World War II Journal Entries Float in a Web of Blood-Red Yarn in Chiharu Shiota’s ‘Diary’

Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, Berlin-based artist Chiharu Shiota presents a poignant suite of large-scale works in Two Home Countries at Japan Society Gallery. That artist is known for her immersive string installations, inviting us into emotive, atmospheric experiences that tap into both universal and deeply personal narratives.

In Two Home Countries, viewers enter a vivid world shaped by red thread, redolent of intertwined veins and blood vessels that attach to the floor, take on the shapes of houses, and spread through an entire room with a cloud-like aura of red—filled with written pages. Themes of memory, mortality, connection, identity, and belonging weave through Shiota’s pieces, exploring “how pain, displacement, boundaries, and existential uncertainty shape the human condition and our understanding of self,” the gallery says.

An expansive, room-sized work titled “Diary,” which is based on an earlier installation and commissioned anew for Two Home Countries, incorporates a dense web of yarn in which float pages of journals that once belonged to Japanese soldiers. Some were also penned by German civilians in the post-war era. “The accumulated pages reveal an expansive record of shared human existence across national boundaries,” the gallery says.

“When the body is gone, the objects which surrounded them remain behind,” Shiota says in a statement. “As I wander the stalls of the markets in Berlin, I find especially personal items like photographs, old passports, and personal diaries. Once, I found a diary from 1946, which was an intimate insight into the person’s life and experiences.” For Shiota, the power of these objects are revealed in how she feels the presence of writer’s “inner self.”

Two Home Countries is on view through January 11 in New York City. Plan your visit on the Japan Society’s website, and find more on Shiota’s site and Instagram.

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 World War II Journal Entries Float in a Web of Blood-Red Yarn in Chiharu Shiota’s ‘Diary’ appeared first on Colossal.

BURR completes minimalist, vaulted ‘benito’ renovation in madrid

BURR Transforms Former Shop into Compact Home

Benito is a residential renovation by Madrid-based architecture studio BURR, reworking a disused furrier’s shop into a compact dwelling. The project is located in the city’s southern districts, where the architects adapted the limitations of a split-level floor plan into the defining character of the home.

The plan is divided into two narrow bands: a street-level strip with a generous four-meter (thirteen-foot) ceiling height and a mezzanine raised 180 centimeters (six feet) above, originally designed to permit cars to pass beneath toward a basement garage. This uneven section results in an L-shaped volume, where the connection between levels becomes central to the spatial experience.

images © Maru Serrano

Circulation and Spatial Gradient

The team at BURR thoughtfully designs the staircase of its Benito residence to play a dual role as both circulation and infrastructure. Beneath its treads, stepped doors conceal appliances, storage, and even a compact water-closet. The precision of this integration, reminiscent of transport interiors, allows the architects to maximize usable space without visual clutter.

Movement through the home follows a U-shaped loop. Entry begins from the street at the lower band and gradually shifts upward through the stair to the upper level, which returns to the main facade. This sequence introduces a gradient of public and private use, distinguishing the shared lower zone from the more intimate upper floor.

Benito transforms a former shop into a compact Madrid residence

Courtyards and Ventilation

Both levels of Benito open outward, reinforcing a connection to air and light. The ground floor links to a communal patio, while the mezzanine opens to a private terrace directly attached to the dwelling. With facades at both ends of the unit, cross ventilation is established naturally, further supported by the open layout. Only the bathroom and water-closet are enclosed, maintaining a sense of openness elsewhere.

This spatial clarity is part of BURR’s careful response to a constrained footprint. Instead of subdividing, the architects relied on voids, courtyards, and circulation to structure the home.

the stair serves as both circulation and concealed storage

a vaulted ceiling intervention

The context of the building introduced further challenges. Shared residential services run across the ceiling at different heights, cutting into the space in uneven ways. BURR’s solution was to introduce a half-barrel vault across the public-facing portion of the dwelling. This intervention provides acoustic and visual insulation while lending a surprising sense of volume to the compact interior.

The vault stands in deliberate contrast to the project’s otherwise modest scale, balancing practicality with a subtle architectural gesture. In this, the renovation elevates a small domestic corner of Madrid into something distinctive without excess.

