As 2025 draws to a close, we’re once again looking back at the stories that shaped the intersection of architecture, art, design, and technology. This year, fashion delivered its own share of striking moments: unexpected, imaginative, and sometimes delightfully bizarre. These are the creations that twisted familiar garments and accessories into something entirely new, earning their place under our fashion design phenomena tag. Because for every piece that gets it perfectly right, there’s always one curious outlier that gets everyone talking.

From Iris van Herpen’s haute couture illuminated by reactive bioluminescent algae and Vollebak’s virus-killing copper jacket to Gustaf Westman’s viral spiral baguette holder and a wearable AirPod backpack by Bravest, here are the top 10 fashion stories that captured our attention and defined the past 12 months.

REACTIVE BIOLUMINESCENT ALGAE DRESS BY IRIS VAN HERPEN

image courtesy of Chris Bellamy of Bio Crafted

Surrounded by darkness, Iris van Herpen’s dress came to life with the glow of reactive bioluminescent algae during Paris Haute Couture Week 2025. Co-created with biodesigner Christopher Bellamy, also known as Bio Crafted, the piece features 125 million bioluminescent algae, illuminated against a runway set designed with light sculptures by artist Nick Verstand. In an interview with designboom, Bellamy explains that he initially developed the technique for encapsulating the microalgae in collaboration with indigenous artists and scientists in French Polynesia. ‘A bespoke 35-step process was developed, which encapsulates the algae in a nutrient gel and protective coating, allowing them to survive for many months,’ he says.

Once encapsulated, the algae require only regular sunlight to photosynthesize and maintain their circadian rhythm. The biomaterial can thrive for months, even in hot conditions, and Bellamy notes that some samples have survived for over a year. ‘However, as this material is still highly experimental, we are continuing to study its behavior and understand exactly how it functions,’ he adds.

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VIRUS-KILLING COPPER JACKET BY VOLLEBAK

image courtesy of Vollebak

From illuminating the runway with millions of living microalgae in Iris van Herpen’s couture to actively defending against invisible threats, fashion this year explored the power of the microscopic in bold new ways. Vollebak’s Full Metal Jacket takes this concept from spectacle to protection, using copper to neutralize viruses and bacteria before they can even grow. The technical garment features three layers of textile woven with 11 kilometers of copper wire, transformed from industrial rods into fine, uniform yarns using precision lasers.

Each strand is carefully measured for softness and consistency, coated with a thin layer of lacquer to prevent corrosion, and then woven through a six-day curing process that includes scouring, heat-setting, and drying. The copper layer is paired with Vollebak’s c_change membrane, a waterproof and breathable barrier that adapts to temperature and humidity. In hot conditions, the jacket opens to release heat and moisture; in cold weather, it closes to retain warmth, offering both protection and comfort.

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UNIFORMS WITH BUILT-IN ELECTRIC FANS BY ANREALAGE

image courtesy of Anrealage

Just as Vollebak used copper to defend wearers from microscopic threats, Anrealage turned to airflow and cooling to help humans adapt to their environment. At the NTT Pavilion during  Expo 2025 Osaka, the brand decided to equip staff uniforms with built-in electric fans, keeping wearers comfortable in the heat while pushing the boundaries of functional fashion. Inspired by the concept of parallel travel, the clothing uses wind to evoke the sensation of moving through time and space. Hundreds of blue dots across the white fabric symbolize connection with distant beings.

The staff uniforms consist of five pieces: outerwear, a polo shirt, a bag, a hat, and a logo badge. It’s the outerwear that houses the electric fans, allowing staff to stay cool while moving through the Expo. The fans are positioned on the lower-left side of the jacket, with protective grilles to prevent any contact with the spinning rotors. When activated, the airflow causes the outerwear to balloon, giving the wearer the ethereal appearance of a floating ‘cloud.’

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ZZZN PUFFER JACKET FOR SLEEP

photo by Yusuke Maekawa courtesy of ZZZN SLEEP APPAREL SYSTEM

While Anrealage focused on external comfort and climate adaptation, other designers explored clothing that responds to our internal rhythms. ZZZN’s Sleep Apparel System takes this concept to the next level, transforming a puffer jacket into wearable sleepwear that helps users rest anywhere, anytime. It uses biometric data monitoring as well as headphones that play two types of music with frequency bands to help people fall asleep. The ZZZN puffer jacket for sleep modernizes Yagi, which is a traditional Japanese winter or nightwear. The apparel has drawstrings on the sleeves and hem, all adjustable to fit the user’s body type. The wearer can also adjust the cuff tabs to their fit, making sure that they’re comfortable when they’re about to sleep.

The ZZZN puffer jacket for sleep uses photoelectric fiber as its padding. With this in mind, the sleepwear is lighter than it looks. It also keeps the internal temperature warm for the users, especially during cold and extreme weather conditions.

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RICE STRAW-MADE RAINCOAT AND MICRO-SHELTER BY FABULISM

photo by David Carson courtesy of Fabulism

The piece is shaped to provide shelter, forming a dome-like silhouette that covers the wearer’s upper body. Its elongated, rounded top fits comfortably over the head without adding weight, allowing the raincoat to function as both an expressive fashion statement and a lightweight, wearable umbrella.

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HARIBO GUMMY BEAR CROCS

image courtesy of Crocs

From natural‑materials protection to pop‑culture delight, fashion doesn’t just serve function; it also indulges in fun. Enter Crocs’ gummy-inspired collaboration with Haribo, turning the classic clog into eye‑candy footwear. The upper is made from a translucent material that mimics the look of the candy, giving the shoe a playful appearance. The design comes with Jibbitz charms, including oversized Goldbears, one of Haribo’s most recognizable symbols. Even the sole of the clog features embossed Goldbears, making the Crocs Haribo Classic Clog a novelty footwear piece.

