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    Woods + Dangaran brings warmth and light to mid-century modern home in Los Angeles

    Teak wood, travertine stone and expansive glazing all feature in Woods + Dangaran’s renovation of a mid-century modern house that once belonged to singer Bing Crosby’s manager.

    Los Angeles-based Woods + Dangaran has both upgraded the architecture and designed the interiors for Clear Oak Residence, which is located on a hillside above LA’s San Fernando Valley.
    Clear Oak Residence is located on a hillside above LA’s San Fernando ValleyThe design aims to enhance the building’s relationship with its setting while also bringing an increased sense of warmth and comfort to the living spaces.
    Doorways and windows were adjusted and enlarged to enable wraparound views of the landscape, while skylights were added to highlight key moments within the interior.
    A new swimming pool cantilevers out towards the viewTravertine creates a continuous floor surface that extends out from the living spaces to a sunset terrace, while teak provides wall panelling and in-built joinery throughout.

    “The architectural finish palette was intentionally limited to four materials: clear anodised aluminium, plaster, travertine, and teak for the wall panelling,” said Woods + Dangaran.
    “This visual restraint manifests in a serene ambiance that permeates all aspects of the residence.”
    Travertine flooring extends both inside and outClear Oak Residence is shortlisted for Dezeen Awards 2022 in the house interior category, where it will compete with four other projects – including another one by Woods + Dangaran – for the title.
    Woods + Dangaran designed this project for client Robert Galishoff, whose brief to the architects was to embrace the building’s mid-century heritage but ensure the result exudes a sense of “effortless luxury”.
    Teak provides wall panelling and custom joineryLandscaping played a big role in the transformation. By relocating the swimming pool so that it cantilevers over the hill and adjusting the topography, more terrace and deck space could be created.
    Sliding floor-to-ceiling glass doors allow the main bedroom, the living room and the dining area to open out to this terrace.

    Woods + Dangaran updates 1960s California home by Craig Ellwood

    “Enlarged doorways and windows inside the house, including floor-to-ceiling glass doors, integrate the interior spaces with the landscape and foreground views by eliminating barriers,” said the architects.
    “Glazed openings inserted along corridors create memorable spatial experiences from new axes and vantage points.”
    Skylights create framed views of the skyThe interior furnishings include both new and retro pieces in natural materials and warm colours, which sit alongside Galishoff’s collection of objets d’art.
    The living room features a copper silk shag rug from Mehraban, a Minotti sectional reupholstered in a retro-patterned textile and a pair of the Arthur Casas-designed Amorfa coffee tables.
    “Inspired by mid-century pieces but adjusted for scale, function, and material, these pieces give the home a unique voice that mixes old and new, retro with contemporary vibes,” said Woods + Dangaran.
    The design respect’s the building’s mid-century heritageLed by architects Brett Woods and Joe Dangaran, Woods + Dangaran has developed a reputation for modernising mid-century homes but also designs new-builds with a similar character.
    Other recent projects include an upgrade of a 1960s Craig Ellwood house and a brass-clad home in Palm Springs.
    The photography is by Joe Fletcher.

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    Fiandre covers Armenian church in porcelain slabs printed with 1.5 million unique motifs

    Promotion: Fiandre Architectural Surfaces porcelain slabs, digitally printed with 1.5 million icons, cover the facade of an Armenian church in Texas designed by New York-based architect David Hotson.

    For the facade of Saint Sarkis Armenian Church in Carrollton, Texas, architect David Hotson and Yerevan-trained architectural designer Ani Sahakyan worked closely with Italian architectural surface manufacturer Fiandre to create a facade that works at a series of visual scales.
    The church is covered with Fiandre porcelain slabsThe church’s western facade that surrounds its entrance is clad with porcelain slabs depicting a traditional Armenian cross or “tree of life” with distinctive floral branching arms. This Armenian symbol of faith in the face of suffering and of resurrection and redemption serves as a memorial to the victims of the Armenian genocide.
    Viewed more closely, as the visitor approaches the church, the cross is composed of interwoven botanical and geometrical motifs drawn from Armenian art. These motifs represent the bonds of ancestry and tradition that have bound the Armenian community together across centuries of challenge and upheaval.
    Examined from even closer proximity, visitors will be able to see that the slabs are covered with individual icons or pixels, each one centimetre in diameter.

