DSCENE Publishing Editor in Chief and founder of DSCENE and ARCHISCENE magazines
Near Lake Como (Italy), in the Valtellina valley, Studio Moroni Architettura has reworked a 1960s house into something sharper and more deliberate. Villa G.I. does not add much. Instead, it removes the clutter, exposes the bones of the building, and places a handful of carefully chosen materials and colors where they can do the most […] More
On São Miguel, the largest island in the Azores, SO Arquitetura & Design has produced a dwelling that looks almost carbonized from the street. Black Timber, sited in Santa Barbara, wraps its occupants in charred Japanese cedar, known locally as cryptomeria, which makes up nearly all of the structure and skin. Step through the threshold […] More
KCAP has won second place in the international two-stage competition for the Winter Harbour (Zimný prístav) in Bratislava. The competition was organized by the Metropolitan Institute of Bratislava on behalf of the Port Authority and the City of Bratislava. Of 123 entries, five teams were shortlisted for the second round. The jury said the KCAP […] More
Lisbon has no shortage of renovated apartments built around pale walls and quiet furniture. Umber Duplex, designed by the studio ID Concept, takes a different route. Here the restraint is deliberate, but it sits against rich, tactile materials: intensely grained timber, travertine, Berber rugs and African art. The result is a 415 m² home that […] More
White Arkitekter has revealed Sonyas, a mixed-use building on the Göta River that will serve as both a cultural venue and the practice’s new Gothenburg headquarters. Set within the developing Masthuggskajen district, it is a project that promises a great deal: lower carbon, shared space, civic generosity. The renderings suggest a handsome building. The harder […] More
Riyadh is reshaping its skyline faster than almost any city in the world, and the latest chapter comes from Germany. RIYMAR Real Estate has chosen JSWD, the Cologne-founded studio, to design RIYMAR Towers, a mixed-use development the developer describes as the capital’s new in-demand address. JSWD beat four other shortlisted teams in an international invited […] More
In Outremont, one of Montreal’s most storied residential neighborhoods, Atelier Barda has completed the full renovation of a 1937 house with Art Deco accents. Spread over three floors and 300 square meters, Residence Beloeil is a lesson in restraint: a project that treats the character of the existing home as an asset to be tuned, […] More
ZOOCO approaches the design of La Maruca Azca through the idea of a mountain refuge within Madrid’s financial district. Surrounded by the glass and steel towers of Azca, the restaurant draws inspiration from the Picos de Europa, introducing organic forms, natural materials, and a sense of domestic intimacy into an urban setting. Sculpted ceilings extend […] More
Most interior design and architecture studios have at least one project they would rather photograph than revisit. The handover images are still doing good work in the portfolio: the palette reads exactly as drawn, the seating holds the room together, the fabric looks like a decision rather than a default. Walk back in eighteen months […] More
Long Island City has spent the past two decades accumulating residential towers with impressive efficiency and minimal imagination. Glass facades stacked on glass facades, their anonymity interrupted only by slight variations in mullion spacing. The neighborhood’s rapid development has generated housing, jobs, and tax revenue, but it has also produced a landscape of generic vertical […] More
In 1946, Philip Johnson designed a small residential commission in Bedford, New York. The Booth House, built three years before his iconic Glass House, introduced the architectural vocabulary that would define his career: restraint, transparency, material honesty, and a fundamental respect for landscape. Nearly 80 years later, that house is being restored by architect Drew […] More
Casa Akina does not announce itself. Situated in Villa de Álvarez, Colima (Mexico), the residence designed by Di Frenna Arquitectos reveals itself gradually, almost reluctantly, as if the architecture itself understands that restraint is more compelling than gesture. The house emerges not as a singular form demanding attention, but as a sequence of encounters, each […] More