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Metropolis Magazine

Architecture & Design At All Scales With its innovative graphic presentation and provocative voice, Metropolis shows how richly designed our world can be.

In the quest for why design happens in a certain way, Metropolis explores economic, environmental, social, cultural, political, and technological contexts.

09/15/2026

Studio Hu Breathes New Life into a 700-Year-Old Chinese Village

In an era when many rural villages struggle against depopulation and economic decline, Langtou Village in Guangzhou, China, offers another possibility—not preservation frozen in time but adaptive reuse that allows heritage to remain part of daily life.

Located in the marshy outskirts of the sprawling Chinese metropolis, the settlement was established in 1367 during the Yuan dynasty and is now recognized as one of China’s historic and cultural villages, often celebrated as one of the largest and best-preserved Cantonese villages in the country. Its distinctive Lingnan architecture reflects centuries of adaptation and community life.

“Langtou Village embodies the typical southern Chinese Confucian, agrarian civilization,” explains architect Hu Youpei, founder of Studio Hu and professor of urban design at Nanjing University’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning. “Its tight compact layout and thick enclosed outer walls are brilliant, climate-adaptive, traditional design wisdom rarely seen in modern construction.”

Read more: https://metropolismag.com/projects/studio-hu-breathes-new-life-into-a-700-year-old-chinese-village/

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📝 : Jaxon Stone
📷 : Courtesy Studio Hu

09/14/2026

Sound, Light, Life, Your Call: MAGIC is an acoustic ceiling and wall system with integrated lighting and biophilic greenery. Specify exactly what your project needs.

Learn more at CSI Creative or at the link: https://hubs.li/Q04v-Xzn0

09/12/2026

Since breaking ground in March 2018, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has been taking shape on a 13-acre site at the western edge of Exposition Park in Los Angeles, like a trailer in a slow reveal. The long-delayed $1 billion-plus, 300,000-square-foot, five-story building by MAD and a marvel of a park by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA opened its doors for previews on Wednesday, September 2nd, ahead of its official public opening on September 22nd.

According to its founder, the Hollywood studio system’s reputation for mounting obstacles to creative ambitions pales in comparison to navigating the construction process in the City of Los Angeles. “Part of the problem is I’m a contrarian. I’m fascinated by doing things that people say can’t be done,” filmmaker George Lucas said during the opening program, speaking alongside his wife and museum co-founder, Mellody Hobson. “I’m used to doing the impossible. This one almost broke my will.”

Read more at the link below!
https://metropolismag.com/projects/inside-mads-lucas-museum-of-narrative-art/

09/11/2026

What happens when the principles of Impressionist painting move from an art piece to interior fabric? 🎨

For Pallas, the answer is Giverny, a new collection of performance textiles designed by Geraldine Blanchot and inspired by Claude Monet and his obsession with light, color, and nature.

Named after the northern French village where Monet lived and worked, the collection interprets elements of his visual language through upholstery, while continuing Pallas’s broader push toward more sustainable materials and manufacturing.

Continue reading at the link: https://metropolismag.com/products/pallas-looks-to-monet-to-reimagine-a-new-textile-line/

📷 : Courtesy of Pallas

09/10/2026

This installation by Sabin shows what's possible when the ceiling becomes part of the full experience.

Their LAUTNA 27 baffles move across the space at different heights, creating a layered, almost rippling effect. Paired with the blue-green gradient, the ceiling takes on a calm, fluid quality while adding subtle movement to the space.

Closer to the tables, softly lit CYLINDER diffuse pendants bring the scale back down and give the space a warmer, more relaxed feel.

What makes the installation especially compelling is how the visual impact functions. The felt baffles help absorb sound where conversation can quickly become difficult, so the space feels considered from both a design and performance standpoint.

It reflects how Sabin approaches every space, with acoustics and lighting designed as one composition rather than two separate systems.

Learn more at the link: https://sabin.design/

09/09/2026

A Concrete Cocoon for the Australian Landscape

In the pastoral meadows of Australia’s Bunurong Country, a dramatic concrete dome stands above the rolling grasses. With its sculpted surfaces and elemental form, this multigenerational home by Melbourne firm Leeton Pointon Architects + Interiors feels as if it were carved out of the earth. “There’s a sense of archaeology to it,” says principal Michael Leeton, who designed the house to stand up to the harsh, windy environment and threat of bushfires on the Mornington Peninsula.

The house functions as a vacation retreat for the owners, who wished to have a space that would feel comfortable when just the two of them visited but also accommodate occasional larger gatherings with extended family and friends. The plan is broken up into a series of pavilions, organized around a central dome that contains the main living spaces. Starting with an inflatable Binishell membrane as opposed to “wasteful formwork,” the curved concrete roof was 3D modeled in partnership with RMIT University to achieve the minimum thickness possible.

