Every year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation unveils its highly anticipated list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The list spotlights crucial examples of architectural and cultural heritage that, without immediate action, face destruction or irreparable damage. But not all is lost—due to advocacy efforts from preservationists, Trust members, donors, concerned citizens, government agencies, and businesses, being included is often a saving grace. In the list’s 33-year history, more than 95 percent of endangered sites have been saved.

The announcement of this year’s list coincides with a national mood of turbulence, sorrow, and dissonance. “It’s at times like these when cultural treasures mean the most,” says Paul Edmondson, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “They remind us of what we’ve accomplished as a people during other periods of struggle, they mark the pathways we’ve traveled as a nation, and they remind us of who we can become if we work to realize the promise of our society. When so many are questioning the way forward, historic places have the power to reveal the possibilities of our future.”

The 2020 list includes a diversity of sites that highlight many of these cultures, stories, and experiences, including several sites with crucial connections to women’s history. The Sun-n-Sand Motor Hotel, a mid-century modern relic of Jackson, Mississippi, once served as a gathering place for civil rights activists, most notably the multiracial, women-led initiative “Wednesdays in Mississippi.” In Chicago, the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ hosted the funeral and extended visitation for Emmett Till, the Black teenager whose 1955 murder helped catalyze the Civil Rights Movement. Terrace Plaza Hotel, completed in 1948 as the first hotel by then-emerging firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, played a pivotal role in the illustrious career of trailblazing female architect Natalie de Blois. View the full list.

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So why now? Much like the world at large, the design industry has been turned upside down over the past year. Design fairs, often the premier stage to launch new products and collections, face an uncertain future. COVID-19 has ushered in a new normal, forcing us to fully embrace remote experiences. Interest in home design is surging as people rethink their living arrangements and adjust to the remote work paradigm shift. The e-commerce revolution has entered an exciting new phase, but with it comes the perils of fast-consumerism. Design Dose will take a more thoughtful approach, one that reflects our core values at Surface: provide intel to our audience, delight the senses, and—above all else—champion great design.

Fueled by the belief that thoughtful design stems from rich narrative and a respect for craft, Anton Anger envisions furniture and interiors that foster meaningful interactions between people, spaces, and objects. The Roman & Williams Guild alum, who also works on interiors at Studio Tack, recently launched his own firm, Studio Meadow, to build relationships with space that feel at once personal, unfussy, and genuine.

When: Until Nov. 7

Where: Carwan Gallery, Athens

What: More than 70 one-of-a-kind sculptural pieces, made by hand in Vancouver, Canada, showcase Arbel’s ongoing research into the reciprocal relationship between glass and copper. To create the vessels, the Bocci co-founder blew conventional glass forms and then poured in a liquid alloy made mostly of copper. During cooling, the glass form shattered off, leaving a metallic shadow of itself. The technique creates uniquely shaped vessels and an iridescent finish, demonstrating Arbel’s decade-old signature process of letting the intrinsic properties of material suggest its form.

At first, many assumed that social distancing and the pandemic-induced decline in demand for air travel would lead to skyrocketing airfare prices. Some went so far as to predict that commercial aviation would return to its 1950s status as a luxury available only to the wealthy. That hasn’t quite happened yet–in fact, airlines are doing everything they can to fill seats on planes, even if it means drastically reducing fares by as much as 41 percent (compared to an average 18 percent after 9/11 and 21 percent after the Great Recession).

“More and more airline revenue is made up of not the basic fare but of extra charges,” Adam Weiss, head of aviation at investment firm 777 Partners, tells CNBC. “An airline is inclined to offer competitive fare pricing in order to attract more passengers because each passenger is also going to be spending on these extra charges. Raising fares is not some kind of ‘break-glass-in-emergency’ solution for airlines; right now, most people do not want to fly.” Despite the decline in fare costs, a report by Dollar Flight Club predicts that domestic fares will increase 21 percent on average starting in 2021, and may remain that way through 2025.

After more than a year of closure for restoration work, Houston’s beloved Rothko Chapel is reopening to the public. First dedicated in 1971 by philanthropists John and Dominique de Menil as a sacred space for interfaith celebration and social engagement, the historic structure displays 14 of Mark Rothko’s monumental canvases within an octagonal space crowned by a skylight. Though he worked on the building’s design with Philip Johnson, Howard Barnstone, and Eugene Aubry, Rothko died in 1970 without ever visiting Houston. The architects ended up partially obscuring the chapel’s overhead oculus to protect his paintings from harsh Texas sunlight, making the nuances of his work—particularly their black and purple hues—difficult to perceive in the darkness.

Thanks to an intervention by New York firm Architecture Research Office (ARO), obstacles to experiencing Rothko’s work have mostly been removed. The firm partnered with lighting specialists George Sexton Associates to install a laminated-glass skylight that invites light inward while shielding the canvases from sun damage. A reconfiguration of the building’s entryway, meanwhile, grants visitors unimpeded access to wander, wonder, and experience the work as they see fit.

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Christopher Boots is a Melbourne-based lighting designer driven by a love of nature and light. His handmade work explores the geometry of organic shapes, and is often inspired by flora, fauna, and minerals.

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