Northcote House sits within a compact site in Melbourne, Australia, designed by LLDS as a reworking of a Victorian terrace. The narrow plot runs east to west, with a design that raises the ground plane to form a roof garden, giving back outdoor space within a dense urban condition.

This elevated landscape carries a brown roof that supports local ecology while extending the life of the house beyond its footprint. Beneath it, a hall-like volume gathers kitchen, dining, and entry within a single continuous space. The scale recalls nearby factory lofts and church halls, where openness supports shared occupation.

Designed as the architect’s own home, the project reflects a preference for smaller gathering spaces distributed across the plan. Each area supports a different mode of occupation, from the compact kitchen and dining space to the double-height ‘snug’, an intimate space encircled by a sculptural stair. The rooftop terrace opens out to offer views across surrounding rooftops toward distant landscapes surrounding the city.

image © Tom Ross

a fluid staircase centers the northcote house

At the center of the Northcote House, the team at LLDS sculpts a circular ‘snug.’ A void above draws daylight deep into the house and allows air to move through its full depth. Surrounding this fluid element, bedroom suites sit to either side. Movement flows around this snug, with stairs wrapping its edge and creating a gradual descent into a more enclosed, tactile space.

The absence of internal doors between primary rooms allows continuous movement, shaped instead by material shifts and level changes. Dark green finishes sit against timber stairs and wall linings, creating a consistent atmosphere.

Within the snug, locally sourced kangaroo and deer hides introduce a heavier, grounded texture against the concrete surfaces. The east bedroom carries a vaulted concrete soffit, transferring loads from the roof while shaping the ceiling with a distinct curvature.

the Northcote House reworks a Victorian terrace within a narrow inner city Melbourne site

llds designs the facade as a living surface

Both east and west elevations act as trellises for climbing plants, drawing vegetation into the depth of LLDS’s Northcote House. These planted surfaces extend the roof garden’s ecological intent downward, creating a layered interface between interior and street. At the front, a raised veranda overlooks the laneway and adjacent car park, offering a quiet form of observation tied to the neighborhood.

This threshold space takes cues from the Japanese engawa, or porch, where interior and exterior meet through a loosely defined edge. It supports informal use while maintaining a connection to public life. At the rear, a smaller courtyard introduces privacy and includes an outdoor shower, adding another dimension to how the house engages with open air.

trellis facades carry climbing plants that extend greenery across the structure

Material logic and construction methods

The project is guided by material selection tied closely to fabrication and long-term performance. Components were chosen for their texture, durability, and ability to be handled by an owner-builder. Many elements were produced within a short radius of the site, integrating digital fabrication methods such as CNC milling and robotic processes.

PIR sheets were milled to form the textured concrete wall, then reused as insulation within the roof assembly. Point cloud scanning informed the construction process, aligning concrete textures across joints and guiding the fabrication of the free-form plywood roof. This roof, developed in collaboration with TGA Engineering, spans the main volume with an exposed soffit that expresses its geometry directly.

a hall-like living space brings kitchen, dining, and entry into a shared volume

a circular snug organizes the plan and draws daylight deep into the house

digital fabrication and local production guide the timber roof and concrete construction

stairs wrap the snug to shape a continuous path of movement without corridors

a textured concrete wall improves thermal performance and softens interior acoustics

project info:

name: Northcote House

architect: LLDS | @llds_architecture

location: Melbourne, Australia

photography: © Tom Ross | @tomross.xyz

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A housing project by H&P Architects, dubbed Flying Vegetation, rises among Vietnam‘s Thai Binh city where a dense urban fabric is opened up by a shared neighborhood garden. The house is recognized at once by its planted facade that mediates the threshold between interior space and the street and uses vegetation as both screen and living surface.

Across the front elevation, rows of terracotta pots are held within a light steel frame that rises the full height of the building. The pots are spaced to allow growth and airflow, forming a permeable screen that softens light, reduces dust, and introduces a shifting layer of green. Seen from the street, the facade reads as a continuous field of plants, while from inside it becomes a calibrated filter that frames views outward.

images © Le Minh Hoang

H&P integrates food production into the structure

The planting system is designed by the team at H&P Architects as an adaptable framework rather than a fixed composition. Each pot sits within a circular metal holder that can be opened for maintenance, allowing residents to replace soil, adjust plant types, and respond to seasonal change. This approach treats the facade as an evolving surface, shaped over time through use.

