Casa Sofia | © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG Located in the historic heart of Lagos, Portugal, Casa Sofia by Mário Martins Atelier is a thoughtful exercise in urban integration and contemporary reinterpretation. Occupying a site once held by a modest two-story house, the project is situated on the corner of a block facing the Church of St Sebastião. With its commanding presence, this national monument set a formidable challenge for the architects: introducing a new residence that respects the weight of history while offering a clear, contemporary expression. Casa Sofia Technical Information Architects1-4: Mário Martins Atelier Location: Lagos, Portugal Project Completion Years: 2023 Photographs: © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG It is therefore important to design a building to fit into and complete the block. A house that is quiet and solid, with rhythmic metrics, whose new design brings an identity, with the weight and scent of the times, to a city that has existed for many centuries. – Mário Martins Atelier Casa Sofia Photographs © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG © Fernando Guerra / FG+SG Spatial Organization and Circulation The design’s ambition is anchored in reconciling modern residential needs with the dense urban fabric that defines the walled city. Rather than imposing a bold or disruptive form, the project embraces the existing rhythms and textures of the surrounding architecture. The result is a building that both defers to and elevates the neighborhood’s character. Its restrained profile and carefully modulated facade echo the massing and articulation of the original house while introducing an identity that is clearly of its time. At the core of Casa Sofia’s spatial organization is a deliberate hierarchy of spaces that transitions seamlessly between public, semi-public, and private domains. Entry from the street occurs through a modest set of steps leading to an exterior atrium. This threshold mediates the relationship between the public realm and the interior, grounding the house in its urban context. Once inside, an open hall reveals the vertical flow of the building, dominated by a staircase that appears to float, linking the house’s various levels while maintaining visual continuity throughout. The ground floor houses three bedrooms, each with an ensuite bathroom, radiating from the central hall. This level also contains a small basement for technical support, reinforcing the discreet layering of functional and domestic spaces. Midway up the staircase, the house opens onto a garage, a laundry room, and an intimate courtyard. These areas, essential for daily life, are seamlessly integrated into the overall composition, contributing to a spatial richness that is both pragmatic and sensorial. On the first floor, an open-plan arrangement accommodates the main living spaces. Around a central void, the living and dining areas, kitchen, and master suite are arranged to encourage visual interplay and shared light. This configuration enhances the spatial porosity, ensuring that despite the density of the historic center, the house retains a sense of openness and fluidity. Above, a recessed roof level recedes from the street, culminating in a panoramic terrace with a swimming pool. Here, the building dissolves into the sky, offering expansive views and light-filled leisure spaces that contrast with the more enclosed lower floors. Materiality and Craftsmanship Materiality plays a decisive role in mediating the building’s relationship with its context. White-painted plaster, a familiar element in the region, is punctuated by deep limestone moldings. These details create a play of light and shadow that emphasizes the facade’s verticality and rhythm. The generous thickness of the walls, carried over from the site’s earlier construction, lends a sense of solidity and permanence to the house, recalling the tactile traditions of the Algarve’s architecture. The interior and exterior detailing is characterized by an economy of means, where each material is selected for its ability to reinforce the house’s quiet presence. Local materials and craftsmanship ground the project in its immediate context while responding to environmental imperatives. High thermal comfort is achieved through careful orientation and passive design strategies, complemented by the integration of solar control and water conservation measures. These considerations underscore the project’s commitment to sustainability without resorting to superficial gestures. Broader Urban and Cultural Implications Beyond its immediate function as a family home, Casa Sofia engages in a broader dialogue