In addition to its themed design, the footwear is water-friendly and buoyant, so users can wear it in various settings, including wet or outdoor environments. It is lightweight, weighing only a few ounces, which enhances comfort and reduces strain during prolonged wear. 

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HAVAIANAS’ FIRST-EVER 3D PRINTED FLIP-FLOPS BY ZELLERFELD

image courtesy of Zellerfeld and Havaianas

Staying in the world of clogs and sandals, Zellerfeld and Havaianas have introduced the brand’s first-ever 3D printed flip-flops, featuring a rounded toe cap for added comfort and protection. The footwear’s top still has a Y-shaped strap, a familiar design of the sandals company’s products. It connects between the big and second toe and extends along the sides of the foot.

The brand’s name is printed on the strap, along with a textured pattern, which is a prominent part of the 3D printed design. The toe area is covered with a rounded front piece, wrapping over the front of the foot and linking it to the base. This toe covering helps to hold the foot in place and protect it from being exposed. 

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SANDALS SHAPED LIKE ZIGZAG PAVER BLOCKS BY PDM BRAND

image courtesy of PDM Brand

Continuing in sandal territory, PDM Brand took things a step further with unisex sandals shaped like zigzag paver blocks, designed so that wearers ‘fill in’ gaps on the sidewalk as they stroll. Chunky like the real blocks but made from a cushiony, rubbery material instead of stone or concrete, the sandals maintain a concrete-gray color, helping the wearer blend in while staying safe on uneven surfaces. The sandals feature a matching toe strap, and even the packaging mirrors the design of real concrete bricks. 

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SPIRAL BAGUETTE HOLDER BY GUSTAF WESTMAN

image courtesy of Gustaf Westman

From rethinking how we walk to reimagining how we carry, Gustaf Westman has designed a spiral baguette holder that carries a loaf of bread like a handbag. The playful accessory is designed to fit a baguette snugly around three loops and is part of a summer-long pop-up experience, in which the designer takes over private residences across different European cities instead of traditional exhibition spaces.

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AIRPODS WEARABLE BACKPACK BY BRAVEST

image courtesy of Bravest

If Gustaf Westman made bread portable in style, Bravest makes gadgets wearable in the most literal way. The streetwear brand’s AIRPACK is a backpack shaped like Apple AirPods, featuring removable ‘earbuds’ interior pouches. The backpack stays faithful to Apple’s original design: the white AirPods shape is scaled up, and instead of a magnetic lock like the AirPods case, it has a zipper that runs around the bag. Unzipping the top reveals two removable interior pouches shaped like the iconic earbuds themselves. 

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see designboom’s TOP 10 stories archive:

2024 — 2023 — 2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 —  2018 — 2017 — 2016 — 2015 — 2014 — 2013

The post TOP 10 fashion design phenomena of 2025 appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

2025 has been a busy and exciting year for art, with exhibitions ranging from immersive installations to large-scale retrospectives. At designboom, we experienced many of these shows, some in person and others virtually, and took note of the ones that stayed with us. As the year comes to a close, we look back at the top exhibitions that made the strongest impression and are likely to be remembered for years to come. In Melbourne, Yayoi Kusama unveiled a dazzling new infinity room at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). At Tate Modern, Do Ho Suh presented intricate fabric architectures and during Milan Design Week 2025, A.A. Murakami filled Museo della Permanente with floating, mist-filled bubbles , together offering a glimpse into the creativity that shaped art this year.

Throughout 2025, designboom’s monthly radar series spotlighted exhibitions worth visiting, providing a guide to some of the most compelling shows around the world. In this feature, we revisit some of those highlights and celebrate the exhibitions that defined the art landscape of 2025. Read on to see the full list!

DO HO SUH’S ‘WALK THE HOUSE’ SOLO EXHIBITION AT TATE MODERN

Do Ho Suh, Nest/s, 2024, polyester, stainless steel, 410.1 x 375.4 x 2148.7 cm | courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin New York, Seoul and London, image by Jeon Taeg Su © Do Ho Suh

Tate Modern’s The Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House marked a major moment for the Korean artist, presenting his first solo show in London in more than two decades. Known for his translucent fabric installations that explore home, memory, and identity, Suh transforms architectural details into delicate, almost dreamlike reflections on belonging. The exhibition brought together sculpture, video, drawing, and large-scale installations, showcasing key works from the past three decades alongside new site-specific pieces created for Tate Modern. ‘The space I’m interested in is not only a physical one but also an intangible, metaphorical, and psychological one,’ Suh shares. ‘For me, ‘space’ is that which encompasses everything.’

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FIFTY YEARS OF LAND ART BY ANDY GOLDSWORTHY IN EDINBURGH

Andy Goldsworthy, Edges made by finding leaves the same size. Tearing one in two. Spitting underneath and pressing flat on to another. Brough, Cumbria. Cherry patch. 4 November 1984, 1984 Cibachrome photograph | image courtesy of the artist

At Tate Modern, Do Ho Suh transformed architectural details into delicate reflections on home, memory, and identity, inviting viewers to reconsider the spaces they inhabit. In Edinburgh, Andy Goldsworthy took a similarly immersive approach, but on a grand, natural scale. Andy Goldsworthy: Fifty Years transformed the Royal Scottish Academy into a sweeping landscape, his largest indoor exhibition to date. Spanning five decades of land art and over 200 works, the show turned the historic galleries into a continuous, site-specific installation of cracked clay walls, windfallen oak branches, suspended reeds, and stones collected from more than 100 graveyards in Dumfriesshire. Responding directly to the RSA’s architecture, Goldsworthy’s work used space, light, and materials as active elements, extending his long-term exploration of the ties and tensions between people, buildings, and the land.

