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Design Beyond Aesthetics
A journal exploring electronic music, sound, and visual culture through a design perspective—connecting technology, rhythm, and contemporary creative practice. This platform focuses on the structures behind electronic music: from techno and house to sound design, production, and cultural movements. It examines how music is shaped by machines, systems, and environments—bridging design thinking with sonic experimentation.
While rooted in design, the focus shifts toward electronic music as a cultural and technological language, analyzing genres, artists, tools, and the spaces where sound becomes experience. Published on otaviosantiago.com, this is an independent perspective on how music, design, and technology intersect—moving beyond aesthetics into structure, systems, and culture.
Graphic, Web & Motion Designer
Oak House: A Hexagonal Wooden Tower by Ulf Mejergren in Sweden
The Oak House, designed by Ulf Mejergren Architects (UMA), rises as a hexagonal wooden tower in Kalmar, Sweden. Standing 6.5 meters tall, the structure merges the form of an ancient hollow oak with a small red house, creating a totemic figure that feels both familiar and slightly surreal. Children enter through a low opening in the “trunk,” where daylight filters from above through thick, branch-like wooden forms. Architecture of the Oak House Positioned beside Värsnäs Presch
7 hours ago
SCUT Lunar Tower: A Perforated Observatory Rising from China’s Mangrove Wetlands
SCUT Lunar Tower as Ecological Observatory The SCUT Lunar Tower stands at the eastern edge of the Hainan Dongzhaigang National Nature Reserve, an ecologically sensitive landscape that contains China’s largest continuous mangrove forest. Designed by the South China University of Technology Architectural Design and Research Institute, the tower functions as both an observatory and a research instrument rather than a dominant architectural object. Rising 33.5 meters above the we
Jul 15
Gambey Paris Apartment: PAF Atelier and BB Architectes Redefine Space with a Perforated Mezzanine
Gambey Paris Apartment as Interior Architecture The Gambey Paris Apartment, designed by PAF Atelier and BB Architectes, transforms a compact dwelling in Paris’s 11th arrondissement through a single, carefully inserted architectural element. Rather than dividing the apartment into conventional rooms, the project is organized around a freestanding steel structure that concentrates circulation, storage, and programming into one cohesive interior framework. This approach allows t
Jun 26
Blue Temple Builds Earthquake-Resistant Modular Bamboo Housing in Myanmar for the Price of a Smartphone
Modular Bamboo Housing for Extreme Conditions The modular bamboo housing project in Myanmar developed by Blue Temple in collaboration with Housing Now demonstrates how architecture can respond to crisis with precision, speed, and dignity. Located in the Bago region, the initiative delivers low-cost, earthquake-resistant homes designed for communities affected by conflict and natural disasters. Each unit can be constructed in just seven days and costs approximately 1,000 USD—a
May 31
Black Spatial Tradition Architecture: Portland’s Grain Silos Reimagined as a Cultural Complex
The transformation of a former grain terminal along Portland’s Willamette River into a cultural complex marks a significant moment for Black spatial tradition architecture in contemporary urban design. Known as the Albina Riverside project, the proposal reframes adaptive reuse not only as a material strategy, but as a cultural and spatial act of repair. Designed collaboratively by US studios AD—WO, MALL, and Wayside Studio, the project reclaims a neglected industrial waterfro
May 14
Design and Architecture: Spatial Thinking, Structure, and Visual Systems
Design and architecture share a common foundation: both shape how people experience space, movement, and structure . While architecture defines physical environments, design translates those environments into visual systems that guide perception, orientation, and meaning. Together, design and architecture construct the frameworks through which space becomes readable, functional, and culturally significant . Architecture establishes form, scale, proportion, and material pre
Feb 13
Nusantara Capital City Design: How Indonesia Reframed Its New Political Capital
Nusantara Capital City Design as a Political and Urban Strategy The Nusantara capital city design represents one of the most ambitious urban planning projects in contemporary Southeast Asia. Originally conceived as a full replacement for Jakarta, Nusantara has since been redefined as Indonesia’s political capital — a shift that reshapes not only its function, but its architectural and urban meaning. Masterplanned by Indonesian studio Urban+, the Nusantara capital city desig
