ties and tensions between people, buildings, and the land.

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STEVE MCQUEEN’S BASS AT SCHAULAGER BASEL

Steve McQueen, Bass, 2024, LED Light and Sound, courtesy the artist, co-commissioned work by Laurenz Foundation, Schaulager Basel, and Dia Art Foundation, Schaulager® Münchenstein/Basel (Installation view) | all images courtesy of Schaulager Basel, photos by Pati Grabowicz, © Steve McQueen

While Andy Goldsworthy shapes space with natural materials, Steve McQueen transforms it through light and sound. At Schaulager Basel, the artist’s immersive color and sound installation Bass filled the museum with over a thousand LED light tubes spanning its five levels, including the soaring atrium, paired with deep, resonant bass frequencies that move through a suspended array of speakers. The colored lights shifted slowly from deep red to ultraviolet, enveloping the interior in a continuously changing spectrum, while the sound flowed alongside, creating a tangible sense of presence within the architecture. 

One of McQueen’s most abstract works to date, Bass can be considered an exploration of how sound and light can occupy, define, and transform a space. ‘What I love about light and sound is that they are both created through movement and fluidity. They can be molded into any shape, like vapor or a scent; they can sneak into every nook and cranny,’ the British artist and filmmaker explains.

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A.A. MURAKAMI’S BUBBLES AT MILAN DESIGN WEEK

Beyond the Horizon (2024) at Museo della Permanente | exhibition photos by DSL Studio, unless stated otherwise

As McQueen orchestrates light and sound to make space itself tangible, likewise, Murakami manipulates perception, using robotics and physics to conjure nature in unexpected forms. During Milan Design Week 2025, the collective presented two installations at Museo della Permanente for Opposites United: Eclipse of Perceptions. In The Cave, red backlighting illuminates replicated ancient bones rising from a pool of oil, lifted by robotic limbs that cast shifting shadows and haunting silhouettes. Beyond the Horizon offered a cool, contrasting space where giant bubbles drift overhead, releasing mist to form ephemeral clouds. Together, the works transformed the museum into a space where technology and nature meet in poetic dialogue.

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YAYOI KUSAMA’S NEW INFINITY MIRROR AT NGV MELBOURNE

Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room–My Heart is Filled to the Brim with Sparkling Light, 2024, on display at the NGV International, Melbourne for the National Gallery of Victoria’s Yayoi Kusama exhibition from 15 December 2024 – 21 April 2025 © YAYOI KUSAMA | image by Sean Fennessy

From Murakami’s playful interplay of mist, motion, and robotics, the next highlight on our top exhibitions of 2025 is Yayoi Kusama’s mirrored cosmos. The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne presented the world premiere of Kusama’s new infinity room, My Heart is Filled to the Brim with Sparkling Light. Transforming the gallery into a seemingly endless celestial realm, the installation placed visitors at the center of the artist’s expansive universe. Through mirrored surfaces and choreographed points of light, the work created a shifting constellation of brightness and shadow, prompting viewers to consider their own presence within an infinite space.

The retrospective surveyed Kusama’s eight-decade practice with 200 works, including ten immersive installations. Beyond the main galleries, the NGV Great Hall featured Dots Obsession, an arrangement of massive inflated spheres, while more than 60 trees along St Kilda Road were wrapped in pink-and-white polka dots for Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees.

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AI WEIWEI’S FIVE WORKING SPACES AT AEDES ARCHITECTURE FORUM

image courtesy of Aedes Architecture Forum and Ai Weiwei Studio

Where Kusama examines the cosmic and the boundless, Ai Weiwei grounds his exhibition in the spaces that define him, revealing how the studio itself becomes an extension of identity and resistance. At Berlin’s Aedes Architecture Forum, Five Working Spaces offers an intimate look into the artist’s studios across continents, each reflecting the political pressures, personal memories, and creative impulses that have shaped his career. A central focus of the show was Weiwei’s studio in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal, built using traditional Chinese woodworking methods. 

‘My studio is an extension of my body and mental state,’ Ai Weiwei tells designboom. ‘Of course it’s political. Anyone who sees the exhibition can understand — it’s not that I want it to be political. It just is political.’