    Printed at a high resolution using Fiandre’s “Design Your Slab” or DYS printed porcelain slab system, the tiny icons – 1.5 million in total – cover the entire church facade. All of the icons are unique and derived from the circular emblems that recur throughout Armenian decorative arts.
    The ceramic slabs are printed with 1.5 million icons based on ancient Armenian motifsThe 1.5 million unique icons are designed to symbolise the individuals who were murdered in the Armenian genocide. The scale of the individual icons that are spread across the entire building facade is intended to make tangible the scale of this historical atrocity.
    To create the facade design, a computer script was developed by architectural designer Ben Elmer to generate the icons based on ancient Armenian ornamental motifs.
    These icons were scaled to fit a total of 1.5 million on the facade and were distributed according to density to form larger-scale patterns when viewed from a distance.
    The ceramic surfaces are also UV-resistantThe motifs were printed to the exact pixel modules required onto Fiandre’s large-format, exterior-grade, UV-resistant porcelain rain screen slabs.
    “The facade is believed to be the first use of this technology to optically engage the viewer in a series of visual scales nested inside each other, from the scale of an entire architectural facade to the scale of individual pixels each rendered in high-resolution at the threshold of visual perception,” said Fiandre.
    In addition to the memorial facade, Fiandre supplied the full range of porcelain interior and exterior floor, wall and soffit finishes used throughout the Saint Sarkis Campus.
    The Armenian church in Texas is designed by New York-based architect David HotsonNew York-based Hotson’s design for the new church building is modelled on the ancient church of Saint Hripsime, which stands near Armenia’s modern capital of Yerevan.
    Having withstood fourteen centuries of upheaval, Saint Hripsime serves as a symbol of the endurance, perseverance, and resilience of the Armenian people. The cornerstone of Saint Sarkis was laid in 2018, fourteen centuries after Saint Hripsime was completed in 618 AD.
    “From this brief, Hotson developed a design that looks forward as well as backward, marrying ancient architectural and artistic traditions reflecting Armenia’s cultural legacy as the world’s first Christian nation with contemporary digitally-driven design and fabrication technologies,” explained the manufacturer.
    To learn more about Fiandre Architectural Surfaces, visit the brand’s website.
    Partnership content
    This article was written by Dezeen for Fiandre as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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    Alexander May launches Sized Studio creative space in Los Angeles

    Alexander May, the founder of creative advisory Sized, has opened a flexible studio space in a former industrial building in Hollywood that will host photoshoots, events, exhibitions and more.

    Sized Studio was designed over 5,000 square feet (465 square metres) in a former industrial space. The space will host commercial projects, events, dinners, performances and other experiential marketing, as well as public-facing programming.
    Sized Studio offers a variety of bookable spaces, including a loading bay with built-in lounge seating”Sized Studio is an exciting step in the development of the Sized brand,” said May. “It’s designed to create strong collaborations with designers, brands, and creatives. Sized Studio gives another layer of access to the environments that Sized creates.”
    A variety of spaces in the former industrial building can be booked for photographers to shoot campaigns, galleries to put on exhibitions and brands to host activations.
    Located in Hollywood, Los Angeles, the venue is designed to be a blank canvasCeiling heights in the different rooms range from 10 to 30 feet (three to nine metres), and the majority of spaces are white-washed to provide a blank canvas.

    Of the larger spaces is a 1,612-square-foot (150-square-metre) loading bay, which features exposed beams and built-in lounge seating with black cushions.
    Flexible rooms in a variety of sizes are offered to clientsAnyone who rents a space will have the opportunity to enlist Sized’s advisory services, which encompass creative direction, set design, site activation and curatorial consultation.
    “There’s no limit to what kind of activations can be realized within Sized Studio,” May said. “What’s unique about Sized Studio is that it’s adjacent to Sized, which allows the people who use it to become closer to the larger culturally conscious community that Sized embodies.”

