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'We had to . . . figure out ways to make the merchandise look like art. Now many people walk into the lobby and think the store is the first gallery.' ' Jeff Sheppard, Roth + Sheppard Architects Established more than 26 years ago, Roth + Sheppard Architects have a bunch of retail projects in their portfolio — “just cool spaces that seemed to work,” says Jeff Sheppard, coprincipal of the Denver-based firm. His design of the gift shop at Daniel Libeskind’s Denver Art Museum wasn’t based on a gut sensibility, though. Instead, he and his team took a scientific

'Having a beautiful open space to work allows for increased collaboration and creative thinking. employees can connect with each other, and as a result, the product is better.' ' Eileen Fisher Launching her apparel line in 1984 with $350 and a degree in home economics, Eileen Fisher started small. But her modest beginnings belie the power of her brand — a line of elegant, comfortable clothing sewn with natural materials that has resonated with America’s professional women. As she does with her clothing, Fisher brings a holistic sensibility to the workplace, fostering people-centric environments in her Irvington, New York, headquarters

Zimmerray Studios Photo © Lara Swimmer With the recent arrival of their second child, architect Robert Zimmer and his wife, photographer Lara Swimmer, have grown accustomed to planning for the not-quite-knowable. While thinking about their own 4,250-square-foot live/work building in the North Admiral district of Seattle, they got to practice these skills — imagining not just how it would evolve as the kids grew up, but how it might accommodate new zoning in a changing neighborhood. Although the area right now is zoned for multifamily use on two sides and commercial on another, it is becoming more densely developed. So

Colab Studio Photo © Bill Timmerman Maria and Matthew Salenger have no fear of suburbia. When the couple, who are both architects, returned to the Phoenix area in 1999 following graduate studies in London, they embraced their surroundings by purchasing a non descript 1,100-square-foot, three-bedroom 1954 ranch house in the middle-class suburb of Tempe. Related Links: Cien House Admiral Live-Work But that’s where their “going native” stopped. Removing most of the interior walls, the couple created an open living space and built two basic steel-and-fiberglass sleeping pods in the backyard. With the birth of their son in 2008, however, this

The aptly named Truffle House sits on Spain’s northwestern Costa da Morte (the Death Coast) in a small fishing village.

On a cool April night in 2007, I found myself in a dangerous crush of bodies trying to cross a narrow pedestrian bridge near Via Tortona in Milan.

Director Robert Lepage orchestrates an architectural feat for a new Metropolitan Opera production of Wagner’s Ring cycle. Photo © Ken Howard During the fall performances of Das Rheingold (repeating in March), acrobats stand in for singers to traverse the planks that are raised up above the stage and rotated by computer into fanlike steps. Stage design is typically an ephemeral art. Environments appear substantial, but they are often masterful imitations of the real thing made with lightweight, durable materials capable of continual setups and breakdowns. Enter Canadian director Robert Lepage, whose new production of Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle for New

Sir John Soane’s House Museum in London is in the midst of a much-needed expansion, renovation, and restoration. The legendary Sir John Soane’s Museum, at Number 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London, has been undergoing an intensive expansion and restoration program that is expected to be completed in 2013. With the help of public and private funds, already one significant piece has been has been finished: In early 2008, the museum opened a restored and remodeled structure at Number 14, which Soane designed but never used — as he did Number 12, his first residence, and the more lavish Number

In December 2009, the Glasgow School of Art celebrated its centenary.