Blog type: Architecture & Design

Home for the Holidays: A Guide to Decorating Modernist Interiors

Posted on by Nancy

The holidays arrive gently inside a modernist home. Light stretches across expansive floors. Glass walls gather the shifting colors of winter. The architecture—open, minimal, intentional—sets the tone. Instead of competing with this clarity, holiday décor can echo it, creating moments of warmth that enhance, rather than overwhelm, the space.

For residents of Optima® communities — Optima Signature® and Optima Lakeview® in Chicago, Optima Verdana® in Wilmette, and Optima Kierland Apartments®, Optima Sonoran Village®, and Optima McDowell Mountain® in Scottsdale, the season is an opportunity to celebrate the beauty of restraint: decorating in ways that honor materiality, play with light, and bring nature indoors. Here’s a guide to approaching holiday décor through a design-conscious lens—one that feels at home in modernist spaces.

Begin with Light: The Season’s Most Modern Material
In modernist architecture, light is everything. This time of year, it becomes an active participant in the room.

  • Use soft, warm glows. Think frosted glass lanterns, minimal metal candleholders, or a cluster of tea lights arranged with intention. Light should feel quiet—more atmosphere than ornament.
  • Let reflections do the work. In homes with floor-to-ceiling glass, even the smallest illumination can multiply. Place lights where the architecture amplifies them: along window ledges, against concrete columns, or on floating shelves.
  • Avoid heavy string lights. Instead, choose delicate strands or sculptural LED pieces that feel like part of the architecture, not an afterthought.
A simple bough carries all the spirit and warmth of the season. Credit: Tina Miroshnichenko on Pexels.

Bring Nature In—With Restraint
Modern interiors excel when materials speak. During the holidays, nature can add warmth without clutter.

  • Choose simple greenery. A single branch of pine in a tall, narrow vase can be more striking than an entire garland. Eucalyptus, magnolia, desert botanicals, or juniper offer subtle color and shape.
  • Think sculptural, not sprawling. Minimal wreaths made from a thin brass ring and a small cluster of greenery feel contemporary and elegant—perfect for glass doors or concrete walls.
  • Honor the palette around you. Chicago and Wilmette residents might echo the winter landscape with muted greens and silvers, while Scottsdale homes can play with desert tones: sage, dusty rose, soft gold.

Use Color as an Accent, Not a Theme
Modernist interiors thrive on clarity. Too much color can feel noisy, but a single hue—strategically placed—can bring the season alive.

  • Pick one color story. Think deep forest green, warm terracotta, soft gold, or even a rich charcoal. Repeat it sparingly in textiles, glassware, or small decorative objects.
  • Let materials take the lead. Raw wood, brushed metal, wool, and stone carry warmth without introducing unnecessary visual clutter.
  • Avoid patterned décor. Minimalist spaces benefit from solids, textures, and tone-on-tone gestures that feel calm and architectural.

Create Small, Intentional Gatherings of Objects
Modernist design loves a vignette—a small cluster of objects that tell a story through composition.

  • Try a holiday still life. Arrange three to five objects on a tray: a candle, a ceramic vessel, a small botanical, a sculptural ornament. Let negative space do the rest.
  • Edit ruthlessly. If it doesn’t add beauty or meaning, it’s not needed. One thoughtful arrangement can feel more festive than an entire room of decorations.

Let the Architecture Shine
Holiday décor shouldn’t hide what makes Optima homes exceptional: the clean lines, the views, the expressive material palette.

  • Keep sightlines open. Resist the urge to place decorations on every surface. Allow the visual flow from one room to another to remain uninterrupted.
  • Highlight key architectural details. A concrete column wrapped with a single ribbon of greenery. A floating shelf with a minimalist candle. A glass corner that frames a small, sculptural tree.
  • Choose décor that feels like an extension of the space. Think in terms of form, balance, and proportion—the same principles the architecture was built upon.

A Modern Holiday, Defined by Warmth and Intention
Celebrating the holidays in a modernist home doesn’t mean sacrificing tradition—it means shaping it to fit your environment. With clean lines as your canvas, small gestures can have big emotional impact. A soft glow. A sculptural branch. A simple palette. A sense of calm that carries through each room.

At Optima®, where light, material, and open space define the experience of home, the holidays become an opportunity to express beauty in its most distilled form. Modern, warm, and unmistakably yours.

