What’s Happening: Studio Gang’s long-delayed expansion of the American Museum of Natural History opens this week, affording the New York institution a bona fide architectural treasure that’s sure to captivate generations of visitors.

The Download: Dead ends aren’t the aptest metaphor for a museum seeking to instill wonder and curiosity in the minds of those traversing its halls. So when Studio Gang was tapped to conceive a contemporary addition to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York, one of the city’s most beloved cultural touchstones long afflicted with poor circulation and wayfinding, forming new connections with dead ends was key.

But that seems like a minor detail within the larger scheme of the stellar Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, which officially opens on Thursday. The long-awaited unveiling takes place nearly ten years after AMNH announced $325 million plans for Gilder to open in 2019, the museum’s 150th anniversary. Delays plagued the project—the budget swelled to $465 million as construction costs surged, and neighbors raised legal challenges. The museum triumphed, and now New York has received a breathtaking monument to science and discovery that’s sure to captivate generations of visitors.

The Gilder Center’s power lies in its architecture. From the renovated Theodore Roosevelt Park, visitors enter a dramatic, cave-like atrium lined in sinuous concrete forms that swoop and bend through five levels of vertical space and connect to the museum’s existing structure. Studio Gang devised the free-flowing forms using “shotcrete,” a flexible design technique pioneered by early AMNH taxidermy artist Carl Akeley, in which structural concrete is sprayed directly onto rebar and metal mesh, and hand-finished before it cures. “You can sandblast it smooth,” Weston Walker, a partner at Studio Gang, told the New Yorker, “but we didn’t.”

That’s probably for the best. Entering the Gilder Center’s grotto-like galleries replicates the experience of traversing a cave, unsure of the wonders awaiting within. On that note, it’s a little bit of everything: a half-dozen exhibition spaces, an insectarium, a butterfly conservatory, 18 classrooms, two shops, a ticketing area, a high-ceilinged library, and a table-service restaurant nestled underneath a giant honeycomb light fixture. An immersive experience that recounts the story of the earth and its organisms on a 12-minute loop dials into contemporary trends, but won’t distract from the sheer awe evoked by Studio Gang’s elaborate architecture.

There are no dead ends—figurative or literal—in sight. “I find myself returning from another encounter with the model of a giant squid or the narwhal diorama feeling something I now feel navigating Gilder’s grotto-galleries, squinting into the sun that pours through its transom and rose windows,” writes New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman. “It’s more than just the pleasure that comes from allowing one’s disbelief to be briefly suspended before trudging back out into the streets and daily life. I guess I’d call it wonder.”

In Their Own Words: “The architecture enhances the feeling of discovery,” says Studio Gang founder Jeanne Gang. “It’s really about science education, which is near and dear. It will help people discover science at a time when science is under attack.”

Surface Says: There’s a reason why the new wing is being compared to everything from Dr. Seuss and Jurassic Park to the Flintstones’ home of Bedrock.

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“I love disco balls,” James Gardner says. Anyone who’s set foot in a Gitano will attest to his affection—glittering disco balls are a defining feature. His love affair with Tulum first began in the ‘90s. Joined by his husband Andrew, the couple reveled in the quaint Mexican haven’s pristine sands and rustic charm. After a polymathic career that included a consulting gig at Accenture, a stint at Goldman Sachs, and a foray into the tempestuous world of fashion, Gardner collated his disparate skillset and launched Gitano in 2013.

From its inception as an off-the-beaten-track mezcal bar, Gitano has evolved into a stylish hub for the yuppie class and emerged as one of the early stewards of Tulum’s rise as a global hotspot by treating guests as participants in Gitano’s grand theatrical performance. (Some early celebrity patrons such as Demi Moore, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Orlando Bloom assisted with the early buzz.) More spaces have since followed: Gitano Beach and Meze in Tulum, Gitano Miami Beach, and Gitano Island in New York City.

After debuting this past year on Governors Island, the latter is gearing up for its sophomore season. The waterfront restaurant and beach lounge feels a world away from the Manhattan cacophony thanks to a lush Yucatan-esque palm tree jungle, Bedouin dining tent, open-fire kitchen, lotus pond, beach cabanas, and postcard-worthy views of Manhattan. Executive chef Antonio Maldonado’s refresh of the menu includes new dishes like black truffle mushroom sopes, Baja California kampachi with grilled avocado tostada, and duck carnitas huarache.

We spoke with Gardner about Gitano’s evolution, the brand’s fashion DNA, and what to expect from Gitano Island.

The market for sexual wellness may be expanding, but walking into a sex store can still be a fraught, guild-ridden experience marked by neon signs and seedy posters. Crowded aisles stocked with hundreds of hard-to-decipher products can overwhelm, which is why Contact Sports pared things down when envisioning their boutique in SoHo, New York, which replaces Babeland’s former decades-old storefront that closed during Covid. “Sex should be fun, explorative, exciting, and, well, sexy, all while respecting boundaries,” says Chelsea Kerzner, who co-founded Contact Sports with her husband, Jason.