BURR organizes the dwelling through a split level floor plan

a half barrel vault conceals building services overhead

a U-shaped loop defines the movement through the interior

project info:

name: Benito

architecture: BURR | @burr.studio (Elena Fuertes, Ramón Martínez, Álvaro Molins, Jorge Sobejano)

location: Madrid, Spain 
team: Natalia Molina, Guillermo Hernández, Marina Van der Linden, Amanda Bouzada
photography: © Maru Serrano

The post BURR completes minimalist, vaulted ‘benito’ renovation in madrid appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

6,500-Year-Old Earthworks in Austria Are Thousands of Years Older than Stonehenge

Around 10,000 years ago, a paradigm shift in human history began to unfold. Prior to this transitional period, which archaeologists refer to as the Neolithic Revolution—the final phase of the Stone Age—small societies were organized around hunting and gathering for sustenance. During the Neolithic period, the gradual adoption of agricultural practices forever changed the way we live.

Over the next few thousand years, humans began domesticating plants and practicing animal husbandry in different parts of the world. And with less time needed for farming than for nomadically searching for food, ancient people could enjoy other activities that led to economic, political, religious, and artistic developments.

The Neolithic period saw the very first civilizations. It’s also when iconically old structures like Ireland’s Newgrange passage tomb and England’s Stonehenge complex were built, the latter of which was begun around 3100 B.C.E. and finished around 600 years later. For context, when Stonehenge was in its final phase, construction of the Pyramids of Giza was likely in progress. Recently, a series of circular earthworks dating to the 5th millennium B.C.E. (5000 to 4001 B.C.E.) in Burgenland, Austria, may predate much of Stonehenge by a remarkable 2,000 years.

At the newly excavated site, three monumental structures sit in close proximity to one another near the town of Rechnitz. The earthworks were initially discovered via aerial and geomagnetic surveys between 2011 and 2017. A total of four were found, three of which are ring-shaped structures that were previously invisible to the naked eye.

Known as circular ditch systems, the structures were built in the Middle Neolithic period—sometime between 4850 and 4500 B.C.E.—making them at least 6,500 years old.

“The Rechnitz site can be considered a supra-regional center of the Middle Neolithic period,” says Nikolaus Franz, the director of Burgenland Archaeology, in a statement. In the ditches measuring as much as 340 feet across, archaeologists have documented pits containing ceramic finds and post holes that indicate where timber beams in the ground once supported shelters.

Circular ditch monuments of this type, known as Kreisgrabenanlagen in German, are consistently found throughout Central Europe. While their intended function remains unknown, researchers generally believe they held an ancient religious, or cultic, purpose. Similar to Stonehenge, their orientation includes openings that align with the solstices and seem to correspond to an astronomical calendar.

“The excavations open a veritable window into the Stone Age,” Franz says. “We are learning a great deal about the Neolithic settler clans who found this a favorable location to establish the cultural techniques of agriculture and livestock farming in what is now Burgenland…After centuries of hunting and gathering, the gradual settlement of humans was truly revolutionary.”

You might also enjoy exploring the phenomenal complex of more than 10,000 earthworks made by prehistoric Indigenous societies in the Amazon basin.

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 6,500-Year-Old Earthworks in Austria Are Thousands of Years Older than Stonehenge appeared first on Colossal.

floating concrete structure by moguang studio anchors guesthouse complex in china

floating concrete public amenities building emerges in hubei

Moguang Studio has completed a ‘floating’ concrete structure that anchors a new guesthouse complex in Longwanggou Village, Hubei Province, China. Serving as a multifunctional amenities building with café, dining, and gathering spaces, the suspended project inserts a striking horizontal volume into a terraced valley near the Danjiangkou Reservoir. Inspired by the accidental horizon created by a temporary blue construction fence on site, the architects translated this fleeting gesture into a permanent architectural intervention — one that stitches together the surrounding hills while redefining the relationship between landscape and built form.

the suspended structure | all images courtesy of Moguang Studio

a horizon reimagined by moguang studio

The design by Moguang Studio began with the terrain’s transformation into artificial terraces during preliminary site works, a move that altered the valley’s natural topography. When encountered by the architects, the bright construction barricade cutting across the slope suggested an accidental but powerful horizon. Rather than conceal this incision, the studio amplified it with a precise concrete volume that extends laterally across the site, echoing the fence’s graphic clarity while introducing a functional landscape corridor. The textured concrete, cast using standard decking boards, preserves the imprint of wood grain, softening the geometry with tactile detail.

the reflecting pool echoes the horizontal abstraction of the architecture

voids and light

Spatially, the building is organized around three light courts carved into the concrete mass. Openings and voids frame elements of the natural environment, resetting orientation as users move through the structure. At the core is a 7.5-meter cubic court that vertically links sky and ground while horizontally connecting dining, kitchen, and meeting areas. This interplay of solidity and void establishes a rhythmic, layered experience where interior and exterior blur.