with its urban and cultural surroundings. The project exemplifies a measured response to the question of how to build within a historical setting without resorting to nostalgia or pastiche. It demonstrates that contemporary architecture can find resonance within heritage contexts by prioritizing the values of continuity, scale, and material authenticity. In its measured dialogue with the Church of St Sebastião and the centuries-old urban landscape of Lagos, Casa Sofia illustrates the potential for architecture to enrich the experience of place through quiet, rigorous interventions. It is a project that reaffirms architecture’s capacity to negotiate between past and present, crafting spaces that are at once deeply contextual and unambiguously of their moment. Casa Sofia Plans Sketch | © Mário Martins Atelier Ground Level | © Mário Martins Atelier Level 1 | © Mário Martins Atelier Level 2 | © Mário Martins Atelier Roof Plan | © Mário Martins Atelier Section | © Mário Martins Atelier Casa Sofia Image Gallery About Mário Martins Atelier Mário Martins Atelier is a Portuguese architecture and urbanism practice founded in 2000 by architect Mário Martins, who holds a degree from the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Lisbon (1988). Headquartered in Lagos with a secondary office in Lisbon, the firm operates with a dedicated multidisciplinary team. The office has developed a broad spectrum of work, from single-family homes and collective housing to public buildings and urban regeneration, distinguished by technical precision, contextual sensitivity, and sustainable strategies. Credits and Additional Notes Lead Architect: Mário Martins, arq. Project Team: Rita Rocha, Sónia Fialho, Susana Caetano, Susana Jóia, Ana Graça Engineering: Nuno Grave Engenharia Building: Marques Antunes Engenharia Lda

Submitted by WA Contents ADEPT selected to transform former Karstadt warehouse into a cultural hub in Braunschweig Germany Architecture News - May 22, 2025 - 14:57   html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" Copenhagen and Hamburg-based architecture office ADEPT has won an international competition to transform a former Karstadt warehouse in a historic area of Braunschweig (DE) into the "Haus der Musik". Called Haus der Musik, the 18,000-square-metre cultural hub will house a new concert hall, a public music school, and other community-oriented programs.The winning project is founded on adaptive reuse principles rather than demolishing the current structure. The old building's architectural rhythm and load-bearing structure are preserved and reactivated. On top of the existing volume is a brand-new, precisely calibrated performance hall, and street level provides direct access to music school activities. From a commercial hub to a cultural hub, the design embodies a daring urban metamorphosis grounded on continuity."The Haus der Musik is a dream project – not just because of its scale, but because it allows us to bring together everything we care about: transformation, sustainability, as well as social and urban social value," said Martin Krogh, founding partner at ADEPT. "This is the largest project in our studio’s history, and undoubtedly one of the most meaningful," Krogh added.The "Third Place"—that vague, largely unplanned area between activities that creates a vast possibility for a new identity emerging from the neighborhood—is the focal point of the transformation. Arrival, music school, and concert hall are all connected by this multi-layered social landscape of performance, instruction, and gathering. Because the music school is integrated into the existing framework, it fosters a vibrant, all-day rhythm of instruction, practice, and casual conversation. Below it, the Klangkeller provides an unpolished and adaptable platform for underground scenes and experimental music. With meticulous consideration for acoustic clarity and spatial intimacy, the new music hall is built as a traditional shoebox typology and is situated in the top levels of the building to retain as much of the old structure as possible. Adjustable ceiling components enable custom tuning based on the performance situation, including organ music and amplified events, while sound-reflective wall and ceiling panels distribute sound uniformly around the room. Both the main floor and the upper balconies provide direct sightlines and engulfing sound to the audience. Rehearsal rooms and backstage areas flank the hall, facilitating a smooth transition between rehearsal and performance. The music hall is further reinforced as a municipal venue by the 270-degree panoramic terrace that encircles the foyer and provides public views of the city."With