According to the New York Times and the Oxford English Dictionary, the word that defined 2025 was “rage bait”: online content designed to trigger anger and polarization. For the Cambridge Dictionary it is “parasocial”, referring to increasingly close – and often toxic – relationships between stars and the public. In Italy, for Treccani, the word of the year is “trust”. Three different definitions, but a shared impression: 2025 was marked by a widespread sense of online disorientation. There is too much content, constant stimulation, while the tools to orient oneself and to select remain few. In this scenario, rereading becomes an almost countercultural act. Not out of nostalgia, but as a way to orient oneself. Because if 2025 was the year of content designed to trigger immediate reactions, Domus continued to do what it has always done: build stories that do not ask to be consumed quickly. This selection of twenty articles, to linger over for the first time or to reread during the holidays, comes about in this way: as a pause in the flow. It is an invitation to return to architectures that no longer exist and to others that endure over time; to real cities and to the unsettling ones of digital crime; to humble objects and furnishings that shaped the history of the twentieth century. There is desire in the sets of Luca Guadagnino, there is the distorted intimacy of Instagram feeds, there are “magical” places that become reality like those of Elmgreen & Dragset, and those that have remained only in the imagination of designers. And there is one question that runs through the entire year: what does it mean today to design – a space, an object, even a face – in a world that moves faster than our ability to understand it?
The 2025 articles you should read if you haven’t already
Every year is made up of stories—our own and those of the world. Domus tells the latter, and at the end of the year we invite you to revisit them more slowly, with a selection of articles to reread (or savor for the first time) over the holidays.
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- La redazione di Domus
- 19 December 2025
Carlo Scarpa's other store: the rebirth of a long-forgotten project in Bologna
Photo Guido De Vincentis
Photo Guido De Vincentis
Photo Guido De Vincentis
Photo Guido De Vincentis
Photo Guido De Vincentis
Photo Guido De Vincentis
Photo Guido De Vincentis
Photo Lorenzo Pennati
Photo Lorenzo Pennati
Photo Lorenzo Pennati
Photo Lorenzo Pennati
Photo Lorenzo Pennati
Photo Paolo Monti
Photo Paolo Monti
Photo Paolo Monti
Photo Davide Gallina
Photo Davide Gallina
Photo Davide Gallina
Photo Davide Gallina
Photo Davide Gallina
Photo Davide Gallina
Photo Davide Gallina
Photo Davide Gallina
Everyone knows Carlo Scarpa's famous Olivetti store in Piazza San Marco. However, few people are aware that in 1961, the architect also collaborated with Dino Gavina on another store which, although less well known, is equally fascinating. Today, we returned to visit it after its restoration and reopening. Read more
The most famous stadiums that no longer exist
Several of his creations, however, have been lost, including West Ham Stadium in London, demolished in 1972. With its unusual elliptical plan and running track – rare in British football – it also hosted greyhound races and speedway events. Among Leitch’s most distinctive works was the Arsenal Stadium, better known as Highbury. Built in 1913, it underwent several renovations, including the 1930s intervention that gave the East and West Stands their unmistakable Art Deco façade. When Arsenal moved to the new Emirates Stadium in 2006, Highbury was converted into Highbury Square, a residential complex with the former pitch turned into a central garden.
Protected as a listed building, the two main stands were preserved, while the beloved North Bank and Clock End are now entirely gone.
Photo CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo by Who’s Denilo ? on Unsplash
Sport was another vital field of experimentation for Nervi. Among his many works are the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence and, with his son Antonio, the Stadio Flaminio in Rome. Inaugurated in 1959, the Flaminio could seat around 50,000 spectators and also contained four gyms, a swimming pool, bars, changing rooms, a first-aid centre, and state-of-the-art facilities. The stadium was at the heart of the cluster of buildings designed for the 1960 Rome Olympics, embodying the elegance and dynamism of the Italian modernist spirit – most strikingly in the sinuously-shaped concrete cover of its main stand. On top of hosting matches for both AS Roma and SS Lazio, it was the home of the Italian rugby national team until 2011, after which it fell into neglect and decay. In 2017, the stadium was officially listed for protection: a small but hopeful step towards the restoration it urgently needs before it becomes beyond repair.