    AA Studio transforms industrial building in Tribeca into creative hub

    Although the studios officially open on 17 October 2022, Kim Kardashian’s underwear brand Skims has already utilised the studio, while upcoming public progamming includes a planned showcase of Andy Warhol photography.
    May founded Sized in 2021, following a career in creative direction across a wide variety of locations and industries.
    The majority of the former industrial building interior is white-washedHis collaborators have ranged from interior designer Kelly Wearstler to fashion house Rick Owens.
    Prior to this venture, May founded and provided creative direction for art non-profit Fondazione Converso in Milan from 2017 to 2020.
    Ceiling heights vary from 10 to 30 feet (three to nine metres)Similar creative hubs to Sized Studio elsewhere include Spring Studios in New York, located in a Tribeca telephone exchange building converted by AA Studio.
    Brooklyn venue A/D/O by MINI hosted multiple creative events and installations before it was shuttered due to the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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    Fabric arches divide Jonathan Simkhai store in SoHo by Aruliden

    Design agency Aruliden has created a retail space for fashion brand Jonathan Simkhai in New York City, translating cut-out shapes from its clothing into architectural partitions and furniture.

    For New York-based womenswear brand Jonathan Simkhai, Aruliden designed a temporary installation within the space on Mercer Street in SoHo – a prime shopping area in Lower Manhattan.
    A series of metal structures wrapped in translucent fabric divide the Jonathan Simkhai storeThe geometric shapes and signature cut-outs of the brand’s clothing were translated into a variety of spatial interventions and furniture pieces, creating a store in which the brand can present new collections and host events.
    “Translating Simkhai’s identity into a vision for a spatial environment required a clear and strategic idea that was not just shoppable, but also memorable and visually iconic,” said Aruliden’s senior director of industrial design Erik Kreider.
    “We wanted visitors to be fully immersed in this world, but at the end of the day it was also important that we celebrated and showcased the products the right way.”

    The fabric partitions are installed to fit around existing architectural elementsTowards the front of the building, a double-height space is painted entirely white and further brightened by the glass facade.
    This long, narrow room is divided by a series of tall structures, comprising translucent fabric stretched over metal frames.
    Mannequins flank a staircase that leads to the store’s lower levelFitted around existing architectural elements, the temporary walls wrapped in white, peach and pink fabric are punctured with archways that curve asymmetrically at the top, forming a passage from one end of the store to the other.
    Shoppers are led through the archways and down a flight of stairs, flanked by mannequins positioned on larger steps along one side.
    Units of a flexible display system are shaped similarly to the arched openings in the partitionsOn the lower level, where the ceiling height is considerably lower, podiums for displaying products and decorative accessories are shaped similarly to the archway cut-outs.
    At various sizes and heights, these beige-toned units form a flexible display system that can be moved around when needed.

    AMO cocoons Jacquemus store in pillows to create “bedroom-like” interior

    “Clothing and products break the cadence of the fabric arches,” said Kreider.
    “Together with the graphic cutouts, this creates a natural flow to the back area where more products, seating and changing rooms are located,
    The archways, furniture and podiums are based on the cut-out shapes of Jonathan Simkhai’s clothingThroughout the store, garments are presented on identical sets of hangers along minimal white rails.
    The minimalist interior is also enlivened by simple floral displays, presented in a variety of crafted vases.
    The minimalist interior is enlivened with simple floral decorationsAruliden, which was founded in 2006 by Rinat Aruh and Johan Liden, is headquartered in New York City with offices in San Francisco and Amsterdam.
    The agency has several products shortlisted for this year’s Dezeen Awards, including the Whoop 4.0 fitness wearable and the Series One Desk 27 video-conferencing device. It has also designed a series of mirrored structures to be built in a forest in Ontario, Canada.
    The photography is by Sharon Radisch.

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    In Common With opens lighting studio and showroom in Brooklyn warehouse

    Lighting brand In Common With has opened a studio, showroom and production facility inside a Brooklyn warehouse.