Material choices reinforce this logic. Clay pots and brick walls share a similar tonal range, grounding the building in familiar construction methods while extending them into a vertical landscape. Soil and vegetation become part of the architectural assembly, aligning with H&P Architects’ broader interest in ‘agritecture’ as a way to integrate food production and living space within the city.

a vertical field of terracotta pots forms a planted facade across the full height of the house

interior spaces flooded by filtered light

Inside H&P Architects’ Flying Vegetation, the presence of the planted screen is immediate. Light enters through layers of leaves and ceramic, casting soft, irregular patterns across floors and walls. Balconies and circulation zones run alongside the facade, creating spaces where planting, movement, and rest overlap.

At ground level, a small courtyard extends the garden inward and introduces water and additional plantings. Brick surfaces are textured and tactile, while timber floors and simple furnishings keep the interiors restrained. The architecture remains quiet, which allows for the growth of plants and the passage of light to define the atmosphere.

the house faces a shared neighborhood garden, extending greenery into the urban fabric

an urban model for cultivation

Combining private living areas with spaces for tenants, the program is organized across multiple floors with shared zones on the upper levels. The house also functions as a small-scale model for urban agriculture. Residents grow and maintain plants directly on the facade, integrating everyday routines with food production and care. In a context where agricultural land continues to shrink, this approach offers a way to reintroduce cultivation into dense urban conditions, connecting inhabitants to familiar practices through the materials of soil, clay, and vegetation.

the planted screen filters sunlight, breezes, and views from the street

a steel frame system allows each pot to be accessed replaced and maintained over time

interior spaces receive softened light through layers of leaves and ceramic pots

plants are spaced to support growth, creating a breathable layer across the elevation

external corridors behind the planted screen connect living spaces with vegetation

project info:

name: Flying Vegetation

architect: H&P Architects | @hp_architects

location: Phu Xuan commune, Thai Binh city, Vietnam
design team: Doan Thanh Ha, Nguyen Hai Hue, Tran Van Duong, Luong Thi Ngoc Lan, Vu Minh Dien, Nguyen Van Thanh, Nguyen Van Thinh
completion: December 2022
photography: © Le Minh Hoang

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Archaeologists have long known that the ancient peoples of North America—not unlike us—played a lot of games. Going back millennia, cultures around the world developed myriad ways to keep entertained, and for a long time, it was thought that the first dice ever used could be traced to the ancient Eastern European and Near East cultures of Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the Caucasus. But according to a new paper by Robert Madden, published by Cambridge University Press, games of chance developed much, much earlier than originally thought—halfway around the world.

Researchers previously believed that the earliest dice originated about 5,500 years ago, but Madden shares that examples excavated in North America date back as far as the Late Pleistocene—the Ice Age. Among the oldest reported examples are a few found in modern-day Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. The rich archaeological sites in these places are associated with the Folsom Culture, representing a dispersed hunter-gatherer lifeway that extended across the North American West, Southwest, and Great Plains around 12,000 years ago.

“The dice tend to show up in liminal spaces where you have a lot of high mobility,” Madden told Live Science. “It might have something to do with how separated these people are and the need to relate to people you don’t see very often.”

In the report, Madden also says that “the making and using of dice represent humans’ first known efforts to intentionally generate, observe, and record streams of controlled, random events…” He adds that, possibly for the first time, people were comprehending patterns or regularities in probability—a kind of precursor to understanding what we now call the law of large numbers. Anthropologists consider this to be “a crucial early step in humanity’s evolving discovery and understanding of randomness and the probabilistic nature of the universe.”

Madden compared hundreds of examples found across the American West with a comprehensive, several-hundred-page publication called Games of the North American Indians, published in 1907 as part of an annual report by the Bureau of American Ethnology. It’s currently available in a two-volume edition from Bison Books.

You might also enjoy seeing what may be the world’s oldest crayon.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article 12,000 Years Ago, Native Americans Were Playing Games of Chance with Handmade Dice appeared first on Colossal.

In Hoengseong, South Korea, BRBB Architects’ Shin-Dae-Ri House is positioned between a cultivated foreground and a wooded slope, and stands as a transition from village to mountain life. Designed for an elderly couple leaving Seoul, the home reflects a shift in pace, where gardening and seasonal change guide the spatial experience.

The site extends gently upward toward the rear, with distant ridge-lines forming a layered horizon. The architects place the house close to the mountain edge, allowing the open front portion to remain available for a garden and small field. This decision establishes a clear foreground for cultivation while giving the house an elevated vantage point over the valley and stream beyond.

images © Seokgue Hong

BRBB Architects extends the terrain

Designing the home, Korea-based BRBB Architects begins with a continuous concrete base that follows the slope of the land. Cast in place, this lower level reads as a horizontal extension of the terrain, grounding the building through its weight and scale. Deep overhangs project outward, forming shaded exterior zones that temper sunlight and provide sheltered areas for rest or work.