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STEVE MCQUEEN’S BASS AT SCHAULAGER BASEL

Steve McQueen, Bass, 2024, LED Light and Sound, courtesy the artist, co-commissioned work by Laurenz Foundation, Schaulager Basel, and Dia Art Foundation, Schaulager® Münchenstein/Basel (Installation view) | all images courtesy of Schaulager Basel, photos by Pati Grabowicz, © Steve McQueen

While Andy Goldsworthy shapes space with natural materials, Steve McQueen transforms it through light and sound. At Schaulager Basel, the artist’s immersive color and sound installation Bass filled the museum with over a thousand LED light tubes spanning its five levels, including the soaring atrium, paired with deep, resonant bass frequencies that move through a suspended array of speakers. The colored lights shifted slowly from deep red to ultraviolet, enveloping the interior in a continuously changing spectrum, while the sound flowed alongside, creating a tangible sense of presence within the architecture. 

One of McQueen’s most abstract works to date, Bass can be considered an exploration of how sound and light can occupy, define, and transform a space. ‘What I love about light and sound is that they are both created through movement and fluidity. They can be molded into any shape, like vapor or a scent; they can sneak into every nook and cranny,’ the British artist and filmmaker explains.

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A.A. MURAKAMI’S BUBBLES AT MILAN DESIGN WEEK

Beyond the Horizon (2024) at Museo della Permanente | exhibition photos by DSL Studio, unless stated otherwise

As McQueen orchestrates light and sound to make space itself tangible, likewise, Murakami manipulates perception, using robotics and physics to conjure nature in unexpected forms. During Milan Design Week 2025, the collective presented two installations at Museo della Permanente for Opposites United: Eclipse of Perceptions. In The Cave, red backlighting illuminates replicated ancient bones rising from a pool of oil, lifted by robotic limbs that cast shifting shadows and haunting silhouettes. Beyond the Horizon offered a cool, contrasting space where giant bubbles drift overhead, releasing mist to form ephemeral clouds. Together, the works transformed the museum into a space where technology and nature meet in poetic dialogue.

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YAYOI KUSAMA’S NEW INFINITY MIRROR AT NGV MELBOURNE

Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room–My Heart is Filled to the Brim with Sparkling Light, 2024, on display at the NGV International, Melbourne for the National Gallery of Victoria’s Yayoi Kusama exhibition from 15 December 2024 – 21 April 2025 © YAYOI KUSAMA | image by Sean Fennessy

From Murakami’s playful interplay of mist, motion, and robotics, the next highlight on our top exhibitions of 2025 is Yayoi Kusama’s mirrored cosmos. The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne presented the world premiere of Kusama’s new infinity room, My Heart is Filled to the Brim with Sparkling Light. Transforming the gallery into a seemingly endless celestial realm, the installation placed visitors at the center of the artist’s expansive universe. Through mirrored surfaces and choreographed points of light, the work created a shifting constellation of brightness and shadow, prompting viewers to consider their own presence within an infinite space.

The retrospective surveyed Kusama’s eight-decade practice with 200 works, including ten immersive installations. Beyond the main galleries, the NGV Great Hall featured Dots Obsession, an arrangement of massive inflated spheres, while more than 60 trees along St Kilda Road were wrapped in pink-and-white polka dots for Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees.

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AI WEIWEI’S FIVE WORKING SPACES AT AEDES ARCHITECTURE FORUM

image courtesy of Aedes Architecture Forum and Ai Weiwei Studio

Where Kusama examines the cosmic and the boundless, Ai Weiwei grounds his exhibition in the spaces that define him, revealing how the studio itself becomes an extension of identity and resistance. At Berlin’s Aedes Architecture Forum, Five Working Spaces offers an intimate look into the artist’s studios across continents, each reflecting the political pressures, personal memories, and creative impulses that have shaped his career. A central focus of the show was Weiwei’s studio in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal, built using traditional Chinese woodworking methods. 

‘My studio is an extension of my body and mental state,’ Ai Weiwei tells designboom. ‘Of course it’s political. Anyone who sees the exhibition can understand — it’s not that I want it to be political. It just is political.’

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THE MANY LIVES OF THE NAKAGIN CAPSULE TOWER AT MOMA

night time at the Nakagin Capsule Tower, with Mr. Takayuki Sekine seen through the window of capsule B1004, 2016. image © Jeremie Souteyrat

As Ai Weiwei’s studios highlighted the ways environments shape an artist’s identity, the next exhibition turned to a building that itself became a symbol of radical architectural thinking. MoMA in New York brought the Nakagin Capsule Tower back into public view, reframing its half-century story through a fully restored capsule and extensive archival material. The Many Lives of the Nakagin Capsule Tower exhibition revisited the Tokyo landmark designed in 1972 and dismantled in 2022, long regarded as one of the clearest expressions of Metabolism in Japan. At the center of the exhibition was capsule A1305, returned to near-original condition with its modular furniture, audio controls, and Sony color TV that once defined its compact domestic life. More than 40 supplementary materials, models, brochures, film reels, and interviews, traced how the tower’s prefabricated units evolved far beyond their initial purpose.

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CELEBRATING RYUICHI SAKAMOTO AT MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART TOKYO

Nakaya Fujiko, London Fog, Fog Performance #03779, 2017, Installation view from “BMW Tate Live Exhibition: Ten Days Six Nights,” Tate Modern, London, UK Collaboration: Min Tanaka (Dance), Shiro Takatani (Lighting), Ryuichi Sakamoto (Music). Photo by Noriko Koshida

The next exhibition on the list looks beyond architecture to the world of sound, with a major retrospective dedicated to composer and artist Ryuichi Sakamoto. At the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Ryuichi Sakamoto | seeing sound, hearing time offered a comprehensive look at the late artist’s pioneering journey through music, technology, and visual expression. Bringing together celebrated works alongside installations conceived before his passing, the exhibition captured the breadth of a career defined by experimentation and cross-disciplinary curiosity. Tracing Sakamoto’s evolution from electronic innovation to environmental awareness, the show highlights how he expanded the possibilities of composition by integrating spatial, visual, and digital elements. Immersive rooms, archival recordings, and rarely seen materials reveal his deep engagement with the fragility of the natural world and the passage of time. The result was an intimate portrait of an artist whose influence continues to resonate across contemporary art and culture.