    The 3,500-square-foot (325-square-metre) space is located in a former industrial building in Gowanus, which was recently renovated by Morris Adjmi Architects and is home to a variety of creative companies.
    In Common With founders Nick Ozemba and Felicia Hung gave their showroom a residential feelBringing all of In Common With’s operations under one roof, the set-up allows founders Nick Ozemba and Felicia Hung to assemble and showcase their products in a residential-style setting.
    The opening of the space also coincides with the launch of In Common With’s 20-piece glass lighting collection, Flora, which was created in collaboration with French-American designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen.
    Lighting from the brand’s Flora collection join vintage and contemporary furniture”Five years ago, Felica and I set out to create a different kind of lighting brand based on a collaborative model with other makers and centered around material exploration,” said Ozemba.

    “Our new space will allow us to push this approach further, grow our team and take on more ambitious projects.”
    Plastered walls and custom millwork contribute earthy tones to the interiorThe showroom presents new and previous lighting collections – designed with ceramicists, glassmakers and metalworkers from around the world – amongst a mix of vintage and contemporary furniture.
    A Mario Bellini sofa and a Tapestry Chair by Giancarlo Valle anchor a living room area, lit by a chandelier and a floor lamp from the Flora range.

    In Common With launches lamps with handmade clay shades

    Plastered walls and custom millwork join the exposed wooden ceiling, uniting a selection warm earthy tones.
    Artworks by Charlotte Hallberg, Al Svaboda and more were also commissioned for the showroom.
    The studio and production space features custom workstations”Highly tactile and hand-crafted details create an immersive environment while celebrating the architectural details, generous proportions, and ample light of the industrial building where they are based,” said the team.
    In the studio, custom work tables, oak shelving, storage and technical lighting were all installed to aid production.
    There’s a dedicated area for prototyping new productsComponents for In Common With’s modular Up Down Sconce and Alien Orb Pendant are arranged by colour on the shelves. There’s also a dedicated area for the team to prototype new products.
    Ozemba and Hung met while studying at RISD, and founded their brand in 2017 before debuting a range of handmade clay designs a year later.
    Components for In Common With’s Up Down Sconce are arranged by colour on oak shelvingBrooklyn is home to a thriving creative community, with many artists and designers living and working in the New York City borough.
    Other workspaces that have opened there recently include a series of historic factory buildings converted by Worrell Yeung, and retailer Radnor’s studio and showroom in another former factory.
    The photography is by William Jess Laird.

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    Home Studios adds soft seating to Italian restaurant Bar Enza

    Brooklyn-based Home Studios has filled an Italian restaurant close to Harvard University with plush booths and banquettes to introduce colour and texture to the space.

    Bar Enza is situated in a prime spot on Harvard Square next to the Ivy League college in Cambridge, Massachusetts – just across the Charles River from Boston.
    Home Studios revamped Bar Enza to include a variety of soft seatingThe project involved the revamp of an existing restaurant on the ground floor of The Charles Hotel.
    To complement chef Mark Ladner’s menu, Home Studios pulled references from a range of regions and styles across Italy – from Rome’s trattorias to Milanese villas – and combined them to create interiors that feel elevated yet cosy.
    The restaurant’s original floors and ceiling were kept intactUpon request of the client, the original ceilings and floors were retained. Meanwhile, brick walls were plastered and painted white to match the ceiling and to help brighten the space.

    Freestanding tables and chairs were mostly swapped for soft seating, in the form of booths, banquettes and sofas covered in five different upholstery types to add variety.
    Five different fabrics were used to upholster the booths and banquettesThe building’s zig-zag glazed facade, which brings in plenty of light, creates niches that are filled with high-top tables surrounded by curved, pale pink booths.
    Forming a row through the centre of the dining area, pairs of high-backed red sofas face each other across marble tables.
    Brick walls were painted white to help brighten the interiorOther booths and banquettes feature sage green or beige fabrics, accompanied by cane-backed cafe chairs, while bar stools are topped with red leather cushions.
    “Unexpected details include plush seating, reminiscent of stately libraries and studies,” Haslegrave said. “Essentially we mixed mid-century architectural details with more traditional upholstered seating to achieve a confluence and diversity of designs.”