This base operates as both structure and threshold. Its extended walls define a courtyard along the southern edge, enclosing an outdoor room that maintains privacy while admitting light. The courtyard sits slightly below the upper volumes to create a subtle sense of enclosure that contrasts with the openness of the surrounding fields.

two timber gabled volumes sit above the base with slight rotation

Timber volumes and shifting orientation

Above the concrete plinth, two timber-clad volumes rise with distinct orientations. Each takes the form of a simple gable, yet their slight rotation introduces variation in view and light. One volume opens more directly toward the valley, while the other engages the slope and trees behind. Together, they establish a dialogue between outward views and more introspective moments.

The separation between the two forms remains legible from both inside and outside. Rather than merging into a single mass, the volumes maintain their independence while sharing a common base. This arrangement allows each interior space to respond to a specific direction.

a concrete base extends horizontally and engages directly with the terrain

inside south korea’s Shin-Dae-Ri House

Inside, the transition between levels is shaped by BRBB Architects through material continuity. Birch plywood lines the stair and extends into the upper rooms, carrying a consistent tone that softens the shift from the concrete base to the timber volumes above. The stair itself becomes a place of gradual adjustment, where light enters from a high window facing the mountain.

As one moves upward, the landscape is revealed in fragments. A glimpse of trees appears along the ascent, followed by broader views once inside the upper rooms. This sequencing reinforces the relationship between movement and perception, allowing the surroundings to register through time rather than all at once.

The Shin-Dae-Ri House frames a way of living that remains closely tied to its setting. The contrast between the solid base and the lighter volumes above establishes a balance between permanence and openness, while the placement of the building supports both cultivation and retreat.

a south facing courtyard is enclosed by extended concrete walls

deep overhangs create shaded outdoor areas for rest and work

birch plywood lines the stair and connects the interior spaces across levels

each volume opens to different views and light conditions across the landscape

the building overlooks an open field and valley beyond

project info:

name: Shin-Dae-Ri House

architect: BRBB Architects

location: Hoengseong, South Korea

area: 317 square meters

photography: © Seokgue Hong

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Watching Sex & The City for the plot is a lie. We all know it’s for the shoes, the questionable fashion choices, and the occasional moral panic about dating in New York. Somewhere between a tutu and a Manolo, I learned a few things. What actually works, what it should feel like, and what will get you judged at brunch.

1. Fashion Languages Don’t Always Translate

Just because Charlotte looks like a romantic dream in pastels and pearls doesn’t mean you will. Fashion isn’t just fabric. It’s ego, memory, confidence, and impulse bundled together. To fall for someone else’s style is fine, but trying to live it on your body is basically asking your personality to cosplay. Clothes have feelings, and sometimes they just don’t like you back.

2. Mixed Prints Should Look a Little Wrong

Mixed prints are supposed to look a little ugly at first glance. If they don’t, welcome to the land of safe and sad. Polka dots, stripes, florals, let them fight a bit. Keep your palette close, and don’t expect to feel graceful the whole time. Carrie wasn’t dressing right, she was dressing Carrie. If it feels safe, you might as well be wearing beige.

3. Accessories Are Not Optional

Some days just ask for a pair of jeans and a white crop top. With some accessories, it stops being lazy and starts being a choice. Stacked bracelets, rings everywhere, little earrings, an interesting choker, a good bag, and perhaps an ugly pair of shoes, and you’ll make white ribbed cotton look closer to editorial. The closest I’ve come to public nudity? That one time my favorite bracelet betrayed me and my rings were crying in exile.

4. Vintage Needs Modern and Vice Versa

A Chanel bag and a $5 thrifted top that’s seen better decades, Μanolos with a tutu rescued from retail purgatory. Sometimes it looks incredible, sometimes like you lost a bet. But the fun is in the tension. Nothing complements the new like the battle-tested old. Mixing them is a power move if you can survive the weirdness, and the judgmental eyes of strangers.

5. Your Closet Tracks Your Life

Your wardrobe is basically a timeline of your life. One week you’re in hoodies and sneakers for seven days straight, the next you’re experimenting with something that actually requires a mirror. No shame here, “uniform weeks” are totally a thing we all survive. Clothes just follow you around, looks change when you change.

