designboom

DAVID CHIPPERFIELD REOPENS THE PEREDA BUILDING TO THE CITY David Chipperfield Architects completes the transformation of the historic Pereda Building in northern into Faro Santander, a new center for art, culture, and technology set to open on September 8, 2026. Formerly the main headquarters of Banco Santander, the protected building now contains more than 10,000 square meters of usable space across ten levels, marking the studio’s first museum project completed in the country.

khalansky extends Almaty Museum of Arts with a modernist café Designed by khalansky architects, Cafe Alma is located within the Almaty Museum of Arts in Kazakhstan, where it establishes a connection between the museum’s exhibition spaces and the surrounding urban environment. Developed for hospitality group abr, the 104-sqm café was completed within a 2.5-month timeframe and is conceived as an extension of the museum’s public realm rather than an isolated commercial space.

the intelligence of the hand Crafting the Future also consistently returned to the importance of manual knowledge. In an era increasingly shaped by automation and digital production, many makers argued that the hand remains a sophisticated instrument of observation, adaptation, and invention. Craft was presented not as the opposite of technology but as a way of enriching it.

FLAT/FORM turns century-old cedar into flat-pack furniture Designed by Satoshi Itasaka, FLAT/FORM is a furniture collection made from 15 mm-thick veneer panels produced from Japanese cedar trees more than 100 years old. Developed using timber supplied by Miyazaki-based forestry company GROWTHRING, the project combines traditional Japanese construction principles with a flat-pack system that allows each piece to be assembled, disassembled, repaired, and transported using only bolts and nuts.

CORY INFINITE REWORKS THE ADISTAR XLG 2.0 American artist Cory Infinite has transformed a pair of adidas Adistar XLG 2.0 sneakers into a one-of-one design for singer Teezo Touchdown. Created in collaboration with adidas Originals, the custom pair was developed by hand in Kansas City for the rapper to bring to the World Cup. The original silhouette is almost entirely covered by recycled Ethernet cables, with roughly 170 pieces attached to each shoe using zip ties.

Agostino Iacurci imagines a vibrant garden in Portrait Milano Agostino Iacurci installs a contemporary botanical landscape with Arcipelago Botanico, a public installation in the courtyard of Portrait Milano curated by Valentina Ciarallo.

A Public Installation Inspired by the Concept of the Fifth Element Designed by Zhide Architectural Design Consulting (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (ZDC), OAS/S-AETHER is a large-scale installation created for the ‘Migratory Birds 300’ section of the 2026 Aranya Theater Festival.

absurdist basket makes lewis prosser in conversation British artist Lewis Prosser describes himself as an ‘absurdist basketmaker,’ a title that feels both playful and surprisingly precise. His oversized willow sculptures, wearable costumes, monumental heads, and performative objects rarely function as baskets in the conventional sense. Instead, they use basketry as a way of asking larger questions about labor, locality, materials, and the future of making.

fossil opera has crushed cars emerge from dig site French artist Théo Mercier unveils Fossil Opera, a monumental site-specific public art installation for the 2026 edition of Le Voyage à Nantes. Built from three everyday materials—sand, construction rubble, and discarded automobiles—the work resembles an archaeological landscape suspended somewhere between ruin, excavation, and performance.

Rusted Steel and New Timber Shape the Renovation of Ichizu Designed by coil Kazuteru Matumura Architects, Ichizu transforms two long-abandoned timber outbuildings hidden behind a family home into a shared kitchen and community space in Iguchido, Ikeda, Osaka. Located along the historic Nose Kaido road, the project forms the first phase of a gradual effort to reopen an inherited family property for public use while preserving its existing character and layered history.