Modern Architecture Posts on Crowch

1. Bank of Georgia
Headquarters / Former Highways Ministry (Tbilisi)

Famed
for its disorienting, stacked-block appearance—this brutalist landmark looks
like a Jenga game gone wild. Though divisive, it's become an icon of Tbilisi’s
Soviet-era skyline.

2. House of
Justice (Tbilisi)

Gliding
like a glass wave on the riverbank, this modern administrative building boasts
interlocking glass blocks and petal-like metal roofs—striking and symbolic of
Georgia’s “transparent power.”

3. Batumi Tower
with Embedded Ferris Wheel

A
surreal skyscraper and Georgia’s tallest structure, this modernist tower
features a Ferris wheel jutting from its facade at mid-height—a symbol of
Batumi’s gaudy, playful skyline.

4. Alphabetic
Tower (Batumi)

A
transparent spiral built with Georgian alphabet letters, this modern landmark
looks like a DNA helix mapped with cultural identity. It houses a
restaurant, observatory, and TV studios. 

5. Cyclopean
Fortresses: Avranlo & Shaori

Dating
to the Bronze Age, these megalithic structures in Kvemo Kartli and
Samtskhe-Javakheti were built with massive stone blocks in dry-stone
masonry—mystical and imposing, yet largely unknown to mainstream tourists.

6. Poti Cathedral

Modeled
after Hagia Sophia, this early-20th-century Neo-Byzantine cathedral in Poti was
constructed using reinforced concrete—a pioneering technique—making it a modern
marvel with historical depth.

Why These Buildings Matter

These structures tell
Georgia's architectural story—from Soviet-era audacity and modernist
experiments to ancient megalithic mystery. They reflect a nation that embraces
bold design, rich cultural heritage, and forward-looking creativity. It’s a
spirit that resonates strongly now, as Tbilisi prepares to host the
Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2025, blending tradition and
innovation on an international stage.

Votes: https://crowch.com/vote/2895/statistic/ https://crowch.com/vote/2919/statistic/ https://crowch.com/vote/2918/statistic/

Sources: https://georgiaabout.com/tag/alphabet-tower-in-batumi/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batumi_Tower  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batumi_Tower  https://www.georgianholidays.com/attraction/tbilisi-landmarks/bank-of-georgia-headquarters

🌱 A New Life for Plastic: Designing with Living Mycelium

In an era marked by ecological urgency and environmental responsibility, Chinese design studio NONGZAO is reshaping how we think about waste, furniture, and materials. Their latest innovation uses mycelium, the root-like structure of fungi, to transform ordinary plastic furniture into biodegradable, low-impact design objects. Instead of producing new pieces from scratch, the team grows living organisms directly onto existing plastic chairs, stools, and lamps—subverting the lifecycle of industrial products.

This natural process results in completely unique surfaces, rich in texture and shaped by the unpredictable growth of the fungi. Mycelium doesn’t just look organic—it is organic, forming a skin over industrial objects and slowly reclaiming them for the earth.

🍵 Waste to Wonder: Coffee Grounds and Rice Husks as Substrate

One of NONGZAO’s greatest achievements is turning agricultural byproducts into growth media for fungi. Their substrate blend includes used coffee grounds and rice husks—two materials often discarded in bulk in farming and food production. These components are rich in cellulose and lignin, essential nutrients that stimulate mycelium to expand, attach, and thrive.

This process repurposes biological "waste" while reducing methane emissions from organic decay. The result is a dual benefit: carbon absorption and plastic transformation, all achieved through natural cycles.

🪑 Iconic Forms, Radical Materials: Reworking China’s Red Chairs

In regions like Guangdong, red plastic chairs have become a symbol of urban transformation. Mass-produced, lightweight, and almost inescapable in public life, they embody the ubiquity and anonymity of industrial design. Yet NONGZAO sees this icon as fertile ground for creative resistance. By enveloping these chairs in mycelium, they confront the visual monotony and environmental consequences of plastic saturation in Chinese cities.

The result is an aesthetic rebellion: once-identical objects are recontextualized with wild textures, natural colors, and an organic logic that defies factory perfection. Each chair becomes a sculptural relic of the industrial age—half fossil, half future.

🌍 Design That Decomposes: Sustainability as Statement

More than a clever reuse of materials, NONGZAO’s project is a philosophical statement on impermanence and adaptation. As plastic pollution continues to rise—with over 430 million tons produced annually, most of it for short-term use—designers must think not only about form but also afterlife.

Unlike plastic, mycelium biodegrades completely in soil, leaving behind no toxins. It captures carbon during its growth, turning every object into a carbon sink. These transformed objects become artifacts of a new ethic—ephemeral design that returns to nature, not the landfill.