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THE MANY LIVES OF THE NAKAGIN CAPSULE TOWER AT MOMA

night time at the Nakagin Capsule Tower, with Mr. Takayuki Sekine seen through the window of capsule B1004, 2016. image © Jeremie Souteyrat

As Ai Weiwei’s studios highlighted the ways environments shape an artist’s identity, the next exhibition turned to a building that itself became a symbol of radical architectural thinking. MoMA in New York brought the Nakagin Capsule Tower back into public view, reframing its half-century story through a fully restored capsule and extensive archival material. The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower exhibition revisited the Tokyo landmark designed in 1972 and dismantled in 2022, long regarded as one of the clearest expressions of Metabolism in Japan. At the center of the exhibition was capsule A1305, returned to near-original condition with its modular furniture, audio controls, and Sony color TV that once defined its compact domestic life. More than 40 supplementary materials, models, brochures, film reels, and interviews, traced how the tower’s prefabricated units evolved far beyond their initial purpose.

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CELEBRATING RYUICHI SAKAMOTO AT MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART TOKYO

Nakaya Fujiko, London Fog, Fog Performance #03779, 2017, Installation view from “BMW Tate Live Exhibition: Ten Days Six Nights,” Tate Modern, London, UK Collaboration: Min Tanaka (Dance), Shiro Takatani (Lighting), Ryuichi Sakamoto (Music). Photo by Noriko Koshida

The next exhibition on the list looks beyond architecture to the world of sound, with a major retrospective dedicated to composer and artist Ryuichi Sakamoto. At the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Ryuichi Sakamoto | seeing sound, hearing time offered a comprehensive look at the late artist’s pioneering journey through music, technology, and visual expression. Bringing together celebrated works alongside installations conceived before his passing, the exhibition captured the breadth of a career defined by experimentation and cross-disciplinary curiosity. Tracing Sakamoto’s evolution from electronic innovation to environmental awareness, the show highlights how he expanded the possibilities of composition by integrating spatial, visual, and digital elements. Immersive rooms, archival recordings, and rarely seen materials reveal his deep engagement with the fragility of the natural world and the passage of time. The result was an intimate portrait of an artist whose influence continues to resonate across contemporary art and culture.

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TATIANA TROUVÉ STRANGE LIFE OF THINGS BY TAT PALAZZO GRASSI

The Guardian, 2020 | photo by Florian Kleinefenn

Where Sakamoto shaped emotion through sound and space, Tatiana Trouvé builds atmospheres through objects, constellations, and drawn narratives across Palazzo Grassi. In The Strange Life of Things, the Pinault Collection presented a major solo exhibition of Trouvé’s sculptures and drawings, curated by Caroline Bourgeois and James Lingwood. The show traced the artist’s ongoing interest in journeys, both real and imagined, through chair sculptures, installations, and intricate drawings. These pieces form interconnected worlds that shift between past, present, and future, drawing viewers into landscapes where memory, imagination, and lived experience overlap. 

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PRECIOUS OKOYOMON’S PLUSH COMPANIONS AT KUNSTHAUS BREGENZ

Precious Okoyomon, ONE EITHER LOVES ONESELF OR KNOWS ONESELF, Exhibition view second floor Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2025, in the belly of the sun endless, 2025 | photo: Markus Tretter © Precious Okoyomon, Kunsthaus Bregenz courtesy of the artist and Kunsthaus Bregenz

An even more surreal world than Trouvé’s emerged at Kunsthaus Bregenz with Precious Okoyomon’s dreamlike environments. The artist and poet unveiled ONE EITHER LOVES ONESELF OR KNOWS ONESELF, an exhibition that reimagined the museum as a sequence of psychoanalytic chambers, dream habitats, and intimate interior worlds. Returning to the institution after debuting there as its youngest-ever exhibiting artist, Okoyomon filled the space with plush companions, lush garden enclosures, and installations that blurred the boundary between comfort and unease. Her poetry threaded through the galleries, shaping an experience that felt at once childlike and deeply introspective. Moving through these shifting environments, visitors were invited to confront the tender edges of self-perception, encountering a universe where transformation is constant and the subconscious becomes momentarily tangible. 