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TATIANA TROUVÉ STRANGE LIFE OF THINGS BY TAT PALAZZO GRASSI

The Guardian, 2020 | photo by Florian Kleinefenn

Where Sakamoto shaped emotion through sound and space, Tatiana Trouvé builds atmospheres through objects, constellations, and drawn narratives across Palazzo Grassi. In The Strange Life of Things, the Pinault Collection presented a major solo exhibition of Trouvé’s sculptures and drawings, curated by Caroline Bourgeois and James Lingwood. The show traced the artist’s ongoing interest in journeys, both real and imagined, through chair sculptures, installations, and intricate drawings. These pieces form interconnected worlds that shift between past, present, and future, drawing viewers into landscapes where memory, imagination, and lived experience overlap. 

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PRECIOUS OKOYOMON’S PLUSH COMPANIONS AT KUNSTHAUS BREGENZ

Precious Okoyomon, ONE EITHER LOVES ONESELF OR KNOWS ONESELF, Exhibition view second floor Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2025, in the belly of the sun endless, 2025 | photo: Markus Tretter © Precious Okoyomon, Kunsthaus Bregenz courtesy of the artist and Kunsthaus Bregenz

An even more surreal world than Trouvé’s emerged at Kunsthaus Bregenz with Precious Okoyomon’s dreamlike environments. The artist and poet unveiled ONE EITHER LOVES ONESELF OR KNOWS ONESELF, an exhibition that reimagined the museum as a sequence of psychoanalytic chambers, dream habitats, and intimate interior worlds. Returning to the institution after debuting there as its youngest-ever exhibiting artist, Okoyomon filled the space with plush companions, lush garden enclosures, and installations that blurred the boundary between comfort and unease. Her poetry threaded through the galleries, shaping an experience that felt at once childlike and deeply introspective. Moving through these shifting environments, visitors were invited to confront the tender edges of self-perception, encountering a universe where transformation is constant and the subconscious becomes momentarily tangible. 

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see designboom’s TOP 10 stories archive:

2024 — 2023 — 2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 —  2018 — 2017 — 2016 — 2015 — 2014 — 2013

The post TOP 10 exhibitions of 2025 appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

As 2025 comes to an end, we’re reflecting on the architecture, design, and technology projects featured on designboom that applied creative thinking to address compounding global pressures. Designers increasingly turned their attention to urgent realities, such as intensifying climate-driven disasters and growing resource scarcity. In a year marked by record-breaking temperatures, ongoing displacement crises, and growing debates around waste, water, and energy systems, design emerged not as a passive backdrop but as an active tool for response. Shaped by these shared challenges, these works demonstrate how design can move beyond aesthetics to function as infrastructure, service, and social support. Together, the 2025 social impact stories highlighted here point to a growing emphasis on design as a practical response to global issues, showing how spatial thinking, material innovation, sustainability, and community engagement can contribute to more equitable and resilient futures.

From flood-proof bamboo pavilion within Yasmeen Lari’s zero-carbon Pono village in Pakistan, and Natura Futura’s teak wood bakery, conceived as a hybrid infrastructure led by women and youth, to Toyota’s autonomous wheelchair with foldable tentacle legs that can climb stairs, and Ulf Mejergren’s compact gabled refuge that mounts on a mobile scissor lift to adapt to environments with frequent rainfall and flooding, here are the top 10 social impact stories that addressed pressing social, environmental, and cultural challenges.

REFUGE MOUNTS ON SCISSOR LIFT IN RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

image courtesy of Oskar Omne

We are kicking off our list of socially impactful projects with Lift House by Ulf Mejergren Architects (UMA). The project introduces a compact gabled timber house refuge mounted on a mobile scissor lift. Designed for an exhibition setting, the work explores architecture’s capacity to adapt to changing environmental conditions. The installation responds to increasing climate instability, including more frequent rainfall and flooding, by proposing a structure that can temporarily rise above the ground when necessary. The concept is structured around three primary strategies for managing environmental risk: defend, attack, and retreat. Lift House suggests a fourth option, temporary retreat, introducing mobility and flexibility as means of resilience.

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BAMBOO SHAPES FLOOD-PROOF PAVILION IN PAKISTANI VILLAGE

image courtesy of Nyami Studio

As flooding continues to displace communities worldwide, designs shift from mobile shelters to permanent, locally rooted frameworks for resilience. In the flood-prone region of Sindh, Pakistan, the Juliet Center anchors a prototype development for resilient, community-driven architecture led by Yasmeen Lari. Within the Pono Village, conceived by the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan following the devastating floods of 2022, this new bamboo pavilion creates a flexible, open space to empower local residents. The project has thus been completed by Nyami Studio and Jack Rankin with a strong social focus, responding directly to the area’s environmental and economic vulnerabilities that intensified after 2022.

Extending Lari’s broader vision to foster self-sufficiency through vernacular techniques, the Juliet Center is built with low-cost and eco-friendly materials, including bamboo, mud, lime, and thatch. It is shaped as a lightweight, vaulted structure that recalls the traditional domed forms familiar in Sindh, while translating them into a sinuous, modular silhouette. Within the open form framed by bamboo columns, it creates an inviting setting for spontaneous community gatherings while providing a space to host educational workshops, upskilling locals in sustainable building techniques.

