What’s Happening: The Finnish architect envisioned Black Rock, the Midtown office tower that long housed the corporate headquarters of CBS, as a “simple” building that deviated from the rest of his oeuvre. A new renovation with some love from Knoll is tastefully bringing the storied structure into today.

The Download: Eero Saarinen’s architecture was rarely simple—the swooping forms of his Gateway Arch and the TWA Hotel, two of his most famous buildings, were both neo-futurist gestures that captured an optimistic era of burgeoning technology. When it came to skyscrapers, though, the late Finnish architect only designed one, the CBS Building in Midtown Manhattan, and described it as the “simplest skyscraper statement in New York.” Nicknamed “Black Rock” after its angled granite facade and dark-tinted glass windows, it appears as a continuous slab, not unlike its Modernist peers the Seagram Building and the erstwhile Union Carbide Building, but still has “guts,” as he once said. “The spirit of a building should be expressed, not hidden behind a neutral curtain of glass.”

Black Rock was long the headquarters of CBS until they sold the 38-story building in 2019 and left it in the hands of Harbor Group International, which commissioned design firms Vocon and MdeAS Architects to modernize its dated interiors. Luckily, the designers benefited from Saarinen’s column-free floor plates and an abundance of natural light thanks to the structure’s rectangular doughnut-shaped layout—groundwork that enabled them to devise modern interventions that enhance Saarinen’s vision. Renovation work involved restoring bronze fin walls, creating a sparkling light installation in the lobby, and adding amenities befitting a five-star hotel like upscale dining options, a tricked-out fitness center, and a tranquil rooftop garden.

Knoll furnishings are sprinkled throughout, nodding to the bond shared by Saarinen and Florence Knoll Bassett. He designed many of Knoll’s most recognizable pieces, from the elegant Tulip Table to the enveloping Womb Chair, which helped establish the American furniture brand’s reputation during its formative years. When Saarinen died shortly after construction on Black Rock broke ground, Knoll Bassett took it upon herself to furnish the building’s entire interior, from reception areas to executive offices. It was her last corporate interiors project before she retired. Even after the renovation, the spirit of both trailblazers perseveres, and those who don’t work at Black Rock can still experience their legacy. Knoll’s New York showroom, which stocks multiple Saarinen classics, is a block away.

In Their Own Words: “The expressive and timeless design of Saarinen’s Black Rock building provided the perfect canvas to support a reinvention into a modern workplace experience,” says Dan Shannon, managing partner at MdeAS Architects. “By conceptualizing the experience from the outside in, we were able to restore the fundamental beauty of his design and apply the principles of form, light, and even water to new elements that meet the preferences of contemporary office users.”

Surface Says: With the restoration of Bell Labs, the TWA Hotel, and now Black Rock, we’re relieved that Saarinen’s legacy is being dutifully maintained and not meeting the wrecking ball.

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Don Angie is a neighborhood staple for a good reason. Chefs Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli masterfully execute Italian-American fare like whole roasted lobster in smoked vodka sauce from the flatiron-style street corner of West 12th and Greenwich Avenue. Now, San Sabino, the chefs’ destination for modern seafood, has set up shop two storefronts over. GRT Architects, the same studio behind Don Angie, helped San Sabino’s coastally inflected menu carry over into soft yellow interiors that evoke a vision of endless summer.

Natural stone, high-gloss tiles, and brass fixtures evoke warmth, but the most clever feature is actually the subtlest. Imperceptible at first, a fully upholstered ceiling allows guests to hear their own conversations. All the better to compare notes with the table on the crab and mortadella dip, the shrimp parm, or the farfalle stuffed with smoked chili crab.

It’s impossible to see everything during Milan Design Week, the weeklong whirlwind of product debuts, showroom visits, and branded pop-ups that takes over the Italian design capital every April. For attendees who simply couldn’t fit more appointments into their jam-packed schedule or those who skipped it entirely and stayed offline to suppress their smartphone-induced FOMO, our editor rounded up an admittedly non-exhaustive list of this year’s stellar product debuts. From alpine-inspired curtains by Ramdane Touhami to Sfrido Estate’s ensemble of marble offcut oddities, these are the launches we’re still thinking about in our post-Milan haze.

With two Malbon storefronts under their belt and a number of office, retail, and residential projects on the books, Dean Levin’s Los Angeles–based practice 22RE is quickly emerging as a firm to watch. The studio may be young, but approaches each interior with an acute awareness of how to subtly deploy sensory details that make a lasting impression, from one store’s placid lime green stucco walls to another’s clothing rack with a playfully knotted base.

Earlier this year, Piaule’s Catskills getaway furnished its Scandinavian-minimalist mountain retreat with Skagerak: Fritz Hansen’s new line of cedar furniture crafted with the great outdoors in mind. The lineup of slatted benches, loungers, and dining chairs strikes a balance of sun-kissed perfection, and resonates harmoniously with Piaule’s design directive to remain unobtrusive in the context of its forested surroundings. They cradle diners sitting down to enjoy chef Ryan Tate’s five-course tasting menu from the restaurant’s terrace, and provide a poolside perch from which sweeping views of nearby Hunter Mountain can be enjoyed over wine.

Perhaps most importantly, in the eyes of the two founders, the Skagerak collection pays homage to the surrounding wooded landscape. As Piaule Catskill strides towards its one-year anniversary, McHugh and Briggs revisit the role of the property’s dearest muse: nature.

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 interiors, Buoyant stands out in a crowded landscape.

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