Practice

Flat tops and legs make up a large part of most interior spaces. Though it is often the things place d atop tables that define them. As objects primarily for utilitarian use — eating, writing, working, or playing games — they are usually not the piece of furniture in a room that gets all the attention.…

One of the most talked-about stories in architecture this year has been Tokyo’s decision to scrap Za ha Hadid’s competition-winning design for the 2020 Olympic Stadium. Fueled by concerns over spiraling costs, public discontentment at the scale of the proposed arena, and mounting criticism from Japanese architects, the city pulled the plug on the British-Iraqi architect’s…

Through much of the 20th century, architecture gave an upper hand to technology over nature. Buildin gs were sealed off from fresh air and were primarily accessible by car. In retrospect, this era will register as an anomaly: while movements like sustainability and biophilia may sport cutting-edge monikers, in reality, they represent a return to age-old…

On the one hand quotidian and functional, faucets can also be imbued with design intent and imaginat ion. As demonstrated by the sophisticated styles in this collection, their functional purposes and archetypal forms provide a launching point for the contemporary imagination. The intimate and domestic scale of the faucet allows for subtle design details with big…

Every day, throngs of people use public transit, be it in the form of a bus or train, rarely thinkin g about the depots, stations, or stops that they traverse along the way. But there’s change underfoot as architects and designers focus more on enhancing the commuter experience, as well as revitalizing urban areas, by building…

Writing for Gensler’s 50th-anniversary blog series “Fifty On,” public relations manager Katie Dabbsr ecently contributed some fascinating insights into the strengthening relationship between design and social media, and how the online “wisdom of the crowd” will help shape the cities of the future. With wide-ranging sources from Kim Kardashian to Iwan Baan, here’s what Dabbs had…

One of the ironies of modern “green” architecture and design is that in attempting to build more sus tainable and comfortable structures and make use of the positive aspects of natural daylight we can sometimes accomplish the opposite. All that glass allows us to reduce energy used to light and heat buildings, and there are documented…

A mesmerizing winter light festival that launched in 2014, Geneva LUX is back for a second edition, taking over major streets and public plazas throughout the Swiss city’s downtown area. The program invites both local and international artists and designers to create these installations, which not only demonstrate artistic innovation, but also technical innovation of…

Hansgrohe had firmly established itself as a pioneer in sanitary fittings by the time Philippe Grohe , grandson of company founder Hans Grohe, took the reins of its Axor brand in 2000. 72 years prior, for example, the enterprise had introduced consumers to the first hand shower, and its launch of Axor in 1992 marked a…