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3D PRINTED CORAL REEFS IN MIAMI FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE

image courtesy of Florida International University and Sara Pezeshk

Moving beyond flood-responsive architecture on land, other projects turn to rising sea levels and underwater environments, exploring how design can restore marine ecosystems. Architects and marine biologists at Florida International University develop BIOCAP tiles, a series of 3D printed coral reefs that combat climate change by creating cooler microenvironments. Designed to support marine life, these modular tiles reduce the impact of waves along the seawalls. They are designed to help water cities like Miami adapt to the rising sea levels, all the while restoring the ecological balance along the shorelines.

The researchers, led by Sara Pezeshk and Shahin Vassigh, enumerate some ways that the 3D printed coral reef seawalls can help fight climate change. Each BIOCAP tile, for example, has shaded grooves, crevices, and small, water-holding pockets. Because of these, they mimic the natural shoreline conditions. They also construct tiny homes for barnacles, oysters, sponges, and other marine organisms that filter and improve water quality. Design-wise, the BIOCAP tiles have swirling surface patterns that increase their overall surface area. On top of that, they give the marine life more space for colonization.

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3D PRINTED DEVICE EXTRACTS DRINKING WATER DIRECTLY FROM AIR

image courtesy of Louisa Graupe and Julika Schwarz

While some designers address rising sea levels and coastal protection, others focus on freshwater scarcity, developing technologies that extract safe drinking water from the atmosphere itself. Designed by Louisa Graupe and Julika Schwarz, Water from Air is a mobile device that extracts potable water directly from the atmosphere using advanced material technology. The prototype addresses the increasing global demand for accessible drinking water by employing Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs), a class of materials known for their high porosity and capacity for selective absorption. These materials are capable of capturing water molecules from ambient air and releasing them as usable freshwater. Research into MOFs is currently underway at institutions including the Institute for Materials Chemistry at the University of Vienna and the University of California, Berkeley.

At any given time, the atmosphere holds more water than all of Earth’s rivers combined. Water from Air is a design response that translates this scientific potential into a functional product. While MOFs have predominantly been studied in laboratory contexts, this project proposes a real-world application through a compact, scalable, and energy-independent form.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLE BATTERIES REUSED AS PLANT FERTILIZERS

image courtesy of Teona Swift

Moving from 3D printed devices that turn air into potable water, we look into other innovations transforming post-consumer waste into valuable resources, closing the loop in sustainable material cycles. Engineers at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee have developed a way to recycle used lithium iron phosphate batteries from electric vehicles into crop and plant fertilizers. These materials, commonly used in EVs, delivery vans, and buses, are just disposed of when they reach the end of their life, usually after ten years. The researchers hope that by repurposing these used batteries as fertilizers, they can help the agriculture industry and reduce the traditional recycling methods, which are considered costly and complicated, given that the recovered materials from the process, like iron and phosphate, don’t cost much and make battery recycling more expensive than it is.

The engineers, led by Dr. Deyang Qu, the Department Chair of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, use a chemical method called ion exchange, a process already used in many industries, such as water purification. In this recycling system, the IX process helps replace lithium ions with hydrogen or potassium ions using resin, which works like a filter that can swap certain elements for others. Two types of resins are used to recycle the used batteries from electric vehicles: strong acid cation resins and K-form (potassium-based) resins.

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EGGSHELLS COMPOSE BIODEGRADABLE MODULAR BUTTERFLY NEST

image courtesy of Jayoung Kim, Jungmin Park, and Chaewon Lee

We now move to design interventions that support urban ecosystems, such as this shelter that creates microhabitats for pollinators. EggNest is a sculptural, modular structure developed by Jayoung Kim, Jungmin Park, and Chaewon Lee as a shelter for butterflies in urban settings. Constructed from eggshells and soil, it offers a microhabitat that facilitates pollinator activity and supports vegetation such as moss and flowers. The project addresses the need for biodiversity integration within cities.

As urban environments present challenges for maintaining biodiversity, EggNest proposes a shared ecological space where both human and non-human species can coexist. Rather than designing exclusively for one group, the structure balances environmental and functional needs, creating a compatible setting for butterflies and urban dwellers alike. The system is composed of adaptable modules that respond to varying urban contexts. The modular design is informed by expert input, particularly regarding the thermal and humidity conditions needed for butterfly survival. Gaps between modules allow for the growth of moss and flowering plants, supporting humidity retention while visually functioning as urban planters.

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SOLAR-POWERED BACKPACK PROVIDES SHELTER FOR THE HOMELESS

image courtesy of HomeMore Project

From microhabitats that nurture urban biodiversity, we turn to design solutions that provide immediate, practical support for people navigating vulnerable conditions. The Makeshift Traveler is a solar-powered backpack by HomeMore Project that comes with a sleeping bag and pillow and supports individuals looking for permanent housing. An initiative by the HomeMore Project, the accessory is tailored to the needs of the individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness, allowing them to sustainably navigate their situation until they obtain permanent shelter.

Looking at the design of the solar-powered backpack, the hardshell exterior allows for a weatherproof surface so the individuals’ personal belongings are safe and stashed inside regardless of the environmental conditions. On top of it lies the solar panel that stores the energy within the accessory’s battery bank, letting the individuals charge their devices using a USB port. The latter part also features cables to charge the backpack as soon as the user has access to a wall charger. A urethane-coated nylon pillow is embedded in the bottom of the solar-powered backpack. In this way, users can rest without needing to bring an extra pillow, lockable using a double zipper system to ward off thieves and protect the individuals’ personal belongings, too.

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BAKERY DOUBLES AS WOMEN-LED LEARNING SPACE IN ECUADOR

image courtesy of Jag Studio

From providing mobile support for individuals to empowering entire communities, these projects demonstrate how design can address both immediate needs and long-term resilience. On Ecuador’s flood-prone coast, where rural communities have long depended on distant urban centers for opportunity, La Panificadora timber bakery by Natura Futura emerges as a self-managed catalyst for local autonomy. This compact, modular project reclaims the everyday act of baking bread, an Ecuadorian dietary staple, as a tool for economic empowerment, education, and community cohesion. The 100-square-meter structure is led by women and youth, enabling skills training, production, and commercialization under one roof.