Photo by Haberdoedas from Unsplash
Photo from the book Nella fossa dei leoni (In the lions' den). The Appiani stadium in Padua in the memories and recollections of many former Biancoscudati players, p. 243, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Courtesy en.namu.wiki
Photo Governo do Brasil - Portal da Copa, CC BY 3.0 br, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo por https://cdf.montevideo.gub.uy/catalogo/foto/03079fmhge, Dominio público, via Wikimedia Commons
The stadiums that have shaped the history of football — both in sporting and architectural terms — are now abandoned or demolished. The recent controversy surrounding Milan’s San Siro has reignited a debate on Italian stadiums that extends to those across the globe. Read more
5 absurd objects that tried to change the future
Between technical utopia and an obsession with control, these five inventions, each designed to improve everyday life, reveal the most unsettling – and oddly fascinating – side of modern design. Read more
Scam Cities: inside the urban infrastructures of digital crime
In Southeast Asia, urban clusters designed for online fraud are emerging: camouflaged, functional spaces where architecture becomes the real infrastructure of the dark side of the web. Read more
Artificial intelligence is starting to steal our jobs
According to a survey by the World Economic Forum, 41% of employers are already planning to reduce their workforce in favor of AI. However, the consequences are quite different from what we expected, and they mainly affect the younger generations. Read more
Yves Saint Laurent’s Morocco: tracing the places of a lasting love
In 1966, Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé discovered Morocco and fell in love with the country. Marrakech became a creative refuge and source of inspiration, marking the beginning of a bond that would forever shape his life and artistic vision. Read more
Wright’s unbuilt tower would dwarf the Burj Khalifa – and it was designed 70 years ago
© David Romero
© David Romero
© David Romero
© David Romero
© David Romero
© David Romero
© David Romero
© David Romero
© David Romero
© David Romero
© David Romero
© David Romero
Seventy years ago, the American architect presented The Illinois to the world: a tower more than two kilometres high and containing a veritable city with nuclear-powered elevators. Thanks to renderings by architect David Romero, we can now see what it would have looked like. Read more
Is sustainable architecture even possible?
Between submerged cities, high-altitude airports and inadequate regulations, the voices of Ghotmeh, Gang, Ma, Mandrup, BIG, Snøhetta and others reveal that sustainability is not a single concept. From the Holcim Awards emerges a landscape of differences, contradictions and new possibilities. Read more
Designing the face in the age of computational imagery and Botox Bars
The face is no longer merely the site of identity, but a designed interface: between filters, “AI-inspired” surgery, parametric aesthetics and body modification, contemporary culture radically reformulates the relationship between image, technology and subjectivity. Read more
10 architectural gems of Milan you won’t find in the New York Times
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Photo Stefano Bertolotti from Flickr
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Photo omnia_mutantur from Flickr
Photo Francesco Secchi (2022)
Photo Francesco Secchi (2022)
Photo Marco Menghi
Photo Carlo Fumarola
Photo Carlo Fumarola
Photo Carlo Fumarola
Photo Alberto Trentanni from Flickr
Photo Alberto Trentanni from Flickr
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Much has been made of America's leading newspaper's selection of buildings. We offer a different way of understanding Milan and why its architecture is so important. Read more
Designing the houses of After the Hunt: Luca Guadagnino’s architecture of desire
©Amazon MGM Studios
©Amazon MGM Studios
©Amazon MGM Studios
©Amazon MGM Studios
©Amazon MGM Studios
©Amazon MGM Studios
In After the Hunt, a drama set in the rarefied world of Yale University, production designer Stefano Baisi transforms academic spaces into landscapes of emotion and control. Read more
The history of the Monobloc: the world’s best-selling chair