To achieve long spans with minimal supports, the roof and floor are constructed as ribbed concrete slabs forming a structural shell. Full-height windows reduce visual mass and maximize transparency, while cross-ventilation is enabled through operable openings. A thin reflecting pool atop the roof lightens the building’s presence, mirroring distant mountains and the reservoir. Cast in a single pour with subtle cambering to prevent cracking, the shell stands as a precise geometric insertion in the valley — both grounded in material tactility and floating in abstraction.

behind the main facade lies a spatial system of vertical light courts and orderly openings

sculpting structural tension through reflection and shadow

ground level shear walls are abstracted into geometric installations

main entrance

looking toward the light court from the dining area

the architecture anchored in the geohydrological system of Danjiangkou

project info:

name: Wudang Mountain Visitor Center
designer: Moguang Studio

location: Longwanggou Village, Hubei Province, China

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: myrto katsikopoulou | designboom

The post floating concrete structure by moguang studio anchors guesthouse complex in china appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

perforated metal panels clad office floating above st. louis’s century-old columbia building

Studio Yione Reimagines St. Louis’s Columbia Building

Studio Yione, led by architect Yi Wang, has developed Fluxwork, a proposal for an office addition above the historic Columbia Building in downtown St. Louis. The project introduces a cantilevered, lightweight volume suspended above the truncated remains of the 1892 landmark, supported by three slender columns and an elevator shaft. The preserved base is reprogrammed as a public hub, containing a lobby, auditorium, and rooftop garden, while the new structure above accommodates a flexible, data-driven workplace.

Originally designed by Isaac Taylor, the Columbia Building was completed in 1892 as a nine-story Romanesque structure at 8th and Locust Streets. Named to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in North America, it reflected the optimism of St. Louis’s late-19th-century growth. Following economic decline and widespread demolitions in the mid-20th century, the building was truncated in 1976, leaving only a two-story fragment. Fluxwork seeks to reengage this architectural history while introducing a model for the future of work. The design creates a visual dialogue between the solidity of the historic base and the openness of the new cantilevered addition. The lower portion is anchored in community use, while the suspended volume houses adaptable workspaces. The lower four floors are organized for individual, focus-oriented work, while the upper three levels are designed with open layouts that encourage collaboration. Intermediate mezzanine areas adjacent to a scissor stair provide informal gathering points and circulation flexibility.

all images courtesy of Studio Yione

Historic Base Meets Floating Volume in Fluxwork Office

Material strategies followed by Studio Yione’s architectural team emphasize contrast and performance. The structure uses a hybrid steel-and-concrete system, with high-strength steel columns and a reinforced elevator shaft carrying the cantilevered floors. The exterior is clad in perforated metal panels that filter daylight and views, producing a sense of lightness. Interior finishes balance exposed structural expression with warmer elements such as wood ceilings and retractable curtains, enabling spatial adaptability between open and enclosed configurations. Landscape and environmental integration form another layer of the proposal. The rooftop garden and terraces extend workspaces into outdoor environments, contributing to thermal comfort and social interaction while reconnecting the site to nature.

Fluxwork incorporates a performance-responsive office model, using behavioral simulations and network analysis to study workplace interactions. These insights inform real-time spatial adjustments, allowing layouts to shift in response to evolving organizational structures. This approach positions the project as both a memorial to St. Louis’s architectural heritage and a prototype for adaptive workplaces. Through the juxtaposition of preserved history and experimental office design, Fluxwork proposes a new relationship between cultural memory, urban context, and the changing conditions of work.

facade pattern follows the structure, with gaps at column points to suggest the ‘ghost’ of the original building

Fluxwork Office proposes a future workplace vision by implementing a data-driven, performance-responsive model atop the century-old Columbia Building remnant

upper floors provide open office space, with furniture layouts adapting to collaborative performance

lower floors offer private individual workstations and dedicated team areas designed for distraction-free focus

the Columbia Building was once a proud landmark of downtown St. Louis

project info:

name: Fluxwork Office – Columbia Building Addition Proposal

architect: Studio Yione
lead architect: Yi Wang
location: St. Louis, Missouri, US