La Panificadora is built from locally available teak wood and responds to the humid climate through permeable facades, lattice doors, and generous open galleries for cross-ventilation and light. Horizontal floating beams secure the modules above ground, ensuring resilience against coastal flooding. While minimal in size, the space is conceived as a hybrid of infrastructure, school, market, and gathering place.

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TOYOTA’S AUTO WHEELCHAIR WITH FOLDABLE TENTACLE LEGS

image courtesy of Toyota

We highlight individual mobility solutions, like this design that enhances autonomy at a personal scale.

Toyota reveals ‘walk me,’ a concept autonomous wheelchair with foldable tentacle legs that can climb stairs and sit on the floor. The assistive device helps people with reduced mobility to move around places where traditional wheelchairs aren’t able to, including walking up and down between floors and lifting the users to their cars. Toyota’s autonomous wheelchair replaces the traditional wheels with four robotic and foldable legs that move like animal limbs. 

Each leg can lift, bend, and adjust its position on its own, and this lets the device move across steps or rough ground. The seat has a supportive frame that holds the user in a safe and upright position, and the backrest curves to follow the shape of the user’s back. The user asks the device to move around using the small side handles or a control interface that can include buttons. The foldable legs of Toyota’s concept autonomous wheelchair also come with soft-looking outer covers to protect the inside parts as well as the sensors.

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AI KITCHEN DEVICE TURNS LEFTOVERS INTO PERSONALIZED RECIPES

image courtesy of Ayah Mahmoud and C Jacob Payne

Finally, this project reimagines everyday activities, illustrating how design can extend human capability. Developed at MIT, Kitchen Cosmo is a speculative AI cooking device that challenges conventional paradigms of smart kitchen technology. Rather than automating tasks or optimizing efficiency, Cosmo fosters a co-creative relationship between user and machine, generating personalized recipes based on available ingredients and six analog input parameters, including cooking time, mood, and dietary restrictions. The device uses GPT-4o, a multimodal large language model capable of processing both images and text in real time. A webcam captures the user’s ingredients; dials and switches communicate contextual preferences. A single API call then translates these inputs into a context-specific recipe, which is printed via an embedded thermal printer. Cosmo’s distinctive interface is entirely screenless and tactile, rejecting voice assistants and digital displays in favor of knobs, sliders, and physical ritual.

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Designers and manufacturers present upgraded vehicles that explore future mobility, updated classic forms, and mixed-use materials in our Top 10 Cars of 2025. Take Alef Aeronautics’ Model A, which is a flying car that moves on roads and rises vertically. The body keeps the form of a road car and hides the lift system inside the shell, as the idea is a single vehicle for both driving and flying. Other makers explore narrow or compact forms, with a modified Fiat Panda becomes a 50-centimeter-wide electric car with one central seat, or a three-wheel Velocar uses birch plywood, bicycle parts, and simple tools so users can repair or rebuild it in a small workshop. 

Children’s mobility also enters the field, as seen in Toyota’s Kids Mobi running on autonomous system. It drives around one child and without any adult supervision on board. Some designers and brands update classic vehicles as seen in our Top 10 Cars of 2025. Sean Wotherspoon, for example, rebuilds a Porsche and a Land Rover with new surfaces, new fabrics, and revised layouts. With Twisted Automotive, the team reworks old Beetles with off-road parts. There’s also Mercedes-Benz and its Art Deco-inspired Vision Iconic concept  car, bearing a glass instrument panel with lighting animation, continuing our list’s design studies in the automotive industry.

DRIVABLE FLYING CAR BY ALEF AERONAUTICS TAKES FLIGHT

image courtesy of Alef Aeronautics

Alef Aeronautics debuts the flight of its flying car, Alef Model A, in a public exhibition. The event focused on the design and operation of the drivable vehicle that can lift off the ground, which included a test flight recorded on February 19, 2025. In the video, the car moves on a road and then rises vertically. It also flies over another vehicle, and this is the team’s way to display the proof of a working flying car with vertical takeoff and landing. The Model A has the outer form of a road car so it can park in normal parking spaces and travel on public streets. The body houses the lift system inside the structure, and the design doesn’t use exposed propellers. The interior includes a gimbaled cabin that stays level in the air, while the elevon system manages vertical and forward movement.

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MOTOFOCKER VELOCAR COMBINES BICYCLE AND CAR IN ONE

image by Lefties Photo

Motofocker Velocar is a three-wheel vehicle made by designer Máté Fock, whose style sits between a bicycle and a small car. The chassis is made from birch plywood that resists water and heat, and many of its parts come from normal bicycle components. Some others are from semi-finished industrial products. These materials can help the user repair the vehicle and recycle the parts easily and even allow them to build the vehicle with ready hand tools in a small workshop. The Velocar, which forms part of our top 10 cars of 2025, uses both human power and an electric system and moves like a bicycle. The design offers a stable seating position, space for luggage, and weather cover.

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WORLD’S NARROWEST FIAT PANDA DRIVES AROUND

image courtesy of tutti pazzi per marazzi

Modded 1993 Fiat Panda becomes dubbed the world’s narrowest of its kind, still drivable as a fully functional electric car. The maker, Andrea Marazzi, builds the vehicle by hand using reused parts from the original model and makes his version only 50 centimeters wide. He keeps the roof, the doors, and many visual elements from the first car, but the body, frame, and inside structure are redesigned. The driver sits in the center, and the car uses a small steering wheel. A single headlight is placed on the front for night use, and the rear of the vehicle has a pointed form similar to a boat’s front section. The exterior, then, resembles a slice of pizza for how narrow and compact it is.

