EVD Office by EVD: 2020 Best of Year Winner for Firm’s Own Office International

What better way to achieve classical beauty than by paying homage to one of the art world’s greatest works? For its 3,200-square-foot design studio, EVD looked to Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina’s St. Jerome In His Study, where the titular theologian sits at a desk that flows seamlessly into the Gothic arcades and vaulted ceilings that surround it. EVD adopted the arch motif for its own use, first by placing curved walls that turned the main floor plan—originally a rectangle with generous windows on the long side—into a U-shape, and then scattering more arched apertures throughout. It’s a clever embrace of negative space, allowing the various rooms to feel connected yet also distinct. The firm also coated walls and the 16-foot ceiling, from which Apparatus pendant fixtures hang, in a textural wash of white paint that showcases their sculptural quality and carved out numerous domes, a reference to Pythagoras and Louis Kahn, both who emphasized the beauty of circular geometry.

Project Team: Yang Bing; Hao Liyun.

> See the full list of winners and honorees from Best of Year 2020