The post perforated metal panels clad office floating above st. louis’s century-old columbia building appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

plan C opens ‘frame’ concept store in milan as hybrid venue for fashion, design and culture

red staircase anchors Plan C Frame concept store in milan

Carolina Castiglioni, founder of high-end women’s and accessories label Plan C, expands the presence of her brand in Milan with the opening of Plan C Frame, a retail-meets-culture concept. The project introduces a layered experience where visitors encounter Plan C’s signature womenswear and also jewelry, homeware, printed matter, and art exhibitions under one roof.

At the heart of the space is a bold red spiral staircase that leads to the Reading Room, a curated corner that gathers contemporary magazines across fashion, design, art, and culture.

all images via @plancframe

Collaborations and Creativity Take Center Stage

The opening of Plan C Frame concept store also marks new collaborations. Jewelry brand Aliita, founded a decade ago, inaugurates its first dedicated retail space inside Frame, offering an intimate environment for its colorful and playful designs. Meanwhile, Plan C Silos, a homeware capsule developed with Belgian design company Serax, makes its debut exclusively at the Milan venue. The series of vases and candles draws inspiration from industrial storage structures, translating Plan C’s bold language into the domestic sphere.

Art anchors the launch as well, with the debut exhibition showcasing the work of illustrator and visual storyteller Christoph Niemann. Known for his witty ink drawings and covers for The New Yorker, Niemann features original works, prints, and editions that embody his unique way of turning everyday moments into reflections on perception and meaning.

Jewelry brand Aliita inaugurates its first dedicated retail space inside Frame

A New Chapter in Material and Color Experimentation

Plan C, established in 2018 by Carolina Castiglioni after a decade of developing projects at her family’s house, Marni, is defined by its distinctive play of masculine and feminine codes, expressive color, and experimentation with materials. Headquartered in the historic site of her great-grandmother’s fur atelier, the brand creates long-lasting garments designed for women with a clear and independent sense of identity. With distribution across leading international stores and flagships in Tokyo, Plan C now establishes Frame in Milan as a platform that extends beyond clothing.

at the heart of the space is a bold red spiral staircase

the project introduces a layered experience

this curated corner gathers contemporary magazines

the debut exhibition showcases the work of illustrator and visual storyteller Christoph Niemann

Plan C Silos is a homeware capsule

developed with Belgian design company Serax

the series of vases and candles draws inspiration from industrial storage structures

project info:

name: Plan C Frame | @plancframe
location: Milan, Italy

The post plan C opens ‘frame’ concept store in milan as hybrid venue for fashion, design and culture appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

louis vuitton’s cancun boutique unveils concrete facade with sculpted flower motif

MATERIA + Gustavo Carmona designs Louis Vuitton Cancún store

Twelve years after the boutique’s first transformation in Cancún, the Louis Vuitton store presents a new facade that elevates its identity through the expressive possibilities of precast concrete. The design by MATERIA + Gustavo Carmona reinterprets the brand’s iconic flower motif as a sculpted relief that shifts constantly with the play of light and shadow, turning the exterior into a dynamic, sensorial surface. At the heart of the design is a single modular unit, carefully conceived to act both as a structural element and as a vessel for light. When repeated across the facade, this module generates a continuous and vibrant skin that merges precision with rhythm.

all images by Jaime Navarro

Light and Shadow Animate Sculpted Facade of Louis Vuitton store

The composition for Louis Vuitton Cancún boutique by studio MATERIA + Gustavo Carmona creates a strong collective identity while transcending the individuality of each component. The facade recalls the memory of the earlier wooden intervention while advancing into a new material language. More than a storefront, it is an architectural experience that demonstrates how concrete can embody both emotion and detail. By engaging visitors through texture, depth, and atmosphere, the design establishes the facade not only as an element of branding but also as a living presence in the urban fabric of Cancún.

