How do you design a showroom for a product that's meant to cast other objects in the best possible light? Such was the main challenge facing Richard Hywel Evans when his firm was hired by Modular Lighting UK. But that wasn't all. The dilemma got that much trickier because the same 3,200-square-foot space had to give equal billing to furniture from Moroso—the same family owns the British franchise for both manufacturers. To weave a narrative from such disparate elements, Evans created a lively menagerie of birds and beasts. So a heron-shape aperture lined in red velvet accompanies Konstantin Grcic's doughnut of an ottoman and a row of square Diablo High Dynamix pendant fixtures, while fiber-optic strands spill from a grizzly cutout lined in faux bearskin.

Espasso, New York

DESIGN Architecture in Formation.

STANDOUT Display volumes and contemplative spaces punctuate a crisp industrial landscape.

Mercedes-Benz, San Francisco

DESIGN Huntsman Architectural Group.

STANDOUT A three-story atrium seamlessly connects two separate buildings.

Allsteel, San Francisco

DESIGN Gensler.

STANDOUT The 80-foot-wide glass curtain wall opens up the shallow space.