Jan 20
Les Caryatides Guyancourt: When Irony Becomes Architectural Infrastructure
Les Caryatides Guyancourt and French Postmodernism Les Caryatides Guyancourt stands as one of the most provocative expressions of French postmodern architecture from the early 1990s. Designed by Manuel Núñez Yanowsky, the housing complex emerges at a moment when architects in France were actively rejecting late-modern functionalism and reintroducing history, symbolism, and theatrical form into the built environment. Alongside figures like Ricardo Bofill and Christian de Port
Jan 16
Snøhetta Designs Düsseldorf Opera House with Cavernous, Carved-Out Public Interiors
A New Düsseldorf Opera House Shaped by the River Snøhetta’s competition-winning proposal for the Düsseldorf opera house envisions a cultural landmark shaped by the long geological history of the Rhine. Designed as the future home of the Oper am Rhein, the building occupies a compact triangular plot and is organized into three trapezium-shaped volumes that open at ground level to the city around them. Each sloping roof tilts and lifts in response to neighboring structures, fr
Dec 22, 2025
KAWS Unveils 32-Meter Companion Lifting a Glowing Moon on Abu Dhabi’s Waterfront
KAWS Lights Up Abu Dhabi with a Monumental Moonlit Companion A new chapter in the global KAWS: HOLIDAY series has arrived, and this time the artist’s iconic Companion stretches 32 meters across the waterfront of Mina Zayed. Instead of floating or standing, the figure reclines gently at the edge of the promenade, holding a glowing moon to its chest. The installation, created with long-time collaborator. All Rights Reserved, forms the centerpiece of Manar Abu Dhabi 2025 , a cit
Dec 14, 2025
A Rare Mind: Remembering the Greatest Works of Frank Gehry Following His Passing at 96
A Legacy That Reshaped Architecture Frank Gehry’s passing at 96 marks the end of one of the most transformative careers in contemporary architecture. Few figures have shifted the global imagination as profoundly as he did. With a sculptural vocabulary that pushed beyond conventional geometry, and a fearless embrace of materials like titanium, stainless steel, plywood, and glass, Gehry revolutionized not only how buildings look, but how they behave—how they interact with light
Dec 10, 2025
Alwah House by RCR Arquitectes Blooms Like Ribbed Petals in the Dubai Desert
Alwah House , a 900-square-meter residence designed by RCR Arquitectes, rises from the Dubai desert like a blooming family of ribbed petals. Partially embedded in the sand, the home draws inspiration from the natural logic of flowers and oases. Its curved, shaded volumes create a microclimate where light, wind, and shadow choreograph the spatial experience, forming a topographic network shaped by the desert itself. Architecture of Alwah House At the heart of Alwah House is t
Dec 9, 2025
Invisible AWT Bar in Tokyo Uses Heated Acrylic Panels to Distort Space and Reality
A Bar That Appears… by Almost Disappearing - Invisible AWT Bar During Art Week Tokyo 2025, Ichio Matsuzawa Office introduced the invisible AWT bar , an experimental social space formed not through walls or solid partitions, but through light, transparency, and distortion. Instead of architecture shaping the room, the installation explores how material behavior — reflections, angles, and bending light — can become the true generator of form. At the center of this exploration a
Dec 7, 2025
Heatherwick Studio Reveals Birmingham Stadium Shaped by Twelve Chimney-Like Towers
A New Architectural Era for Birmingham City Football Club Heatherwick Studio and MANICA Architecture have revealed the design for a new Birmingham stadium that will serve as the future home of Birmingham City Football Club. The proposal arrives in time for the club’s 150th anniversary and forms the core of the broader Birmingham Sports Quarter — an ambitious redevelopment planned for Bordesley Green in East Birmingham. Early visualizations highlight a structure defined not
Dec 6, 2025
How Stone Construction Is Transforming Low-Carbon Architecture in the UK
The Design Museum in London is accelerating the UK's shift toward stone construction with the Stone Demonstrator, a full-scale prototype that proves natural stone can dramatically reduce the carbon impact of everyday buildings. Installed at Empress Place within the Earls Court development, the structure replaces concrete, fired clay bricks, and almost all steel with granite and limestone — resulting in approximately 90% lower carbon emissions . Created by the Design Museum’s
Nov 28, 2025
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