equal measures of caution and courage, the winning proposal transforms the existing building through adaptive reuse into an important component for Braunschweig's city centre, as well as for the city’s musical landscape," the jury stated."The difficult balancing act between preservation, transformation and innovation has been convincingly achieved." "Even if the interpretation and conceptual reuse may seem surprising at first glance, the contextual integration is comprehensible, sensitive and convincing," the jury added.Site planUrban Presence: A Cultural Link Within the Historic CityThe Haus der Musik acts as an essential urban connection between Altstadtmarkt and Kohlmarkt, two important public squares in Braunschweig, and is located along one of the city's main pedestrian thoroughfares. The project creates a new cultural hub in the urban fabric by reactivating the ground floor with a completely transparent façade and opening up to the city through spacious patios and foyers. It extends beyond its plot to create sightlines, pathways, and gathering spots across the city. The design adds a new public vitality that enhances the old town's civic life while honoring the scale and rhythm of its historic surroundings. Ground floor planThe building's articulated façade and stepped form blend in with Braunschweig's urban profile while quietly indicating its new function as a gathering place for people to enjoy music and social interaction.First floor planUsing a Modern Language to Interpret the PastRedesigning the facade as a reinterpretation of the current building while honoring the historic setting and its distinctive buildings to create a new identity is a crucial architectural gesture. The new facade reworks the original's modular rhythm to create a tactile, sculptured enclosure. Views into the activity within the building are made possible by the dynamic interplay of light and shadow created by the cascading pieces. The ground floor's transparency invites the public in by blurring the lines between the interior and the city.Second floor planWarm timber interiors frame the building's social center, while the structured facade echoes Braunschweig's medieval roofscapes. Materiality is crucial in defining atmosphere and character. In order to preserve important sightlines and blend in with the surrounding urban fabric, the new volume gently recedes from the original cornice lines.Third floor planBuilding on What Already ExistsIn this initiative, sustainability starts with what currently exists. By preserving and reusing the Karstadt building's structural grid and core, demolition and the resulting carbon effect are avoided. With little alteration to the existing foundations, a lightweight music hall made of steel and wood is constructed above. Cross-laminated wood (CLT) components that are prefabricated enable low-emission and rapid installation.Fifth floor planBy incorporating rooftop photovoltaics and utilizing Braunschweig's low-emission district heating network, the building runs with exceptional energy efficiency. Comfort is maintained while energy consumption is reduced through the use of passive cooling techniques and intelligent ventilation. Demand is further decreased by localized heating systems and water-saving devices.Basement floor planThe result is not merely a monument for music and culture – but a showcase of how architecture can be both ambitious and responsible, rooted in the past and ready for the future.Elevation BrabandstraßeElevation JakobstraßeElevation PoststraßeFacade section existingFacade section ADEPTSection AASection BBSection CCAxonometric drawingConcept, existing as starting pointConcept, community functions as connectorsConcept, concert hall in new constructionConcept, concert hall constructionADEPT and LYTT Architecture completed visitor points reframing largest landscape park in Copenhagen, Denmark. In  addition, ADEPT and Karres en Brands revealed plans for a new masterplan, called WoodHood – Garden City 2.0, in Köln, Germany. Project factsProject name: Haus der MusikArchitect: ADEPTClient: Friedrich Georg Knapp w. Stadt BraunschweigEngineers: Assmann Beraten und Planen, Corall Ingenieure, AvissplanAddress: Poststraße Braunschweig, DESize: 15,000m2 + 3,000 under groundAll images © Aesthetica Studio.All drawings © ADEPT. > via ADEPT

