Niklas Bildstein Zaar and Andrea Faraguna

Niklas Bildstein Zaar and Andrea Faraguna are the creative director and architect, respectively, of Berlin-based Sub, which they founded in 2017 and acts as both an architectural design studio and research centre, pivoting around both the digital and physical worlds, encompassing the metaverse and all of its manifestations. They have described their work as “semi-architectural, semi-sociological, semi-anthropological.”    Updating Brutalism’s stark, functionalist style, Sub has worked with fashion designers such as Demna and Shayne Oliver on stores and shows as well as artist Anne Imhof on sets for her performances, all of which emanate a sensitivity to how psychology plays in spatial experience and narration.   Most recently, Bildstein Zaar and Faraguna — who tend to work behind the scenes, shying away from the glare of press and publicity — created Balenciaga’s London flagship, debuting a concept that evokes an abandoned, stripped down and weathered warehouse as background for the brand’s oft-apocalyptic collections.