    Home Studios’ Laurel Brasserie and Bar brings European dining to Salt Lake City

    The service areas were kept largely intact, but custom millwork was added to refresh the materiality.
    Shelving was also clad in warm woods, while textured glass and brass hardware were introduced as accents.
    Cane-baked cafe chairs accompany the booths and freestanding tables”The very elevated level of service meant for very specific requirements on the service area millwork and shelving,” said Haslegrave.
    Time and budget restrictions meant that lighting was sourced. The selection of sconces, pendants and table lamps was chosen to create a “warm and sexy” feeling in the evening.
    The Italian restaurants draws references from Rome’s trattorias and Milanese villasDuring the day, sheer curtains allow natural light to wash over the interior and allows the fabric hue to pop.
    Home Studios’ previous bar and restaurant projects across the US include the Laurel Brasserie and Bar in Salt Lake City, The Harvey House in Madison, Wisconsin,and Bibo Ergo Sum in LA.
    The photography is by Brian W Ferry.

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    At the Rose House is a design showcase at the home of famed landscape architect

    An exhibition of hand-crafted art and design pieces, including a seminal sculpture by Charles and Ray Eames, is on display at the former New Jersey home of 20th-century landscape architect James Rose.

    At the Rose House is on show at the Ridgewood home that the late American modernist landscape architect designed and hand-built for himself and his family in 1953 and lived in for almost 40 years.
    Pieces in the exhibition are displayed throughout the home as if they belong thereOrganised by curatorial platform Object & Thing and furniture and interior design studio Green River Project LLC, the exhibition stemmed from Rose’s appreciation for craft and materials.
    The show “emphasises the hand-made, beauty in nature and a sense of timelessness” according to the curators.
    Rose self-designed and hand-built the house, which features several Japanese design elementsGreen River Project LLC founders Aaron Aujla and Benjamin Bloomstein, who have admired the landscape architect for some time, have produced a series of new designs based on his work.

    Created in collaboration with a group of designers, these pieces include a side chair by both Bloomstein Industrial and Luck Carpentry, rice paper lamps from Preziosi Lighting and carved grooming items on shelves in the bathroom by Teague’s Path.
    Artworks and designs were selected to reflect Rose’s appreciation for craft and materials”The ease in which Rose expanded the home using ready-made materials was an early point of reference for our practice,” said Aujla.
    “In particular, there is a kitchen with mahogany shelves and pegboard that we must have spent over 100 hours dissecting and referring back to over the last five years.”
    Green River Project’s products are presented alongside the work of mid-century and contemporary designers, including Alvaro Barrington, Bode, Charles and Ray Eames, Louis Eisner, Hugh Hayden, Nancy Holt, Kiva Motnyk, Michele Oka Doner, Johnny Ortiz-Concha and Anne Truitt among others.
    Clothing based on Rose’s personal style is hung in closetsThe works are installed as if they belong in the rooms and garden, which – like many of Rose’s later projects – feature elements of Japanese design, including the exposed timber structure and shoji screens.
    “[Rose] spent considerable amounts of time in Japan and became a Zen Buddhist,” said the curators. “This influence is evident in the Ridgewood house, especially on the upper floor, which contains a room for his daily mediation practice that The James Rose Center is currently restoring.”
    An edition of the 1943 Plywood Sculpture by Charles and Ray Eames is being presented in the US for the first time. Photo by Michael BiondoPieces on display include the Eames’ seminal 1943 Plywood Sculpture – the first time that this edition, which was made and released by Eames Office, is being presented in the US.
    Among the designs created for the showcase are leather Adirondack chairs by Hugh Hayden, wood-fired micaceous pots by Johnny Ortiz-Concha and naturally-dyed framed textile works by Kiva Motnyk.