 

Women in Architecture: Marion Weiss

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In the evolving story of contemporary architecture, few have done more to dissolve boundaries — between disciplines, between built and natural environments, between imagination and form — than Marion Weiss. As cofounder of Weiss/Manfredi, she has spent her career redefining what it means to design “between” things: architecture and landscape, art and infrastructure, public and private space.

Weiss’s work embodies a philosophy of integration — an idea that resonates deeply with the Optima® ethos. Together with partner Michael Manfredi, she has created a portfolio of projects that move gracefully across scales and contexts, proving that design is not about asserting control over the environment, but about choreographing relationships within it.

Born in Philadelphia, Weiss studied at the University of Virginia and Yale School of Architecture, where she was drawn to the power of the landscape as both context and collaborator. That early interest has shaped her design sensibility ever since. In Weiss’s world, topography is never background; it is the generative force that gives architecture its shape and meaning.

Among her most acclaimed projects, the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle remains a masterclass in synthesis. Carved from a challenging urban site, the design creates a continuous, unfolding experience that moves from city to water, weaving art and ecology into a single living tapestry. The park transforms what was once a derelict industrial zone into a civic landscape of connection and renewal — a poetic act of urban repair that embodies Weiss’s belief in design as both sculptural and social.

Interior of the Barnard College Diana Center, 2016. Credit: dxbr on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed.

That same sensibility defines later works such as the Barnard College Diana Center in New York, where translucent layers of glass and structure reveal an interior life of collaboration, study, and movement. Or the La Brea Tar Pits Master Plan, where Weiss/Manfredi reimagines a storied site of natural and cultural history as a place of discovery — one that honors the deep time beneath our feet while creating new ways to experience it.

Through it all, Weiss maintains a profound commitment to education and mentorship. As the Graham Chair Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design, she challenges students to think expansively — to see architecture not as object-making, but as a spatial dialogue with the world.

For Weiss, the act of design begins with listening: to the site, to the climate, to the people who will inhabit the space. Her projects feel less like monuments and more like continuities — extensions of the landscape that invite participation and movement.

This perspective resonates with Optima®’s own architectural philosophy, where transparency, light, and integration with nature are central to how people live and interact within space. Both approaches seek to dissolve the barriers between interior and exterior life, between structure and setting — allowing architecture to breathe, adapt, and evolve.

In an era increasingly defined by environmental urgency and social complexity, Marion Weiss reminds us that architecture’s greatest strength lies in its capacity to connect. Her work suggests that when we design with empathy — for place, for people, for possibility — we create spaces that endure not by standing apart, but by belonging deeply to their context.

At Optima®, we recognize a kindred vision in Weiss’s work — one that views architecture as a living interface between people and the natural world. Just as Weiss/Manfredi projects flow seamlessly from structure to landscape, Optima®’s communities blur the boundary between indoors and out through expansive glazing, lush terraces, and thoughtfully layered green spaces.

In Wilmette, Scottsdale, and Chicago alike, that philosophy takes form in buildings that engage light, climate, and topography with the same sensitivity Weiss brings to every site she touches. Both perspectives affirm that the most inspiring architecture doesn’t resist its environment — it collaborates with it.

Through her practice, Marion Weiss has shown that design can be both ambitious and attuned, sculptural and sustainable, artful and human. It’s a balance that continues to guide the evolution of Optima®’s own spaces — where architecture, landscape, and life come together as one.

Anne Lacaton: Redefining Generosity in Architecture

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As our Women in Architecture series continues, we turn our attention to Anne Lacaton, an architect whose work stands as both a design philosophy and a social statement. Through her Paris-based practice Lacaton & Vassal, founded with Jean-Philippe Vassal in 1987, she has championed an approach that is at once radical and humane—reimagining how architecture can improve lives through restraint, adaptability, and an unwavering respect for what already exists.

Lacaton’s work is guided by a deceptively simple principle: never demolish, always add, transform, and reuse. Where others see outdated buildings, she sees potential. Her architecture resists spectacle and excess, instead offering generosity through space, light, and life. This ethos has reshaped social housing in Europe, challenged conventional notions of urban renewal, and offered a compelling model for sustainable design that prioritizes people over prestige.

Born in Saint-Pardoux, France, in 1955, Lacaton studied at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture in Bordeaux and later in Dakar, Senegal—a formative experience that expanded her understanding of how architecture responds to both climate and culture. Together with Vassal, she began exploring a design language rooted in economy, flexibility, and care. Their earliest works—lightweight pavilions, experimental houses, and reimagined apartments—revealed an architectural intelligence that merged technical ingenuity with social conscience.

FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais Contemporary Art Museum. Photo is from the official announcement for Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal being named the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureates. Photo copyright of Philippe Ruault, courtesy of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Among Lacaton & Vassal’s most celebrated projects is the Transformation of 530 Dwellings in Bordeaux (2017), a public housing retrofit that became a manifesto for architectural renewal. Instead of demolishing and rebuilding, the team expanded each unit with winter gardens and balconies, doubling living space while keeping residents in place. The result was not only more sustainable but profoundly more human—offering residents dignity, comfort, and beauty without displacement.That same philosophy runs through other transformative works: the Tour Boils-le-Prêtre in Paris, the Palais de Tokyo renovation, and the FRAC Nord-Pas de Calais contemporary art museum. Each project demonstrates how design can be both pragmatic and poetic—doing more with less, and doing it for the public good.

In 2021, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal received the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the field’s highest honor. The jury cited their “commitment to a restorative architecture,” one that enriches lives rather than consumes resources. It was a moment that solidified Lacaton’s place among the most important architects of our time—not because she builds monuments, but because she redefines what value in architecture truly means.

For residents of Optima® communities, Lacaton’s work offers a resonant parallel. Her designs, like Optima’s own, embrace light, openness, and flexibility—qualities that elevate daily life while honoring context and sustainability. Both approaches reveal how thoughtful design can cultivate community, adapt over time, and bring nature meaningfully into the home.

At Optima®, we often speak of architecture as a living system, one that evolves with its inhabitants. Lacaton’s work embodies that same belief. Her buildings are never static; they invite transformation. They remind us that the most responsible act of design may be not to start over, but to see what already exists with new eyes. They also remind us that to create well is to care: for people, for resources, for the future. In her words, “Transformation is an opportunity to do better—beautifully.”

Shaping Sustainable Futures

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At Optima®, sustainability isn’t a single initiative or checklist—it’s a design philosophy that informs everything we build, from the materials we select to the communities we shape. We believe that architecture has the power to create not only beautiful and functional spaces, but also enduring ones—places that evolve with people, conserve resources, and contribute to a healthier planet for generations to come.

Across our portfolio, sustainability takes many forms: innovative shading systems that reduce heat gain, signature lush vertical landscaping that cools buildings naturally, glass façades engineered to balance light and efficiency, and open floor plans that adapt as life changes. These choices add up to a simple truth: design can and should make it easier to live responsibly, without sacrificing comfort or beauty.

Building for the Long View
True sustainability begins long before a building rises from the ground. It starts with intention—with an understanding that every design decision has environmental, economic, and social impact. At Optima®, we integrate these considerations into every stage of the process: site selection, orientation, material sourcing, and energy performance. Our communities are designed to minimize waste and maximize longevity, reflecting a commitment to adaptive, future-ready living.

The Library Lounge at Optima Verdana® seamlessly integrates with lush courtyard landscaping.

This approach echoes the principles of biophilic design, which connects people with nature through form, light, and landscape. By blurring the boundaries between indoors and outdoors, our buildings create healthier, more restorative environments—reducing stress, improving air quality, and fostering a sense of belonging. Whether it’s the cascading gardens at Optima Sonoran Village® in Scottsdale or the sky-high terraces at Optima Signature® in Chicago, these natural integrations remind us that sustainability is as much about human well-being as it is about energy savings.

Design as an Ecosystem
We view every Optima® community as part of a larger ecosystem—one that balances innovation with responsibility. Our vertically integrated business model allows design, development, and management to work together seamlessly, ensuring that sustainability is embedded at every level rather than added later as a feature. This cohesion enables continuous improvement: learning from each project, refining our systems, and pushing the boundaries of performance.

We also recognize that sustainability extends beyond the physical environment. It includes the social sustainability of vibrant, connected communities. Shared amenities, walkable settings, and abundant green spaces create opportunities for interaction and wellness—encouraging residents to live not only sustainably, but meaningfully.

Shaping the Future, Responsibly
As the world faces urgent environmental challenges—from climate change to urban density—architecture plays a critical role in shaping more sustainable futures. Our mission is to continue evolving how we design, build, and live: reducing carbon footprints through smarter construction, leveraging renewable energy sources, and creating adaptable spaces that endure.