May 22, 2025Ravie LakshmananEnterprise Security / Malware A recently patched pair of security flaws affecting Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile (EPMM) software has been exploited by a China-nexus threat actor to target a wide range of sectors across Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region. The vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2025-4427 (CVSS score: 5.3) and CVE-2025-4428 (CVSS score: 7.2), could be chained to execute arbitrary code on a vulnerable device without requiring any authentication. They were addressed by Ivanti last week. Now, according to a report from EclecticIQ, the vulnerability chain has been abused by UNC5221, a Chinese cyber espionage group known for its targeting of edge network appliances since at least 2023. Most recently, the hacking crew was also attributed to exploitation efforts targeting SAP NetWeaver instances susceptible to CVE-2025-31324. The Dutch cybersecurity company said the earliest exploitation activity dates back to May 15, 2025, with the attacks targeting healthcare, telecommunications, aviation, municipal government, finance, and defense sectors. "UNC5221 demonstrates a deep understanding of EPMM's internal architecture, repurposing legitimate system components for covert data exfiltration," security researcher Arda Büyükkaya said. "Given EPMM's role in managing and pushing configurations to enterprise mobile devices, a successful exploitation could allow threat actors to remotely access, manipulate, or compromise thousands of managed devices across an organization." The attack sequence involves targeting the "/mifs/rs/api/v2/" endpoint to obtain an interactive reverse shell and remotely execute arbitrary commands on Ivanti EPMM deployments. This is followed by the deployment of KrustyLoader, a known Rust-based loader attributed to UNC5221 that enables the delivery of additional payloads like Sliver. The threat actors have also been observed targeting the mifs database by making use of hard-coded MySQL database credentials stored in /mi/files/system/.mifpp to obtain unauthorized access to the database and exfiltrating sensitive data that could grant them visibility into managed mobile devices, LDAP users, and Office 365 refresh and access tokens. Furthermore, the incidents are characterized by the use of obfuscated shell commands for host reconnaissance before dropping KrustyLoader from an AWS S3 bucket and Fast Reverse Proxy (FRP) to facilitate network reconnaissance and lateral movement. It's worth mentioning here that FRP is an open-source tool widely shared among Chinese hacking groups. EclecticIQ said it also identified a command-and-control (C2) server associated with Auto-Color, a Linux backdoor that was documented by Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 as used in attacks aimed at universities and government organizations in North America and Asia between November and December 2024. "The IP address 146.70.87[.]67:45020, previously associated with Auto-Color command-and-control infrastructure, was seen issuing outbound connectivity tests via curl immediately after exploitation of Ivanti EPMM servers," Büyükkaya pointed out. "This behaviour is consistent with Auto-Color's staging and beaconing patterns. Taken together, these indicators very likely link to China-nexus activity." The disclosure comes as threat intelligence firm GreyNoise noted that it had witnessed a significant spike in scanning activity targeting Ivanti Connect Secure and Pulse Secure products prior to the disclosure of CVE-2025-4427 and CVE-2025-4428. "While the scanning we observed was not directly tied to EPMM, the timeline underscores a critical reality: scanning activity often precedes the public emergence of zero-day vulnerabilities," the company said. "It's a leading indicator — a signal that attackers are probing critical systems, potentially in preparation for future exploitation." Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE    

Songzhuang Z Museum | © Jonathan Leijonhufvud Located in the remote mountainous terrain of Zhejiang Province, The Quartet: Songzhuang Z Museum presents a compelling study of architectural adaptation, contradiction, and transformation. Situated in Songzhuang, a 600-year-old village that remained largely untouched by modernization until recent years, the project by TEAM_BLDG offers an architectural response that neither retreats into nostalgia nor imposes a foreign image. Instead, it constructs a spatial and material dialectic, acknowledging incongruity, emphasizing contrast, and subtly embedding itself into the evolving cultural landscape. The Quartet: Songzhuang Z Museum Technical Information Architects1-6: TEAM_BLDG Location: Songzhuang Village, Songyang County, Zhejiang Province, China Area: 472 m2 | 5,080 Sq. Ft. Project Year: 2024 – 2025 Photographs7: © Jonathan Leijonhufvud Better to stand out than to disappear. – TEAM_BLDG Architects The Quartet: Songzhuang Z Museum Photographs © Jonathan Leijonhufvud © Jonathan Leijonhufvud © Jonathan Leijonhufvud © Jonathan Leijonhufvud © Jonathan Leijonhufvud © Jonathan Leijonhufvud © Jonathan Leijonhufvud © Jonathan Leijonhufvud © Jonathan Leijonhufvud © Jonathan Leijonhufvud © Jonathan Leijonhufvud © Jonathan Leijonhufvud © Jonathan Leijonhufvud © Jonathan Leijonhufvud Reframing the Village Artifact The project begins with a conflict: a 1990s brick-concrete residence towering awkwardly over the village’s low-slung, contiguous rammed-earth structures. Its scale and materiality severed it from the surrounding context, and it was long deemed a misfit within the village’s traditional fabric. Yet rather than camouflage its presence, the architects embraced its dissonance as a narrative condition. Guided by the client’s directive to amplify, rather than suppress, the building’s incongruity, TEAM_BLDG approached the structure not as a problem to resolve but as a site of architectural inquiry. The question was not how to erase the past intervention but how to recalibrate it into a new typology: the rural museum. In doing so, the firm leveraged the tension between the old and new, not as a binary opposition but as an opportunity for mediation. From Monolith to Quartet The building’s spatial transformation unfolds through a deconstructive logic. The formerly monolithic mass was subdivided into four distinct volumes, a gesture that echoes the scale and fragmented rhythms of the surrounding village dwellings. Interstitial courtyards separate and unite these volumes, allowing light, air, and spatial rhythm to intervene in the once-heavy structure. The design’s vertical core is a newly inserted light well. This atrium spans the height of the building, acting as a conduit for natural light while simultaneously connecting the interior’s horizontal strata. Circulation is organized around this vertical void, allowing for a fluid visitor experience that maintains visual continuity between floors. Each level wraps around the central shaft, reinforcing a sense of openness and transparency that contrasts with the building’s original opacity. Visitors enter through an adjacent, preserved rammed-earth house that has been minimally modified to serve as a “prologue” space, a deliberate moment of compression and quietude before ascending into the brighter, open volumes of the main structure. This spatial sequencing, dark to light, low to high, becomes a sensory transition that enhances the visitor’s perceptual engagement with the museum’s content and context. Weaving Lightness into Mass The project’s defining material intervention is its façade, reconceived as a woven skin inspired by the techniques and metaphors of textile making. TEAM_BLDG wrapped the structure in a finely spaced lattice of aluminum square tubes, painted red on three sides and white on one. The resulting grid creates a dynamic interplay of light, shadow, and chromatic variation, responding to the shifting sun and weather conditions. The design team intentionally avoided a uniform application. Instead, they introduced variations in spacing and density, especially across different levels and orientations. The upper portions of the façade are denser, while the lower remain more open, modulating both visibility and porosity. On the terrace, the façade becomes multidirectional, layering dimensional complexity and deepening the woven metaphor. In bright sunlight, the façade takes on a soft pinkish hue; in overcast or snowy conditions, it becomes a subdued white veil. This chromatic fluidity imparts a temporal quality to the structure, each visit offering a subtly different impression of the building’s mood and presence. The weaving principle is further extended through custom interior furniture, constructed with woven red straps over slender steel frames, echoing the façade’s tectonic logic and material language. Songzhuang Z Museum: Mediation Through Architecture Rather than asserting itself as an icon or retreating into contextual mimicry, the Z Museum mediates between eras, materials, and scales. Its relationship with the village is neither submissive nor dominating; instead, it engages in a form of spatial dialogue. Reconfigured windows frame specific views of the surrounding village, allowing exterior scenes to interact with interior exhibitions. On the third floor, large apertures in the stairwell wall transform the space into a semi-outdoor condition, encouraging visual and behavioral connections with the outside world. The rooftop terrace offers a final moment of release: an unprogrammed panoramic platform where boundaries dissolve, and visitors are immersed in the landscape. The architecture recedes, allowing elevation changes and open material transitions to a gently structured