The post 5 Fashion Lessons Sex & The City Taught Me appeared first on Our Culture.

China’s medieval Tang Dynasty, which spanned 618 to 907 C.E., was something of a golden age in the nation’s long and storied history. The realm’s territory expanded while governmental stability helped to ensure relative peace, and trade routes like the Silk Road were kept relatively safe. And as people enjoyed more exposure to materials and styles from other parts of the world, the arts of this era reflected curiosity about new techniques and forms.

The advent of modern paper can be traced to China a little more than 2,000 years ago, so it’s fitting that a unique archaeological discovery in the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang contained some strikingly well-preserved paper artifacts. The area is also often referred to as the Valley of the Thousand Buddhas, where overland trade between China and the West via the Silk Road led to a commercial and cultural intersection.

Among the Mogao Caves’ nearly 500 surviving chambers and temples, which are filled with statuary and wall paintings spanning a millennia of Buddhist art, one particular space known as Cave 17 revealed some extraordinary objects. It was excavated in the early 1900s by an archaeologist named Marc Aurel Stein.

Some 50,000 documents, textiles, and other objects emerged from the cavern, which had been sealed up some time during the 11th century. Among these were a series of cut and folded paper flowers, several of which are part of The Stein Textile Collection, stored at the British Museum and the V&A in London.

Loosely based on a square format, similar to other architectural rosettes of the period, the paper flowers were likely attached to a wall or some other substrate, as they still have a dab of glue on their reverse sides. And their characteristics vary greatly, from a relatively simple painted composition to layered floral designs made with a range of paper thicknesses.

While the sheer number of Buddhist artworks, relics, and environments in Dunhuang is remarkable unto itself, the existence of the delicate florets, manuscripts, paintings, and other items created with organic materials marked an incredibly rare find. And while the flowers at the British Museum are not currently on display, if you want to take a look yourself, the piece below comprising nine flowers attached to a textile backing can be viewed by appointment at the V&A’s state-of-the-art East Storehouse.

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In the early 20th century, Russia underwent a series of drastic and devastating changes. After centuries of imperial rule, the 1917 Russian Revolution put an end to the Romanov dynasty and hailed the start of a new era under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, head of the Bolshevik Party. This government body eventually became known as the Communist Party, and Russia was dubbed the Union of Soviet Social Republicans, or the U.S.S.R.

In 1927, everything changed again. Lenin died that year, and a new leader maneuvered into power: Joseph Stalin. Fundamentally a dictator, Stalin ruled through terror and used violence and oppressive tactics to instill a government-controlled society. His approach essentially defines totalitarianism, in which the state asserts absolute dominance over every aspect of people’s lives and livelihoods.

In 1937, 10 years into the Stalinist period, the short film “Father’s Letters” opens. Written and directed by Alexey Evstigneev, the animation traces a narrative of correspondence between a real-life father, Professor Vangengheim, and his daughter Eleonora, who he calls Elya.

Vangengheim was a weather forecaster for Stalin, and he headed up the U.S.S.R.’s meteorology department—a role that had great implications for the success of socialist agriculture practices. When a ruinous famine hit between 1932 and 1933, Vangengheim was scapegoated with a claim that he had falsified weather forecasts to sabotage the crops. In January 1934, he was arrested and transported to the remote Solovetsky Islands, near the Arctic Circle.

Eleonora, who lived in Moscow, witnessed nationalist demonstrations and was largely shielded from the knowledge that her father was banished to a remote outpost of the Soviet Gulag. In his letters, written on cigarette-rolling paper, Vangengheim details his “expedition,” describing how he is researching plant life in the Arctic. The real letters were preserved by Eleonora and later published.

The Gulag system was established shortly after the Russian Revolution, and Stalin actively expanded it. It’s estimated that around 18 million people passed through the Gulag, and more than than a quarter did not survive. The film’s emphasis on 1937 marks a particularly terrible time during Stalin’s rule known as the Great Purge, or the Great Terror, of which the sole purpose was eradicating people who disagreed with the dictator’s philosophy.

Those thought to be traitors of the state were arrested, imprisoned, and executed—often without trial—in a wholesale expulsion of people who threatened Communist ideals and Stalin’s absolute power. This included persecuting political rivals, bureaucrats, and intellectuals—because only the state could determine what information, art, or “truths” the public had access to.

Stalin’s secret police, known as the NKVD, officially counted more than 680,000 individuals who were shot between 1937 and 1938, but scholars estimate that the entire number of fatalities during the Great Purge could be double that.

