Westfriedhof Station by Ingo Maurer – A colorful cave of light

1 Ingo Maurer – Lighting concept for Westfriedhof Station, 2001, installation view, Munich, Germany, photo: Public Delivery

Think of a subway station and what comes to mind is a dark and busy place, likely dirty and filled with old metal and concrete. Fortunately, there are exceptions to this. One of them is the colorful 1 and bright Westfriedhof Subway station in Munich, Germany, that departs from the common conception of subway stations 2 and instead bathes the visitor with colorful beauty.

What sets Westfriedhof apart is its lighting concept, developed by renowned designer Ingo Maurer 3. Red, blue and yellow lights shine...

Award Plaques for CMU’s STUDIO for Creative Inquiry

We recently created a set of sculptural award plaques for a new fund at The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon University. The Moore Family Fund for underwriting creativity, knowledge, experimentation, research and yumminess will fund antidisciplinary undergraduate research (learn more here). Dan Moore (a senior technical artist at NVIDIA) commissioned us to design a unique set of perpetual award plaques that will hold the names of recipients over the next 75 years.

Typical award plaques are simple rectangular slabs with a grid of metal nameplates, each engraved year after year. We wanted to break away from...

KM Home

A prime example of extraordinary design solutions that seamlessly blend aesthetics with practicality is the private residence of designer Karina Mayer and architect Danylo Koshulynskyy, the creative minds behind the successful interior studio Koshulynskyy & Mayer. The designer-architect couple was far from satisfied with the developer’s original layout. Rather than conforming to a design that [...]

Casa of Sloping Roof

Casa of Sloping Roof is a duplex penthouse with a pitched roof. It combines minimalist design with a structured design language, attracting people to roam through it. The client wants her home to be free, open, sunny and allow for good interaction with her family. Therefore, BDSD hopes to present a home like an art museum under the sunshine, [...]

Elegant Minimalism: A Smart Renovation of a Compact Living Space by Martins Studio

This is a stunning renovation project by Ukrainian Martins Studio, transforming a compact living space into a stylish and functional home. The design merges modern minimalism with classic architectural elements, creating a harmonious balance between elegance and practicality. A key feature of the space is the elevated wooden structure that incorporates a cozy built-in sleeping [...]

Cube Building in Dnipro

In the early 20th century, large quarters in the central part of Dnipro were often developed with small residential houses and auxiliary structures. Forming a dense building perimeter that aligns with the scale of urban spaces in the historical center remains pertinent in 21st-century cities. The new cubic building integrates into the historical context with [...]

Residence LL

Residence LL is a multi-story residence located in the southwestern region of China, overlooking a beautiful, expansive lakeside view, with a building area of approximately 500 square meters, representing a residential landmark in the local urban landscape. The owners, a couple who are entrepreneurs and antique collectors, sought to create an elegant and peaceful home. [...]

Macao’s largest mural – Drawing Architecture Studio’s casino maze

1 Drawing Architecture Studio – Learning from Macao, 2021, wall film, ink, 12.5 x 26.2 m, installation view, Handover Gifts Museum of Macao

What does it mean to learn from a city like Macao, rich in history, culture, and architectural 1 spectacle? Learning from Macao invites viewers to reflect on the dynamic relationship between art and urban life.

The mega-mural 2 is displayed on the outdoor wall of the Handover Gifts Museum of Macao. It was commissioned by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR for Art Macao: Macao International Art Biennale 2021. It’s a visual love letter to the city’s...

The Kyiv Crematorium: Censorship & the fight for recognition

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1 Abraham Miletsky, Ada Ryabachuk, Volodymyr Melnychenko – Kyiv Crematorium, 1975, installation view, Kyiv, Ukraine, photo 2: Надія Кукла 3

The Kyiv Crematorium is a striking neo-modernist concrete structure nestled on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. It marks a turning point in how Ukrainian society addresses death. Built when cremation was a contentious subject due to historical trauma, the design aimed to create a therapeutic environment, free from associations with destruction.

Cremation was a thorny subject in Ukraine when the idea of building a crematorium in Kyiv was brought forward. That is partly because of the Second World War genocide...

The Mask of Sorrow by Ernst Neizvestny: Remembering the Gulag

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1 Ernst Neizvestny – Mask of Sorrow, 1996, concrete, 15 meters high, installation view, Magadan, Russia, photo 2: Polina Boytsova 3

What does it mean to confront the shadows of history, especially when those shadows loom as large as the Mask of Sorrow? Looming over the remote 1 city of Magadan in northeastern Russia, the monument serves as a jarring reminder of the countless lives shattered by Soviet oppression.

The sculpture was built in Magadan, around 320 kilometers from the Dneprovsky labor camp 23, the best-preserved site in the Kolyma Gulag network where prisoners were processed and sent to forced labor camps.

The...