Louis Vuitton Cancún presents a new precast concrete facade

the design reinterprets the brand’s iconic flower motif

sculpted reliefs shift with light and shadow across the surface

a single modular unit forms the basis of the composition

dynamic textures animate the boutique throughout the day

depth and shadow transform the surface into a sensory experience

rhythm and variation emerge from repetition of the unit

project info:

name: Louis Vuitton at La Isla
architect: MATERIA + Gustavo Carmona | @_materia

location: Cancún, Mexico

photographer: Jaime Navarro | @jaimenavarrophotography

The post louis vuitton’s cancun boutique unveils concrete facade with sculpted flower motif appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

vibrant blue facade brings new life to the monk retreat on leros island, greece

a+ architects Create a Minimalist Retreat in Leros

In the heart of the Aegean, on the island of Leros, Greece, The Monk by a+ architects emerges as a sanctuary that redefines the meaning of hospitality through architectural simplicity and an atmosphere of serenity. The residence, carefully revived with respect for local tradition, blends elements of island modernism with clean, minimalist lines.

The interiors follow a restrained aesthetic, where white light, natural textures, and linen fabrics highlight the essence of the place: authenticity, calmness, and timelessness. The choice of materials, stone, wood, linen, and handcrafted objects, serves as a bridge between the island’s environment and a universal language of contemporary design. The space conveys a sense of ‘monastic’ simplicity, translated into a form of luxury that is rooted in experience rather than display.

all images by Vice Versa Photography

The Monk Blends Island Tradition with Contemporary Design

The architecture of The Monk is not just a shelter; it is a narrative. A story of light shifting through the day, of tactile sensations unfolding in linen, of silence embracing the guest. A house that reflects the dialogue between the island’s history and today’s quest for depth and essence. The design team at a+ architects considers The Monk as not a hotel, but a living organism of hospitality, an experience shaped by space and detail, ultimately leaving guests with the feeling of having stayed in a house with a soul.

a distinct bright blue color defines the exterior

The Monk by a+ architects stands on the island of Leros

island modernism is blended with minimalist lines

linen fabrics emphasize authenticity and timelessness

stone, wood, and linen connect design to landscape

handcrafted objects anchor the space in tradition

monastic simplicity redefined as experiential luxury

a dialogue between island history and contemporary design

a house with the essence of soul and memory

project info:

name: The Monk Leros
architects: a+ architects | @alta_plus_architects

lead architect: Ioannis Zacharakis

location: Leros, Greece

photographer: Vice Versa Photography | @viceversa.gr

The post vibrant blue facade brings new life to the monk retreat on leros island, greece appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

leinemann | ortiz learns from termite mounds with ‘solum’ garden office in brazil

A Living Urban Oasis in brazil

Solum, a new concept by Leinemann | Ortiz, introduces a garden-office typology to Cuiabá, Brazil. Conceived as the first building within the GS Headquarters masterplan, the project extends the ambition of transforming an arid site into a thriving urban ecosystem that merges workspace with public green space.

The design brings a natural landscape to the city center, embedding native flora to attract birds and small wildlife alongside daily visitors. Commercial floors, co-working areas, restaurants, a gym, and an event space are organized around a public park, allowing work and leisure to flow into one another while supporting a diverse community of users.

images © Mir.no

Leinemann | Ortiz learns from termite mounds

With the design of its project, Solum, the architects at Leinemann | Ortiz form draw from the self-ventilating structure of termite mounds. A tall central atrium functions as a shaded chimney, channeling air to enhance cross-ventilation and reduce heat gain. This passive system creates a cooler microclimate, encouraging people to spend time outdoors even in Cuiabá’s intense heat.

The building employs a hybrid construction of cross-laminated timber and concrete, reducing embodied carbon while maintaining structural efficiency. This material strategy supports the broader environmental goals of the GS Headquarters masterplan and sets a precedent for green buildings in the region.

Solum introduces a garden office concept in Cuiaba, Brazil

connection to the gs headquarters masterplan

As the first of three planned structures, Solum defines the character of the overall development led by Victor Ortiz and Obreval Arquitetura. Together, these mixed-use towers will create a self-sustaining ecosystem with a central lake that moderates temperature and brings a calming place for both workers and visitors.

Inside, the atrium offers filtered sunlight and a direct visual link to surrounding gardens, while offices and public areas open onto shaded terraces. The spatial sequence reinforces the sense of working within a landscape, framing views of native plantings and the evolving city beyond.

With its biomimetic ventilation strategy and layered public amenities, Leinemann | Ortiz demonstrates how architecture can restore ecological balance while shaping a contemporary workplace. As the GS Headquarters masterplan advances, this first building signals a shift toward resilient, nature-integrated urban design in Brazil.