🌿 A Challenge to Industrial Homogenization

According to NONGZAO, the goal isn’t just sustainability—it’s plurality. Industrial manufacturing has created a landscape of sameness, where mass-produced products flatten taste and experience. Their fungal furniture is an antidote: each piece is one-of-a-kind, grown over time, shaped by temperature, humidity, and mycelium’s unpredictable nature.

By cultivating furniture with living organisms, the studio reframes design as a collaboration with nature, not domination. The results are tactile, emotional, and unrepeatable.

🔁 Circular Futures: Toward a New Material Culture

The furniture from NONGZAO isn’t just about innovation—it’s about systems. They envision a future where agricultural waste feeds fungi, fungi feed design, and design returns to the earth. This circular model is scalable, low-cost, and open to adaptation across industries: packaging, textiles, even architecture.

In a world searching for sustainable alternatives, mycelium may be the bridge between biology and design, offering not just materials—but meaning.

🌾 Feminist Second-Wave Revival – By Faye Toogood

Designer Faye Toogood taps into the spirit of second-wave feminism through her recent work, such as the Rude Arts Club line for cc‑tapis and Tacchini. She explores sensuality and human form from a distinctly female perspective. As a woman in design, she long resisted highlighting gender in her work — until now. In her Squash seating collection for Poltrona Frau, she merges classic frame structures with soft, pillow-like elements that envelop the sitter. The sculptural curve conveys protection and serenity—an embrace through design.

In Toogood’s vision, feminine creation is relaxed, modern, and forward-thinking—soft yet potent.

🌱 Sustainable Humility – By Diebedo Francis Kéré

Architect and Pritzker Prize laureate Diebedo Francis Kéré champions minimalist sustainability. He emphasizes regeneration over extraction—favoring materials like earth/clay instead of mined minerals. For Kéré, true sustainability means using minimal, renewable resources suited exactly for the architectural need, not luxury or excess.

Design must respect nature’s systems. Every building is a moral act: don’t take what you don’t need, even if you can.

🔮 Material Polyphony – By Draga Obradovic & Aurel Bazedov (Draga & Aurel)

This design duo is fascinated by transformative materials like translucent lucite (acrylic resin). Through experiments with light, color, and texture, they create pieces whose hues shift depending on the viewer’s angle. Inspired by op-art and retrofuturism, their practice revels in spontaneity—embracing unexpected beauty in minimalistic yet dynamic forms.

Expect upcoming design trends rich in optical play, soft futurism, and material poetry.

🇮🇹 Craftsmanship Amplified – By Marco Credendino, Founder of Artemest

Marco Credendino’s Artemest platform celebrates Italian handmade excellence. What began with ~60 artisan studios has grown to over 1,500, showcasing 60,000+ handcrafted creations. Initiatives like L’Appartamento exhibitions bring together curated interior vignettes using these objects, merging objects and environments elegantly.

Artemest aims to share Italian craftsmanship globally—where heritage, quality, and beauty converge.

🌸 Garden Narratives & Textile Storytelling – By Edward Llewellyn Hall

Designer Edward Llewellyn Hall draws design inspiration from his English garden surroundings. His eclectic patterns—floral, geometric, stripe—blend classical motifs with modern whimsy. His textile collections for Rubelli mix mythology, vegetation, stars, and architectural references.

For Hall, design, fashion, and interiors are genres of storytelling—where unexpected combinations reveal fantasy, balance, and emotional resonance.

🎬 Leisure Scale & Casual Luxe – By Ashley Harrison, Design Miami.LA

Ashley Harrison, director of design curatorial programs for Design Miami.LA, observes Los Angeles culture’s appetite for bold living. In a city where villas become stages and homes double as entertainment spaces, interiors are expansive, daring, and unapologetically expressive.

Design here is casual scale and theatrical: large comfortable spaces, outdoor connectivity, and vibrant palettes. It's the design of “immediate lifestyle,” where comfort meets performance.

Synthesis: A Future in Design That Is Empathetic, Sensual, Sustainable & Surprising

From feminist softness to ecological restraint, from luminous materials to heritage craftsmanship, these six thought leaders define a vision of design that is layered, humane, and dynamically engaged with the living world.

🌀 Embracing Fluidity: Mathieu Lehanneur on Futureproof Design

In a world in constant flux, designer Mathieu Lehanneur believes the design industry must let go of rigid frameworks and embrace change as its natural state. Rather than aiming for static perfection, he sees the future in adaptable, emotionally intelligent spaces that reflect the shifting realities of life.

Design should no longer treat humans as stable, logical users. “We’re unpredictable, irrational, and emotionally driven,” says Lehanneur. To truly connect with people, design must go beyond ergonomics — diving into psychology, spirituality, medicine, and science.