Everyone knows it, yet few remember its name. This is the story of an iconic chair – one that embodies democratic design. Read more
Before TikTok, there was Vine: why it invented the present
In six seconds, Vine crafted an entirely new visual grammar: loops, imperfect gestures and micro-architectures of meaning that return today with “diVine,” in the age of hyper-designed, algorithmic feeds. Read more
7 things Tobia Scarpa told us about design, architecture, and himself
Photo Gianluca Bellomo
Courtesy Flos
Courtesy Flos
Courtesy Flos
Photo Robert Rieger
Photo Robert Rieger
Photo Robert Rieger
Photo Robert Rieger
Photo Robert Rieger
Photo Robert Rieger
Photo Robert Rieger
Courtesy Molteni&C
Courtesy Molteni&C
Courtesy Molteni&C
Courtesy Molteni&C
Courtesy Studio Tobia Scarpa
Seven aphorisms and reflections by the Italian maestro, who is 90 years old, tell the story of a life that has crossed the history of design, always with lightness and depth. Read more
Elizabeth Diller, from High Line to the city of the future: “Architecture is so slow”
Diller Scofidio + Renfro is one of the firms that has had the greatest impact on the contemporary city’s image. We met with the American architect to discuss future visions and offer a critique of today’s architecture. Read more
Discovering Milan on foot: the architecture of Porta Venezia
Domus accompanies you on a walk to discover the area of Porta Venezia, tracing its evolution from the sixteenth-century Lazzaretto to a district dotted with emblematic rationalist architecture. Read more
Gae Aulenti changed 20th-century architecture, and these eight projects tell the story
A major book follows a retrospective exhibition to tell the story of “La Gae”, and through eight projects spanning urban planning to product design, Domus paints a portrait of the legendary architect who “did not want to be a specialist in anything”. Read more
Elmgreen & Dragset, 20 years of Prada Marfa: “We still need magical places”
The two artists tell Domus how the famous public art installation in Texas continues to live on beyond their intentions, and how this has made it the popular and beloved work it is today. Read more
The art gallery that lives in a rental truck
Images Courtesy of U-Haul Gallery
Images Courtesy of U-Haul Gallery
Images Courtesy of U-Haul Gallery
Images Courtesy of Brian Hatton
Images Courtesy of Brian Hatton
Images Courtesy of Brian Hatton
Images Courtesy of Brian Hatton
Images Courtesy of Brian Hatton
Images Courtesy of Brian Hatton
Images Courtesy of Brian Hatton
Images Courtesy of Brian Hatton
“At $29.99/day, the U-Haul is undoubtedly the cheapest real estate in NYC”: James Sundquist and Jack Chase are the founders of The U-Haul Gallery, a project redefining how art is exhibited — now making its way to Frieze London. Read more
We create with AI and then feel guilty. Why does it happen?
Artificial intelligence is becoming part of our lives, but it also brings with it a psychological burden: “AI guilt.” Perhaps it’s time to stop apologizing. Read more
The Eames House reopens after the L.A. fires: “This house can teach architects a kind of humility”
Domus met with Eames Demetrios and Adrienne Luce of the Eames Foundation to rediscover how this “anti-iconic icon” of California Modern is also inspiring the future of a recovering city, in a way different from what you might expect. Read more
Without Zaha Hadid’s stadium in Tokyo, the Sympathy Tower would never have existed
A Tokyo suspended between reality and fiction, “neither empathetic nor courageous,” where a new tower reflects Zaha Hadid’s legacy. A visionary novel, winner of Japan’s most prestigious literary prize: author Rie Qudan tells Domus about it. Read more
Millennials don't inhabit homes anymore: they live in Instagram feeds
In a world where everything is performance, the home has become a personal stage. Every detail is curated, even in temporary spaces, while the dream of a forever home drifts further out of reach for most. Read more
What Oliviero Toscani has left us
Hated or beloved, venerated or misunderstood, Oliviero Toscani has changed photography and communication. Or he did not? We talked about him with those who worked with him, those who knew him, who were his friends and those who followed his steps. Read more
Opening image: Elmgreen & Dragset, Prada Marfa, 2005, Photo Lizette Kabre. Courtesy of Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa