Rather than replacing student thinking, when teachers design and guide AI experiences, the technology is most often used to deepen critical thinking and strengthen instruction, according to new insights from SchoolAI.
The report analyzed more than 23,000 teacher-created SchoolAI ‘Spaces’ used during the 2024-25 school year. These Spaces span English language arts, math, science, and social studies across elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. To answer the question of AI’s impact on student learning, we must first understand how it’s being used in the classroom. This study examined what teachers built and how students were asked to think when AI was involved.
Across subjects and grade levels, the data shows that higher-order thinking appears far more often than simple recall. Seventy-three percent of lessons require conceptual understanding, while 59 percent ask students to analyze information, and 58 percent ask them to evaluate ideas or make judgments. More than 75 percent of AI-supported lessons remain grounded in core academic curriculum, showing that teachers are extending familiar instruction rather than replacing it.
“There has been a lot of speculation about what AI might do to learning,” said Caleb Hicks, founder and CEO of SchoolAI. “This research gives educators, leaders, and policymakers something far more useful: evidence of what teachers are actually doing. When teachers design the experience and set clear expectations, AI becomes a way to push students toward deeper reasoning, analysis, and judgment. It supports rigorous thinking rather than replacing it, which is why AI can be a valuable tool for classroom learning.”
The study also highlights how teachers are using AI to create interactive, engaging learning experiences at scale while maintaining academic rigor. In science classrooms, roughly 25 percent of Spaces encourage open-ended investigation, while role-play and simulation appear in 18-20 percent of reading and social studies lessons.
At the same time, teachers recognize the importance of boundaries in responsible AI use. Teachers reinforce learning instead of simply looking up answers by designing experiences that push students toward deeper reasoning, not shortcuts.
“This study was designed to look at practice, not predictions,” said Cynthia Chiong, principal research scientist at SchoolAI. “We wanted to understand the kinds of thinking teachers are intentionally asking for when AI is involved. The findings offer concrete evidence of how teacher-led design shapes meaningful and responsible use of AI in real classrooms.”
Together, the findings challenge common fears about AI undermining learning. The research shows that when teachers lead the design, AI can strengthen critical thinking, increase engagement, and support responsible instruction across classrooms.
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The kitchen plays a pivotal role in winning over potential homebuyers. Considered the heart of the home, it’s typically the most important, family-centric room for buyers. Those touring for-sale properties will inevitably imagine themselves throwing dinner parties, simmering soup on a chilly day, or working their way through a favorite cookbook in this space. So, what does that mean for sellers who are hoping to net top dollar for their home?
While savvy buyers won’t get too hung up on things they can easily change, like paint colors that don’t suit their own tastes or outdated cabinet hardware, there are some kitchen design features that they’ll have a much harder time looking past. I asked real estate and design pros what things in a kitchen immediately turn off homebuyers, and here’s what they had to say.
1. Butcher Block Countertops
As beautiful as they can be, butcher blocks are cheaper than stone, which is why so many flippers use them in renovations, says Remington Rand, a real estate agent and president of Rand Properties. While these counters look great when new, they turn off buyers who know that they scar easily when you use them heavily, Rand says. “Around sinks, it can be challenging to seal and can allow water to creep in, causing rot,” he says.
The exception here: When butcher blocks are used as actual cutting surfaces on a small section or island, it’s practical and develops a natural patina. If you do buy a home with butcher block counters, Rand recommends you make sure you know what kind of sealant was used on the wood so you can maintain it.
2. Mismatched Appliances
Sellers don’t need to have the trendiest kitchen appliances to win over buyers, but the large appliances in the kitchen should at least match, says Broker Sean Adu-Gyamfi of Coldwell Banker Warburg in NYC. A white refrigerator paired with a stainless steel oven or dishwasher may seem like a minor issue, he says, but buyers will perceive clashing appliances as an extra expense to achieve the cohesive and aesthetically pleasing kitchen that they expect.
Kitchen appliances have varying lifespans. So when a buyer notices a kitchen full of outdated appliances, they’ll immediately start seeing additional dollar signs, says Ebony Boudreaux, a kitchen and bath designer at NFM in Kansas City. “If there are old appliances in a home, chances are they either do not work or they are on their way to the appliance graveyard,” she says. “Appliances can be a big-ticket item in a home.” Also, if those appliances are built-in, buyers could be looking at a partial or complete kitchen remodel in the future.
“Many homebuyers prefer to have a kitchen with newer appliances — even if the appliances are not high-end,” Boudreaux says. “The peace of mind in knowing that they don’t ‘have’ to make this type of purchase after buying a home can be a major selling point.”
4. Fluorescent Box Lighting
Mood lighting is among the top kitchen trends designers are betting on to be big in 2025. Buyers tend to prefer warm lighting and can be put off by the harsh institutional lighting of fluorescent box lights, which creates an unwelcoming atmosphere and casts unflattering shadows, says Anna Tatsioni, lead interior designer at Decorilla, an online interior design service. Layered lighting with recessed LEDs, statement pendant fixtures, and under-cabinet lighting are all trending for 2025, she says.
Popular in the 1990s, orange-tinted oak cabinets date a kitchen and can lead buyers to think the kitchen is in need of a renovation. The heavy grain and outdated color makes smaller kitchens feel cramped, Tatsioni says. Today’s buyers are gravitating towards cabinets that are warm white, greige, or sage green with clean lines and minimal graining, she says. “Buyers also appreciate soft-close hardware and organized storage solutions,” Tatsioni says.
6. Overly Thematic Designs
A strongly themed or over-accessorized kitchen that seems too personal gives buyers the “ick” too, explains Elissa Hall, lead designer at Awning. “Most buyers go in expecting to find a blank canvas where they can picture their own family get-togethers, and excessive décor — like a brilliant red “diner-style” theme replete with fake neon signs — may destroy that idea before they’ve even had a chance to investigate the rest of the room,” she says.
Hall once saw a kitchen that was outfitted with a colorful nautical theme, including fishnet stretched over the ceiling and faux portholes on the cabinets, which distracted from the high-end appliances. It’s fine to add personality to your space, but be sure to keep it more neutral when staging it for buyers — and consider following some of these expert tips.
Are any of these your kitchen “icks,” too? Let us know in the comments below!
Have you ever dreamed of having a pool table in your home? If you’ve been wondering how to turn your dinner table into a pool table, Fusiontables has created an ingenious solution that’s revolutionizing home entertainment. Pool tables are undeniably fun, whether you’re an expert player or just enjoy the occasional game with friends and family. They’re perfect for parties, casual gatherings, and creating memorable moments that bring people together.
But for most of us, that dream quickly crashes into reality with one simple question: “Where am I going to put it?”
Traditional pool tables are massive pieces of furniture. They’re extremely heavy, require a dedicated room, and take up so much space that they essentially eliminate any other use for that area. For apartment dwellers, homeowners with limited square footage, or anyone who doesn’t want to sacrifice an entire room to a single piece of furniture, a pool table has always seemed like an impossible luxury.
Until now.
The Space Problem Most Homeowners Face
Modern living spaces are getting smaller, not larger. Whether you’re in a city apartment, a suburban home with an open floor plan, or simply trying to make the most of every square foot, the challenge is the same: how do you create a home that’s both functional and fun?
We’ve all been there. You want to entertain, you want your home to be a place where people want to gather, but you also need practical furniture that serves daily needs. The idea of dedicating valuable space to something you’ll only use occasionally just doesn’t make sense, especially when quality furniture requires careful space planning.
This is exactly why multifunctional furniture has become such a game changer in modern interior design. Today’s best furniture pieces work harder, serving multiple purposes without compromising on style or quality. Just as modern furniture from brands like Article have redefined what we expect from our homes, convertible dining pool tables are transforming how we think about entertainment spaces.
Enter Fusiontables: The Belgian Innovation That Changes Everything
In 1997, a team of designers and engineers at Saluc, a Belgian company headquartered in Callenelle, had a revolutionary idea. Saluc is already the world leader in manufacturing high quality pool balls under the legendary Aramith brand, so they know a thing or two about billiards. But they also recognized a huge gap in the market.
Pool enthusiasts who loved contemporary design were stuck with traditional, bulky pool tables that looked completely out of place in modern homes. Meanwhile, design conscious homeowners who would have loved to own a pool table couldn’t justify the space.
The Saluc team asked themselves: what if we could create a pool table that doesn’t look like a pool table? What if it could be beautiful enough to be the centerpiece of your dining room, sophisticated enough to blend seamlessly with modern decor, and functional enough to use every single day?
The result became Fusiontables, a line of stunning dining pool tables that transform from elegant dinner tables into professional quality pool tables in less than 60 seconds.
How Fusiontables Actually Work
Here’s where it gets really interesting. The engineers at Saluc didn’t just slap a dining top onto a pool table and call it a day. They completely reimagined what a convertible table could be, introducing several patented technologies that make the Fusion table unlike anything else on the market.
The Easy-Lift System
One of the biggest challenges with any dining/pool table is the height difference. Pool tables need to be 32.5 inches high for optimal play, while dining tables are typically 29.5 inches. That three inch difference might not sound like much, but it makes all the difference in comfort and playability.
Fusiontables solved this with their patented Easy-Lift system. Using spring assisted technology, you can raise or lower the entire table with minimal effort. The system requires zero maintenance, features an auto lock mechanism for safety, and includes auto leveling to ensure your table stays perfectly flat whether you’re dining or playing. No wobbling, no adjusting, just smooth, effortless transformation.
The Flat Pocket System
Traditional pool tables have pockets that hang down underneath, creating an obvious “pool table look” that screams “game room furniture.” They’re also impractical if you want to store things or have seating that slides underneath.
Fusiontables created an ingenious flat pocket system using memory nylon. When you’re playing pool and balls drop into the pockets, the nylon extends underneath the table to catch them. But when you remove the balls, the pockets return to a completely flat position, invisible from any angle.
Even better? At the end of your game, you can slide metallic strips over each of the six pockets and store your pool balls right inside the table’s slim 4.5 inch profile. Everything you need stays with the table, hidden in plain sight. This innovative design adheres to furniture safety standards while maintaining its sleek aesthetic.
Professional Grade Playing Surface
Don’t let the sleek design fool you. This is a serious pool table that meets the exact specifications of a regulation 7 foot American pool table. The playing surface is a single piece of precision cut 19mm natural slate, not the typical three piece slate that requires careful alignment and constant adjustment.
That one piece slate sits on Fusion’s rigid SpaceFrame, eliminating all the leveling issues common with traditional tables. The table also features K66 cushions, considered the gold standard for rebound consistency and precision, along with Simonis cloth, the worldwide benchmark for high quality pool table fabric. You can choose from 25 different cloth colors to match your interior design.
Transform in 60 Seconds
The transformation process is surprisingly simple. For dining, three beautiful table tops create a generous surface that comfortably seats up to 10 people, with matching benches that slide perfectly underneath. All billiard accessories are discreetly stored within the table’s 4.5 inch profile.
When it’s time to play, simply slide the benches out, remove the three lightweight table tops, retrieve your cues and balls from the integrated storage, engage the Easy-Lift system to raise the table to playing height, and you’re ready to go. No tools, no complicated mechanisms, no heavy lifting. Just simple, elegant functionality.
Design Options to Match Any Style
One of the most impressive aspects of Fusiontables is how customizable they are. The tables come in powder coated steel (aluminum grey, satin white, or satin black) or brushed stainless steel for the ultimate luxury option.
Wood finishes include Vintage Oak, Walnut Select, Grey Oak, White Oak, and Wenge, each bringing its own character to your space. The Vintage collection is particularly striking, combining reclaimed wood aesthetics with a post industrial metal frame that evokes the ambiance of an old Brooklyn workshop in a sophisticated, contemporary way.
For those wanting something truly unique, the Crystal Mirage Glass Tops can be customized with high resolution prints using cutting edge technology. I’ve seen these used brilliantly in wine cellars, corporate offices, and modern homes with abstract art designs. It’s a conversation starter that elevates the table from furniture to art piece, much like unique statement furniture pieces that transform ordinary rooms into extraordinary spaces.
The Rock Reverso Collection offers the ultimate in versatility, with ceramic panels that provide two different surfaces in one table top. The ceramic side is incredibly resilient: stain resistant, chemical resistant, fire and heat resistant, scratch resistant, and even has antibacterial and antifungal properties.
Complete Your Space
Fusiontables also offers a complete collection of matching furniture including chairs, benches, LED lighting, and even a unique cue holder made from the same phenolic material as Aramith billiard balls. Every table comes with a comprehensive accessory kit including Aramith pool balls, wooden cues and racks, chalk, cleaning supplies, and everything else you need to start playing immediately.
See also
Investment and Value
A Fusiontable is an investment, with prices starting around $8,200. That might seem steep until you consider what you’re getting: a professional quality pool table AND a designer dining table that seats 10, all in one space saving package.
Compare that to buying both pieces separately. A quality dining table that seats 10 people typically runs $2,000 to $4,000. A regulation pool table with professional grade components easily costs $3,000 to $6,000 or more. You’re also saving the cost and space of a dedicated game room.
When you factor in the Belgian craftsmanship, patented technology, premium materials, and the space you’re saving, the value proposition becomes clear. Plus, like quality investment furniture, well made pieces last for decades, not years.
Space Requirements
The table measures 230cm x 134cm x 75cm (90.5″ x 52.75″ x 29.5″) with a playing surface of 192cm x 96cm. You’ll need a minimum room size of 4.38m x 3.42m (171″ x 134″), though 4.90m x 3.95m (192″ x 154″) is optimal for comfortable cueing from all sides.
Keep in mind that unlike traditional pool tables that sit unused most of the time, your Fusion table will function as your dining table every single day, making far better use of your space.
Perfect for Multiple Settings
Fusiontables work beautifully in homes, particularly in open concept living/dining areas, finished basements, modern lofts, and vacation homes where entertainment is key. If you’re planning to host gatherings, a Fusiontable provides both dining and entertainment in one elegant package.
Forward thinking companies are also discovering their benefits in conference rooms (meetings by day, team bonding by night), employee lounges, and client entertainment spaces. High end hotels and boutique accommodations use them to create memorable guest experiences that differentiate their properties.
Why This Matters
In a world filled with disposable furniture and fickle trends, consumers are demanding products with strong identity and lasting value. We want furniture that adapts to our lifestyle, not the other way around. We value quality time with family and friends. We need homes that are both beautiful and functional.
The Fusiontables concept addresses this by mixing sleek, minimalist design with exceptional functionality. It’s furniture that brings people together across all generations for enjoyable, memorable moments. Just like how brands have revolutionized affordable quality furniture, Fusiontables is revolutionizing how we think about entertainment furniture.
The Bottom Line
A Fusiontable isn’t just a pool table that converts to a dining table. It’s a complete reimagining of what furniture can be. It’s a conversation piece, a gathering place, and a smart solution to the eternal challenge of making the most of our living spaces.
For pool enthusiasts who never thought they’d have room for a table, this is your answer. For design lovers who want furniture that’s as beautiful as it is functional, this delivers. For anyone who wants their home to be a place where people love to gather, where memories are made over both meals and games, this is exactly what you’ve been looking for.
The question isn’t really “where am I going to put a pool table?” anymore. The question is “why haven’t I made my dining table work this hard before?”
If you’re interested in learning more about Fusiontables or exploring their full collection of designs, visit www.fusiontables.com. Your dining room (and your friends) will thank you.
After all, the best furniture is the kind that brings joy every single day, whether you’re sharing a meal or sinking the eight ball.
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Picture someone sitting at a kitchen table after the kids are finally in bed, laptop open, half-drunk mug of herbal tea nearby. For years, she has had a vague idea for a business–custom curriculum design for small learning pods, for example, or a micro-studio creating bespoke art for local nonprofits. She never moved on it. Too many barriers: no time to figure out incorporation, no budget for a web developer, no clue how to do marketing or bookkeeping, no appetite for the legal and tax homework.
But now she types a prompt into an AI assistant.
Within an evening, she has a draft business plan, a shortlist of ideas for company names with available domains, a first version of a logo, a one-page website, basic contract language, a starter bookkeeping system, filled-out forms and instructions for registering her business, and a rough sense of how many clients she’d need to cover her bills. None of it is perfect. But it’s enough to move from daydream to first customer.
That’s the quiet revolution we’re underestimating.
Most of the public conversation about AI and the labor market is fixated on one (very real) side of the story: which jobs disappear, which tasks get automated, which industries will “lose” the most positions.
That conversation isn’t wrong. But it’s incomplete. The same technology that allows big companies to run with far fewer people also lowers the barriers to entry for people who want to create value on their own.
AI is about to pull the labor market in two directions at once: inward, as firms need fewer employees; and outward, as more individuals gain the tools to act like firms.
The coming wave of layoffs
Inside large organizations, the logic is brutally simple. If a machine can do part of a task, fewer humans can do the same job. If a machine can coordinate multiple tasks, fewer humans are needed to manage them. AI turns out to be remarkably good at exactly the kind of work that employed millions of people: following procedures, coordinating handoffs between departments, and navigating bureaucratic complexity.
Some companies will use AI to squeeze costs out of business-as-usual: automating reporting, drafting, customer support, basic analysis, etc. Others will be challenged by newcomers who never built the bulky structures at all. A firm launched in 2026 might not need a marketing department; it has an AI system that writes, tests, and schedules campaigns. It might not need layers of middle management; coordination and monitoring can be handled by software.
Clayton Christensen wrote about “efficiency innovations“–efforts to improve profitability by letting a company do the same work with fewer resources. AI might be the ultimate efficiency innovation. Whether it’s deployed by incumbents to trim fat or by startups that never had the fat to begin with, the destination is similar: less demand for traditional employment inside firms.
We will still have multinational corporations worth billions of dollars. But they will be increasingly lean on staff compared with their 20th-century predecessors: more revenue per employee, more output per headcount, and fewer career ladders.
The personal back office
At the same time, something more hopeful is happening at the edges of the economy.
For most of history, the jump from “I have an idea” to “I have a business” required access to expertise. Lawyers to set up entities and contracts. Accountants to manage books and taxes. Designers and engineers to build products, websites, and marketing. Consultants or mentors to help you avoid rookie mistakes. You either had those skills yourself, had friends who did, or had enough capital to hire them. Many people simply didn’t.
AI breaks that bottleneck. It turns fragments of expertise into something you can “rent by the prompt.”
You still need judgment. You still need creativity. You still need taste, grit, and some tolerance for risk. But you no longer need a small army. The solo founder at the kitchen table has, for the first time in history, a kind of general-purpose back office: a system that can draft, design, summarize, translate, troubleshoot, and simulate at a level that used to require multiple professionals.
Entrepreneurship won’t suddenly become easy. Most new ventures will still fail. Markets will still be unforgiving. Competition may become even more fierce as barriers to entry fall. But the option to try becomes widely available in a way it simply wasn’t before. The barrier shifts from “I can’t even begin” to “Is the potential upside on this idea worth the risk,” which is a very different kind of problem.
The paradox young people will inherit
Put these forces together, and the picture that emerges is neither techno-utopian nor apocalyptic.
Inside firms, AI will quietly erode demand for routine cognitive work. Meanwhile, outside firms, AI will expand the frontier of what individuals can plausibly do on their own or in small teams. That’s the real tension: fewer stable slots in the big machines; more tools to build something of your own.
Whether this becomes a story of flourishing or precarity depends on lots of things–tax policy, social safety nets, and the speed of change. But one piece of the puzzle is squarely in the domain I work in: how we educate young people for the world they’re walking into.
The school of compliance in an entrepreneurial age
For more than a century, mass schooling has been the farm system for large organizations. It has been remarkably good at what it was implicitly designed to do: teach people to be reliable cogs in bureaucratic machines.
The official curriculum covers math, reading, science, history, etc. The unofficial curriculum teaches something else: how to succeed in a rule-bound institution.
You learn that:
There is always someone above you who sets the assignment.
The path to success is deciphering what that person wants.
The safest strategy is to follow instructions faithfully.
Tasks come with rubrics that specify the criteria for a good performance.
Your job is to hit those criteria as cleanly as possible.
Do that over thirteen years, and those who get good at winning in the game of school also get very good at reading institutions. They sense where the boundaries are, who has authority, and which boxes need to be checked. They become, in a word, employable–especially in environments where advancement comes from mastering the existing playbook rather than writing a new one.
There is nothing inherently wrong with those skills. For much of the 20th century, this was a rational preparation for a world in which the dominant path to a middle-class life ran through large, hierarchical employers.
But it’s almost the opposite of what today’s entrepreneurship requires.
Innovative entrepreneurship is what happens when there’s no rubric, when no one has written the assignment. When the problem itself is fuzzy, you have to decide which part of it is worth solving. It rewards people who notice friction or unmet needs, test rough solutions, and iterate under uncertainty. It punishes those who are good at execution but expect someone else to tell them what to execute. It favors those who are comfortable with ambiguity and relish innovation. It hobbles those who see their purpose as delivering reliability and efficiency on well-worn rails.
The risk we face is that we will send a generation of students into an AI-transformed economy superbly trained in the old game, just as the old game is shrinking. We’ve taught them to follow procedures, coordinate handoffs, and navigate bureaucracy–precisely the skills AI systems excel at. We’ve led them to expect that career success comes from mastering the rungs on tried-and-true institutionalized career pathways. Meanwhile, the jobs along those conventional pathways are dwindling.
A different kind of preparation
If AI really does reduce the number of people big firms need, while making it dramatically easier for individuals to create value directly, then schools have a choice.
They can double down on being pipelines into a narrowing corporate world–ever more focused on test scores, credentials, and compliance with external standards. Or they can take seriously the task of preparing young people to navigate a world in which many of the best opportunities will be ones they help invent.
That doesn’t mean abandoning core knowledge and skills. Young people will still need to know how to read and communicate with each other and with AI. They’ll still need math and science to conceptually understand how the world works. They’ll still need literature and history to engage with the narratives from the past that define the present. But it also means they’ll need repeated, meaningful practice in:
Identifying problems that no adult has pre-packaged.
Spotting unmet Jobs to Be Done where people are cobbling together workarounds.
Finding their comparative advantages rather than competing on narrow measures.
Designing and testing solutions that might fail.
Dealing with ambiguous feedback.
And exercising agency rather than just obedience.
Learning how to wrestle with problems that are complex, not just complicated.
Traditional schooling trains students to compete for scarce slots–top class rankings, starting positions on teams, and admission to selective colleges–on standardized dimensions where everyone is measured the same way. That made sense when the goal was landing one of a limited number of corporate jobs. But entrepreneurship works differently. It rewards people who identify niches that are valuable but unattractive to large companies, and who figure out where they can meaningfully differentiate rather than trying to be marginally better than everyone else at the same thing.
My prediction, then, is this:
In the coming years, AI will allow companies to do more with fewer employees. At the same time, it will quietly lower the barriers to entrepreneurship and creative self-employment in ways we are only beginning to see.
The question for education is whether we will keep treating students primarily as future employees of large systems or help them become future innovators in a landscape where powerful new tools of creation are sitting right in front of them.
For more on what the future looks like for today’s students, visit eSN’s Digital Learning hub.
Thomas Arnett, Clayton Christensen Institute
Thomas Arnett is a senior research fellow for the Clayton Christensen Institute. His work focuses on using the Theory of Disruptive Innovation to study innovative instructional models and their potential to scale student-centered learning in K–12 education. He also studies demand for innovative resources and practices across the K–12 education system using the Jobs to Be Done Theory.
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It may not be a million-dollar question, but it isone worth at least a few thousand that you may want to ask yourself if you’re a homeowner: Is there anything in your kitchen that could potentially be bringing down your entire home’s value? I spoke to a few real estate pros to find out.
“I wish it were that easy to say this one thing is killing your home value … but that’s not the case,” says Coldwell Banker’s Ariel Baverman, one of Atlanta’s most accredited and top-producing Realtors. “But obviously, kitchens are one of the most important aspects of a home,” she says, noting they’re a key area of focus when it comes to determining a fair sale price for a property.
Unfortunately, as Lisa Graff, an award-winning real estate salesperson for Houlihan Lawrence, notes, the kitchen’s size and layout are the biggest factors affecting a home’s value, which are harder and pricier to change. Jen Barnett, broker and owner at The Front Agency, agrees that the features that are “directly detrimental to the overall comparable market value are larger problems in layout and design.” Of course, these issues can’t be easily or quickly fixed — but there are plenty of things affecting the home’s value that can.
The Features Decreasing Your Home’s Value, According to Real Estate Agents
While a pricey remodel isn’t usually something a homeowner can immediately rectify, nor should they have to — the good news is that there are some cosmetic improvements that are much easier fixes than a kitchen floor plan overhaul. Here’s what the experts said could be decreasing your home value:
1. Era-Specific Materials
One of the first questions Baverman asks when evaluating a kitchen is if it’s been updated recently, or within the last five to 10 years. This is often the median range where appliances and features are in good condition and not noticeably of a different era. Conversely, “fluorescent light fixtures, hunter orange laminate countertops, or avocado green linoleum flooring,” Barnett points out, clearly indicate that the kitchen is “significantly dated,” clearly harkening to the ’70s, which “could make the home less desirable in the eyes of buyers.”
Countertop materials are often dead giveaways that the kitchen hasn’t gotten enough TLC from its owners, and that’s not limited to just laminate material. “Tiled or busy countertops, particularly in darker granite, are undesirable, as they can be expensive to replace, especially if there’s an island to consider,” Graff says. “People want more harmonious, quieter kitchens, or a bold color with veining that packs a punch for a luxurious, elevated feel. Busy granite feels tired and dated.”
Although appliances aren’t part of the structural bones of a kitchen, many house hunters will fixate on them and let these big-ticket items sway their buying decision. Baverman often asks and lists the age of the appliances if it’s favorable. Graff notes that color choice is often a good immediate indicator.
“Generally, black appliances are out,” Graff says of kitchens in 2025. “White appliances — unless it’s an all-white kitchen — can also give an outdated feel. Harvest gold stoves are out. Older burners on islands with fans overhead have to go as well, as they divide a kitchen and are awkward.”
She places room-dividing exhaust as the same kind of faux pas as cabinets above an island, as they both “obstruct sight lines and make a kitchen feel claustrophobic,” which is the last thing someone toiling in the home’s biggest workhorse of a room wants to feel. Barnett agrees, adding that “kitchens that are cramped for space and only comfortably allow one person working at a time tend to isolate the cook.”
“This may be unrelated to value, but one of my pet peeves is when there are too many different floors from one viewpoint, especially if they clash,” says Baverman, who recommends having no more than three types of flooring visible at a time. Mixing up different floor types and patterns can seem slapdash, hint at piecemeal repairs (and bigger problems), and also make spaces feel both disjointed and smaller, she adds.
While Baverman advises stone, wood, and tile as optimal kitchen flooring materials, Graff says that for the latter, grout color is also very important: “Lighter colored flooring with dark grout can appear dirty.” Additionally, “Other things that give ‘ick factor’ are cracked floor tiles. No one wants to inherit a seller’s problems and have to replace floor tiles right off the bat!” While that may sound like a larger project, if you have the original tile on hand, it’s often relatively inexpensive to have a professional tiler replace only a few at a time without having to redo the floors.
Leave any of these features as-is, and you risk them coming up at the negotiation table as a reason for a discount on the list price, bringing down your home’s overall value. But if you’re not looking to sell anytime soon and you love your space, enjoy it, because you’re the only one who matters!
What do you think about these value-decreasing factors? Let us know in the comments below!
When a school building fails, everything it supports comes to a halt. Learning stops. Families scramble. Community stability is shaken. And while fire drills and lockdown procedures prepare students and staff for specific emergencies, the buildings themselves often fall short in facing the unexpected.
Between extreme weather events, aging infrastructure, and rising operational demands, facility leaders face mounting pressure to think beyond routine upkeep. Resilience should guide every decision to help schools stay safe, meet compliance demands, and remain prepared for whatever lies ahead.
According to a recent infrastructure report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers, the nation’s 98,000 PK-12 schools received a D+ for physical condition–a clear signal that more proactive design and maintenance strategies are urgently needed.
Designing for resilience means planning for continuity. It’s about integrating smarter materials, better systems, and proactive partnerships so that learning environments can bounce back quickly–or never go down at all.
Start with smarter material choices
The durability of a school begins at ground level. Building materials that resist moisture, mold, impact, and corrosion play a critical role in long-term school resilience and functionality. For example, in flood-prone regions, concrete blocks and fiber-reinforced panels outperform drywall in both durability and recovery time. Surfaces that are easy to clean, dry quickly, and don’t retain contaminants can make the difference between reopening in days versus weeks.
Limit downtime by planning ahead
Downtime is costly, but it’s not always unavoidable. What is avoidable is the scramble that follows when there’s no plan in place. Developing a disaster-response protocol that includes vendors, contact trees, and restoration procedures can significantly reduce response time. Schools that partner with recovery experts before an event occurs often find themselves first in line when restoration resources are stretched thin.
FEMA’s National Resilience Guidance stresses the need to integrate preparedness and long-term recovery planning at the facility level, particularly for schools that often serve as vital community hubs during emergencies.
Maintenance as the first line of defense
Preventative maintenance might not generate headlines, but it can prevent them. Regular inspections of roofing, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical systems help uncover vulnerabilities before they lead to shutdowns. Smart maintenance schedules can extend the lifespan of critical systems and reduce the risk of emergency failures, which are almost always more expensive.
Build flexibility into the design
Truly resilient spaces are defined by their ability to adapt, not just their physical strength. Multi-use rooms that can shift from classroom to shelter, or gymnasiums that double as community command centers, offer critical flexibility during emergencies. Facilities should also consider redundancies in HVAC and power systems to ensure critical areas like server rooms or nurse stations remain functional during outages.
Include restoration experts early
Design and construction teams are essential, but so are the people who will step in after a disaster. Involving restoration professionals during the planning or renovation phase helps ensure the layout and materials selected won’t hinder recovery later. Features like water-resistant flooring, interior drainage, and strategically placed shut-off valves can dramatically cut cleanup and repair times.
Think beyond the building
Resilient schools need more than solid walls. They need protected data, reliable communication systems, and clear procedures for remote learning if the physical space becomes temporarily inaccessible. Facility decisions should consider how technology, security, and backup systems intersect with the physical environment to maintain educational continuity.
Schools are more than schools during a crisis
In many communities, schools become the default support hub during a crisis. They house evacuees, store supplies, and provide a place for neighbors to connect. Resilient infrastructure supports student safety while also reinforcing a school’s role as a vital part of the community. Designs should support this extended role, with access-controlled entries, backup power, and health and sanitation considerations built in from the start.
A resilient mindset starts with leadership
Resilience begins with leadership and is reflected in the decisions that shape a school’s physical and operational readiness. Facility managers, superintendents, and administrative teams must advocate for resilient investments early in the planning process. This includes aligning capital improvement budgets, bond proposals, and RFP language with long-term resilience goals.
There’s no such thing as a truly disaster-proof building. But there are schools that recover faster, withstand more, and serve their communities more effectively during crises. The difference is often found in early choices: what’s designed, built, and maintained before disaster strikes.
When resilience guides every decision, school facilities are better prepared to safeguard students and maintain continuity through disruption.
John Scott Mooring, Mooring USA
John Scott Mooring is the Chief Executive Officer at Mooring USA, bringing nearly four decades of experience in disaster recovery and restoration services. With deep roots in a family-run business that helped pioneer the industry, he leads Mooring in delivering turnkey solutions for emergency response, remediation, and commercial construction across the U.S.
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Trend forecasts are being declared this month across the entire design industry — but IKEA’s 2026 prediction feels like it’s in a category all its own. The Swedish retailer’s forecasts end up being spot-on; last year, it helped its own color palette soar. This year, IKEA is swinging in another direction, predicting that a more playful tone will be sweeping future home decor trends. It’s no wonder the brand released an entirely new 33-piece kids’ collection (launching in February 2026) featuring this hue.
IKEA’s 2026 Color of the Year Is Rebel Pink
Coined Rebel Pink, IKEA’s newest color of the year is a hue that brings “a bold response to the need for joy, energy and self-expression,” says Abbey Stark, home furnishing direction leader at IKEA U.S. The color is heavily featured in the new GREJSIMOJS collection, a set created by 12 designers that celebrates the importance of joy and play for both kids and adults.
“When selecting Rebel Pink as the Color of the Year for 2026, we looked deeply into macro trends across design, fashion, and culture, and how they influence life in our homes,” Stark explains. “We see [Rebel Pink] as a new neutral that energizes everyday spaces while staying true to Scandinavian simplicity; it’s not just a color, it’s a movement that invites people to push boundaries and embrace individuality.”
Pieces from the GREJSIMOJS line naturally encourage play, turning ordinary tasks and items into objects that spark joy when you least expect it. There are pieces like speakers that emulate mice, storage pieces designed to mimic cats, and pink, furry chairs that scream high-end vibes.
Don’t have a child in your life? Ride the pink popularity wave anyway; there are alreadyseveralsophisticated products live at IKEA. Just take IKEA’s $20 PRUNKHALLON mirror, for example. The bright squiggle shape is sure to bring a smile whenever you look in the mirror.
Pink can be cozy, too. IKEA’s $10 SANELA cushion cover comes in 10 colors, but namely: pale pink. It’s made from soft cotton velvet and feels like the comfiest fabric to cuddle up with, especially during the colder months.
Playfulness is also found in nature. Bring that greenery to your home with IKEA’s pink-colored GRADVIS plant pot. It costs less than $9 and features childlike grooves on the sides that feel laid-back.
Rebel Pink is a color that drives home the idea of not taking life too seriously. It’s a pop of delightful fun that kids (and fun adults!) of any age will love.
The architect behind landmark cultural projects at the British Museum and the AlUla Contemporary Arts Museum discusses reimagining museums as evolving, participatory spaces. Kimberly Lloyd, Courtesy of LG—A
Lina Ghotmeh, recognized on this year’s Art Power Index, is changing the global conversation between art, architecture and place. Based in Paris and raised in Beirut, Ghotmeh has emerged as one of the defining voices of a new architectural sensibility rooted in sustainability, memory and cultural dialogue, rather than spectacle. Her recent and forthcoming projects span continents and histories: the British Museum’s sweeping Western Range redesign, the AlUla Contemporary Arts Museum in Saudi Arabia, the Jadids’ Legacy Museum in Uzbekistan and Qatar’s Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Each project, in her words, sits “at the crossroads of this transformation—where local narratives meet global dialogues.”
Ghotmeh’s approach, which she refers to as an “archaeology of the future,” treats architecture as both excavation and invention, a process of uncovering the social, material and emotional layers of a place before imagining what comes next. This philosophy took shape in her acclaimed Serpentine Pavilion in 2023, a table-like structure that beckoned visitors to sit, share and converse, turning architecture into an act of gathering.
The shifting power dynamics in the art world, from the rise of voices across the Global South to the integration of technology and A.I., are redefining cultural institutions. Ghotmeh envisions museums as “living environments” that immerse audiences in the creative process and connect them to the broader human story art continues to tell. For the architect, buildings are never neutral containers but vessels for dialogue, resilience and renewal. In reimagining how and where art is experienced, Ghotmeh is rethinking culture itself as a space for belonging, continuity and care.
What do you see as the most transformative shift in the art world power dynamics over the past year, and how has it impacted your own work or strategy?
Over the past year, I’ve felt a profound shift in both voices and geography within the art world. We are finally witnessing the rise of influential perspectives from the Global South and other historically underrepresented regions. This expansion of voices is not only reshaping who gets to speak but also how and where art is being shown. It signals a move toward a more plural and inclusive understanding of art as a critical platform—one capable of engaging with the most pressing social, cultural and environmental questions of our time.
This shift deeply informs the type of work I pursue and aligns with a trajectory I’ve been committed to for years. Projects such as designing Qatar’s National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the Jadid Museum in Uzbekistan, and the AlUla Contemporary Arts Museum in Saudi Arabia all sit at the crossroads of this transformation—where local narratives meet global dialogues.
Similarly, reimagining the British Museum as a vessel for a truly global art history offers an opportunity to rethink cultural institutions as spaces of exchange rather than dominance. It’s an invitation to reframe how we tell the story of humanity through art—decentering traditional hierarchies and embracing a more interconnected, equitable cultural landscape.
As the art market and industry continue to evolve, what role do you believe technology, globalization, and changing collector demographics will play in reshaping traditional power structures?
Art not only reflects culture but actively shapes it, serving as both a social force and an economic driver. As collector demographics shift, we’re witnessing new modes of collecting and new ways of constructing cultural narratives—ones that move beyond Western-centric frameworks and embrace more diverse and interconnected perspectives.
Technology, particularly A.I., is playing a transformative role in this process. It enables new kinds of artistic experiences and provides tools for reinterpreting and visualizing data in ways that were previously unimaginable. In our recent work with A.I. artists, for example, we’ve been exploring ways to visualize art histories from the Arab world. This process begins with the crucial task of collecting and structuring data that has long been overlooked or rendered invisible. Through this, knowledge and cultural memory that were once marginalized are reemerging, allowing for a more inclusive understanding of global art histories.
In this sense, technology and globalization are not merely reshaping the market—they’re redistributing cultural power, enabling new voices, narratives and regions to participate in defining the future of art.
Looking ahead, what unrealized opportunity or unmet need in the art ecosystem are you most excited to tackle in the coming year, and what will it take to make that vision a reality?
I’m deeply interested in rethinking how we show art and in reaffirming its central role within society. I believe museums and cultural spaces should evolve into living environments—places that not only exhibit art but also immerse audiences in the creative process itself. Spaces where people can experience how art is made, why it matters, and how it continues to shape our collective consciousness.
Art has accompanied humanity since its very beginnings—it is how we have sought to understand ourselves, substantiate our existence and give meaning to the world around us. Yet many institutions still treat it as something static or distant. The opportunity now lies in transforming museums into dynamic ecosystems of learning, participation and dialogue—bridging artists, communities and new technologies.
Realizing this vision requires rethinking institutional models, fostering collaboration across disciplines and embracing innovation in both curation and architecture. Ultimately, it’s about restoring art’s fundamental purpose: to connect us more deeply to one another and to the shared human story we continue to write.
You grew up in Beirut, a city with a complex history of destruction and rebuilding. How has that background shaped your approach to sustainability, resilience and place-making?
Living in a city where buildings are constantly collapsing and rising again, you understand that architecture is never only physical—it’s social, emotional and deeply tied to survival. Sustainability, for me, comes from that consciousness: to build with care, to use what is available, to adapt rather than erase. In Beirut, you see nature reclaiming ruins, and people reinhabiting them with extraordinary creativity. That taught me that true resilience lies in continuity, in working with the traces and resources already present. Every project I design begins with that same listening to place, so that what emerges feels born from its ground rather than imposed upon it.
You coined the term “archaeology of the future.” How do you balance uncovering historical traces and designing something genuinely new?
“Archaeology of the future” is both a method and an ethic. It means that before drawing, we excavate—not with shovels, but with research and attention. We study a site’s geology, its crafts, its human stories, its past uses. But this act of uncovering is not nostalgic. The goal is to let those traces inspire something that speaks to today and tomorrow. In Stone Garden, the innovative technique of hand-plastered façade carries Beirut’s collective memory, echoing natural forms found in the city and belonging to the ground, yet its vertical form points to regeneration. The building rises as a novel form anchored in its place. In the Bahrain Pavilion for Expo 2025, we drew on traditional boatbuilding to create a light, demountable timber structure, entirely new but rooted in cultural memory. The past is not a model; it’s a fertile ground from which the new can grow.
How does that translate when designing spaces meant to hold art—objects that carry their own histories and spiritual weight?
Designing for art demands humility. These are spaces of encounter, between artworks, viewers and time itself. Architecture must offer silence and presence at once. The space should talk about the place where we are. Building in AlUla, for example, is an invitation to think of the galleries as earthly structures warmly welcoming art, all while framing nature. At the British Museum, we are working within a building dense with history, yet our aim is not to add another layer of authority but to open it up—to allow light, porosity and new readings of the collection.
The architecture becomes a mediator, a frame that encourages reflection rather than spectacle. Some new spaces we are designing restore a lost feeling of openness, of sky, the use of local stone for the finish reminds us about the place we are in. I like to think of architecture as a vessel for dialogue, where both the art and the visitor can breathe, all while allowing us to dream.
Many contemporary buildings feel imposed rather than born of their surroundings. How do you resist that tendency in your own work?
A building is not an exercise of style; it is an extraordinary place that needs to be inhabited. With my team, I begin each project with listening, to the land, the resources, the crafts, the wind, the people. Context is about an environment; it is not a constraint; it’s the material of the work. I try to design buildings that feel as though they could not exist anywhere else if they are meant to stay still in their place. In Normandy, the Hermès Workshops were built with bricks made from the site’s own earth. We worked with local brick makers and revived an artisanal work present for decades in the region. These gestures root the project in its environment. I think architecture should belong to its place as naturally as a tree grows from soil—it should feel inevitable, not imported.
In redesigning major cultural and arts institutions, you are dealing not just with architecture, but with narratives, audience behaviors and institutional purpose. What can you tell us about the experience of collaborating with curators, conservators and communities?
Architecture is the art of collaboration. It begins with an idea—a concept rooted in a place and informed by its history and context. From there, it becomes an act of orchestration: a dialogue among disciplines, a collaborative process in which all voices are heard, allowing the building to embody and integrate diverse perspectives and skills.
In Qatar, we are currently working on several museum and exhibition projects. These are developed in close collaboration with curators, whose experience across different institutions brings depth and richness to the work. The community is also ever-present, through the ways people will use these spaces, the possibilities they create and the processes of making itself. I believe architecture is a means to guide knowledge and empower people through creation.
What do you see as the most under-addressed challenge or challenges in cultural architecture at this moment?
We still design too many cultural buildings as static monuments rather than evolving ecosystems. This risks alienating art and cultural spaces from the public, rendering them inaccessible, even though art is essential to our humanity and part of everyday life.
The future demands openness and flexibility: spaces that can adapt to changing programs, technologies and communities. Another challenge lies in the diplomatic role of cultural spaces: in a world that may grow increasingly divided, museums and cultural institutions can serve as bridges between people, reminding us of our shared humanity while celebrating our differences as a source of richness. They are platforms for critical questions and spaces for meaningful dialogue.
As Bruno Latour reminds us, “We have never been modern,” and this insight urges us to reconsider the artificial separation between culture, nature and technology. Cultural buildings must embody this continuity: becoming living, relational environments that connect human, material and ecological realities.
Moreover, the ecological dimension of cultural spaces is an ever-growing concern. Museums remain among the most resource-intensive building types. We need to rethink how we conserve artworks, how we build, reuse and manage energy, all without compromising the sensorial and human experience of art.
You often operate at the intersection of architecture, national identity and culture with projects like the Osaka Expo 2025 Bahrain Pavilion or the AlUla Contemporary Arts Museum in Saudi Arabia, slated to open in 2027. How do you think about the role of architecture in articulating both place and global aspiration?
Architecture has the power to express identity while remaining open to the world. In Bahrain, the pavilion embodies the island’s maritime heritage—its wooden craftsmanship and its relationship to the sea—yet it also speaks of shared ecological values with Japan. In AlUla, surrounded by desert and archaeology, the Contemporary Art Museum will be a dialogue between landscape and art, history and the future. It suggests that the museum become a series of open pavilions, intertwined and interacting with nature. For me, global aspiration should not mean universality through sameness, but connection through specificity. The more rooted a building is, the more it resonates beyond its borders.
When you imagine the art spaces of the future, what do they look and feel like?
I imagine future cultural spaces like a kitchen—alive with cooks and guests in constant interaction. They thrive outside the box, in lively places where texture, light and life unfold intensely.
These spaces will also extend into immaterial worlds. With the rise of digital platforms, we are invited to experience art in a new, hybrid dimension—one that merges the virtual and the physical. This deepens the need to intertwine both realms, to strengthen the sensoriality of the physical while embracing the possibilities of the digital.
Museums and cultural spaces of the future will be lighter, more open and deeply connected to their environment. I imagine buildings that breathe—filled with natural light, porous thresholds and a tactile sense of material. Spaces that invite people to gather, not only to look. They will reuse what exists, evolve over time and dissolve the boundaries between art, nature and daily life. Above all, they will cultivate presence: places where people feel grounded, inspired and connected to one another through beauty and thought.
Thomas Kuhn was a philosopher whose groundbreaking 1962 book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, is credited with bringing the term paradigm shift to pop culture. Kuhn described how scientific communities stick to established paradigms, even as evidence of their limitations mounted. Widely accepted paradigms for understanding and interpreting knowledge don’t crumble under the weight of mere data. Instead, they tend to persist until a crisis emerges—when anomalies become so disruptive that a shift to a new paradigm is unavoidable.
Zoning was established in the early 20th century as a way to protect homeowners from unwanted industrial developments nearby. It was pitched as a way to separate heavy industry from residential areas, which made practical sense at a time when factories polluted neighborhoods. Early industrial cities were notorious for their noise, filth, sickness, and all-around misery.
The wealthy had options, so they’d put some distance between themselves and factory life. You can imagine that the elite would want to guarantee never having to deal with the industrial riffraff. Zoning would give such guarantees. You can also imagine that social workers and other empaths would want to guarantee the poor and middle class had the same separation from the dirty parts of a city as the elites had. Zoning would give such guarantees.
But zoning wasn’t used merely as a tool to separate heavy industry from residential zones. Local power brokers segregated all the land uses—separating single-family homes from apartments, office buildings from retail, residential from retail, and so on. The regulatory framework became so normalized in America that it’s hard for people to imagine life without it: “Without zoning, my neighbor might build a strip club and a paper mill.”
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Unintended consequences
Normal science, the activity in which most scientists inevitably spend almost all of their time, is predicated on the assumption that the scientific community knows what the world is like. Much of the success of the enterprise derives from the community’s willingness to defend that assumption, if necessary, at considerable cost.
As Kuhn would’ve predicted, the normal science of zoning has produced a number of “anomalies” that increasingly contradict zoning’s purported benefits.
Housing Expense and Shortage: By restricting a variety of housing sizes and types, zoning codes limit the supply of housing, driving up prices and making places unaffordable for many residents.
Environmental Degradation: Zoning encourages urban sprawl by pushing residential development outward into zones that are only practically reachable by car. Zoning codes create low-density, car-centric development, at great expense to our natural environment.
Social Segregation: Zoning is a devilish segregation tool. Throughout pre-zoning history, cities had opportunities for people from all walks of life, social standing, and economic standing.
Economic Stagnation and Opportunity Costs: By prohibiting a mixture of land uses in a neighborhood, zoning limits economic activity, making it difficult for small businesses to thrive in residential neighborhoods or for residents to access amenities without a car.
Car Dependency: Neighborhood pharmacies are outlawed, so you drive to CVS just to get a birthday card. Neighborhood restaurants are outlawed, so you drive your kids to Chick-fil-A. Neighborhood salons are outlawed, so you drive to get your nails done.
A resilient paradigm
Changing a paradigm isn’t just about accepting new facts, it’s about challenging an entire worldview, and that’s something humans are generally reluctant to do. And in spite of all its harms, the zoning paradigm remains resilient among the experts because:
Planning departments are organized around zoning administration.
Professional credentialing still lionizes zoning codes.
University programs train students to use zoning for the greater good.
Thousands of attorneys specialize in zoning law.
Lobbying pressure remains intense from industries that benefit from strict land-use policies.
There are powerful incentives to preserve the system, even among professionals who privately acknowledge its failures. Kuhn observed that paradigms persist not because they work well, but because entire careers, departments, and professional identities are built upon them. Challenging zoning means threatening not just an idea, but the livelihoods and expertise of countless people.
Much like a fundamentalist belief system, zoning has developed a language of justification that makes it difficult to challenge. Clever defenses like “preserving neighborhood character” or “protecting property values” are invoked to defend restrictive zoning policies, even when these policies have been proven to harm the vast majority of people. Zoning defenders use language not to inform, but to deflect and manipulate.
A tipping point
Kuhn would say a paradigm shift requires a moment of crisis, a point at which the old framework can no longer explain or accommodate the reality of a situation. I think we’re getting there with zoning, because the accumulating anomalies are becoming too severe to ignore.
Scientific revolutions reshaped how we understand the world. A zoning revolution has the potential to transform our small towns, big cities, and sprawling suburbs in positive ways we have yet to fully imagine. We have 100 years of evidence that zoning has brought more harm than good.
This article originally appeared in Inc.’s sister publication, Fast Company.
Fast Company is the world’s leading business media brand, with an editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, world changing ideas, creativity, and design. Written for and about the most progressive business leaders, Fast Company inspires readers to think expansively, lead with purpose, embrace change, and shape the future of business.
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Atop the aerial ladder of a bright red fire engine, a firefighter wrangles a hose. From the spout pours not water but syrup, pumped from an enormous bottle. The stream of viscous liquid is aimed at a giant stack of pancakes 9 feet high.
“Pancake Breakfast” is one of the dozens of floats expected to roll through Pasadena on New Year’s Day in the annual Tournament of Roses Parade. It was built by volunteers from Sierra Madre, a small foothill town that narrowly escaped the worst of the Eaton fire, which destroyed swaths of Altadena in January.
The design is meant to honor first responders and their role in protecting the town, referencing the community pancake breakfasts that for decades have been a common practice in many towns and cities to raise funds for equipment, training, and fire safety programs while also helping to build ties between residents and firefighters.
But some residents in Altadena have said the design — and particularly the audio feature, in which a firefighter asks for more syrup — is upsetting, because during the destructive fires many hydrants in their neighborhood ran dry.
“To depict anything where we are running out of liquid is maybe a little tone-deaf this year,” Shawna Dawson Beer, the author of a community blog about Altadena, told Fox 11.
“I think unfortunately this speaks to something that we fire survivors have experienced all year and that is a lot of action being taken on our behalf,” Beer said. “Ultimately, all of these folks with the best intentions and biggest hearts just need to actually talk to the survivors.”
Evelyn Shaffer, treasurer at the Sierra Madre Float Assn., which holds a contest each year to select the design of a float to be featured in the Tournament of Roses, found the float quaint and the Dalmatian standing watch by the red engine “just adorable.”
Three active-duty firefighters from Sierra Madre will be standing atop the float on the day of the parade, she said.
“I really regret that anyone had any distress over the float,” Shaffer said, adding that she felt that not all the information shared on social media was “fully accurate” and that descriptions of the float’s audio did not capture the whimsical tone.
She said that, in response to criticism in recent days, the audio dialogue had been removed.
“We don’t want anyone upset. This was not our intent. We took all the dialogue off,” Shaffer said. “So now you have the lovely glugging of the syrup on the soundtrack. That’s it.”
Shaffer said members of the association vote each year on some 40 float design submissions that are in line with a theme put forth by Tournament of Roses officials. The theme of the 137th Rose Parade is “The Magic in Teamwork.”
It’s one of only five floats in the upcoming Rose Parade that are built by volunteers from the communities sponsoring them.
“We are very proud of the design because it’s an homage to our first responders,” Shaffer said.
Shaffer said she hoped the changes made would allow people to enjoy the float.
Lead builder of the float, Kurt Kulhavy, told KCRW last week that the aim of the design was to honor firefighters without re-traumatizing those who lost homes and loved ones. They opted for a lighthearted approach.
News of the controversy online spurred some to speak up in favor of the design.
“I was [a]ffected by the fires. Im not offended. There are much bigger issues in the world. I think the float is cute. Geez,” one Instagram user commented.
But a member of the Sierra Madre float association, Dave Andrews, said in a post on Facebook last week that he was not a fan of the design and did not vote for it because it “seemed inappropriate.”
He said he had been dismayed when he later heard the soundtrack of what he described as a “fake fire call” in which a fire engine is being dispatched to a pancake breakfast because they are running out of syrup, and that he and others had raised concerns to the board.
In a post on Sunday, he applauded the float association for removing the dialogue.
“Even though some people perceive [me] as the bad guy for speaking my mind, I respect them for making a compassionate choice,” Andrews said. “Bravo to Sierra Madre for listening.”
Dynamo Phyllis Kao led Sotheby’s The Now and Contemporary Evening Auction, which scored a $178.5 million result with strong participation from Asia. Julian Cassady Photography / Ali
After a challenging 2024—marked by a 25 percent contraction in the auction market—both Christie’s and Sotheby’s are closing 2025 with a clear rebound, according to newly released year-end results. Sotheby’s reported projected consolidated sales of $7 billion for 2025, a 17 percent increase over 2024. Christie’s, on a similar upward trajectory, expects to finish the year with $6.2 billion in global sales, up nearly 7 percent from last year’s $5.8 billion and broadly in line with its 2023 total. Following a slow start dampened by subdued May auctions, both houses regained momentum after the summer as the market strengthened, culminating in a multibillion-dollar fall season across London and New York.
While the blockbuster results of November’s marquee sales may not be sufficient on their own to signal a full recovery—concentrated as they are at the very top of the market—the broader picture reflected in these year-end numbers offers more substantial grounds for optimism. This year’s gains were driven not only by fine-art trophies but also by the continued rise of luxury collectibles and design—categories that are proving especially effective at attracting new buyers, often younger and from emerging markets, and ultimately broadening the base of the market overall.
Sotheby’s record year, led by trophies and luxury
Sotheby’s recorded a 26 percent year-over-year increase in auction sales to $5.7 billion, with a sharp acceleration in the second half of the year, which brought in 59 percent more than the same period in 2024. Private sales contributed an additional $1.2 billion, slightly below the prior year but still substantial.
Fine art sales generated $4.3 billion in revenue for the auction house in 2025, marking a 15 percent increase from the previous year’s downturn. The rebound was fueled by the exceptional quality of consignments secured for the fall season, including record-breaking masterpieces such as the $236.4 million Gustav Klimt—the most expensive work ever sold by Sotheby’s—and the $54.7 million Frida Kahlo, which set a new record for a work by a female artist.
November’s inaugural sales at the Breuer delivered the year’s biggest revenue surge, with six white-glove auctions totaling $1.173 billion in just a few days. Single-owner collections played a decisive role, including the $527.5 million Lauder collection in New York and the $137 million Karpidas collection earlier in London—high-profile consignments that helped lift market sentiment at a critical moment. “Our strong performance in the second half of the year demonstrates clear momentum in our markets, driven by more high-quality, major collections meeting Sotheby’s record levels of buyer demand,” confirmed Sotheby’s CEO Charles F. Stewart.
At the same time, Sotheby’s “Another World” strategy—transforming its major regional headquarters from Hong Kong to Paris and now the iconic Breuer building into cross-category boutique destinations—is beginning to deliver tangible results. The luxury sector is becoming increasingly central to the business, generating $2.7 billion in revenue, up 22 percent year-over-year and surpassing $2 billion for the fourth straight year.
Luxury is also emerging as a primary driver of market expansion, capable of attracting younger collectors while opening doors to new and rising markets. This was underscored by Sotheby’s successful $133 million Collectors’ Week in Abu Dhabi, whose cross-category luxury offerings drew collectors from 35 countries. Of those bidding, 28 percent were new to Sotheby’s and nearly one-third were under the age of 40.
The $10.1 million sale of Jane Birkin’s original Hermès Birkin in Paris this summer focused attention on both the rising value and estate-planning complexities of luxury collectibles. Sotheby’s also reported a record year for watches, with a $42.8 million white-glove December auction in New York immediately following Collectors’ Week. That sale was led by the record-breaking complete four-piece set of the Patek Philippe Star Caliber 2000, which sold for $11.9 million.
Jewelry maintained strong momentum in Abu Dhabi and globally, with sales up approximately 18 percent. Meanwhile, RM Sotheby’s automotive division exceeded $1 billion in revenue for the first time, propelled by multiple records—including a 1994 McLaren F1 (chassis 014), the most expensive McLaren ever sold at public auction, and the highest-priced new Ferrari ever to hit the auction block during Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week.
Sports collectibles continue to attract bidders, but the standout among today’s collectibles may be dinosaurs, as demonstrated by the juvenile Ceratosaurus that soared to $30.5 million at Sotheby’s—more than seven times its low estimate.
The Design category also continues to gain traction and importance, with 65 percent growth over last year. It closed with a $50.2 million auction earlier this month—the highest total ever for the category—led by Lalanne’s Hippopotame Bar, which reached a record-setting $31.4 million.
Taken together, these categories are central not only to sustaining the market but to reshaping Sotheby’s identity—from a traditional auction house catering primarily to connoisseurs into a broader luxury-experience destination capable of attracting bidders across multiple price tiers. This represents a key strategy in today’s market. By expanding participation and transaction volume, Sotheby’s can continue to drive revenue growth even as the ability to consistently secure multimillion-dollar fine-art masterpieces—this season included—remains neither guaranteed nor sufficient on its own to support headline results year after year.
Adrien Meyer sells the top lot of The Collection of Robert F. and Patricia G Ross Weis, Mark Rothko’s No. 31 (Yellow Stripe) for $62,160,000. Christie’s
At Christie’s, the right pricing strategy met sustained bidding
Christie’s also reported what CEO Bonnie Brennan described as a “healthy and successful year,” with total auction revenue rising 8 percent to $4.7 billion. Combined with $1.5 billion in private sales—representing approximately 24 percent of the total—this brought the auction house’s global sales for 2025 to $6.2 billion, a 7 percent increase from the previous year.
One of the clearest indicators of how sustained bidding aligns with pricing strategy on the auction-house side is sell-through and sold-by-lot performance—an obsession of Christie’s global director Alex Rotter, as he recently revealed in an interview with ARTnews. Christie’s reported a sell-through rate of 88 percent and a hammer-to-low estimate index of 113 percent, both notably higher than in 2024.
The MEA region (Europe, Middle East, Africa) also expanded its share of Christie’s global total, rising from 32 percent in 2024 to 36 percent in 2025, with $1.435 billion in sales. Asia-Pacific, by contrast, declined for the second consecutive year, generating $686 million—5 percent less than the year before—and now accounts for 23 percent of Christie’s global business. Sales for Asian Art and World Art were also down 6 percent this year.
The 20th and 21st century category remains Christie’s core revenue driver, generating $2.859 billion in 2025, a 6 percent increase from the previous year. However, the Classics and Old Masters segments posted even stronger growth, generating $285 million and $182 million, with increases of 15 percent and 24 percent, respectively. Leading the Old Master category was Canaletto’s Venice, the Return of the Bucintoro on Ascension Day, which sold in July in London for a record-setting £31.9 million ($43.9 million).
Meanwhile, the importance of the Luxury and Automotive markets continues to rise. Luxury sales reached $795 million, up 17 percent from 2024, while automotive sales through Gooding Christie’s totaled $234 million—an increase of 14 percent and the highest-grossing year in the company’s history.
Crucially, luxury is proving to be Christie’s most effective tool for attracting new and younger buyers. It accounted for 38 percent of new bidders in 2025, outperforming even the 20th and 21st century category, which contributed 33 percent. Asia-Pacific buyers in particular were highly engaged, with regional president Rahul Kadakia noting that they contributed 37 percent of global Luxury auction spend. This underscores the strong potential of Eastern markets—especially Southeast Asia—when engaged through categories aligned with their growing and increasingly affluent populations.
Christie’s also saw increased engagement from the Indian diaspora and broader participation across the Asia-Pacific region, which remains one of the strongest growth opportunities alongside rising spending power in the Middle East, particularly in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
For Christie’s—as for all the major auction houses—sustaining revenue growth hinges on expanding the market: both by tapping rising geographies and by attracting new generations of collectors capable of growing with the brand.
The demographic shifts are promising. In 2025, 46 percent of new bidders and buyers were millennials or younger, up roughly 5 percent from the previous year. The female client base also grew by about 10 percent. These trends align with wealth management forecasts and the 2025 Art Basel & UBS Survey of Global Collecting, which found that high-net-worth women outspent their male peers by an average of 46 percent on art and antiques in 2024. Women were also more likely than men to collect digital works, pieces by unknown artists, and emerging talent—pointing to both rising influence and evolving preferences that are reshaping the market.
All of this is unfolding in the context of the so-called “Great Wealth Transfer,” as economists forecast trillions of dollars passing from older generations to younger ones, boosting disposable income and discretionary spending among buyers already demonstrating a strong interest in collecting. Women are projected to inherit a substantial share of this wealth—some estimates suggest up to 70 percent—and by 2030, they are expected to control trillions in investable assets, a dramatic rise compared to previous decades.
Equally critical to attracting new buyers is the diversification of offerings across price points and categories, paired with technology designed to reach a generation that lives and buys online. In 2025, 63 percent of Christie’s new buyers made their first purchase online, where the average price (excluding wine) rose 14 percent year-on-year to $22,700.
Christie’s plans to continue investing in tech through 2026, including its collaboration with Dubbl on the Christie’s Select app for Apple Vision Pro, which offers immersive, spatial auction previews, and the ongoing Art+Tech Summits.
But attracting new buyers is only half the equation. Retention and long-term engagement—especially with younger collectors—are equally important. New buyers acquired in 2024 returned in 2025 and increased their total spend by 54 percent, with 22 percent purchasing in a different category from their original acquisition. These figures point to encouraging momentum not just for Christie’s but for the broader art and collectibles market, suggesting that even amid recalibration, a more diverse audience is emerging—one ready to support the market’s next chapter, even as tastes and trends continue, as always, to evolve.
under your feet, and it doesn’t come with all the carbon baggage that other [building] materials come with,” says studio founder Jonathan Tuckey.
As a building technique, rammed earth—which combines clay soil with aggregate such as gravel into tightly compressed layers—traces back thousands of years. It was widely used in ancient China, but appears globally throughout history, including in the U.S. After the industrial revolution, and the innovations of steel, concrete, glass, and mass-produced bricks, the traditional method fell out of favor. Now, however, an increasing number of architects are looking to the material as a sustainable, place-rooted way to build amid a climate crisis that calls for dramatically reduced carbon emissions.
Rammed Earth House [Photo: Jim Stephenson/courtesy Tuckey Design Studio]
“It has this carbon credit locked into it—that’s a major head start against any other material,” says Tuckey. Because rammed earth doesn’t require high-temperature firing processes like bricks or concrete, and can use material from the building site itself (without need for transportation), its associated carbon emissions tend to be much lower.
It can also harness material that might otherwise go to waste. At Rammed Earth House, the client wanted some run-down buildings on site to be demolished—but rather than this rubble being wasted, Tuckey Design Studio used it as the aggregate for the rammed earth, recycling the old buildings into the new.
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Rammed Earth House [Photo: Jim Stephenson/courtesy Tuckey Design Studio]
“It’s an entirely circular material,” says Tuckey of rammed earth. “If you ever wanted to demolish it, it would just go back into the ground. If you wanted to repair it, you can just pick up the clay from the ground and bash it in simply—it will be restored immediately.”
Rammed Earth House [Photo: Jim Stephenson/courtesy Tuckey Design Studio]
Architects also praise rammed earth’s high thermal mass—insulative properties that regulate a building’s indoor temperature. For U.S practice Lake Flato Architects, this was particularly helpful for a home in west Texas, Marfa Ranch.
In the desert environment, temperatures vary greatly; using rammed earth meant the dwelling “could be comfortable on the hottest days of the year, and also on the coldest,” says practice partner Bob Harris. The material also connected the building to its landscape, using locally sourced earth. “It felt really natural for us to build of that material,” says Harris.
Marfa Ranch [Photo: Casey Dunn/courtesy Lake Flato]
The same was true for global practice Snøhetta, which is using rammed earth for the upcoming Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota’s Badlands, integrating large internal walls made from the material. “We were looking to create a building that is of the place,” explains Aaron Dorf, director and architect at Snøhetta. The surrounding landscape is “defined by layers and layers of earth that you see—it’s profoundly beautiful.”
The material has a natural, textured and warm-hued appearance that can enhance an interior. “It’s a much more tactile public-facing material,” says Dorf. Tuckey describes it as looking like “some precious travertine stone.”
The material does come with challenges, however—and resilience, labor, time, and location are primary issues.
“When you decide to use rammed earth, you come quite quickly to a fork in the road as to which route you’re going to go down, and they are fundamentally different materials,” says Tuckey. These two versions, “stabilized” and “unstabilized” rammed earth, demand different features and have variable ecological credentials.
Stabilized rammed earth has cement in the mix to make the material more robust and resilient, especially to water. Some sustainability experts have criticized this as having a similar negative ecological impact to concrete, which also uses cement (the carbon emissions from cement come during the heating of limestone to high temperatures).
Lake Flato and Snøhetta used stabilized rammed earth for durability, but the architects insist the proportion of cement used is lower than that in concrete (which is roughly 10% to 15%).
Unstabilized rammed earth does not include any cement, thus eliminating those associated carbon emissions and becoming a circular material, but it subsequently requires techniques to prevent erosion when exposed to the elements.
Marfa Ranch [Photo: Casey Dunn/courtesy Lake Flato]
Tuckey explains that using a base and topper of more waterproof material—in the case of Rammed Earth House, he used bricks—protects the rammed earth walls from water damage. Meanwhile, to protect from rain, he placed slim horizontal lines of trass lime rock that project away from the external surface, allowing rainwater to fall off.
“As long as you understand how the material is used, the challenges fall away,” Tuckey says. But it is this in-depth knowledge of building with rammed earth that can be hard to find. “It has become a lost form of construction,” says Tuckey, who collaborated with Martin Rauch, a rammed earth expert from Austria.
“Expertise is a challenge,” agrees Lake Flato partner Andrew Herdeg, who oversaw the practice’s Horizon House project in Nevada, which also used rammed earth. There, the architects brought in a consultant from northern California.
The process can be a slow one, too—especially for those new to the technique. The earth is compressed down within tightly confined formwork (wooden supporting structures that are removed at the end of the process); ramming it by hand is a “grueling process,” says Herdeg—though it is possible to use pneumatic tampers.
“It’s very labour intensive,” agrees Harris. “It takes quite a long time to construct [the] walls.” Because of that labour, he adds, “it can be costly.” The architects estimate that compared to concrete, there is a roughly 12% cost uplift when building with rammed earth.
Marfa Ranch [Photo: Casey Dunn/courtesy Lake Flato]
Built for the right climate
Perhaps most important is to use rammed earth in the locations and climates that make most sense. “We wouldn’t want to drive earth around the country, just to use it for the sake of it,” says Tuckey, explaining that it’s best if the clay soil needed is found locally.
Lake Flato advocates it as “a dry climate response,” says Herdeg; best in a context where there’s low humidity and high diurnal swings. “It really excels in those environments.”
Snøhetta’s Dorf echoes the sentiment: “You have to build it in the right location. And I think forcing it into the wrong climate isn’t going to work very well.”
Still, the architects seem to believe that when those right conditions align and the challenges are navigated, rammed earth has a positive impact across multiple aspects. “We think of our work as a tool to connect people to place, to context, to the natural environment,” says Herdeg. For him, rammed earth can reflect “a literal mission of building responsibly,” but also a philosophical mission, encouraging others to care about that responsibility.
Lake Flato is currently planning an extension to Horizon House, and though contractors advocate poured concrete, Herdeg is keen to continue using rammed earth. “The reality is you can do just a coloured concrete wall and it looks quite similar to rammed earth and costs significantly less,” he says. “But at the end of the day, the carbon footprint of the concrete is significantly higher—and you don’t get that real material texture.”
Marfa Ranch [Photo: Casey Dunn/courtesy Lake Flato]
Meanwhile, many are looking to intersect new technologies and engineering with the ancient building method to make it more practical or affordable to use. Tuckey cites one company that produces prefabricated timber frames infilled with rammed earth, and engineers in Australia recently developed modular blocks of rammed earth in cardboard cylinders.
Inspired by using the material for Rammed Earth House, Tuckey’s studio is now working on a project of terraced houses using prefabricated rammed earth blocks. The aim is to establish a factory near to the site in Gloucestershire, in southwest England, to make the prefabricated elements, using local construction waste as the aggregate in the rammed earth mixture.
“I think it’s about a reawakening,” Tuckey says of the new era of rammed earth architecture, and of moving away from more carbon-intensive building materials. His hope is that “when you look at a pile of brand-new bricks, you look at them not just with dollar signs in your mind, but also carbon signs.”
This article originally appeared in Inc.’s sister publication, Fast Company.
Fast Company is the world’s leading business media brand, with an editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, world changing ideas, creativity, and design. Written for and about the most progressive business leaders, Fast Company inspires readers to think expansively, lead with purpose, embrace change, and shape the future of business.
Mike and Leslie McCabe usually focus their energy on remodeling homes in Cherry Hills Village.
But the Scandinavian-design home at 950 S. Steele St. in Denver’s Belcaro neighborhood caught their attention.
The large home on a nearly half-acre lot felt cold and run down, but the McCabes believed they could make better use of its clean, straight lines and large windows.
“It needed the love it deserved,” Mike McCabe said.
In February, the couple bought it for $4.4 million and got to work, transforming the 9,500-square-foot mansion into what they’ve dubbed the Golden Hour Haus.
Now, they’re selling it. Mike McCabe, who works for The Agency-Denver, listed it for $8.8 million.
(Courtesy Just Pended)
The backyard at 950 S. Steele St. in Denver. (Courtesy Just Pended)
The McCabes, through their company, McCabe Ln. Homes, fully remodeled the mansion constructed in 2007.
“We wanted to create a home that felt organic and modern, seamlessly blending inside and outside. Our inspiration came from a trip to Tulum (Mexico), and the ideas just flowed from there,” he said.
The result is a space that boosts indoor-outdoor flow by maximizing the home’s natural light with floor-to-ceiling windows. It also features Austin White limestone both inside and out, which gives the house a natural Colorado feel that’s more modern, Mike McCabe said.
The goal: Create a high-end home that blends amenities with functionality.
(Courtesy Just Pended)
The backyard at 950 S. Steele St. in Denver. (Courtesy Just Pended)
The main floor centerpiece is a designer kitchen featuring a 17-foot mitered Taj Mahal island, complemented by walnut cabinetry and paneled appliances. There’s also a secondary cooking area equipped with top-of-the-line appliances.
“We focused on creating an aesthetically pleasing kitchen in the front while hiding the messiness in the scullery behind,” Mike McCabe said.
The five-bedroom, five-bath home also has a lower-level space that features walnut-paneled walls, a gym, a cold plunge and a sauna.
The primary suite on the second floor features a custom closet and a spa-like bathroom with a free-standing solid travertine tub, a steam shower and dual vanities. The upstairs also features a loft, three bedrooms, two full baths and laundry.
(Courtesy Just Pended)
The home’s secondary cooking area. (Courtesy Just Pended)
Outside, there’s a new pool and hot tub, an outdoor kitchen and a patio with a fire pit.
The McCabes also kept and updated the home’s original putting green and added an epoxy floor to the seven-car garage.
The result is a home that’s big and spacious without feeling cavernous, Mike McCabe said. The design feels more like what you’d find in Los Angeles or Miami.
“We try to push our design beyond what Colorado normally sees,” he said. “It’s one of a kind.”
If you’ve attended a professional show or musical recently, chances are you’ve seen virtual set design in action. This approach to stage production has gained so much traction it’s now a staple in the industry. After gaining momentum in professional theater, it has made its way into collegiate performing arts programs and is now emerging in K-12 productions as well.
Virtual set design offers a modern alternative to traditional physical stage sets, using technology and software to create immersive backdrops and environments. This approach unlocks endless creative possibilities for schools while also providing practical advantages.
Here, I’ll delve into three key benefits: increasing student engagement and participation, improving efficiency and flexibility in productions, and expanding educational opportunities.
Increasing student engagement and participation
Incorporating virtual set design into productions gets students excited about learning new skills while enhancing the storytelling of a show. When I first joined Churchill High School in Livonia, Michigan as the performing arts manager, the first show we did was Shrek the Musical, and I knew it would require an elaborate set. While students usually work together to paint the various backdrops that bring the show to life, I wanted to introduce them to collaborating on virtual set design.
We set up Epson projectors on the fly rail and used them to project images as the show’s backdrops. Positioned at a short angle, the projectors avoided any shadowing on stage. To create a seamless image with both projectors, we utilized edge-blending and projection mapping techniques using just a Mac® laptop and QLab software. Throughout the performance, the projectors transformed the stage with a dozen dynamic backdrops, shifting from a swamp to a castle to a dungeon.
Students were amazed by the technology and very excited to learn how to integrate it into the set design process. Their enthusiasm created a real buzz around the production, and the community’s feedback on the final results were overwhelmingly positive.
Improving efficiency and flexibility
During Shrek the Musical, there were immediate benefits that made it so much easier to put together a show. To start, we saved money by eliminating the need to build multiple physical sets. While we were cutting costs on lumber and materials, we were also solving design challenges and expanding what was possible on stage.
This approach also saved us valuable time. Preparing the sets in the weeks leading up to the show was faster, and transitions during performances became seamless. Instead of moving bulky scenery between scenes or acts, the stage crew simply switched out projected images making it much more efficient.
We saw even more advantages in our spring production of She Kills Monsters. Some battle scenes called for 20 or 30 actors to be on stage at once, which would have been difficult to manage with a traditional set. By using virtual production, we broke the stage up with different panels spaced apart and projected designs, creating more space for performers. We were able to save physical space, as well as create a design that helped with stage blocking and made it easier for students to find their spots.
Since using virtual sets, our productions have become smoother, more efficient, and more creative.
Expanding educational opportunities
Beyond the practical benefits, virtual set design also creates valuable learning opportunities for students. Students involved in productions gain exposure to industry-level technology and learn about careers in the arts, audio, and video technology fields. Introducing students to these opportunities before graduating high school can really help prepare them for future success.
Additionally, in our school’s technical theater courses, students are learning lessons on virtual design and gaining hands-on experiences. As they are learning about potential career paths, they are developing collaboration skills and building transferable skills that directly connect to college and career readiness.
Looking ahead with virtual set design
Whether students are interested in graphic design, sound engineering, or visual technology, virtual production brings countless opportunities to them to explore. It allows them to experiment with tools and concepts that connect directly to potential college majors or future careers.
For schools, incorporating virtual production into high school theater offers more than just impressive shows. It provides a cost-effective, flexible, and innovative approach to storytelling. It is a powerful tool that benefits productions, enriches student learning, and prepares the next generation of artists and innovators.
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Jared Cole, Churchill High School, Livonia Public Schools
Corporate AI slop feels inescapable in 2025. From website banner ads to outdoor billboards, images generated by businesses using AI tools surround me. Hell, even the bar down the street posts happy hour flyers with that distinctly hazy, amber glow of some AI graphics.
On Thursday, Google launched Nano Banana Pro, the company’s latest image-generating model. Many of the updates in this release are targeted at corporate adoption, from putting Nano Banana Pro in Google Slides for business presentations to integrating the new model with Google Ads for advertisers globally.
This “Pro” release is an iteration on its Nano Banana model that dropped earlier this year. Nano Banana became a viral sensation after users started posting personalized action figures and other meme-able creations on social media.
Nano Banana Pro builds out the AI tool with a bevy of new abilities, like generating images in 4K resolution. It’s free to try out inside Google’s Gemini app, with paid Google One subscribers getting access to additional generations.
One specific improvement is going to be catnip for corporations in this release: text rendering. From my initial tests generating outputs with text, Nano Banana Pro improves on the wonky lettering and strange misspellings common in many image models, including Google’s past releases.
Google wants the images generated by this new model—text and all—to be more polished and production-ready for business use cases. “Even if you have one letter off it’s very obvious,” says Nicole Brichtova, a product lead for image and video at Google DeepMind. “It’s kind of like having hands with six fingers; it’s the first thing you see.” She says part of the reason Nano Banana Pro is able to generate text more cleanly is the switch to a more powerful underlying model, Gemini 3 Pro.
An example of how the tool can create a composite from multiple images.
And, just as with Swatch x You, it’s possible to further customize the watch by choosing indexes or selecting the color of its mechanism. To save on data center power drains and rampant creativity run amuck, you’re only allowed three prompts per day on AI‑DADA, something that Swatch is spinning as a “creative challenge that makes every attempt feel special.”
Ultimately, what we have here, is a new version of Swatch x You that has been plugged with image-generation software supplied by OpenAI, thus letting the general public emblazon its timepieces with whatever graphics they see fit to dream up and deposit on them. What could possibly go wrong here, I wonder?
I asked Roberto Amico, Swatch Group’s global head of digital & ecommerce, what guardrails have been put in place to stop people making, say, their very own Jeffrey Epstein Swatch, or White Power Swatch, or Stormy Daniels Swatch. Or maybe a Swatch with a Rolex logo on it, or something that looks a lot like the Rolex logo.
Amico reassures me Swatch has indeed set guardrails, particularly with logos, for example, alongside the certain restrictions already in place from OpenAI. But interestingly, Swatch Group CEO Nick Hayek Jr. tells me he battled with OpenAI to remove some of its existing guardrails to make AI‑DADA “more liberal, more Swatch.”
Hayek also confessed at the launch event in Switzerland that his first prompts on AI‑DADA all concerned “sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll,” but he was told his own model wouldn’t allow it. Still, you can never underestimate the ingenuity of the general public to get around obvious red flags—such as a ban on the model reproducing nudity or religious iconography—and create something that Swatch might not want to be associated with. Time will tell how bulletproof this model truly is.
Familiar Faces
While Swatch’s image model may be based on OpenAI, it defaults to a data set of more than 40 years of Swatch watches, products, designs, art and street paintings. Like a pattern or color on a particular 1980s Swatch dial or strap? It’s in there. Have a fondness for a Keith Haring or Vivienne Westwood or Phil Collins collaboration, the model has this too. If you ask for a design inspired by something outside of what Swatch has collected together in this archive, only then, Amico tells me, does AI‑DADA go beyond the in-house dataset and mine OpenAI’s data.
When we imagine the future of America’s workforce, we often picture engineers, coders, scientists, and innovators tackling the challenges of tomorrow. However, the truth is that a student’s future does not begin in a college classroom, or even in high school–it starts in the earliest years of a child’s education.
Early exposure to science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) builds the foundation for critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. Research indicates that children introduced to STEAM concepts before the age of eight are significantly more likely to pursue STEM-related fields later in life. Yet for too many children, especially neurodivergent learners and those in underserved communities, STEAM education comes too late or not at all. That gap represents a missed opportunity not only for those children, but also for the industries and communities that will rely on their talents in the future.
The missed opportunity in early education
In most school systems, STEAM instruction ramps up in middle school or high school, long after the formative years when children are naturally most curious and open to exploring. By waiting until later grades, we miss the chance to harness early curiosity, which is the spark that drives innovation.
This late introduction disproportionately affects children with disabilities or learning differences. These learners often benefit from structured, hands-on exploration and thrive when provided with tools to connect abstract concepts to real-world applications. Without early access, they may struggle to build confidence or see themselves as capable contributors to fields like aerospace, technology, or engineering. If STEAM employers fail to cultivate neurodivergent learners, they miss out on theirunique problem-solving skills, specialized strengths, and diverse thinking that drives true innovation. Beyond shrinking the talent pipeline, this oversight risks stalling progress in fields like aerospace, energy, and technology while weakening their competitive edge.
The result is a long-term underrepresentation of neurodivergent individuals in high-demand, high-paying fields. Without access to an early STEAM curriculum, both neurodivergent students and employers will miss opportunities for advancement.
Why neurodivergent learners benefit most
Neurodivergent learners, such as children with autism, ADHD, or dyslexia, often excel when lessons are tactile, visual, and inquiry-based. Early STEAM education naturally aligns with these learning styles. For example, building a simple bridge with blocks is more than play; it’s an exercise in engineering, problem-solving, and teamwork. Programming a toy robot introduces logic, sequencing, and cause-and-effect.
These types of early STEAM experiences also support executive functioning, improve social-emotional development, and build persistence. These are crucial skills in STEM careers, where theories often fail, and continued experimentation is necessary. Additionally, building these skills helps children see themselves as creators and innovators rather than passive participants in their education.
When neurodivergent children are given access to STEAM at an early age, they are not only better equipped academically but also more confident in their ability to belong in spaces that have traditionally excluded them.
Houston as a case study
Here in Houston, we recognize the importance of early STEAM education in shaping our collective future. As the world’s Energy Capital and a hub for aerospace innovation, Houston’s economy will continue to rely on the next generation of thinkers, builders and problem-solvers. That pipeline begins not in a university laboratory, but in preschool classrooms and afterschool programs.
At Collaborative for Children, we’ve seen this firsthand through our Collab-Lab, a mobile classroom that brings hands-on STEAM experiences to underserved neighborhoods. In these spaces, children experiment with coding, explore engineering principles, and engage in collaborative problem-solving long before they reach middle school. For neurodivergent learners in particular, the Collab-Lab provides an environment where curiosity is encouraged, mistakes are celebrated as part of the learning process, and every child has the chance to succeed. Additionally, we are equipping the teachers in our 125 Centers of Excellence throughout the city in practical teaching modalities for neurodivergent learners. We are committed to creating equal opportunity for all students.
Our approach demonstrates what is possible when early childhood education is viewed not just as childcare, but as workforce development. If we can prioritize early STEAM access in Houston, other cities across the country can also expand access for all students.
A national priority
To prepare America’s workforce for the challenges ahead, we must treat early STEAM education as a national priority. This requires policymakers, educators and industry leaders to collaborate in new and meaningful ways.
Here are three critical steps we must take:
Expand funding and resources for early STEAM curriculum. Every preschool and early elementary program should have access to inquiry-based materials that spark curiosity in young learners.
Ensure inclusion of neurodivergent learners in program design. Curricula and classrooms must reflect diverse learning needs so that all children, regardless of ability, have the opportunity to engage fully.
Forge stronger partnerships between early education and industry. Employers in aerospace, energy, and technology should see investment in early childhood STEAM as part of their long-term workforce strategy.
The stakes are high. If we delay STEAM learning until later grades, we risk leaving behind countless children and narrowing the talent pipeline that will fuel our nation’s most critical industries. But if we act early, we unlock not just potential careers, but potential lives filled with confidence, creativity and contribution.
Closing thoughts
The innovators of tomorrow are sitting in preschool classrooms today. They are building with blocks, asking “why,” and imagining worlds we cannot yet see. Among them are children who are neurodivergent–who, with the proper support, may go on to design spacecrafts, engineer renewable energy solutions, or code the next groundbreaking technology.
If we want a future that is diverse, inclusive, and innovative, the path is clear: We must start with STEAM education in the earliest years, for every child.
Dr. Melanie Johnson, Collaborative for Children
Dr. Melanie Johnson is the President & CEO of the Collaborative for Children.
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You don’t always get to know the real reason someone leaves their job—not even the guy in the video below, Abidur Chowdhury, an Apple industrial designer who played a “key role” in developing the iPhone Air, and acted as its spokesman when it was introduced, but who has, according to Bloomberg, left Apple for an AI startup.
With that in mind, the Information reported a little over a week ago that the iPhone Air is such a flop that Apple has delayed rolling out the next model. (Bloomberg’s story on Chowdhury notes that a second iPhone Air will still happen, but not until 2027) Gizmodo’s largely positive review of the device found it too lightweight for its own good, with less-than-ideal battery life, and noted that if it “ends up going the way of the dodo like the iPhone Mini and Plus,” it might turn out to be a “testbed for miniaturizing components into a smart glasses form factor” and may include components of a foldable iPhone still to come.
Bloomberg’s story on Chowdhury’s departure (attributed to anonymous “people familiar with the move”) is from Bloomberg’s intrepid Apple scoop-getter, Mark Gurman, who has hastened to imply that he does not think the iPhone Air is some sort of corporate disaster that merits Chowdhury being forced out. “His exit is unrelated to the debut of the phone, which has seen its design praised despite underwhelming sales,” Gurman tweeted.
His exit is unrelated to the debut of the phone, which has seen its design praised despite underwhelming sales. https://t.co/sw2mtOGs58
Chowdhury joined Apple in 2019, around the same time celebrity chief design officer Jony Ive departed the company. According to reports, that period would have coincided with the company’s attempts to recover from the slow-motion meltdown that ensued when Ive seemingly lost his faith in Apple due to disagreements over what the Apple Watch was supposed to be, and then mostly stopped coming to work, and let his department basically atrophy.
According to Gurman, Chowdhury’s resignation “made waves internally, given his rising profile within the design team.”