At Optima®, shaping sustainable futures means designing with empathy and foresight. It means creating architecture that serves not the present moment while also focusing on the possibilities ahead—spaces that will continue to grow, inspire, and give back to the world around us.

Architecture & Design in Sweater Weather: a Fall Field Guide

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When the lake breeze turns crisp and shadows lengthen, autumn on Chicago’s North Shore becomes a master class in light, material, and proportion—best of all, it’s right outside your door — especially if you’re an Optima Verdana® resident. Use this Wilmette-centric guide to plan close-to-home mini adventures that feed your design eye and make the most of golden hour.

Lakefront icons up close
Start with a timeless pairing: the Bahá’í House of Worship and nearby Gillson Park. The Temple’s nine-sided plan, lace-like ornament, and reflecting pools reward slow looking. Arrive just after sunrise or a bit before sunset; low angle light pulls crisp relief from the façade and softens the surrounding gardens. Frame wide to celebrate symmetry, then go tight on repeating motifs for pattern studies.

Walk (or bike) to Gillson for a material contrast—granular sand, limestone revetments, weathered wood, dune grass. Photograph edges: water meeting stone, shadow crossing boardwalk, footprints fading in a breeze. Pro tip: switch your phone to “pro” mode (or lock exposure) and under-expose by a third stop to keep sky detail; an inexpensive clip-on polarizer cuts glare and deepens lake tone.

A cloudy autumn day at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Credit: Bob Simpson on Flickr Creative Commons. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

North Shore Modernism in fall light: a self-guided look from Prairie to Mid-Century
The North Shore is a living survey of clean lines and honest materials. Plot a quiet, sidewalk-only loop through Wilmette and neighboring Evanston to study signatures that read beautifully in autumn:

  • Prairie lineage: broad eaves, low rooflines, banded windows, and strong horizontal brick courses that echo the flat Midwest horizon.
  • Streamlined Mid-Century: flat or low-pitch roofs, clerestory and corner windows, vertical cedar, and disciplined detailing—no ornament, just proportion.
  • Material truth: brick, stone, wood, and glass doing what they do best; fall light reveals the depth of joints, mortar, and grain.

Etiquette matters: admire from public sidewalks, skip close-ups of private interiors, and let the architecture—not the address—be the subject. Pack a small sketchbook; noting eave thickness or window rhythm sharpens your eye for your own home styling back at Optima Verdana®.

Chicago Botanic Garden: balcony design lessons from world-class landscapes
A short drive or bike ride delivers big ideas you can scale to a terrace. As you wander, translate garden moves into balcony rules of thumb:

  • Repetition as rhythm: repeat one plant or pot three times for calm; it reads like a chorus line.
  • Edit for structure: one evergreen “anchor” (boxwood cone, dwarf pine) + one textural foil (fine grass) + one seasonal accent = a composition that holds through winter.
  • Texture over color: in cooler months, contrast leaf shape, blade width, and seedhead silhouette; color is the bonus, not the driver.
  • Frame a view: position a taller planter to edge a sightline; negative space is part of the design.

Quick recipes for a North Shore fall container:

  1. Dwarf conifer + blue fescue + trailing ivy (evergreen backbone with movement)
  2. Boxwood ball + heuchera (bronze) + ornamental kale (winter-hardy color)
  3. Switchgrass (compact) + winter pansies + birch branches (height, bloom, sculptural line)

Use fast-draining soil, elevate pots on risers, and topdress with pea gravel or black lava for a clean, modern finish.

Public art, small towns: a walkable Wilmette + Evanston sculpture stroll
Make an afternoon of human-scale civic design. Begin near downtown Wilmette and work your way south by Metra or bike to Evanston. Seek out village-green pieces, library-adjacent works, and storefront installations—fall’s angled light throws generous shadows and makes sculpture pop against brick and limestone. In Evanston, loop through Fountain Square, then toward the Northwestern University campus greens and Lake Michigan for larger outdoor works that borrow the lake and sky as backdrops.

Treat public art as wayfinding: each piece becomes a node on your map, connecting pocket parks, storefronts, and cafés. Pause to note plinth vs. at-grade installations, how materials weather, and how pieces invite (or deny) touch and seating. Grab a warm drink and end at the shoreline for a last look at form against the horizon.

Pack light, look long

  • Layer up, bring a small cloth for lens/glasses, and charge your phone.
  • For photos: think edge, pattern, proportion; shoot wide, then isolate detail.
  • Back home, translate what you saw: edit surfaces, group objects in threes, and let light do more of the work.