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2024 — 2023 — 2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 —  2018 — 2017 — 2016 — 2015 — 2014 — 2013

The post TOP 10 exhibitions of 2025 appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

As 2025 comes to an end, we’re reflecting on the architecture, design, and technology projects featured on designboom that applied creative thinking to address compounding global pressures. Designers increasingly turned their attention to urgent realities, such as intensifying climate-driven disasters and growing resource scarcity. In a year marked by record-breaking temperatures, ongoing displacement crises, and growing debates around waste, water, and energy systems, design emerged not as a passive backdrop but as an active tool for response. Shaped by these shared challenges, these works demonstrate how design can move beyond aesthetics to function as infrastructure, service, and social support. Together, the 2025 social impact stories highlighted here point to a growing emphasis on design as a practical response to global issues, showing how spatial thinking, material innovation, sustainability, and community engagement can contribute to more equitable and resilient futures.

From flood-proof bamboo pavilion within Yasmeen Lari’s zero-carbon Pono village in Pakistan, and Natura Futura’s teak wood bakery, conceived as a hybrid infrastructure led by women and youth, to Toyota’s autonomous wheelchair with foldable tentacle legs that can climb stairs, and Ulf Mejergren’s compact gabled refuge that mounts on a mobile scissor lift to adapt to environments with frequent rainfall and flooding, here are the top 10 social impact stories that addressed pressing social, environmental, and cultural challenges.

REFUGE MOUNTS ON SCISSOR LIFT IN RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

image courtesy of Oskar Omne

We are kicking off our list of socially impactful projects with Lift House by Ulf Mejergren Architects (UMA). The project introduces a compact gabled timber house refuge mounted on a mobile scissor lift. Designed for an exhibition setting, the work explores architecture’s capacity to adapt to changing environmental conditions. The installation responds to increasing climate instability, including more frequent rainfall and flooding, by proposing a structure that can temporarily rise above the ground when necessary. The concept is structured around three primary strategies for managing environmental risk: defend, attack, and retreat. Lift House suggests a fourth option, temporary retreat, introducing mobility and flexibility as means of resilience.

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BAMBOO SHAPES FLOOD-PROOF PAVILION IN PAKISTANI VILLAGE

image courtesy of Nyami Studio

As flooding continues to displace communities worldwide, designs shift from mobile shelters to permanent, locally rooted frameworks for resilience. In the flood-prone region of Sindh, Pakistan, the Juliet Center anchors a prototype development for resilient, community-driven architecture led by Yasmeen Lari. Within the Pono Village, conceived by the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan following the devastating floods of 2022, this new bamboo pavilion creates a flexible, open space to empower local residents. The project has thus been completed by Nyami Studio and Jack Rankin with a strong social focus, responding directly to the area’s environmental and economic vulnerabilities that intensified after 2022.

Extending Lari’s broader vision to foster self-sufficiency through vernacular techniques, the Juliet Center is built with low-cost and eco-friendly materials, including bamboo, mud, lime, and thatch. It is shaped as a lightweight, vaulted structure that recalls the traditional domed forms familiar in Sindh, while translating them into a sinuous, modular silhouette. Within the open form framed by bamboo columns, it creates an inviting setting for spontaneous community gatherings while providing a space to host educational workshops, upskilling locals in sustainable building techniques.

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3D PRINTED CORAL REEFS IN MIAMI FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE

image courtesy of Florida International University and Sara Pezeshk

Moving beyond flood-responsive architecture on land, other projects turn to rising sea levels and underwater environments, exploring how design can restore marine ecosystems. Architects and marine biologists at Florida International University develop BIOCAP tiles, a series of 3D printed coral reefs that combat climate change by creating cooler microenvironments. Designed to support marine life, these modular tiles reduce the impact of waves along the seawalls. They are designed to help water cities like Miami adapt to the rising sea levels, all the while restoring the ecological balance along the shorelines.

The researchers, led by Sara Pezeshk and Shahin Vassigh, enumerate some ways that the 3D printed coral reef seawalls can help fight climate change. Each BIOCAP tile, for example, has shaded grooves, crevices, and small, water-holding pockets. Because of these, they mimic the natural shoreline conditions. They also construct tiny homes for barnacles, oysters, sponges, and other marine organisms that filter and improve water quality. Design-wise, the BIOCAP tiles have swirling surface patterns that increase their overall surface area. On top of that, they give the marine life more space for colonization.