Invented in the 1960s, Binishells have a unique legacy in Australia, which once had the largest collection of the concrete dome structures in the world after a Binishell boom in the 1970s. In the house, sprayed concrete was also used for interior connecting walls. “This reduced the amount of concrete required, and the simple detailing minimized waste,” says Leeton of the techniques.

Continue reading: https://metropolismag.com/projects/a-concrete-cocoon-for-the-australian-landscape-leeton-pointon-architects/

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📝 : Lauren Gallow
📷 : Lisa Cohen

09/08/2026

A New Winery Houses Centuries-Old Tradition 🍇 🍷

Amid the sinuous landscapes of Portugal’s Alto Douro Vinhateiro, a UNESCO-recognized w**e region known as the birthplace of port w**e, Porto-based architectural firm Atelier Sérgio Rebelo has completed a w**ery that blends centuries-old tradition with sustainable design. Rebelo’s curvilinear w**ery is a subtle addition to the hillside context, and its form emerged through multiple site visits. “Drawing, observing, and returning to the site again and again,” studio founder Rebelo says, “we arrived at a geometry that felt less designed than discovered, as if it had always belonged to the landscape.”

Completed in 2024, the building zigzags between production facilities and a hospitality experience for visitors and clients. Two interwoven Y-shaped volumes intersect, like paths predestined to come together, their orientation following the gentle curve of the sloped landscape. This duality recurs throughout the project—the harmonious combination of the concrete core and the laminated wood beams that surround it; the transition between protected interior areas and exposed exterior spaces; the lower floor, which harbors the day-to-day reality of w**e production, and the upper floor, which forms the main visitor path. At times, double-height spaces create porous connections between the two levels, connecting uses and experiences of the space.

Read more at the link: https://metropolismag.com/projects/atelier-sergio-rebelo-new-w**ery-houses-centuries-old-tradition/

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📝 : Vera Sacchetti
📷 : FERNANDO GUERRA - courtesy Atelier Sérgio Rebelo

09/07/2026

The landmark $1.8M capital campaign 'Design the City, Build Our Future' expands programming, inspires new design leaders, and champions an equitable SF. Help secure the future of the Center for Architecture + Design, San Francisco

Support the future of San Francisco architecture and design at https://centersf.org/festival.

09/04/2026

Perkins&Will Rebuilds the West Coast’s First Camp for the Blind

Rose Resnick didn’t let the glaucoma that blinded her at age three keep her from becoming a concert pianist and an educator. To help others think big, the late San Francisco–based advocate cofounded, in 1950, the West Coast’s first summer camp for people who are blind. She said in a 1996 interview, “Being physically active and spending time with peers who were also blind was critical in developing confidence in myself and my abilities.”

Enchanted Hills Camp has continued to provide this distinctive experience on the forested slopes of Mount Veeder in Napa County. In 2017, when about half its facilities were destroyed in a wildfire, it was a chance for the camp’s nonprofit, Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, to think big as well. If the camp could operate as a retreat center in the offseason, it would have more financial stability.

The new facilities, then, had reason to accommodate the needs of campers and staff, but also appeal to corporate gatherings, wedding parties, and other activities. Lighthouse hired San Francisco–based Pfau Long Architecture, which later joined Perkins&Will in 2019 to do an inventory of the lost buildings for insurance purposes. The architects then created a master plan and designed 30 structures, totaling around 29,000 square feet. From the spacious welcome pavilion to the glass-walled dining hall to the lofty bunkhouses, the camp exudes industrial chic instead of makeshift rusticity. And the new site layout includes a dedicated pedestrian path, giving campers and guests more freedom to wander and focus on nature.

Continue reading:
https://metropolismag.com/projects/perkinswill-rebuilds-the-westcoasts-first-camp-for-the-blind/

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📝 : Lydia Lee
📷 : Courtesy Emily Hagopian / Heacock & Rob Brodman

09/03/2026

Commercial interiors are evolving—and so are the materials that shape them. Designers today are looking for products that inspire creativity while meeting the demands of performance and thoughtful material choices.

Carnegie's new Crush collection answers that challenge with vivid color, intriguing textures, and bold patterns across high-performance wallcovering and upholstery. Featuring recycled and biobased materials throughout the collection, Crush demonstrates how expressive design and thoughtful material choices can work together to create interiors that leave a lasting impression.

Learn more at Carnegie or at the link: https://carnegiefabrics.com/crush

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