In sweater weather, Wilmette becomes your studio: icons, Modernist lines, living landscapes, and civic sculpture—each a short, inspiring journey from your front door.

 

Biophilic Design at the Barbican Centre

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At Optima®, our approach to design is guided by the belief that spaces should foster a deep connection between people and the natural world. This philosophy, known as biophilic design, is not only a cornerstone of our architecture but also part of a broader architectural legacy. One of the earliest and most iconic examples of biophilic architecture can be found in London’s Barbican Centre—a cultural complex and residential community where the interplay of urbanity and nature creates an enduring sense of harmony.

Brutalism Meets Biophilia
The Barbican, designed by architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon and completed in stages between 1969 and 1982, is often described as a masterpiece of Brutalism. Its raw concrete surfaces, geometric massing, and elevated pedestrian walkways reflect the architectural ethos of its time. Yet beyond its monumental scale and striking form, the Barbican introduced a groundbreaking idea: that nature could be embedded into the DNA of a massive urban development.

Balcony landscaping at the Barbican Centre. Credit: Benny Dennis on Pexels.

Rebuilding a Bombed Landscape with Nature
The site itself was a postwar scar—a heavily bombed section of London left devastated by the Blitz. Rather than rebuild in a purely utilitarian way, the architects envisioned a “city within a city,” where cultural venues, residences, and public spaces were stitched together by gardens, terraces, and waterways. This integration of natural and built environments was radical at the time, anticipating what we now understand as biophilic design.

Greenery, Water, and Multi-Sensory Design
Central to this vision is the Barbican’s landscaping. Elevated podiums and terraces are softened with planting beds and climbing ivy that cascade over the concrete, counterbalancing the severity of the architecture with verdant life. At the heart of the complex lies an expansive lake and series of fountains, where water both animates the public realm and cools the surrounding microclimate. The layering of sensory experiences—visual greenery, the sound of water, the texture of rough concrete against soft foliage—demonstrates an early understanding of how the environment shapes human wellbeing.

The Barbican Conservatory: A Living Oasis
Perhaps the most celebrated expression of biophilia at the Barbican is its Conservatory, opened in 1984. Enclosed beneath a glass roof that lets in abundant natural light, the Conservatory shelters more than 1,500 species of plants and trees, including tropical varieties that thrive in its carefully controlled microclimate. This lush indoor landscape not only provides a year-round retreat from the city but also exemplifies a principle at the core of biophilic design: that exposure to nature—whether real, simulated, or cultivated—reduces stress, fosters creativity, and enhances quality of life.

Lessons for Contemporary Communities
What the Barbican achieved decades ago has since become central to contemporary design thinking. Biophilic architecture recognizes that humans are hardwired to seek connection with nature, and that integrating natural systems into the built environment delivers measurable benefits. The Barbican’s success lies not only in its aesthetic daring but in the way it has nurtured a sense of community and wellbeing across generations of residents and visitors.

Architecture and Nature, Seamlessly Intertwined
In London, the Barbican stands as an enduring reminder that even within the most urban context, life is richer when architecture opens itself to the natural world. In our own Optima® communities, this lesson continues to inspire how we design for beauty, health, and connection—where biophilia is not an afterthought, but the very essence of how we live.

Women in Architecture: Lesley Lokko

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At Optima®, we celebrate architecture not only for its form and function, but also for the voices that challenge, expand, and reimagine what the field can be. As part of our ongoing Women in Architecture series, we turn our attention to Lesley Lokko—architect, educator, novelist, and one of today’s most influential thinkers shaping the global conversation on architecture, identity, and social responsibility.

Born in Scotland and raised between Ghana and the UK, Lokko embodies the global fluidity that defines much of contemporary life. She trained as an architect at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, later teaching around the world before turning her attention to writing, education, and leadership. In 2021, she founded the African Futures Institute in Accra, Ghana—a new model for architectural education grounded in African perspectives but designed to reach a global audience.

House Lokko, Accra. Designed by Lesley Lokko. Completed in 2005, Lokko describes the home as a “modern mud house.” Credit: Festus Jackson-Davis African Futures Institute website.

For Lokko, architecture is never just about buildings. It is about culture, context, and community. Her work consistently asks: Who gets to shape space? Whose stories are told through the built environment? And how can architecture serve as a tool for equity and imagination rather than exclusion? These are questions that resonate deeply for Optima® residents, who live in spaces conceived not only as stunning works of design but also as vibrant, inclusive communities.

