To live in or even visit New York City is to be inundated with reminders of the 9/11 terrorist attacks more than two decades ago. One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the complex, is visible from all boroughs and New Jersey. Much like the twin towers that preceded it, the supertall is one of the quickest ways to regain one’s bearings when emerging from the subway, and a favorite of camera-happy tourists eager to document their proximity to one of the city’s defining landmarks.

Those who’ve worked in the building—or one of the adjacent towers—know the solemnity evoked by being yanked from self-absorbed thoughts of commutes, chores, and deadlines as they pass the reflecting pools of Michael Arad’s National September 11 Memorial. New Yorkers will never forget. But 22 years on, the site is still evolving.

Its current stage is marked by the completion of the Perelman Performing Arts Center, a marble-enclosed “mystery box” as REX’s founding principal Joshua Ramus describes the cube rising above the ground zero site. Yesterday, it hosted Michael Bloomberg, Governor Kathy Hochul, and Mayor Eric Adams for a ribbon-cutting ceremony ahead of its official opening on Sept. 19. In his remarks, Bloomberg, who now chairs the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, recounted the effort of working with nine governors, three states, and 13 transit lines to rebuild the site, explaining that a center for the arts was part of the plan “from the beginning.”

Ahead of the opening, Surface spoke with Ramus, lobby and restaurant interior architect David Rockwell, and Perelman artistic director Bill Rauch.

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Nestled in the seaside hills of San José del Cabo, a resort town dotted with Spanish Colonial Missions on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, a temple to tequila is putting stakes in the ground. Guests can choose their own culinary adventure at Clase Azul La Terraza, from an intimate omakase bar and secretive five-course chef’s tasting menu to artful cocktails and coastal Mexican fare at the casual-chic El Bar and La Terraza restaurant.

A dilapidated village located in the hills of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Tuscany’s Val d’Orcia region has been the site of Michael L. Cioffi’s labor of love for more than a decade. The American lawyer and professor’s goal: to preserve Castiglioncello del Trinoro’s architectural essence while infusing it with modern elements and cultural programming to bring life to the cobblestoned streets once again. The result is an 18-room, three-villa Monteverdi, a breathtaking blend of past and present where guests can immerse themselves in the beauty of the Tuscan landscape, world-class art, music, and regional cuisine.

Now you can add cutting-edge wellness to the menu. The new state-of-the-art facility is equipped with an array of cold plunges and sensory showers, an underground grotto pool, Finnish and bio saunas, cryotherapy chambers, and treatments conceived in partnership with Santa Maria Novella, a 13th-century Florentine apothecary. Four pillars—aesthetic, regenerative, preventative, and programmatic—guide science-based services such as auto-micrografting and IV therapy. Despite the dramatic, painstaking transformation, Monteverdi’s evolution isn’t done yet. Coming next year: a contemporary art gallery and an authentic Etruscan restaurant designed by none other than Foster + Partners.

D.S. & Durga, the cult fragrance brand founded in 2008 by David Seth Moltz and Kavi Ahuja Moltz, has long felt quintessentially New York. Its home and personal fragrances are produced there, and, until recently, its only stores were located in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Earlier this summer, Woods Bagot worked with the co-founders to realize the brand’s first store in Los Angeles. The team found inspiration in John Lautner’s desert modernism, as seen in the ceiling sculpture that emulates the architect and Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice’s Elrod House. Graphic prints of douglas fir wood grain and poured concrete nod to the brand’s New York boutiques, but channel a distinctly Californian warmth.

When: Until Feb. 4

Where: Art Institute of Chicago

What: Charting his mid-career transformation from graphic designer to a multimedia creator who defies categorization, Dan Friedman’s first museum retrospective proves his unbound creativity. His unconventional style—often incorporating objects found in New York—led to collaborations with some of the city’s most prominent artists, especially pillars of the East Village like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. This experience allowed him to explore the full range of his creativity and begin making wild assemblages and furniture pieces that explored themes ranging from daydreams to ecological disasters.

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