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3D PRINTED DEVICE EXTRACTS DRINKING WATER DIRECTLY FROM AIR

image courtesy of Louisa Graupe and Julika Schwarz

While some designers address rising sea levels and coastal protection, others focus on freshwater scarcity, developing technologies that extract safe drinking water from the atmosphere itself. Designed by Louisa Graupe and Julika Schwarz, Water from Air is a mobile device that extracts potable water directly from the atmosphere using advanced material technology. The prototype addresses the increasing global demand for accessible drinking water by employing Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), a class of materials known for their high porosity and capacity for selective absorption. These materials are capable of capturing water molecules from ambient air and releasing them as usable freshwater. Research into MOFs is currently underway at institutions including the Institute for Materials Chemistry at the University of Vienna and the University of California, Berkeley.

At any given time, the atmosphere holds more water than all of Earth’s rivers combined. Water from Air is a design response that translates this scientific potential into a functional product. While MOFs have predominantly been studied in laboratory contexts, this project proposes a real-world application through a compact, scalable, and energy-independent form.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLE BATTERIES REUSED AS PLANT FERTILIZERS

image courtesy of Teona Swift

Moving from 3D printed devices that turn air into potable water, we look into other innovations transforming post-consumer waste into valuable resources, closing the loop in sustainable material cycles. Engineers at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee have developed a way to recycle used lithium iron phosphate batteries from electric vehicles into crop and plant fertilizers. These materials, commonly used in EVs, delivery vans, and buses, are just disposed of when they reach the end of their life, usually after ten years. The researchers hope that by repurposing these used batteries as fertilizers, they can help the agriculture industry and reduce the traditional recycling methods, which are considered costly and complicated, given that the recovered materials from the process, like iron and phosphate, don’t cost much and make battery recycling more expensive than it is.

The engineers, led by Dr. Deyang Qu, the Department Chair of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, use a chemical method called ion exchange, a process already used in many industries, such as water purification. In this recycling system, the IX process helps replace lithium ions with hydrogen or potassium ions using resin, which works like a filter that can swap certain elements for others. Two types of resins are used to recycle the used batteries from electric vehicles: strong acid cation resins and K-form (potassium-based) resins.

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EGGSHELLS COMPOSE BIODEGRADABLE MODULAR BUTTERFLY NEST

image courtesy of Jayoung Kim, Jungmin Park, and Chaewon Lee

We now move to design interventions that support urban ecosystems, such as this shelter that creates microhabitats for pollinators. EggNest is a sculptural, modular structure developed by Jayoung Kim, Jungmin Park, and Chaewon Lee as a shelter for butterflies in urban settings. Constructed from eggshells and soil, it offers a microhabitat that facilitates pollinator activity and supports vegetation such as moss and flowers. The project addresses the need for biodiversity integration within cities.

As urban environments present challenges for maintaining biodiversity, EggNest proposes a shared ecological space where both human and non-human species can coexist. Rather than designing exclusively for one group, the structure balances environmental and functional needs, creating a compatible setting for butterflies and urban dwellers alike. The system is composed of adaptable modules that respond to varying urban contexts. The modular design is informed by expert input, particularly regarding the thermal and humidity conditions needed for butterfly survival. Gaps between modules allow for the growth of moss and flowering plants, supporting humidity retention while visually functioning as urban planters.

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SOLAR-POWERED BACKPACK PROVIDES SHELTER FOR THE HOMELESS

image courtesy of HomeMore Project

From microhabitats that nurture urban biodiversity, we turn to design solutions that provide immediate, practical support for people navigating vulnerable conditions. The Makeshift Traveler is a solar-powered backpack by HomeMore Project that comes with a sleeping bag and pillow and supports individuals looking for permanent housing. An initiative by the HomeMore Project, the accessory is tailored to the needs of the individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness, allowing them to sustainably navigate their situation until they obtain permanent shelter.

Looking at the design of the solar-powered backpack, the hardshell exterior allows for a weatherproof surface so the individuals’ personal belongings are safe and stashed inside regardless of the environmental conditions. On top of it lies the solar panel that stores the energy within the accessory’s battery bank, letting the individuals charge their devices using a USB port. The latter part also features cables to charge the backpack as soon as the user has access to a wall charger. A urethane-coated nylon pillow is embedded in the bottom of the solar-powered backpack. In this way, users can rest without needing to bring an extra pillow, lockable using a double zipper system to ward off thieves and protect the individuals’ personal belongings, too.

