DESIGN DISPATCH

LGDR Gallery Splits Up After Two Years, and Other News

Our daily look at the world through the lens of design.

Amalia Dayan, Dominique Lévy, Brett Gorvy, and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn. Photography by Caroline Tompkins

The Design Dispatch offers expertly written and essential news from the design world crafted by our dedicated team. Think of it as your cheat sheet for the day in design delivered to your inbox before you’ve had your coffee. Subscribe now

Have a news story our readers need to see? Submit it here

LGDR Gallery Splits Up After Two Years

LGDR is splitting up after two years. Formed by four prominent art dealers—Dominique Lévy, Brett Gorvy, Amalia Dayan, and Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn—to subvert the traditional gallery model, the consortium aimed to offer something different in competition with mega-galleries. Greenberg Rohatyn announced her departure from the group and will relaunch Salon 94 in October, which is kicking off with exhibitions of sculptures by Karon Davis, ceramics by Myrtle Williams, and hip-hop jewelry by Dynasty & Soull Ogun. The remaining members will continue working together and will be known as Lévy Gorvy Dayan. —Ryan Waddoups

San Siro stadium in Milan. Image courtesy Prelvini/Wikimedia Commons

Milan’s San Siro stadium gets spared from demolition due to its cultural significance.

Milan’s famous San Siro stadium, originally designed in the 1920s and shared by football clubs Inter Milan and AC Milan, has been saved from demolition due to its cultural heritage. The Regional Commission for the Cultural Heritage of Lombardy intervened, recognizing the stadium’s distinctive design. Instead of being replaced by a Populous-designed arena called the Cathedral, AC Milan and Inter Milan are now reportedly seeking two separate sites for their future stadiums, with AC Milan planning a 60,000-70,000 seat stadium in San Donato Milanese, and Inter Milan likely working with Populous for a new stadium south of Milan.

OpenAI makes its first acquisition: the AI development startup Global Illumination.

OpenAI, the company behind AI systems like DALL-E and ChatGPT, is acquiring its first company, the New York–based AI design and development startup Global Illumination. This acquisition brings in a team that has worked at the intersection of AI and tangible product with major tech companies like Instagram, Facebook, Google, and Pixar. The move appears to be aimed at enhancing OpenAI’s product expertise, potentially aiding in the development of new applications and tools. The acquisition highlights a growing trend in the tech industry, where designers are working to harness the largely untapped potential of AI, transforming it from a prompt-driven utility to software that can dynamically reshape its user interface.

“The City on a Hill” by Charles Simonds. Image courtesy of Charles Simonds/Artists Rights Society

Sotheby’s will preserve Charles Simonds sculptures in the Whitney’s former building.

The Whitney Museum of American Art is selling its former building at 945 Madison Avenue, but will leave behind the artwork Dwellings (1981) by Charles Simonds on a long-term loan. The piece, consisting of miniature buildings and landscapes, has been a part of the building’s stairwell for more than four decades. Sotheby’s, which bought the Marcel Breuer–designed structure, will act as stewards of the work, keeping it accessible to the public in its original location. The sculpture, depicting tiny settlements made of humble materials, represents the ruined homes of an imaginary civilization.

Willy Chavarria’s latest collection reinterprets silhouettes of classic Dickies workwear. 

Workwear, originally designed as safety clothing for manual laborers, has seen a resurgence in fashion, with wide-legged pants and utility jackets coming back into vogue. Willy Chavarria, known for blending workwear with streetwear, is collaborating with Dickies on a capsule collection that reimagines classic workwear items. The collection, available at Bergdorf Goodman, includes nine pieces such as structured work shirts, oversize bomber jackets, and wide-leg cargo pants. Chavarria’s designs aim to reflect the evolution of workwear, paying homage to its origins while offering a high-fashion interpretation.

New York City plans to rezone parts of Midtown Manhattan from office to residential.

New York City officials have announced plans to ease the conversion of office buildings into housing and open manufacturing areas for residential development in Midtown Manhattan. The initiative aims to address the city’s housing crisis and revitalize the business district, with one plan potentially allowing for 20,000 new homes through office building conversions. While the proposals have been commended by developers and housing advocates, they require City Council approval and do not provide funding for conversions, leading some to question how many building owners will proceed without financial incentives. The plans are part of a broader effort to adapt to changing work trends, but they fall short of fully addressing New York’s housing shortage, estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of homes.

Michigan State University’s first observatory in 1988. Image courtesy of Michigan State University Archives and Historial Collections

Today’s attractive distractions:

Michigan State University students unearth a lost 142-year-old observatory.

A newly identified pack of endangered gray wolves are roaming the Sierras.

Here’s where you can see a replica of the very first In-N-Out Burger stand.

This new Manhattan homewares shop puts cottagecore front and center.

All Stories