What’s Happening: There’s no shortage of sensationalized projects nearing their do-or-die completion date as the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games close in. But the restoration of the Grand Palais, arguably the grand dame of them all, was quietly metamorphosing in the background until now.

The Download: Paris has embarked on a dizzying array of ambitious projects in the interest of putting its best foot forward when the 2024 Summer Olympic Games kick off in about two months. There’s making the Seine swimmable—a dubious proposition by any stretch, yet one that Los Angeles 2028 is taking a cue from—along with 15-minute cities, a “green” Olympic Village, and Mathieu Lehanneur’s transformation of Musée d’Orsay’s clocktower into a romantic Airbnb. While these projects and more (like those outrageous anti-sex beds) have consumed the lion’s share of press around civic undertakings, Chatillon Architectes has embarked on an all-consuming restoration of the Grand Palais. At present, two shifts of around 900 workers are refurbishing the Beaux-Arts landmark to get its central nave in shape to host taekwondo and fencing.

Originally built in three years by a crew of just 1,500 and overseen by four architects for the 1900 World’s Fair, the scale and scope of the refurbishment now in the hands of François Chatillon is staggering. In a recent interview with the Financial Times, the architect shared that he’s working with no fewer than 50 companies and 200 subcontractors. As a result, even a seemingly simple task like choosing a shade of concrete for the nave’s floor took three months. The project’s full scope includes unifying its galleries and naves, rehabilitating its balconies and cantilevered concrete walkway, replacing walls and partitions added over the years with transparent glass panes, and restoring period details like the bronze adornments on the main nave’s grand staircase.

It’s little wonder that the project has been in the works since 2021. Even before it shuttered, the Grand Palais had cultivated a reputation for captivating gutsy, outside-the-box thinkers. Anish Kapoor and Karl Lagerfeld pushed the 188,000-square-foot dome’s spatial boundaries with Kapoor’s Leviathan sculpture and Lagerfeld’s larger-than-life rocket for Chanel’s Fall/Winter 2017 runway show). Upon its full completion in 2025, the fully restored Palais will welcome 60,000 plants in a sprawling landscape inspired by the neighboring Champs-Élysées gardens, and two of its galleries will host the collections of the Centre Pompidou while it undergoes refurbishment.

In Their Own Words: “The opportunity to redevelop an icon is amazing, but the Grand Palais feels like so much more,” Chatillon says. “It’s the opportunity to return a permanent public use to the building, to redevelop the surrounding grounds, to connect the building back with the city, and to adapt it for the Olympics and future generations. This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime project.”

Surface Says: From Paris+ Par Art Basel to the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, we’re sure that, like us, plenty of industry movers and shakers have their eye on the Palais’ 2025 completion date.

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On June 1, dress for a Maximalist Fairytale of a night in honor of the Art Students League Dream Ball. The defining gala of New York’s premier institution for arts education has a century-old history, beginning in the 1920s as a scholarship fundraiser. After a decades-long hiatus, the organization revived the event last year to support its offerings of foundational and continuing education for underserved youth.

Surface readers are invited to be a part of the League’s present—and future—by purchasing their event tickets now.

Perhaps best known for its suite of Parisian palace hotels, the definitive name in five-star has launched The Lana Hotel, its latest in the farther-flung destination of Dubai. The 30-floor expanse takes inspiration from both the emirate’s climate and its reputation for glitz, pairing glittering sculptures by Sophie Coryndon with gilded brocade accent upholstery and a desert-driven palette of sandstone mosaic, ivory marble, and plush taupe carpeting.

The interiors are the brainchild of Parisian studio Gilles & Boissier, who harnessed the hotel’s siting to frame views of the nearby Burj Khalifa skyscraper from its 225 guest rooms and four of its eight restaurant and bar concepts. While The Lana’s marvelous rooftop pool and chef Martín Berasategui’s culinary ode to Basque country are worthy of note, so too are the property’s bragging rights to the first Dior Spa in the U.A.E.

Our weekly roundup of the internet’s most preposterous headlines, from the outrageous to the outright bizarre.

Scientists Confirm Microplastics Found in Human Testicles [Insider Paper]

Self-Driving Tesla Nearly Hits Oncoming Train, Raises New Concern on Car’s Safety [International Business Times]

Drunk Monkey Goes on Rampage Fueled by Jealousy Over Owner’s New Husband [Newsweek]

Ambulance Collides With Moose While Responding to Another Moose Collision [Global News]

New Zealand Man Filmed Trying to “Body Slam” an Orca in Actions Described as “Idiotic” [The Guardian]

Micah Rosenblatt studied Jewish mysticism and intended on becoming a rabbi, but instantly fell in love with welding steel by chance at a high-end Brooklyn fabrication shop. After almost a decade spent learning the ins and outs of steel’s behavior, the Gainesville-born talent has found himself endlessly drawn to pushing his most favored material in bold new directions, where furniture imbued with surreal shapes and intriguing silhouettes reveal answers to our questions about them little by little.

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The Future Perfect is a platform for distinguished and emerging contemporary designers. With locations in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, The Future Perfect works closely with designers to commission limited-edition pieces and to develop special exhibitions.

Surface Says: The Future Perfect put forth a new paradigm for the design showroom: a curated commercial space that felt like home, only far ahead of its time. As an early adopter of current superstars, founder David Alhadeff has proven to be a bellwether for greatness.

Billie Eilish has been striving for a more sustainable rollout of her new album.

Rescue dogs and cats are modeling Ikea’s latest collection of pet essentials.

This 1,000-page math proof is so complex that almost no one can explain it.

Joseph Walsh crafts a wood conductor’s rail for Louisville’s Orchestra.