The goal? Creating environments that offer not only visual pleasure but a sense of comfort, serenity, and connection to the natural world.

🌱 Heritage & Honesty: Yulia Loboyko on Curating Authenticity

Founder of the “Palaty” gallery, Yulia Loboyko draws from years of regional expeditions across Russia. Her curatorial vision involves weaving together unique objects into meaningful constellations that reveal cultural narratives.

At Collectible Brussels, “Palaty” disrupted expectations with unconventional objects. A standout was a chair by Studio Odingeniy, praised by curator Brecht Wright Gander as one of the show’s best. Meanwhile, PAD Paris called for deeper meanings: Loboyko emphasized heritage, symbolism, and handcraft — a strategy that earned her a feature in ELLE Decoration France.

She sees a movement away from the excess of past decades. “The future is not about grandeur. It’s about sincerity — searching inward for what really matters,” says Loboyko.

💧 Architecture as Compassion: Liu Jiakun’s Poetic Approach

Pritzker Prize 2025 laureate Liu Jiakun views architecture as a force for emotional healing. It should not only house lives but elevate them, cultivating serenity and shared identity.

His metaphor is powerful: “I want to be like water — flowing into spaces, adapting, reflecting the spirit of the place.” Over time, that water may become architecture itself — solidified yet still carrying traces of its origin.

Jiakun emphasizes the potential of buildings to awaken compassion and community. Architecture, for him, is not just about form, but about forming relationships between people, history, and space.

🏡 Resilience at Home: Maria Porro on the Shifting Role of Interiors

President of Salone del Mobile.Milano and Porro’s marketing director, Maria Porro highlights the need for homes that evolve with their inhabitants. “The house is no longer static. It breathes, transforms, and adapts,” she says.

In this era of instability, people seek balance between beauty and well-being. Sustainability is no longer a buzzword — it’s essential. Porro champions closed-loop production systems, materials that are reused, repaired, and responsibly recycled.

Furniture today is more than utilitarian. It’s becoming architectural — shaping how we move, live, and feel within a space. “Design must reflect the soul of the era,” Porro concludes.

🎨 Hockney's Joy: Suzanne Pagé on Art as Emotional Light

As a curator at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Suzanne Pagé reflects on the continued relevance of David Hockney. His art thrives on emotional transparency, bright colors, and compositional clarity. Even in personal turmoil, Hockney’s creative act is joyous. “Like Van Gogh,” Pagé notes, “he’s happy the moment he draws.”

Hockney constantly seeks new ways to engage the public — from reverse perspective to digital reproductions. His current exhibition at Louis Vuitton is described as “a doorway to spring,” offering viewers a vivid, inclusive sense of renewal.

🔮 Beyond the Object: A New Era of Meaning

What unites these five voices is a shared commitment to emotional depth, cultural specificity, and adaptability. Whether it’s architecture that flows like water or galleries that honor forgotten crafts, the focus has shifted toward sincerity, storytelling, and social relevance.

Design, architecture, and art in 2025/2026 are no longer about trend-chasing. They are about reading the moment, feeling the world, and responding with empathy.

Kaisa Vilner – Malmö, Sweden

Kaisa heads an interdisciplinary studio integrating nature with cutting‑edge science. Every project begins with a deep question: Is this necessary? And if so—why? Her design process prioritizes thoughtful motivation. When the purpose is clear, materials and techniques emerge organically, shaping the final form.

For Kaisa, design is a gesture of movement—an authentic emotional transmission. Whether handcrafted or industrially produced, her objects tell stories, serve as catalysts for sustainable innovation, and embody interdisciplinary research into new materials and systems.

Good design today means posing new types of questions—about symbiosis between humans and the planet.

Soft Baroque – London (Nicholas Gardner & Sasha Stucin)

This London-based duo works at the intersection of design and art, always searching for unusual perspectives. When asked whether form or function comes first, they reply: It’s like steering versus braking in a car—you need both at the right moment.

Soft Baroque blends contradiction: lush ornamentation tempered by softness, irony, and play. They embrace material surprises and hybrid forms, creating objects that defy mainstream expectations while keeping subtle humor and ritual.

Their DNA intentionally merges ceremonial complexity with domestic softness—design that’s ritualistic, yet tactile and irreverently approachable.

Jules Lobjois – Normandy, France

A graduate of ENSAAMA and DSAA LAAB, Jules works with wood salvaged from wind‑fallen or damaged trees. He honors the unique identity of each fragment, letting its flaws and grain guide the final shape.