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    A selection of clothing by New York brand Bode, based on Rose’s “eccentric” personal style, is hung in the closets throughout the house.
    Landscape paintings, rice paper drawings, flower vases, terracotta sculptures, and a screening of Nancy Holt’s 1975 film Pine Barrens that “portrays the New Jersey wilderness” also feature.
    The house in Ridgewood, New Jersey, is preserved by The James Rose Center. Photo by Michael BiondoGreen River Project LLC is also producing new editions of one of Rose’s lanterns to coincide with this exhibition.
    These will be sold to benefit The James Rose Center – a non-profit landscape research and study foundation, which is based at the house and has preserved Rose’s legacy since his death in 1991.
    The exhibition, curated by Object & Thing and Green River Project LLC, runs until 2 October 2022. Photo by Michael Biondo”Rose was an impossible maverick, called by one author, ‘The James Dean of Landscape Architecture,’ but I think he would be very happy with the vision Green River Project LLC and Object & Thing have brought to his house,” said foundation director Dean Cardasis.
    At the Rose House runs until 2 October 2022. This is the latest in a series of exhibitions organised by Object & Thing within the homes of notable 20th-century artists and architects, following presentations at the houses of Gerald Luss, Robert Dash and Eliot Noyes.
    Other exhibitions that showcase the work of modernist designers include an exhibition of Le Corbusier’s tapestries in Manhattan.
     See our Dezeen Events Guide for information about other exhibitions, installations and talks.

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    Johnston Marklee installs villas inside industrial LA building for Holly Hunt Showroom

    Architecture studio Johnston Marklee has installed a pair of villas inside an industrial building in Hollywood to create display spaces for design brand Holly Hunt.

    The LA-based studio collaborated with Holly Hunt’s executive creative director Jo Annah Kornak to create the showroom on North Highland Avenue.
    A vaulted villa is one of two volumes installed inside Holly Hunt’s LA showroomLed by Johnston Marklee partner Sharon Johnston, the project involved the overhaul of a two-storey, 1940s building into a flagship location for the brand to showcase its furniture and home products.
    Holly Hunt’s design aesthetic and the city’s “characteristic industrial grit” were combined through the use of rich finishes and raw surfaces.
    Furniture from the brand’s Vladimir Kagan and Holly Hunt Studio collections are displayed in the north villaTwo villas were created inside the showroom to present the designs in residential-scale spaces, surrounded by a “promenade” that shows off the building’s tall ceilings and exposed concrete beams.

    “The raw concrete shell frames an interior street,” said Johnston.
    “A double-height promenade space around the villas, together with the villa interiors, creates an atmosphere and experiential narrative for the display of elegant domestic furniture for house and garden.”
    The second villa includes interior vignettes on the lower levelThe villa to the north features a vaulted ceiling and wall niches and is used to display the brand’s Vladimir Kagan and Holly Hunt Studio collections.
    At the other end of the building, a two-level structure is arranged around a large circular atrium at the centre.
    A circular atrium is located at the centre of the second villaThe lower floor comprises a series of interior vignettes, while rooms upstairs house a library of textiles, leather, trim and rugs, along with wallcoverings from a variety of affiliate brands.
    “The visitors’ journey through the spaces reflects a spatial dialogue between exterior and interior, linked through richly finished in-between spaces,” Johnston said.
    A taller space named the promenade surrounds the building’s interiorLight-grey oak flooring runs through both villas, while terrazzo, concrete walls and hand-troweled plaster are all executed in a matte finish in the promenade.
    Bronze details also feature throughout the showroom, including the entry vestibules, stairwell and lighting gallery.

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    Although most of the interior is decorated in neutral tones, a 24-foot (7.3-metre), mustard-coloured sofa follows a curved corner of the building.
    “We approached the interior architecture in the same way that we would design a new product, being very thoughtful with our use of scale, proportion and materials,” said Kornak.
    The concrete of the 1940s industrial building is left exposed”We were very intentional about incorporating elements that celebrate LA’s signature urban aesthetic, like the original exposed concrete walls, beams, and other details throughout the space,” she added.
    Holly Hunt was set up in 1983 by its eponymous founder in Chicago.
    The brand previously operated two spaces within LA’s Pacific Design Center, but has scaled down to just the sixth-floor showroom now that the North Highland Avenue flagship has opened.
    Matte finishes and bronze details are used throughout the showroomJohnston and partner Mark Lee established their studio in 1998, and have since completed many private residential projects in Southern California – including the Vault House and Knoll’s West Hollywood showroom – as well as around the world.
    Lee is also chair of the Department of Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design.
    The photography is by The Ingalls.

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