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ELECTRIC BUBBLE CAR FOR KIDS RUNS WITHOUT ADULTS ON BOARD

image © designboom

Toyota introduces  Kids Mobi as an electric pod-type vehicle made for children. The car manufacturer showed the prototype at the Japan Mobility Show 2025, telling the viewers they saw it as a vehicle that could move a child without an adult inside. In fact, the vehicle has a round pod shape, which is kid-friendly, and the door opens upward so an adult can help the child enter. Inside, there is one seat with soft material, and the space is large enough for one child to sit with a seat belt. The front has LED eyes that move to interact with the kids before they step in. The Kids Mobi uses an autonomous driving system with sensors and cameras. It is the AI system that controls direction, speed, and route of the vehicle, driving the child on its own and without any adult supervision.

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SEAN WOTHERSPOON REVAMPS PORSCHE AND LAND ROVER

image © Hagop Kalaidjian

Sean Wotherspoon takes a Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7RS and a 1958 Land Rover and reimagines their surfaces, colors, and interiors. For the former, the designer repainted every panel and replaced every surface inside the car, wrapping the cabin with vintage Levi’s denim, corduroy, and flannel fabrics sourced from garments dating back to the 1960s. For the latter, the designer kept the original panels and chassis, and the team added a rebuilt engine, a new gearbox, new wheels, a simple digital system with CarPlay, and new rear seats with speakers. Sean Wotherspoon also added an updated layout to the body, giving both car models his signature color blocks.

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REFLECTIVE SUPERCAR PERALTA S FEATURES MIRROR-POLISHED BODY

image courtesy of GFG Style

Peralta S is a one-off supercar designed by GFG Style. First shown in Mexico in March 2025, the vehicle’s design takes inspiration from the Maserati Boomerang. Its main feature is its mirror-polished aluminum body, with the entire exterior frame being made from handmade aluminum panels. Because of this, the surface reflects the surroundings. Only a few parts use other materials: the front spoiler, rear diffuser, and side sills are made from carbon fiber to reduce weight and improve airflow. The vehicle uses a dome system for entry, with the top section lifts upward as one piece so the driver can step inside. The side windows also open upward on their own hinges, and from above, the vehicle has a teardrop layout. The lights are hidden under the front and rear sections, and when the car starts, the rear lights create a shadow-light effect, and the rear spoiler rises for function.

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TWISTED T-BUG IS A MODIFIED BEETLE FOR OFF-ROAD TERRAINS

image courtesy of Twisted Automotive

Twisted Automotive presents T-Bug, a modified version of the classic Beetle, made for off-road use on desert ground, sand dunes, and uneven terrain. Each model begins as an air-cooled Beetle from the 1960s to 1980s, and the design team removes all parts and works from the bare structure. They seal and strengthen the chassis so the vehicle can handle modern roads. Then, they install long-travel suspension and large off-road tires to increase ground contact on different surfaces. The team keeps the original Beetle shape, but the bodywork, evident here in our top 10 cars of 2025 list, is restored and repainted inside and outside in the color chosen by the owner. The engine is upgraded to produce more power, but it stays under 80 horsepower so the driver can feel the terrain at a controlled speed.

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LAMBORGHINI MANIFESTO CONCEPT SIGNALS MINIMALIST FUTURE

image © Lamborghini

Lamborghini presents the Manifesto concept to mark twenty years of its in-house design studio, Centro Stile. The vehicle is a design study with no plan for production, as it is used to test ideas about the future look of the brand. The design team, led by Mitja Borkert, removes the usual sharp lines and large wings from the past models and focuses on simple shapes and clear proportions for the concept vehicle. The front of the Manifesto then includes a Y-shaped light pattern, a shape that first appeared in a 2007 Lamborghini model. The nose of the car follows a straight layout that connects to the brand’s recent vehicle, and the air channels are designed as single openings to show a clean structure. A glass canopy forms the roof and the window area, creating a continuous piece that covers the cockpit and creates a clear view of the interior. At the rear, the concept uses vertical Y-shaped brake lights.

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MERCEDES-BENZ REVEALS ART DECO-INSPIRED VISION ICONIC CAR

image courtesy of Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz presents the Vision Iconic, a concept car takes its main ideas from the 1938 Mercedes-Benz Typ 540K Autobahn-Kurier. The design, as seen in our top 10 cars of 2025, uses the long front section, wide wheel arches, round headlights, and roof line of the older model. For the Vision Iconic, they apply Art Deco forms to update these elements. The front grille includes lighting animation, which changes in patterns when the car is active, and inside the car, the main feature is the instrument panel called the Zeppelin. It is shaped like a floating glass bar and contains thin lines and geometric shapes based on Art Deco design. When the door opens, the panel shows an analog-style animation. A screen runs across the width of the interior, and in the center there is a clock shaped like the Mercedes-Benz star. Materials inside include silver and gold marquetry panels around the doors and rear seats.

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PAGANI DEBUTS OPEN-AIR SPEEDSTER HUAYRA CODALUNGA

image courtesy of Pagani

Pagani presents the Huayra Codalunga Speedster, an open-air version of the 2022 coupé. The project comes from the Pagani Grandi Complicazioni division and from sketches by Horacio Pagani, with its design using ideas from racing cars from the 1950s and 1960s. Inside the car, artisans shape the parts by hand: the gauges and meters come from solid metal blocks and are carved to form small pieces for the dashboard; and the steering wheel and gear knob follow older racing forms but use a carbon-fiber frame, mahogany inserts, and aluminum rivets shaped by hand. Pagani also develops a new fabric for the seats, door panels, and center console. The pattern comes from the four-exhaust symbol used in Pagani cars. Each piece has over 450,000 stitches. The body uses a new monocoque that joins frame and shell in one part. Then, the headlights sit inside the body, and the front bumper holds a splitter that moves air around and under the car. Even the side windows take forms from 1940s and 1950s race cars.