For instance, in Mue, he used a split walnut trunk; in Couchant, a crack in an aged oak beam became the defining volume; in Tumulte and Sépale, natural swelling of grafted cherry wood created wave‑like forms. Color, texture, and knot patterns are rarely hidden—they are celebrated.

Good design allows the material’s story to thrive—embracing its anomalies rather than disguising them.

Sofia Karnukaeva – Barcelona, Spain

A MARHI and Bakshtein Institute alumna, Sofia transitioned from architecture to object design and art. Working with ceramics, stone, and metal that carry deep memory and history, her creative process is led by material intuition.

Her pieces ask to be touched, inviting the viewer into a tactile, multisensory experience. For Sofia, design must resonate emotionally and intellectually to create new meaning beyond functionality.

Paul Coenen – Eindhoven, Netherlands

After graduating from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2019, Paul focuses on paper‑to‑metal transformation. Beginning with folded, bent, and manipulated paper models, he explores the structural language of metal.

His method involves hands‑on experimentation to discover folding techniques, joins, and apertures that reveal the hidden capabilities of metal. These structures aim to strike a balance—rooted in now, yet timeless.

Design should reflect the moment while speaking to the future—anchored in context, yet enduring.

🌟 Why They Matter

These five designers demonstrate how material-led thinking, cultural narrative, and experimental structure can forge forms that speak to both our time and those to come. Their work emphasizes attention to the intangible—emotion, memory, story, purpose—transforming everyday objects into meaningful experiences.

Hey friends 💛

I’ve been meaning to write this for a while — just to share some thoughts that have been quietly growing in the back of my mind. You know that feeling when you walk into a space and it just feels right? Like the energy is calm, the colors are soothing, and even the smallest details — the way a curtain falls, or the sound your steps make on the floor — seem intentional? That’s the magic of thoughtful design ✨

Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time observing my surroundings — especially in quiet, in-between moments. Whether it's the curve of a handrail, the texture of old tiles, or the imperfect charm of a handmade mug — these little things really speak to me. As someone who’s always been obsessed with architecture, interiors, and all things art & design 🎨, I’ve realized something important: beautiful spaces don’t have to be big or expensive — they just have to be loved.

Architecture and interior design aren’t just for professionals or people with massive budgets. They’re for everyone — especially those of us who find inspiration in how space makes us feel. Your space is your canvas, your sanctuary, your self-expression 💫

So if you’ve been feeling a bit disconnected lately, or creatively blocked, or just craving a sense of peace — start with your surroundings. Move one thing. Light a candle. Hang a print you’ve been meaning to frame. Let your space tell a story that reflects your.

And if you ever want to talk about architecture, interiors, or even just which paint colors make you feel something — my comments are always open 💬

Hey lovelies! 💕 Michelle here. Sooo, I have to gush about this designer I've been completely obsessed with lately – Beata Heuman. Seriously, if you haven't stumbled upon her work yet, you're missing out on pure, unadulterated joy in design form! ✨

I first saw her book, "Every Room Should Sing," at this cute little art bookshop downtown (shoutout to Paper Moon Books! 📚), and the cover alone sucked me in. It was like a burst of happy energy! Heuman's style... wow. It's this magical blend of Swedish sensibility (clean lines, light) with whimsical, almost storybook-like fantasy. Think bold colors, unexpected patterns, quirky custom pieces, and this incredible sense of personality in every single room. Nothing feels sterile or overly serious.

What absolutely wrecked me (in the best way!) was her attention to detail. Like, she'll add the most adorable scalloped edges to a lampshade, or pair a super traditional piece with something wildly modern and sculptural. Her use of texture is insane too – rough linens next to glossy lacquers, fluffy rugs under sleek furniture. It shouldn't always work, but in her hands, it just *sings* (hence the book title, right? 😉).

Why I'm obsessed & why you might be too:

1. Fearless Color & Pattern: She's not afraid of bold choices, but it never feels chaotic. It feels intentional and joyful. Major inspo for adding a little drama to my tiny apartment!

2. Everything Has Soul: Her spaces feel lived-in and unique, not like a showroom. You can tell the people who live there have stories. She designs these incredible bespoke pieces (lamps! hardware! furniture!) that are like little works of art themselves.

3. Playfulness: Design can sometimes feel stuffy, but Heuman injects pure fun and imagination. It reminds me not to take it too seriously and to embrace what makes me smile, even if it's a bit quirky.

Honestly, diving into her world has made me look at my own space differently. Maybe I do need that slightly-too-bold cushion, or maybe I should paint that old bookshelf a crazy color! It's all about creating a home that feels authentically you, full of things you love.

So spill the tea! 👇 Have you discovered any amazing designers lately that make your heart skip a beat? Or are you crushing on Beata too? Let me know in the comments! Let's share the inspo! ✨