An avocado-shaped house is a smashing California stay

What happens when a Southern California desert home is designed around just three circles? This curved residence was born of such a minimalist premise, taking its cues from, and unfolding around, its surrounding landscape.

Avocado House is a newly completed retreat created by Arshia Architects' principal Arshia Mahmoodi. The starting point was three simple circular shapes. One forms the house's core, another defines the yard, and a third connects the two. Sections of that geometry were then carved away to create a crescent-shaped courtyard and frame views across Yucca Valley to the San Jacinto Mountains.

Somewhere along the design process, the floorplan began to resemble an avocado, with the rounded core forming the ‘pit’ and the name stuck. The three-bedroom home is now part of Fieldtrip’s Signature Homes portfolio, the hospitality company behind Joshua Tree’s famed piece of desert architecture, the Invisible House, and other distinctive properties for home stays that include boutique hotel amenities. Carole Dixon finds out why Avocado House looks sure to be a smash hit.

Even in her nineties, June Leaf couldn’t stay still for long, recalls writer Robert Sullivan of the American artist who, two years after her death, is soon to have a first solo show in Los Angeles, and currently has work on show as part of ‘The Bowery: Devil’s Mile’ at New York’s New Museum.

Back in 2024, visiting Leaf at the Bleecker Street home and studio she had shared with her late husband, photographer Robert Frank (1924-2019), for decades, Sullivan found her still strong and vital at 94, as sharp as a tack. The studio is where her hands tried to keep up with her mind in forging dreamscapes: strips of tin were fashioned as limbs, and painted figures raced or ran or fell, and felt alive even when at rest. ‘The secret is not drawing but dance’ is written across one of her charcoal works. She drew her moving sculptures, painted her drawings’ momentum and, just standing in her studio, you could see her characters moving toward meanings, inhabiting abstract truths. She once told an interviewer, ‘I make them move, breathe, you know, get up, talk back to me.’ Read on for Sullivan’s recollections of an extraordinary artist, and a full studio tour.

From branded initiatives to art installations, bespoke sound systems, and immersive playback experiences, soundscapes are the pavilions of our era. So why exactly has the physical shape of sound taken on so much cultural weight? Is it all about the soundtrack, the space, the speakers, or simply the ethos and experience of being completely immersed within audio? What's most notable is who is engaging with sound and why.

The current state of audio fetishisation has moved on a stage from the listening bars of the last decade into something even more involved – a full-on, highly performative sonic immersion. The rocketing revival of physical media, from vinyl to cassettes and CDs, is coupled with a renewed interest in sound systems big and small, bespoke speaker designs and custom installations. Brands, manufacturers and artists are realising the power of focused listening as a tool for securing attention in a focus-deficit world. Jonathan Bell turns an expert ear to the new world of audio installations.

At Design Miami Paris, the Best Gallery Presentation award went to Salon 94 Design, which juxtaposes sculptural works by Alberto and Diego Giacometti with antler stools and other brutalist furniture by Rick Owens. ‘It came out beautifully,’ said Owens of the stand as he wandered through the fair with his wife, Michèle Lamy. ‘They’re opening the Giacometti Foundation next to our house. I always thought, Alberto Giacometti – he lived in squalor, in that artist’s studio, and that’s what I want our house to look like.’ See more of our highlights.