To accomplish this, the Kerzners tapped Ringo Studio to devise a fresh retail concept—a vintage, ‘70s-inspired locker-room theme—unseen within the sexual wellness industry. It was a welcome task for founder Madelynn Ringo, whose former gig as Glossier’s creative lead on retail experiences has made her well-versed in realizing brand touchpoints through exuberant, feel-good interiors that are at once engaging, magnetic, and of-the-moment. (See: Our Place, Modern Age.) “There was such a market gap in innovative retail experiences that focused on celebrating sexual wellness,” Ringo says, “so we wanted the design to be both elevated and approachable.”

The boutique nods to the world of sports to present products for pleasure in a judgment-free setting. A tight edit of entry-level gear and sensual gifts by Flamingo Estate, Gossamer, Maude, Kiki de Montparnasse, and Dame preside in vintage-inspired lockers, whose glowing walnut textures soothe the nerves. Ditto for the entry’s rose shop and curvy lounge, where buyers peruse magazines in a Jonathan de Pas baseball glove chair. It all coalesces to position sex as a sport—“something that’s fun, exciting, and often requires practice,” Ringo says. On that note, customers will be coming back for more: the store plans to host events like sports viewing and speed-dating parties.

Anyone who’s stayed at one of Ash’s collection of cinematic hotels likely wants to take the experience home with them. Credit the design firm and hotelier’s 360-degree approach to hospitality—the firm manages, operates, and owns all of its properties, which have soared in popularity thanks to rich storytelling and an embrace of the idiosyncrasies of second cities like Detroit, Baltimore, and Providence. Chief among these is Hotel Peter & Paul, the 71-room stay inhabiting a former church in New Orleans’ boho Marigny district that spurred a new era for the Big Easy’s tourism scene.

Now it’s possible to recreate this atmosphere at home thanks to Souvenirs, Ash’s new online store offering hotel merch like robes, playing cards, soaps, and tote bags. “We love the idea of embracing an old-fashioned notion of Souvenirs, which comes from the French word for ‘memories.’ We design and produce many individual, custom touchpoints, so making these available to purchase made complete sense,” says Xavier Donnelly, Ash’s creative director. “Though we look the other way when people pocket a pen or two.”

Kicking things off is the Hotel Peter & Paul capsule, which captures the Nola spirit with the guest rooms’ cozy cotton robe and quilt, both made in oversize gingham patterns. Toiletries infused with the hotel’s custom scent, defined by notes of far-flung damask rose, replicate the stay’s sensorial experience. “Every time you interact with a Souvenir, we hope you fondly remember our hotels and are momentarily transported back to that place and time,” says Ari Heckman, the firm’s co-founder. More capsules are on the way, as are objects (like the Pillow Chair) that convey Ash’s eccentric and exploratory approach.

New & Notable is a cultural catchall that highlights interesting new products and projects from our brilliantly creative members of The List. With new releases, events, and goings-on, the below moments indicate the power they have to move the needle in realms like architecture, design, fashion, and art.

In 1988, Issey Miyake’s career reached a zenith. The barrier-breaking couturier was one of the first Japanese designers to show in Paris, shortly after launching the Miyake Design Studio in 1970. Unmoved by his rapid rise to fame, Miyake was steadfast that clothing was a form of art—an unmistakably avant-garde perspective for the ‘80s, but one that landed his designs on a 1982 cover of Artforum and earned his label consistent praise. After the Musée des Arts Decoratifs staged a retrospective of his prodigious ready-to-wear in 1988, he believed he accomplished everything he could.

That was until he stumbled upon a folded scarf in his studio. His longtime textile designer, Makiko Minagawa, heat-pleated the cloth as an experiment with new materials. Miyake was captivated by its intricate, three-dimensional texture and sought to recreate a comfortable, breathable, and easily movable textile, jumpstarting four years of research that culminated in what would become his label’s signature technique. Polyester fabric is cut and sewn at three times its intended size and heat-pleated, creating accordion folds that retain their shape and resist wrinkles even after being tossed in the washing machine or scrunched up in a suitcase.

thehighkey is a design studio that creates rare objects and environments. The name refers to a condition in which people are elevated. It’s from this vantage point that thehighkey operates, leveraging digital technology to produce concepts that go beyond the norm. thehighkey’s work is a mix of forms and materials from the past, present, and future. In a world saturated with fast fashion, thehighkey defies standards to create designs made to last.

Surface Says: Founder John Vieweg applies an artistic lens to the industrial, bringing humanity into manufacturing and leveraging digital technologies to produce the extraordinary.

For a brief moment during midcentury, men-only flights took to the skies.

New York City’s most bizarre secret penthouse floats above Bryant Park.

Taylor Swift’s frenzied Eras Tour is helping revive tourism in Las Vegas.

Scientists discover fungi that can eat polypropylene plastic in 140 days.