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BAKERY DOUBLES AS WOMEN-LED LEARNING SPACE IN ECUADOR

image courtesy of Jag Studio

From providing mobile support for individuals to empowering entire communities, these projects demonstrate how design can address both immediate needs and long-term resilience. On Ecuador’s flood-prone coast, where rural communities have long depended on distant urban centers for opportunity, La Panificadora timber bakery by Natura Futura emerges as a self-managed catalyst for local autonomy. This compact, modular project reclaims the everyday act of baking bread, an Ecuadorian dietary staple, as a tool for economic empowerment, education, and community cohesion. The 100-square-meter structure is led by women and youth, enabling skills training, production, and commercialization under one roof.

La Panificadora is built from locally available teak wood and responds to the humid climate through permeable facades, lattice doors, and generous open galleries for cross-ventilation and light. Horizontal floating beams secure the modules above ground, ensuring resilience against coastal flooding. While minimal in size, the space is conceived as a hybrid of infrastructure, school, market, and gathering place.

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TOYOTA’S AUTO WHEELCHAIR WITH FOLDABLE TENTACLE LEGS

image courtesy of Toyota

We highlight individual mobility solutions, like this design that enhances autonomy at a personal scale.

Toyota reveals ‘walk me,’ a concept autonomous wheelchair with foldable tentacle legs that can climb stairs and sit on the floor. The assistive device helps people with reduced mobility to move around places where traditional wheelchairs aren’t able to, including walking up and down between floors and lifting the users to their cars. Toyota’s autonomous wheelchair replaces the traditional wheels with four robotic and foldable legs that move like animal limbs. 

Each leg can lift, bend, and adjust its position on its own, and this lets the device move across steps or rough ground. The seat has a supportive frame that holds the user in a safe and upright position, and the backrest curves to follow the shape of the user’s back. The user asks the device to move around using the small side handles or a control interface that can include buttons. The foldable legs of Toyota’s concept autonomous wheelchair also come with soft-looking outer covers to protect the inside parts as well as the sensors.

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AI KITCHEN DEVICE TURNS LEFTOVERS INTO PERSONALIZED RECIPES

image courtesy of Ayah Mahmoud and C Jacob Payne

Finally, this project reimagines everyday activities, illustrating how design can extend human capability. Developed at MIT, Kitchen Cosmo is a speculative AI cooking device that challenges conventional paradigms of smart kitchen technology. Rather than automating tasks or optimizing efficiency, Cosmo fosters a co-creative relationship between user and machine, generating personalized recipes based on available ingredients and six analog input parameters, including cooking time, mood, and dietary restrictions. The device uses GPT-4o, a multimodal large language model capable of processing both images and text in real time. A webcam captures the user’s ingredients; dials and switches communicate contextual preferences. A single API call then translates these inputs into a context-specific recipe, which is printed via an embedded thermal printer. Cosmo’s distinctive interface is entirely screenless and tactile, rejecting voice assistants and digital displays in favor of knobs, sliders, and physical ritual.

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see designboom’s TOP 10 stories archive:

2024 — 2023 — 2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 —  2018 — 2017 — 2016 — 2015 — 2014 — 2013

The post TOP 10 social impact stories of 2025 appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Designers and manufacturers present upgraded vehicles that explore future mobility, updated classic forms, and mixed-use materials in our Top 10 Cars of 2025. Take Alef Aeronautics’ Model A, which is a flying car that moves on roads and rises vertically. The body keeps the form of a road car and hides the lift system inside the shell, as the idea is a single vehicle for both driving and flying. Other makers explore narrow or compact forms, with a modified Fiat Panda becomes a 50-centimeter-wide electric car with one central seat, or a three-wheel Velocar uses birch plywood, bicycle parts, and simple tools so users can repair or rebuild it in a small workshop. 