Leinemann | Ortiz leads the first phase of the GS Headquarters masterplan

a central atrium channels air to enhance natural ventilation

native flora will draw local fauna to create a living ecosystem

cross laminated timber and concrete reduce embodied carbon

project info:

name: Solum, by Scheffer
architect: Leinemann | Ortiz
location: Cuiaba, Mato Grosso, Brazil
client: Grupo Scheffer
area: 35.500 square meters (382,120 square feet)
completion: 2025
visualizations: © Mir.no | @mir.no

The post leinemann | ortiz learns from termite mounds with ‘solum’ garden office in brazil appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

asif khan converts modernist soviet cinema in kazakhstan into tselinny center

a new landmark opens in almaty, kazakhstan

The Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture has officially opened in Almaty, Kazakhstan, marking the transformation of the city’s historic Tselinny cinema into a new cultural institution. Designed by London-based architect Asif Khan, the project extends across nearly 6,000 square meters of renovated interiors and a landscaped site of equal size, signaling a new era for the region’s artistic community.

With its undulating facade, the design integrates contemporary cultural programming with the building’s Soviet-era legacy, offering a space that connects Central Asia’s history and its evolving creative future. Khan’s approach balances structural renewal with symbolic gestures, creating a destination that responds to Almaty’s layered past while welcoming a diverse public.

images © Laurian Ghinitoiu

a modernist soviet cinema revived

The Asif Kahn-converted Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture occupies an historic site in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Built in 1964, the original cinema commemorated the Soviet ‘Virgin Lands’ campaign, a politically charged project that reshaped the region’s relationship to its steppe landscape. Over the decades, the building fell into disrepair, its monumental auditorium subdivided and its historic sgraffito — scratched or carved — artwork partially lost.

Beginning in 2017, the Tselinny Center team initiated a careful reconstruction. Khan worked closely with local architect Zaure Aitayeva to stabilize the structure, strengthen it against seismic activity, and reintroduce its original spatial clarity. The rediscovered sgrafitto by Soviet artist Evgeny Sidorkin was restored with a restrained palette, allowing the work to coexist with contemporary art installations.

the Tselinny Center opens in Almaty as a new cultural landmark

the Tselinny Center renovation by asif kahn

The renovation removes intrusive additions while revealing the auditorium’s impressive 18-meter (59-foot) height. Acoustic treatments and integrated systems now support a range of exhibitions and performances. A continuous ribbon of stainless steel and glass wraps the ground floor, introducing daylight and linking the interior to the surrounding landscape.

A new ‘cloudscape’ of embossed symbols spans the north and south facades, drawing from Kazakh ornament and ancient petroglyphs. This abstract language appears in windows, lighting, and staircases, subtly embedding cultural memory into the architecture.

Asif Khan restores a Soviet cinema into a contemporary art venue

Asif Khan retained the building’s exposed concrete, complemented by geological finishes that ground the project in Kazakhstan’s natural history. Fossil-rich limestone from the Mangystau region forms the reception desk, while earth-toned concrete floors and river stones from Almaty’s terrain extend the connection between interior and landscape.

At the entrance, a softly curving, cloud-like threshold introduces a sense of openness and movement, counterbalancing the building’s monumental frame. Inside, a lowered ground plane eliminates level changes, creating a seamless public space that flows outward to adjacent squares and parkland.

a stainless steel ribbon brings daylight and 360 degree access

The reconfigured interior accommodates a series of flexible galleries and gathering areas, including the vast Orta 3 auditorium, the white-box Capsule gallery, and a rooftop terrace with panoramic views of the Ile-Alatau mountains. A new café, learning atelier, and quiet rooms enhance the Center’s role as a community hub.

This design prioritizes adaptable, multi-format spaces, allowing the Tselinny Center to host performances, exhibitions, and interdisciplinary events without fixed orientation. The inaugural program, BARSAKELMES, sets the tone with a live performance staged in the round, drawing on ancient Kazakh traditions.

historic sgrafitto artwork is carefully revealed and renewed

project info:

name: Tselinny Center of Contemporary Culture | @tselinnycenter

architect: Asif Khan | @asifkhan.now

location: Almaty, Kazakhstan

previous coverage: January 2025

completion: September 2025

photography: © Laurian Ghinitoiu | @laurianghinitoiu

The post asif khan converts modernist soviet cinema in kazakhstan into tselinny center appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.