experience without overt control. In an architectural climate often dominated by formal spectacle or overbearing contextualism, The Quartet – Songzhuang Z Museum proposes a third way, rooted in spatial logic, material clarity, and conceptual subtlety. It neither replicates tradition nor denies its presence. Instead, it proposes a weaving of time, space, and perception, where architecture becomes an active thread in the evolving cultural fabric of rural China. The Quartet: Songzhuang Z Museum Plans Level 1 | © TEAM_BLDG Level 2 | © TEAM_BLDG Level 3 | © TEAM_BLDG Roof Plan | © TEAM_BLDG Section | © TEAM_BLDG The Quartet: Songzhuang Z Museum Image Gallery About TEAM_BLDG Design Team: Xiao Lei, Deng Caiyi, Shen Ruijie Structural Design: GongHe Architecture Design Group Co., Ltd. Custom Furniture & Lighting Design: TEAM_BLDG Visual Identity Design (VI): TEAM_BLDG Client / Operator: Mountain Creations (山风大美) Curatorial Team: CSC Communis Photography Assistant: Wai Wai Altitude: Approximately 400 meters above sea level

Death Stranding fans, it seems like you’ve got something really killer coming your way. The sequel game, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, is set to arrive in June and the franchise’s star, actor Norman Reedus, recently teased some of the game — as well as a key tidbit about the future film adaptation — in an interview with IGN.“If it was an option, yeah, for sure,” Reedus revealed when asked if he would consider playing himself in a future film version of the game which was announced to be in the works from Michael Sarnoski and A24 last month. “I don’t know what’s happening with it. It’s so pre pre pre right now. But yeah, of course.” @ign Norman Reedus teases Death Stranding 2 while promoting From the World of John Wick: Ballerina! #deathstranding #normanreedus #ballerina #johnwick #interview ♬ original sound - IGN Entertainment We also asked Reedus about his confusion with the first game and if he still felt that way going into the second one, but it seems he deeply trusts creator Hideo Kojima, whose reputation obviously precedes him. “As far as working with him and understanding where his head’s at, I don’t think anybody can understand where his head’s at,” the Walking Dead alum explained. “He’s just that guy, he’s out there and he’s got great ideas. But story-wise, I did know what was happening more. There’s more action in it, there’s more of a definite goal to get to.” That said, no matter what’s going on in the Death Stranding world, Reedus is happily along for the ride. “It’s always a trip working on those things,” he told IGN. “It’s great, but it’s wild.”Death Stranding 2: On The Beach will be released on June 26, 2025.Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

Inviting people over to hang out at my house is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, I don’t need to leave home. On the other, I’m plagued by anxiety, not because I don’t enjoy seeing my friends, but because of all the tidying and cleaning I feel pressured to do even for a casual evening of watching TV. In an instant, I transform into my mother, frantically scrubbing and organizing. To welcome guests into a house that shows signs of life — a pile of unopened mail sitting on the dining room table or crumbs in the couch cushions — is to open yourself up to judgment. It’s a common sentiment among those of hosting age: the manic cleaning that precedes the arrival of guests, memed and parodied ad infinitum. Of course these concerns primarily afflict women — centuries of socialization have reinforced the notion that the condition of a home is a woman’s business. (A 2019 study found that women are held to higher cleanliness standards than men and are more likely to face negative social consequences for failing to meet that standard.) Mothers, who are somehow expected to be the primary caretaker and keep the house spotless on top of everything else, carry an even heavier domestic burden. Whenever Ciara Bogdanovic’s clients come to her with these concerns, she can’t assure them that no one is judging the state of their home. But she can promise them that the majority of people aren’t. “Often,” Bogdanovic, a licensed marriage and family therapist, says, “we project our own beliefs about ourselves onto what we believe others are thinking.”But here’s the thing about hanging out at home: It’s free, low-key, and convenient. And we should be looking for more ways to find connection, not less, given the negative physical and mental health consequences of loneliness and social isolation. Many people crave more time with their friends, yet the anxiety of hosting what should be an undemanding get-together may preclude