For Evstigneev, this horrific period sets the stage for a poignant tale of love, innocence, and hope as well as a stark reflection of the cruelty of the Gulag. A team of animators and producers worked with the director to create a painterly world that combines hand-drawn pastel elements, a two-dimensional vector-based technique, and stop-motion.

While imprisoned, Vangengheim is forced to work on a portrait of Stalin made of dandelions, however when he damages the tribute, he meets a grisly fate. In real life, his family didn’t learn of his death until nearly two decades later.

In Evstigneev’s film, Elya reads of her father’s “explorations” in the north and is reminded of the life cycle of flowers and their floating seeds, encouraging her to focus on future growth. Find the film on Vimeo.

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Perched on a secluded mountainside in Bahía Ballena, Costa Rica, Ojo de Nila is a private residence by Studio Saxe, led by Benjamin Saxe, that explores what it means to live fully outdoors in a tropical climate. Designed for a Swiss couple seeking a deeper relationship with their surroundings, the 300-square-meter home opens toward the Pacific Ocean, relying on natural ventilation. 

The most defining element of Ojo de Nila is its organic roofscape. Moving in soft waves, the roof echoes the surrounding topography while providing shade and directing airflow through the house. Its sinuous profile replaces a conventional pitched form with a continuous gesture that unifies the different living areas beneath it. Constructed from welded metal structures and finished with brown shingles, the roof reads as an extension of the landscape.

all images by Alvaro Fonseca – Depth Lens

Living without boundaries between inside and outside

Set within the biodiverse landscape of Costa Rica’s Osa region, the home responds directly to its site. The architects at Studio Saxe follow the natural contours of the land through a repetitive structural module that allows the building to hover above the terrain. This elevated stance preserves existing water flows and vegetation while positioning the living spaces among the treetops, where ocean breezes and shifting daylight define everyday life.

All primary spaces open toward the Pacific, with windows and doors removed on the ocean-facing side. This openness allows the house to remain naturally cooled by sea breezes during the day and mountain air at night. Daily routines unfold in close contact with the environment, as shifting light, wind, and sound become part of the spatial experience rather than conditions to be excluded.

the undulating roofscape weaves through the forest canopy

Ojo de Nila adapts to its environment to reduce energy use

Sustainability at Ojo de Nila is driven by bioclimatic design. Cross-ventilation, shading, and elevation work together to maintain thermal comfort without mechanical cooling. The use of teak and other durable materials supports longevity in the coastal climate, while the lightweight construction minimizes impact on the sensitive ecosystem below.

The clients describe their home as the result of a long search for an architecture aligned with their values. Their experience of Costa Rica led them to seek a house that could remain open year-round, be cooled naturally, and be shaped by organic forms. As they note, daily rituals such as making coffee while watching the sea or waking to the forest canopy have become integral to the architecture itself, confirming the ambition of the project to merge living space with environment.

Extending toward the horizon, the pool becomes an anchor for the project. Seen from above, the circular reflection formed by water and sky resembles an eye, a gesture that inspired the name Ojo de Nila. This symbolic moment reinforces the idea of the house as an observer of its surroundings, open and attentive to the rhythms of the landscape.

the wavy roof geometry wraps around a central courtyard and pool

the shingled roof flows in soft curves

Ojo de Nila sits lightly on the hillside

layered roof planes create moments of enclosure and openness

curved roof edges frame views of the landscape

an open walkway follows the arc of the building

the pool extends toward the horizon

dining areas remain fully open to the landscape

expansive openings frame the ocean and forest

elevated among dense vegetation

the roofline curves around open-air living spaces

at dusk, the undulating roof reads as a continuous surface floating above the forest canopy

project info:

name: Ojo de Nila

architect: Studio Saxe | @studiosaxe

location: Osa, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

area: 300 square meters

design director: Benjamin Saxe

interior & color design: Atelier Sandra Richard

builder: New Age Construction

structural engineer: Robin Alpízar Leiva

electromechanical engineer: Dynamo

photographer: Alvaro Fonseca – Depth Lens | @depth.lens

video: production Alvaro Fonseca – Depth Lens | film/edit Hansel Alfaro, HANZFARO | music by Andres Soto Marin

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The wealthy in society have been known to spare no expense when it comes to building palatial residences with impressively high-ceilinged rooms and enviable art collections. Visits to U.K. National Trust properties like Attingham Park in Shropshire and other historic estates serve as reminders of aristocratic obsessions with opulence and legacy, with their soaring ceilings and salon-style installations of portraits in wallpapered halls. But then, there’s also something ineffably satisfying about a room in miniature.

For Gretchen Scherer, centuries-old rooms in grand houses and institutions serve as the foundation for an ongoing series of paintings of luminous interiors. She starts with photos sourced online, from books, and that she snaps herself, in addition to drawing inspiration from artists like Narcissa Niblack Thorne, who commissioned meticulously crafted miniatures of period rooms to house her vast collection of 1:12-scale furniture. Scherer then tries to “open up” the space, as she describes it, toying a bit with perspective.

Scherer’s solo show Reading the Rooms, which opens next month at Richard Heller Gallery, adds to her repertoire of historic locations, such as U.K. National Trust properties and other European landmarks and museums. “In my work, there’s always been a tension between real life and the imagined,” she says in a statement. “Using places that are fixed and exist in the world, in a certain way, helps me to draw attention to this tension.”

The artist’s lively, illustrative paintings of historic rooms brim with paintings and period furnishings that transport us to earlier eras while emphasizing a bright, contemporary palette. Every object, be it a book, a candlestick, or a noble portrait above a mantle, is given equal attention, drawing our eye around the canvas like a two-dimensional cabinet of curiosities. There’s so much going on that one can imagine miniature compositions within the larger one, as doorways open up to further rooms and furniture is arranged around art displays.

“All the little paintings, sculptures, and furniture within the painting come from the actual collection and become the animated elements in an otherwise empty space,” Scherer says. “Some of the paintings in this show feel more empty and breathless and others feel very alive and playful. I think they oscillate between those two poles.”

Reading the Rooms opens February 21 and continues through March 21 in Santa Monica. See more on the artist’s Instagram.

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Stockholm-based design studio Halleroed arrives in Hong Kong for a new retail project, a Schiaparelli salon realized with glimmering gold interiors. The opulent space is found within the Landmark Prince’s Building, and is fronted by a curved brushed-gold facade.

The facade’s metal surface bends inward, and is punctured by oval openings that allow for partial views inside. Reflections from the corridor soften across the brushed finish, while the apertures frame glimpses of darker interiors beyond.

Inside, spaces are organized as a linear array of connected rooms rather than a single open floor. Each room holds a distinct character, while visual connections remain intact through mirrored surfaces and aligned openings.

Schiaparelli Hong Kong fronted by a curved, brushed gold facade | images courtesy Schiaparelli

glowing finishes of gold, lacquered wood, and mosaic

The team at Halleroed lines the walls of its Schiaparelli Hong Kong with lacquered wood surfaces, integrating shelving, vitrines, and storage into a continuous layer. The finish carries a subtle sheen that reflects light softly, adding depth to the narrow rooms, while floors are finished in dark marble with a veined pattern which grounds the interior and absorbs ambient sound.

Metal appears throughout in polished and brushed finishes. These surfaces interact with mirrored planes to extend visual depth and allow the compact space to feel layered and complex.

Display elements are treated as part of the architecture rather than applied fixtures. Recessed niches clad in gold mosaic punctuate the plan, offering moments of focus along the circulation path. Their scale relates closely to the body, encouraging close viewing and physical engagement.

the boutique is organized as a sequence of connected rooms

domestic objects adapted into jewelry displays

One recessed alcove incorporates a sculptural bathtub form adapted as a jewelry display. Its placement transforms a familiar domestic object into a fixed interior element, reinforcing the boutique’s salon-like proportions and sense of enclosure.

Overhead, the ceiling carries hand-drawn illustrations by Creative Director Daniel Roseberry, rendered directly across the surface. The drawings reference motifs associated with the house and extend across rooms, providing continuity throughout the interior. Their presence remains subtle at first, becoming more apparent as visitors move deeper into the space.

Lighting remains restrained and evenly distributed. Fixtures wash surfaces gently, allowing materials and drawings to register gradually. The ceiling operates as an orienting plane, tying together varied rooms through a shared visual field.

gold mosaic niches integrate display directly into the architecture

lighting remains soft and even to support close viewing

interior surfaces are finished with lacquered wood and dark marble

the ceiling features hand drawn illustrations by Daniel Roseberry

mirrored surfaces allow the compact space to feel layered and complex

circulation encourages a slower pace through compression and release

project info:

name: Schiaparelli Hong Kong

architect: Halleroed | @halleroed

location: Landmark Prince’s Building, Shop M29, Hong Kong

client: Schiaparelli | @schiaparelli

creative director: Daniel Roseberry | @danielroseberry

photography: © Schiaparelli

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