Lokko’s influence stretches beyond the classroom. In 2023, she made history as the first Black curator of the Venice Architecture Biennale, the most prestigious architectural exhibition in the world. Her exhibition, titled The Laboratory of the Future, spotlighted African and diasporic architects, artists, and thinkers, challenging Eurocentric narratives that have long dominated architectural discourse. It was an exhibition that did more than showcase projects; it reframed architecture as a living, evolving practice tied to migration, climate, race, and identity.

Her impact has been recognized at the highest levels. Lokko became the first British-African woman to receive the RIBA Gold Medal, one of architecture’s greatest honors. She was also awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to architecture and education” in the first New Year’s Honours List issued by King Charles III. These accolades confirm what many in the field already know: Lokko is reshaping architecture in theory, and in practice.

Her perspective is especially compelling at a time when architecture is being asked to solve urgent, interconnected challenges: climate change, urban density, resource scarcity, and the need for more inclusive spaces. Lokko’s response has been to insist that architectural education itself must adapt. She advocates for a curriculum that prepares architects not only to design, but to imagine futures—an ethos that aligns with Optima®’s own forward-looking approach to sustainable design, integrated landscapes, and human-centered living.

Just as Lokko dissolves boundaries between disciplines—moving fluidly between fiction writing, teaching, and architectural practice—Optima® residents experience architecture as more than walls, glass, and steel. They experience it as a daily rhythm that integrates design with wellness, art, and community. Lokko’s insistence that architecture is a cultural act reminds us that where we live shapes how we live, and vice versa.

Her novels, too, enrich this perspective. Known for her thrillers that explore race, identity, and belonging, including Soul Sisters, The Last Debutante, and Little White Lies, Lokko demonstrates that storytelling is another form of architecture: an arrangement of space and perspective, a construction of meaning. In this way, she bridges art and architecture in ways that echo Optima®’s own commitment to design as a multi-sensory, holistic experience.

To learn from Lesley Lokko’s vision is to be reminded that architecture is never static. It is a conversation between past and future, between individual and collective, between form and meaning. Lokko’s career—spanning continents, disciplines, and audiences—underscores the power of architecture not simply to reflect the world, but to reshape it.

SHIFT Happens: The 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennial

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Chicago’s global conversation on design is about to dial up again. This fall, the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) marks its ten-year anniversary with its sixth edition, SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, running September 19, 2025–February 28, 2026. Led by Artistic Director Florencia Rodríguez—the Biennial’s first Latina artistic director—SHIFT invites the world to rethink how architecture responds to urgent social, cultural, and environmental transformations.

At Optima®, we’ve always believed that architecture is a living discipline—felt in light and space, but also in how people gather, heal, learn, and thrive. CAB’s 2025 theme aligns with that ethos, spotlighting topics like collective housing, material culture, ecologies, and migration—areas where design has tangible power to improve everyday life. In Rodríguez’s words, the Biennial aims to “create an archive of contemporary architecture to inform decision making, education, debate and collective thinking,” a charge that resonates with our own commitment to thoughtful, human-centered design. 

As in past editions, the Biennial’s hub will be the Chicago Cultural Center, where the central exhibition opens on September 19. From there, the city becomes a campus: galleries, schools, cultural institutions, and neighborhood sites will host projects and programs that extend the conversation far beyond the loop. And in a tradition we love, CAB is free and open to the public, making world-class design discourse accessible to everyone. For Optima® residents, that accessibility is more than philosophical—if you call Optima Lakeview® or Optima Signature® home, you’re perfectly positioned to make multiple visits and follow the story as it unfolds.

Care. Model of a project in the context of the course Building Pleasures 03, Project by Clara Della Casa, Elisa Cudré-Mauroux, Eva Dimarco, and Sascha Coston, Teaching team: Anna Puigjaner, Dafni Retzepi, Ethel Baraona Pohl, Lisa Maillard, Luis Úrculo, Pol Esteve Castelló, and He Shen, 2024. Image: Luis Úrculo, courtesy of Care.

What should you expect from SHIFT? Scale and diversity. CAB anticipates 100+ projects from 30 countries, assembling architects, artists, and designers whose work explores new housing models, re-uses materials thoughtfully, and reimagines urban ecologies. That global range is part of Chicago’s special role: the city’s own legacy—from Sullivan and Wright to Mies, Goldberg, and beyond—catalyzes bold experimentation and clear-eyed critique. The Biennial channels that legacy into a contemporary brief: design with empathy, act with urgency, and prototype ideas the public can experience, question, and carry forward. 

