Located in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of downtown Washington, D.C., the new office for DirecTV’s lobbyists in many ways reflects this satellite-service provider’s image in a tradition-bound city.

Like a fortress, the Merchandise Mart Chicago looms calmly over the city’s namesake river.

Located in a Chicago highrise that overlooks the skyline and Lake Michigan, this contemporary art gallery and guest residence is designed to display works of art with spaces of varying scale.

In 1993, when the hip-hop-inspired hoodies, sneakers, and T-shirts of A Bathing Ape (aka BAPE) first began appearing on the back streets of Tokyo’s edgy Urahara neighborhood, their designer never dreamed his clothes would be sold next door to The Gap, Uniqlo, and other mass-market retailers.

The good news was that the generously proportioned loft apartment of 3,200 square feet in New York’s Tribeca district was a floor-through.

The Achilles Project is a chic fusion of fashion, art, food, and music.

Bardt and Leski, partners in the Providence firm 3SIX0, both teach at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and explore ideas by making models—wire frame, paper, cardboard, wood, you name it—and mock-ups at various scales.

The Shoe Box, flagship store for chic Pedder Red shoes, was designed to captivate the brand’s image through interior architecture.

In a place like Beijing, where anything goes, designers often bring in art installations or bold flower arrangements to add verve to upscale interiors.

Japan is the first country other than the United States to claim a MoMA Design Store.