them from seeing their buds more often. So the only rule you really need to keep in mind is to make sure your house is just tidy enough for guests to relax, experts say. Fear of having a space that looks like people live there shouldn’t hold you back from spending time with friends. If they’re judging you, that’s a reflection on them. The fear of judgmentPersonal standards for how a home “should” look before hosting are shaped by past experiences, Bogdanovic says. Many people either had a relative who stressed the importance of cleaning up for guests or saw the caricature depicted in culture — or online. Across social media, images of uber-organized homes and performative cleaning videos create the false perception that the average home looks like a magazine. We also have a tendency to compare our spaces to those of our friends. “You’re comparing your behind-the-scenes with someone else’s highlight reel,” says KC Davis, a therapist and author of How to Keep House While Drowning. “When you’re at home, you’re looking at your home the way it really looks in the midst of living there. When you go over to other people’s homes, most people are cleaning before you get there.” This tendency to compare is also why you might find yourself subconsciously spotting dust bunnies in a friend’s home. “There might be some conclusions we’re trying to draw,” says licensed clinical social worker Alyssa Petersel. “Is this person doing better or worse than I am in life, financially? Is their style more or less like what I want my style to be?” These observations impact how we view ourselves.Assuming you don’t want to be critiqued about your own home, it’s always best to suspend judgment about how others live. Unless the state of their home poses a danger to those living there, what they choose to clean — or not — before you come over is not worth commenting on. “What is important to you in a friendship?” Bogdanovic says. “Is cleanliness and perfection really the most important thing? Or would you prefer someone who listens to you and you have fun with?”Aim for clean enoughThe primary goal of a host should be to pay attention to guests, not a stray toy. Davis says to focus your efforts on making the room where you’ll be hanging out comfortable for guests. Think practically: providing a place to sit (that isn’t covered in pet hair), making sure the floor is clear so people can walk around, offering drinks and snacks on fresh dishes, ensuring the bathroom is clean. The dishes in the sink or your disorganized bedroom? Not so much a priority. “As long as things are sanitary, people aren’t going to remember what it looks like,” Davis says. “They’re going to remember the way that they felt and the time that they had while they were there.”Whatever you do, don’t apologize for the state of your house, experts say. If you feel awkward when you notice a guest eye your disorganized coat rack, you can cut the tension with a quick joke, like, “Come on in, we live here!” or, “The kids have taken over with their jackets.” If you’re still feeling self-conscious, Bogdanovic suggests observing your friends’ actions and body language. Are they looking around your house or sitting rigidly trying to keep as little of their body from touching your sofa as possible? Or are they lounging and engaging in conversation? Take stock of what’s actually happening, not what you’re imagining is happening. Unless you truly value spending hours cleaning, focus on your priorities, Bogdanovic says, which is probably spending quality time with your friends — an activity that contributes to happiness more than a clean house. Letting friends into your space, mess and all, breaks the cycle of perfectionism. Once you ditch the expectation that homes should look like furniture showrooms, your friend group may feel more comfortable hosting despite the chaos in their kids’ rooms, too. “In the moments where we are a bit imperfect or we’re a little raw or we’re a little unpolished,” Petersel says, “we’re actually giving other people permission to show up as their full selves.”See More:

