What’s Happening: Brooklyn’s historic Domino Sugar Refinery has wrapped up a $2.5 billion renovation, a tricky undertaking that entailed building a glimmering 15-story glass structure inside the industrial relic’s brick shell.

The Download: In its heyday, the Domino Sugar Refinery—a hulking brick factory on the Williamsburg waterfront—produced one million pounds of sugar every day; its imperial owners once controlled 98 percent of sugar processing in the United States. Times (and diets) changed, and sweeteners like corn syrup soon dominated the market. The colossal refinery that once employed 4,500 workers after World War II started processing only liquid sugar by the 1990s before permanently closing in 2004. The derelict structure’s towering chimney and ubiquitous logo have loomed over the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood since, an imposing relic of bygone industrial might that has vanished in a sea of fragrance boutiques, Michelin stars, and $4,300-per-month apartments.

Two Trees, the real estate company perhaps best known for transforming Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood, had long aimed to develop the refinery’s immediate vicinity into a walkable locale and made a promising first step with the industrial-themed Domino Park. While the area more closely resembles Miami than the grimy waterfront of yore, the refinery’s 2007 landmark designation meant its brick facade and grids of arched windows would need to remain. Jed Walentas, CEO of Two Trees, enlisted local studio Practice for Architecture and Urbanism for the task. Its founder, the architect and urban theorist Vishaan Chakrabarti, envisioned a freestanding glass building nestled within; high-ceilinged floors irregularly lined with the brick building’s arches create visual intrigue inside and out, as does the structure’s crown jewel, a giant 30-foot glass dome perched on top.

The $2.5 billion transformation, which wrapped up yesterday, was far from simple. Two Trees first cleaned up years of gooey sugar sludge caked onto virtually every surface and removed dozens of stainless steel syrup tanks. Needing to keep the facade intact, they assembled a construction crane inside the hollowed-out structure to start building its glassy 15-story innards. By setting the new building 12 feet from its brick shell and planting American sweet gum trees in the perimeter, natural light pours in through arched windows that create vignettes of the Manhattan skyline. Inside will be 460,000 square feet of high-end office space—a tricky proposition as demand for workspace has waned citywide—but one befitting the area as a lively tech and creative hub. The penthouse’s world-class backdrop is already fulfilling its promise: Hermès held a menswear show there during New York Fashion Week last month.

In their Own Words: The New York Landmarks Preservation Commission almost forbade Chakrabarti from adding the vault, but his team ended up having a “very philosophical conversation” about bringing historical landmarks into the present, he tells Fast Company. “I go to Berlin, I go to Vienna, and there is a fearlessness about putting the old next to the new—there’s a sense that things can cohabitate. In the States, we’re a little bit more insecure about our history.”

Surface Says: Domino has come a long way since Kara Walker’s sugarcoated sphinx stood sentry inside nearly ten years ago.

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Sitting poised between Florence and Pisa, Tuscany’s sprawling Toscana Resort Castelfalfi has unveiled a multimillion-dollar revamp that yet again brings new life to a former noble village. Stretching across a rolling landscape of vineyards, olive groves, and a gorgeous 27-hole golf course dotted by villas, the property is anchored by a medieval “borgo” and its ancient castle. Spearheaded by the Lohia family, who purchased the property in 2021, no expense was spared. Italian studio Caberlon Caroppi took the lead on refreshing the 146 guest rooms, including 31 rooms set in a converted tobacco warehouse, where the estate’s tabacchine cigars were rolled in the early 1900s, while French firm Affine conceived four specialty suites that pay homage to the region’s traditional materials and fabrics.

Chef Davide De Simone takes the reins at the property’s new Olivina restaurant, where artist and designer Henry Chebaane’s color schemes reflect the seasons of the surrounding landscape—warm terracotta and brown (autumn), yellow and dark green (summer), vibrant and fresh green (spring), grey-green (winter)— which also guides the menu. Order one of the seasonal dishes like porcini mushroom tortellini or pigeon breast with pumpkin purée and vin santo, and don’t skip Bar Ecrù, which lights up in a golden glow during aperitivo hour and features a panoramic terrace with views of the rolling valleys beyond.

USM’s Haller system has endured as an architect-favorite means of storage thanks to its streamlined appearance and foolproof assembly of simply affixing steel tubes to connector balls. Just when we thought we’d seen every Haller variation, Coperni entered the chat and brought the Swiss furniture mainstay’s winning formula to the next level.

Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant, the work-and-life partners who founded the avant-garde Parisian fashion and accessories label a decade ago, partnered with USM to envision its first-ever boutique, a “techno-chic” shop-in-shop inside the tony Printemps Haussmann department store. USM’s cubic systems create tables, walls, and display areas—a language echoed on the Versailles parquet flooring, whose squares are punctuated by silver tubing. Coperni will soon bring the concept to Selfridges and China’s Duty-Free Mall in Hainan Island.

When: Until Jan. 14

Where: Musée du Quai Branly—Jacques Chirac, Paris

What: Kehinde Wiley first began pondering the question of presidential leadership when Barack Obama was elected—and one he realized when the American painter was selected for Obama’s presidential portrait, which was unveiled in 2018 to much fanfare. During Obama’s term, Wiley imagined an original series dedicated to African heads of state and traveled the continent to meet them. Eleven resulting portraits—including of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s president Félix Tshisekedi and Senegal’s president Macky Sall—appear in this show, organized with Templon Gallery. “This is not a celebration of individual leaders,” Wiley says in an accompanying film, noting some of his subjects’ shaky politics. “This is a look at the presidency itself.”

In an era of overwrought and overhyped fashion collabs that no one seems to have asked for, coming across one that plays as a stroke of genius is a delightful rarity. Thankfully, we see that embodied in Koivu’s new capsule collection of merino wool sweaters embroidered in the fashion of Pierre Charpin. The artist-designer has worked with the likes of Hay and Hermès, and is a natural fit for the Finnish-Italian label founded by veteran editor and curator Anniina Koivu. The limited-edition capsule sees two of Charpin’s line art compositions, Flo and Scala, transposed onto navy and black merino sweaters in high-contrast embroidery. $525

New York City has the unenviable distinction of having one of the most visible affordable housing crises in America, and it’s only getting worse. Governor Kathy Hochul’s ambitious proposal to build 800,000 new homes in New York State failed to gain traction among legislators earlier this year. By comparison, Adams seems to be targeting a number of smaller zoning roadblocks that complicate building in the city. In the process, he seeks to legalize ADUs and basement apartments, incentivize the building of three-to-five story residences along transit lines, convert unused commercial real estate into residential buildings, and more.

After years as a consultant in the renewables sector, as well as fabricating objects for museums, artists, and interior designers, Josh Neretin founded Buoyant to introduce his own brand of engaging objects to the design community. His award-winning limited-edition collection is hand-crafted using traditional materials and is influenced by the sculptural arts, spirituality, and natural form.

Surface Says: By combining unexpected materials and shapes informed by Neretin’s deep well of experience in art and interior design, Buoyant stands out in a crowded landscape.

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