Children’s mobility also enters the field, as seen in Toyota’s Kids Mobi running on autonomous system. It drives around one child and without any adult supervision on board. Some designers and brands update classic vehicles as seen in our Top 10 Cars of 2025. Sean Wotherspoon, for example, rebuilds a Porsche and a Land Rover with new surfaces, new fabrics, and revised layouts. With Twisted Automotive, the team reworks old Beetles with off-road parts. There’s also Mercedes-Benz and its Art Deco-inspired Vision Iconic concept  car, bearing a glass instrument panel with lighting animation, continuing our list’s design studies in the automotive industry.

DRIVABLE FLYING CAR BY ALEF AERONAUTICS TAKES FLIGHT

image courtesy of Alef Aeronautics

Alef Aeronautics debuts the flight of its flying car, Alef Model A, in a public exhibition. The event focused on the design and operation of the drivable vehicle that can lift off the ground, which included a test flight recorded on February 19, 2025. In the video, the car moves on a road and then rises vertically. It also flies over another vehicle, and this is the team’s way to display the proof of a working flying car with vertical takeoff and landing. The Model A has the outer form of a road car so it can park in normal parking spaces and travel on public streets. The body houses the lift system inside the structure, and the design doesn’t use exposed propellers. The interior includes a gimbaled cabin that stays level in the air, while the elevon system manages vertical and forward movement.

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MOTOFOCKER VELOCAR COMBINES BICYCLE AND CAR IN ONE

image by Lefties Photo

Motofocker Velocar is a three-wheel vehicle made by designer Máté Fock, whose style sits between a bicycle and a small car. The chassis is made from birch plywood that resists water and heat, and many of its parts come from normal bicycle components. Some others are from semi-finished industrial products. These materials can help the user repair the vehicle and recycle the parts easily and even allow them to build the vehicle with ready hand tools in a small workshop. The Velocar, which forms part of our top 10 cars of 2025, uses both human power and an electric system and moves like a bicycle. The design offers a stable seating position, space for luggage, and weather cover.

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WORLD’S NARROWEST FIAT PANDA DRIVES AROUND

image courtesy of tutti pazzi per marazzi

Modded 1993 Fiat Panda becomes dubbed the world’s narrowest of its kind, still drivable as a fully functional electric car. The maker, Andrea Marazzi, builds the vehicle by hand using reused parts from the original model and makes his version only 50 centimeters wide. He keeps the roof, the doors, and many visual elements from the first car, but the body, frame, and inside structure are redesigned. The driver sits in the center, and the car uses a small steering wheel. A single headlight is placed on the front for night use, and the rear of the vehicle has a pointed form similar to a boat’s front section. The exterior, then, resembles a slice of pizza for how narrow and compact it is.

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ELECTRIC BUBBLE CAR FOR KIDS RUNS WITHOUT ADULTS ON BOARD

image © designboom

Toyota introduces  Kids Mobi as an electric pod-type vehicle made for children. The car manufacturer showed the prototype at the Japan Mobility Show 2025, telling the viewers they saw it as a vehicle that could move a child without an adult inside. In fact, the vehicle has a round pod shape, which is kid-friendly, and the door opens upward so an adult can help the child enter. Inside, there is one seat with soft material, and the space is large enough for one child to sit with a seat belt. The front has LED eyes that move to interact with the kids before they step in. The Kids Mobi uses an autonomous driving system with sensors and cameras. It is the AI system that controls direction, speed, and route of the vehicle, driving the child on its own and without any adult supervision.

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SEAN WOTHERSPOON REVAMPS PORSCHE AND LAND ROVER

image © Hagop Kalaidjian

Sean Wotherspoon takes a Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7RS and a 1958 Land Rover and reimagines their surfaces, colors, and interiors. For the former, the designer repainted every panel and replaced every surface inside the car, wrapping the cabin with vintage Levi’s denim, corduroy, and flannel fabrics sourced from garments dating back to the 1960s. For the latter, the designer kept the original panels and chassis, and the team added a rebuilt engine, a new gearbox, new wheels, a simple digital system with CarPlay, and new rear seats with speakers. Sean Wotherspoon also added an updated layout to the body, giving both car models his signature color blocks.