For Optima®, SHIFT also underscores a principle we practice daily: architecture is civic. It’s not just about beautiful forms or technical finesse (though we cherish both). It’s about systems—how buildings hold communities, how daylight and color shape well-being, how courtyards, terraces, and shared amenities prompt neighborly connection. The conversations at CAB—around housing, materials, and ecological thinking—mirror the questions we ask as we design places where people genuinely want to live.

If you’re planning your visit, start at the Cultural Center to catch the core exhibition and opening programs, then branch out to partner venues across the city as additional sites and events are announced. Consider multiple trips across the run: the Biennial unfolds in exhibitions, talks, films, publications, and pop-up events, and its citywide constellation rewards repeat exploration. And remember—admission is free, an open invitation to bring friends, family, and colleagues into the dialogue. 

Chicago has always been a proving ground where ambitious ideas meet real urban life. With SHIFT, the 2025 Chicago Architecture Biennial asks us to recalibrate—to imagine, together, what needs to change and how design can help us get there. We’ll be there, taking notes and taking it in. See you in the galleries—and on the streets—this fall.

Get all the details and curate your own adventure at the CAB website.

Balancing Energy and Design: Current Trends in Feng Shui

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In recent years, the ancient Chinese art of feng shui has found renewed relevance, evolving to meet the needs of a modern, fast-paced world. Rooted in the idea that the arrangement of our surroundings influences the flow of qi—or life force—feng shui offers both a design philosophy and a way of living that prioritizes harmony, vitality, and connection. At Optima®, where architecture is conceived as a seamless blend of form and function, many of today’s most prominent feng shui trends align closely with our own design principles.

Biophilic Elements for Energy Flow
One of the strongest trends in contemporary feng shui is the incorporation of nature to encourage balance and rejuvenation. This is especially visible in the use of plants, water features, and natural materials to create a vibrant indoor environment. In feng shui, these elements help activate positive energy and create a bridge between interior spaces and the natural world.

Optima®’s communities—whether it’s the lush, green courtyards of Optima Kierland Apartments® or the serene pool decks of Optima Signature®—are designed with this principle in mind. Here, biophilic design doesn’t just bring nature indoors; it integrates greenery into the building’s structure, ensuring that residents experience nature as a daily, effortless part of life.

Light as a Vital Energy Source
In feng shui, light represents the strongest form of yang energy, enhancing vitality, clarity, and warmth. Modern practitioners emphasize maximizing natural light, using it not only to illuminate but to energize.

This is a philosophy deeply embedded in Optima®’s approach to architecture. Expansive floor-to-ceiling windows, open floor plans, and thoughtful building orientation capture and diffuse sunlight throughout the day. Whether it’s the soft morning light in a Wilmette residence at Optima Verdana® or the dramatic desert sunsets seen from an Optima Sonoran Village® terrace, the design supports the feng shui belief that light is as essential to our well-being as air and water.

Residents at Optima Signature® take in skyline views while enjoying access to indoor and outdoor heated pools year-round, making every day feel like a restoring retreat from the hustle of the city.

Decluttering as a Design Mindset
Minimalism and feng shui share common ground in advocating for spaces free of unnecessary clutter. In feng shui, clutter obstructs the natural flow of qi, while minimalism uses open, purposeful spaces to create a sense of calm and order.

At Optima®, interiors are intentionally designed to allow residents to move freely and to furnish their spaces in ways that reflect personal meaning rather than excess. Built-in storage solutions and thoughtful spatial planning provide both aesthetic and energetic clarity, echoing the feng shui principle that the most powerful rooms are those with breathing space.

Balanced Color Palettes
Color plays a central role in feng shui, with each hue corresponding to one of the five elements—wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Current trends embrace softer, nature-inspired palettes to promote tranquility, accented with purposeful pops of color to encourage specific energies, such as prosperity (greens), passion (reds), or stability (browns).

Optima® applies a similarly thoughtful approach to color, ensuring that palettes work in harmony with the building’s environment. For example, desert-inspired neutrals and earth tones complement the Arizona landscape, while in Chicago, deeper tones may contrast against the skyline while still maintaining balance within interiors and shared spaces.