Casa De Blas | © Hisao Suzuki Set on a hillside in Sevilla la Nueva, a town southwest of Madrid, Casa De Blas is a distilled expression of the architectural dialectic between weight and lightness, earth and sky. Designed in 2000 by Spanish architect Alberto Campo Baeza, the house is both an act of landscape intervention and a metaphysical construct, a spatial meditation on essential form and material logic. Casa De Blas Technical Information Architects1-3: Alberto Campo Baeza Location: Sevilla la Nueva, Madrid, Spain Area: 250 m2 | 2,690 Sq. Ft. Project Year: 2000 Photographs: © Hisao Suzuki This house aims to be a literal translation of the idea of the tectonic box upon the stereotomic box. Like a distillation of the most essential in architecture. Once again, more with less. – Alberto Campo Baeza Casa De Blas Photographs © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki © Hisao Suzuki The Architecture of Duality: Ground and Sky Campo Baeza’s work consistently revolves around a search for architectural clarity. In Casa De Blas, this clarity manifests as two boxes: a grounded concrete volume that holds the domestic program and a glass pavilion above that elevates the act of looking. The house is not merely built on the landscape; it is in dialogue with it. The conceptual strategy of Casa De Blas is rooted in a tectonic-syntactic opposition between the stereotomic base and the tectonic roof. The lower portion consists of a robust concrete platform embedded in the earth like a carved podium. This base supports a lighter glass structure above, where steel elements define the enclosure with minimal mass. The house engages the site with careful restraint. Rather than dominate the hilltop, it accepts the slope and turns its attention to the northern view of the Sierra de Guadarrama. This orientation informs light and shadow’s spatial organization and phenomenological qualities. Inside the concrete base, the architecture follows a precise logic. A service band is located toward the rear, while primary living spaces occupy the front, facing the landscape. Square window openings, deeply set into the thick walls, frame views with the intentionality of a camera obscura. These apertures do not merely let in light; they shape perception, creating a sense of distance and inwardness. The Pavilion as Apparatus for Contemplation Above this grounded core, the transparent upper volume serves as a lookout. Reached from the interior by ascending stairs, the glass box sits lightly on the podium, offering a counterpoint to the cave-like enclosure below. There is no visible carpentry, just frameless glazing and a white steel canopy, which shades the upper level while preserving its airy, open quality. The north-facing glass stretches toward the edge, embracing the panoramic view. On the southern side, the volume recedes to create a shaded void, regulating solar gain. This sectional asymmetry allows the architecture to perform environmentally without compromising its compositional purity. Campo Baeza describes the house as a literal translation of the idea of a tectonic box upon a stereotomic box. The reference is not metaphorical but structural and spatial. The upper pavilion is not a symbol of transparency but a mechanism for perception. In this way, the house operates as a philosophical instrument as much as a dwelling. Casa De Blas Proportion and Compositional Rigour The power of the project lies in the spatial sequence from the heavy to the light, from the shaded to the luminous. The contrast between these two atmospheres creates a duality of experience: shelter and openness, introspection and projection. The structural order contributes to this sense of serenity. Steel supports are arranged in double symmetry, reinforcing the composition’s static quality. Nothing feels arbitrary. Every gesture is reduced to its essential nature. The palette is limited to concrete, glass, and steel, yet the result is rich in meaning. The interior is equally restrained, avoiding superfluous detailing. It is architecture as a frame, a backdrop for landscape and thought. Campo Baeza’s work here touches the territory of the poetic, not through expressionism but through control and abstraction. Casa De Blas Plans Concept | © Alberto Campo Baeza North Elevation | © Alberto Campo Baeza East Elevation | © Alberto Campo Baeza Upper Level | © Alberto Campo Baeza Floor Plan | © Alberto Campo Baeza Section | © Alberto Campo Baeza Casa De Blas Image Gallery About Alberto Campo Baeza Alberto Campo Baeza is a Spanish architect born in 1946 in Valladolid. Renowned for his minimalist and essentialist approach, he emphasizes the interplay of light, gravity, and proportion in his designs. His notable works include the Casa Turégano, Casa de Blas, and the Caja de Granada headquarters. Campo Baeza was a full-time design professor at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM) from 1986 until his retirement in 2017. He has received numerous accolades throughout his career, such as the RIBA International Fellowship and the Heinrich Tessenow Gold Medal, recognizing his contributions to contemporary architecture. Credits and Additional Notes Design Team: Alberto Campo Baeza, Alfonso González Gamo Structural Engineer: Julio Martínez Calzón, MC-2 Collaborators: Teresa Campos