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REFLECTIVE SUPERCAR PERALTA S FEATURES MIRROR-POLISHED BODY

image courtesy of GFG Style

Peralta S is a one-off supercar designed by GFG Style. First shown in Mexico in March 2025, the vehicle’s design takes inspiration from the Maserati Boomerang. Its main feature is its mirror-polished aluminum body, with the entire exterior frame being made from handmade aluminum panels. Because of this, the surface reflects the surroundings. Only a few parts use other materials: the front spoiler, rear diffuser, and side sills are made from carbon fiber to reduce weight and improve airflow. The vehicle uses a dome system for entry, with the top section lifts upward as one piece so the driver can step inside. The side windows also open upward on their own hinges, and from above, the vehicle has a teardrop layout. The lights are hidden under the front and rear sections, and when the car starts, the rear lights create a shadow-light effect, and the rear spoiler rises for function.

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TWISTED T-BUG IS A MODIFIED BEETLE FOR OFF-ROAD TERRAINS

image courtesy of Twisted Automotive

Twisted Automotive presents T-Bug, a modified version of the classic Beetle, made for off-road use on desert ground, sand dunes, and uneven terrain. Each model begins as an air-cooled Beetle from the 1960s to 1980s, and the design team removes all parts and works from the bare structure. They seal and strengthen the chassis so the vehicle can handle modern roads. Then, they install long-travel suspension and large off-road tires to increase ground contact on different surfaces. The team keeps the original Beetle shape, but the bodywork, evident here in our top 10 cars of 2025 list, is restored and repainted inside and outside in the color chosen by the owner. The engine is upgraded to produce more power, but it stays under 80 horsepower so the driver can feel the terrain at a controlled speed.

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LAMBORGHINI MANIFESTO CONCEPT SIGNALS MINIMALIST FUTURE

image © Lamborghini

Lamborghini presents the Manifesto concept to mark twenty years of its in-house design studio, Centro Stile. The vehicle is a design study with no plan for production, as it is used to test ideas about the future look of the brand. The design team, led by Mitja Borkert, removes the usual sharp lines and large wings from the past models and focuses on simple shapes and clear proportions for the concept vehicle. The front of the Manifesto then includes a Y-shaped light pattern, a shape that first appeared in a 2007 Lamborghini model. The nose of the car follows a straight layout that connects to the brand’s recent vehicle, and the air channels are designed as single openings to show a clean structure. A glass canopy forms the roof and the window area, creating a continuous piece that covers the cockpit and creates a clear view of the interior. At the rear, the concept uses vertical Y-shaped brake lights.

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MERCEDES-BENZ REVEALS ART DECO-INSPIRED VISION ICONIC CAR

image courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz presents the Vision Iconic, a concept car takes its main ideas from the 1938 Mercedes-Benz Typ 540K Autobahn-Kurier. The design, as seen in our top 10 cars of 2025, uses the long front section, wide wheel arches, round headlights, and roof line of the older model. For the Vision Iconic, they apply Art Deco forms to update these elements. The front grille includes lighting animation, which changes in patterns when the car is active, and inside the car, the main feature is the instrument panel called the Zeppelin. It is shaped like a floating glass bar and contains thin lines and geometric shapes based on Art Deco design. When the door opens, the panel shows an analog-style animation. A screen runs across the width of the interior, and in the center there is a clock shaped like the Mercedes-Benz star. Materials inside include silver and gold marquetry panels around the doors and rear seats.

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PAGANI DEBUTS OPEN-AIR SPEEDSTER HUAYRA CODALUNGA

image courtesy of Pagani

Pagani presents the Huayra Codalunga Speedster, an open-air version of the 2022 coupé. The project comes from the Pagani Grandi Complicazioni division and from sketches by Horacio Pagani, with its design using ideas from racing cars from the 1950s and 1960s. Inside the car, artisans shape the parts by hand: the gauges and meters come from solid metal blocks and are carved to form small pieces for the dashboard; and the steering wheel and gear knob follow older racing forms but use a carbon-fiber frame, mahogany inserts, and aluminum rivets shaped by hand. Pagani also develops a new fabric for the seats, door panels, and center console. The pattern comes from the four-exhaust symbol used in Pagani cars. Each piece has over 450,000 stitches. The body uses a new monocoque that joins frame and shell in one part. Then, the headlights sit inside the body, and the front bumper holds a splitter that moves air around and under the car. Even the side windows take forms from 1940s and 1950s race cars.

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2018 — 2017 — 2016 — 2015 — 2014 — 2013

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