The Ohm line is the first new lighting collection to come out of Sweden’s Ifö Electric in over a decade. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the company has been known for classic, minimalist fixtures made of pressed porcelain. Designed by Kauppi & Kauppi, Ohm offers a contemporary spin on its earliest models, which […]

Vapor Graphic Perf, by California-based company Arktura, is a wall- and ceiling-panelling system as well as a mural. The tiles are made of perforated aluminum, and the holes, which vary in size and frequency, are akin to pixels. From a distance, they form a picture – a mountain vista, say, or a forest in the […]

Brooklyn, New York’s Gowanus district is, like so many neighbourhoods in the borough, facing rapid changes. The area’s namesake, the Gowanus Canal, a polluted waterway from the 19th century, has been earmarked for a publicly funded cleanup initiative that will inevitably lead to gentrification and rising land-use costs. To give residents a voice during these […]

Ventanilla, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Lima, is known for leaky, uninsulated houses made of plastic, plywood and scraps of lumber. Architect Enrique Llatas set out to show that it’s possible for people there to live better. For less than $10,000, he built Leandra Ortega’s Human Settlement Social Housing, a 42-square-metre abode for a […]

The Highlander Accelerator, a community centre in a former public-housing project in Omaha, includes a coffee roastery, a business incubator, an aquaponics greenhouse and a soul food restaurant. When making programming choices for the Accelerator, the board of Seventy Five North, a local non-profit, asked one main question: What do people in the neighbourhood want? […]

Inspired by the work of Angelo Mangiarotti, well-known for his seamless concrete architecture, Belgian designer Leo Aerts has carved this table entirely out of marble. Contrary to its appearance, however, Angelo M is in fact two parts rather than a single monolith, comprising a top with a bevelled bottom edge and a conical base with […]

Equal parts room divider, plant stand and floor lamp, this thin-framed yet eminently useful piece is the ultimate biophilic object. Conceived by Malmö-based Johan Kauppi, it began as a spinoff from an earlier design for a floor screen, which Kauppi deconstructed. In essence, he imagined GreenFrame as a modern-day stand-in for a window with a […]

In terms of green cred, Denmark’s UP – the “circular kitchen” designed for Reform by Lendager Group, a leader in sustainable solutions – is, well, up there. A series of solid natural-wood cabinetry fronts and countertops, Lendager’s design is made of upcycled Douglas fir offcuts from Dinesen (the 120-year-old manufacturer of high-end hardwood flooring), which […]

While there are lots of sweet details in this 157-square-metre, second-floor hard-loft conversion in a former confectionery building in Toronto’s West End, the most remarkable are the barrel-vaulted corridors. Illuminated by strips of warm LED lighting, these otherworldly portals leading to and from the main space buffer the loft’s open-concept living area from outside noise. […]

Splashy yet restrained, Jorge Pizarro’s thoroughly contemporary update of a 130-square-metre family home passed down over three generations brings it up to the minute. In a quest to find its true essence as dictated by its structure and functions, the architect stripped away the Madrid residence’s former divisions and defined three new spaces: the nave […]