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In 2025, architects around the world continue to expand the possibilities of domestic design, presenting a diverse collection of private houses that reconsider how we inhabit landscape, community, and climate. This year’s selection ranges from net-positive, off-grid experimentation in rural Japan to rammed-earth dwellings carved into the terrain of Crete, revealing a field increasingly attuned to resourcefulness, site specificity, and the choreography of indoor–outdoor living.

Shared themes emerge across these works — some occupying their natural context gently, others defined by a bold sculptural form. Florian Busch Architects pioneers an energy-generating modular residence amid agricultural fields in Hokkaido, while Wallmakers suspends a thatched, occupiable bridge over a gorge in India. Social frameworks also come to the fore, with TEN’s collaborative housing for women in Bosnia-Herzegovina proposing new models of care-based living. Explore designboom’s top 10 private houses of 2025 below!

arthur casas builds his own house in the forest of brazil

Hidden within the dense greenery of Brazil’s Atlantic forest, the Iporanga House stands as architect Arthur Casas’s own retreat. Conceived as a place to ‘recharge his energies,’ the home sits lightly in a protected natural reserve along the São Paulo coast. Its design is guided by a desire for harmony with the surrounding vegetation, a goal demonstrated by wood cladding that blends with the forest’s shifting tones and textures.

The plan takes the form of two symmetrical cubes framing a lofty central volume. Inside, lofty ceilings rise 11 meters (36 feet), and continuous glass panels draw in light and views, creating a breezy and fluid connection to the trees beyond. ‘The shape is simple, symmetrical, easy,’ Casas notes. He contrasts the home’s subdued form with with the ‘entropic, messy profile’ of the forest that surrounds it.

image © Fernando Guerra

florian busch architects’ modular ‘house W’ generates more energy than it consumes

mykonos architects embeds wedge-shaped n’arrow house into terrain of crete

Set to be carved into the olive-dotted hills of Crete, Mykonos Architects designs a home titled N’Arrow to respond directly to the steep topography and slender dimensions of its site. The underground, rammed-earth project is designed to avoid imposition, and instead works with the natural contours of the land, inviting the surrounding environment to shape its form. Olive groves and rolling terrain are not backdrops but rooftops, and but co-authors in the architectural narrative, pushing the residential space toward harmony rather than dominance.

A fifteen-meter setback regulation, typically a limiting factor, sparked the defining concept behind N’Arrow. Mykonos Architects saw not a constraint but a creative opportunity, transforming the elongated form of the plot into a narrow, wedge-like structure that nestles into the hillside. This bold, linear geometry sets the tone for the home’s identity, drawing attention to the power of architectural adaptation when guided by site-specific conditions.

wallmakers wraps its suspended ‘bridge house’ in skin of thatched scales

ring-shaped home by alexis dornier encircles central garden in bali

fran silvestre-designed villa zig-zags across the southern spanish landscape

Fran Silvestre Arquitectos designs Villa 95 as part of the real estate developer Cork Oak Mansion project in Sotogrande, crafting a residence that appears to glide across the southern Spanish landscape. Defined by a continuous architectural gesture, the three-story villa unfurls along a sharp diagonal, its elongated form maximizing the buildable area of the 2,317 square meter plot while framing views of Altos de Valderrama area. Developed by DUS Desarrollos Inmobiliarios, the house is part of an exclusive collection of six high-end villas.

image courtesy Fran Silvestre Arquitectos

curved green roof shields wiki world’s wooden ‘cabin of palette’ in wuhan

nendo weaves six cottages together with ‘hand-holding’ roofs in japanese forest house

arquitectura-G embeds blue concrete core with spiraling staircase in portuguese residence

In Sintra, Portugal, Arquitectura-G completes House II, the latest intervention within a long-abandoned quinta de recreio, a rural estate historically devoted to agriculture and leisure. The project forms part of an ongoing sequence of works by the studio’s team, which seeks to conserve and rehabilitate the site’s buildings and reactivate the broader territory.

Strict regulations limited any change to the building’s external profile, facades, or roof, so Arquitectura-G responded by hollowing out the existing interior, retaining only the perimeter walls, and inserting a new structural body of blue-pigmented concrete. Rising from the basement cellar, this inserted core incorporates a helical staircase and extends upward to form the slabs of the upper levels. It culminates beneath a skylight on the first floor, where daylight streams into the central void and organizes the surrounding rooms.

image by Maxime Delvaux

vivid rippled panels envelop TEN’s care-based housing for women in bosnia-herzegovina

On the outskirts of Gradačac, a town in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, stands The House for Five Women, a vibrant residence by architecture studio TEN. The project rises from the countryside to defy conventional housing models through an architecture of care, resilience, and collective authorship.

Designed with local activist Hazima Smajlović, NGO Naš Izvor, Engineers Without Borders, and the Gradačac municipality, the project provides a permanent home for five single women who have survived war, displacement, and systemic neglect. It’s positioned between privacy and solidarity to propose a new paradigm for cohabitation with five individual living units clustered around communal spaces for gathering, working, and growing food.

Artist Shirana Shahbazi sculpts the facade of the building, composing a vibrant arrangement of large, colored aluminum panels in shades of pink, red, green, and deep blue. Though seemingly spontaneous, the composition is specially calibrated, with each panel being custom-made in a local car painter’s workshop. Their rippled, high-gloss surfaces catch and distort reflections, and transform the shell into a shifting, almost liquid canvas that responds to light and movement.

image by Maxime Delvaux, Adrien de Hemptinne

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2024 — 2023 — 2022 — 2021 — 2020 — 2019 

2018 — 2017 — 2016 — 2015 — 2014 — 2013

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