Exágono

Pepe Cruz Novillo: the man who designed Spain

2 May 2026
There are people whose work becomes part of daily life so naturally that it ends up invisible — not through irrelevance, but because it has settled into the landscape so firmly that we no longer look at it: we inhabit it. Pepe Cruz Novillo was one of those creators.

Iko Ishihara, painting as a space of memory

8 April 2026
Inspired by Japanese aesthetic concepts such as wabi-sabi, her painting proposes a quiet and restrained gaze in which texture, emptiness and gesture become tools for transforming personal experience into visual presence.

Matter, fire and silence: the essential art of Yoyo Balagué

29 October 2025
Her work is born from the dialogue between matter and spirit, between accident and intention. In her studio in the Empordà, surrounded by sea light and the murmur of the wind, the artist calls upon the elements —fire, air, water, earth— to take part in the creative process, allowing chance and time to leave their imprint on clay or canvas.

Erlantz Biderbost, architect of light and experience

2 September 2025
“Light is always my starting point; it is the essential tool with which I build each image. But it is experience—the act of inhabiting and understanding the space—that truly allows me to interpret it in my own way,” explains Erlantz.

The material and contemplative universe of Alicia Gimeno

17 August 2025
Alicia Gimeno inhabits the space where the elegance of abstraction and the wisdom of origins coexist. Each line, each form, emerges from a root and strips itself of words to exist as gesture. In her work, black on white is not contrast: it is whisper, root, a trace that emerges from silence.

María Jesús Manzanares: the embroidered memory of time

13 May 2025
The work of María Jesús Manzanares cannot be confined to painting or embroidery. Above all, it is a way of being in the world. Her approach to art is both reflective and physical, intimate and political. In her pieces, emotion appears as a trace or scar, an imprint on fabric or on the surface of paper. — photo by Andy Solé —

Zaha Hadid Architects designs the King Abdullah Financial District metro station, a major hub in Riyadh’s new network

2 December 2024
ZHA continuously refined the station’s design for structural efficiency and environmental performance. The façade’s composition echoes wind-shaped desert sand patterns, with multiple frequencies and reverberations that create complex, natural repetitions. The composition of the station's façade echoes the patterns generated by desert winds in the sand, where multiple frequencies and reverberation generate the complex repetition of patterns evident in the natural world.

Alejandra Pombo designs the Mena Restaurant in the LaFinca Grand Café shopping centre in Pozuelo de Alarcón.

28 November 2024
Mena is a restaurant whose essence revolves around the elements of fire, earth, water and wind, both in its decoration and ambience and in its cuisine. The claim that sums up this approach makes it clear: fire&bar. Its offer ranges from the spectacular food of chef Juanjo Canals, in which fire plays a fundamental role, to the very varied cocktail and drinks menu designed by Gonzalo Fernández.

We present some of Francesco Rota’s iconic designs for Paola Lenti as they celebrate 25 years of close collaboration.

11 November 2024
Paola Lenti has recently presented, with a renewed look, the two seats that have best represented this collaboration: the Linea (interior) and Wave (exterior) chaises longues, the result of this shared vision between company and designer, which has given an unmistakable stamp to many of the company's collections and which we now present in Exágono magazine.

Chromastudio designs a flat in Milan with colour and geometry as protagonists

6 November 2024
The old gives way to the new with an approach of recovery, where colour and its geometry, in contrast with neutral tones, shape new scenarios, in a continuous play between the horizontal and the vertical, the curved and the linear. Walking through the rooms, one sees a story in which each zone is characterised by a play of colours, with black and its derived tones as the common thread.

Dong Gong designs an original hotel complex in Jingdezhen, China, by reconstructing and expanding a former industrial building

18 October 2024
The Jingyang Camphor Court Hotel offers a new type of hospitality experience, with a spacious, publicly accessible cloister at its heart. The strategy of preserving, renovating, and revitalizing the existing building was fundamental in designing the hotel’s new spaces, serving as an example of adaptive reuse—a highly significant sustainable architectural practice.

We speak with El Equipo Creativo about their projects, creative process, and upcoming endeavors

9 October 2024
El Equipo Creativo is a renowned and award-winning interior architecture and design studio based in Barcelona, specializing in hospitality, gastronomy, and brand spaces. Founded in 2011 by architects Oliver Franz Schmidt, Natali Canas del Pozo, and Lucas Echeveste Lacy, their philosophy centers on the idea that spatial design should tell captivating stories and inspire people, always grounded in a solid conceptual approach. 

Foster + Partners designs the expansion and renovation of Bodegas Faustino with sustainability at its core

4 October 2024
The design by Foster + Partners reinterprets the winery as a whole, creating a stronger connection between the existing buildings and the surrounding vineyard. The vaulted roof draws inspiration from the winery’s industrial heritage, reimagined as a lightweight timber structure. Its catenary profile enhances structural performance while minimizing material use, and its earthy color palette allows the building to blend seamlessly into the landscape.

Héctor Serrano Barbeta, National Design Award 2024

4 October 2024
He has been awarded for “exceptionally embodying the breadth, creativity, versatility, and excellence of Spanish design” through impactful and internationally recognized objects and creations. We present his recent collection Tierra, Mar y Aire, created for Faro Barcelona.

The architectural metamorphosis of the Alfacs campsite in Tarragona is a project of gradual transformation led by the Bajet Giramé and JAAS studios.

29 June 2024
For this project the architects propose the construction of deliberately ambiguous habitats, between exterior and interior, very diverse, as spacious, communal and sunny as they are intimate and shady, offering corners, topographies, porches, swimming pools and gardens, with a spatial linkage that endows this holiday landscape with vitality.