Flow and Connectivity
Perhaps the most universal principle linking modern feng shui to Optima®’s architectural philosophy is the concept of flow. In feng shui, pathways—both physical and energetic—should be unobstructed, guiding movement and vision effortlessly through a space.

Optima® designs prioritize this same sense of flow. From sightlines that draw the eye toward nature or artwork, to communal areas that encourage organic movement and social connection, every element is positioned to create ease and continuity.

In today’s design landscape, feng shui is not about rigid rules or decorative superstitions—it’s about creating environments that feel alive, supportive, and in tune with the people who inhabit them. This modern interpretation mirrors Optima®’s own belief that architecture should enhance quality of life through thoughtful integration of space, light, color, and nature. By weaving together ancient wisdom and contemporary innovation, both feng shui and Optima®’s design philosophy remind us that when our environments are in balance, our lives are too.

Designing for the Mind: The Emerging Field of Neuroarchitecture

Posted on by Nancy

At Optima®, our communities are guided by a deep belief that architecture can nurture, inspire, and elevate the human spirit. This philosophy has long aligned with Modernism’s embrace of light, space, and form. Today, a growing field of study known as neuroarchitecture is helping to explain, through the lens of science, why certain spaces make us feel calm, creative, or connected.

What is Neuroarchitecture?
Neuroarchitecture sits at the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and architecture. It seeks to understand how the built environment influences brain function and emotional well-being. Using tools like functional MRI scans, eye-tracking studies, and biometric sensors, researchers can observe how different architectural elements—light, ceiling height, materials, spatial flow—affect cognitive performance, stress levels, and even hormone production.

At its core, neuroarchitecture is about recognizing that our brains are not passive observers of space. Instead, they are actively shaped by it. This emerging field offers a scientific foundation for what architects and designers have long intuited: the spaces we inhabit affect how we think, feel, and behave.

At Optima Lakeview®, the amenity spaces are integrated into the voluminous center atrium, providing beautifully designed, flowing spaces to gather or seek quiet moments.

The Brain’s Response to Space
Research in neuroarchitecture reveals that certain design features can measurably influence brain activity. For example:

  • Natural Light: Exposure to daylight regulates our circadian rhythms, boosts serotonin, and can enhance mood and productivity.
  • Ceiling Height: Taller ceilings have been linked to more expansive thinking, while lower ceilings can promote focus and concentration.
  • Nature Integration: Biophilic design—bringing natural forms, materials, and greenery into a space—reduces stress and promotes cognitive restoration.
  • Spatial Flow: Open, interconnected layouts encourage movement, social interaction, and a sense of freedom.

These findings are helping architects make more informed decisions, creating spaces that are not only beautiful but also neurologically supportive.

A New Lens on Modernist Principles
Modernist architecture, with its emphasis on functional beauty, open floor plans, and abundant light, often aligns naturally with neuroarchitectural insights. In Optima® communities, expansive windows flood interiors with daylight, green courtyards and gardens bring nature to residents’ doorsteps, and thoughtful spatial layouts encourage both solitude and connection.

For example, the lush vertical landscaping at Optima Sonoran Village® is not only visually striking—it offers residents a daily, tangible connection to the calming effects of nature. At Optima Verdana®, the indoor–outdoor flow of common spaces provides social engagement opportunities while supporting mental ease and relaxation.

Applications Beyond Residential Design
Neuroarchitecture’s potential extends far beyond homes. In schools, its principles can help create environments that improve focus and learning outcomes. In healthcare, design elements informed by neuroscience can reduce patient anxiety and promote faster recovery. Even in workplaces, carefully tuned lighting, acoustics, and layouts can enhance creativity, collaboration, and employee well-being.

The Future of Building for the Brain
As technology enables us to measure and analyze human responses to space with increasing precision, neuroarchitecture is likely to become an essential part of the design process. Architects and developers will have more data-driven insights to tailor environments to specific human needs—whether that’s reducing stress, encouraging collaboration, or sparking innovation.

For Optima®, this convergence of science and design reinforces a long-held commitment: that great architecture is not just about form, but about the lives lived within it. Neuroarchitecture offers a language and framework for understanding the deep connection between space and self—a connection we have been honoring through Modernist design for decades.

In the end, neuroarchitecture doesn’t replace the artistry of building; it enriches it. By aligning the principles of design with the biology of the brain, we can create spaces that are not only aesthetically compelling, but also profoundly supportive of human well-being—places where people don’t just live, but truly thrive.

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