Strategic creative direction for visionary developments, brands, and landmarks.

We present select ventures in which APS Designs, led by Antonio Pio Saracino, contributes as creative director, co-founding partner, or visionary lead. Spanning development groups, public-sector initiatives, branded environments, and landmark proposals, these collaborations shape identity, elevate experience, and guide projects of lasting cultural and spatial relevance.

Modern white building with rectangular windows, stone accents, and steps leading down to a water feature, with trees in the foreground and a clear sky in the background.

  • Creative direction for residential and mixed-use development visions.

Modern building with a copper-colored curved exterior, large glass windows, and surrounded by palm trees, with a group of people standing outside.

  • Spatial identity for brands, experiences, and destination-led environments.

Modern building with circular windows, surrounded by palm trees and a reflecting pool, under a clear blue sky.

  • Public-facing visions shaped through culture, engagement, and civic relevance.

A metallic arch sculpture with multiple curved metal beams, seen from below against a bright blue sky with scattered white clouds, flanked by green leafy trees with sunlight shining through the right side.

  • Public Art works conceived for symbolic presence, memory, and identity.

Selected Ventures

These selected ventures show how APS Designs contributes beyond conventional design services—providing creative, strategic, and stylistic direction to shape identity, experience, and overall vision. Each reflects a distinct collaboration grounded in clarity, cultural relevance, and long-term value.

A modern house with large glass windows and a triangular roof, surrounded by autumn-colored trees and hills in the distance during sunset.

AELO

Residential Development Group | United States

Role: Co-Founder and Creative Director
A luxury development group dedicated to timeless country houses and private estates shaped by landscape, proportion, and enduring beauty. Currently developing in the Hudson Valley, the venture brings together creative direction and design identity to create refined homes for those seeking a closer relationship to nature within reach of the city.

Modern, curvy white house with large circular windows, surrounded by a landscaped yard with palm trees, a winding pool, and a beach in the background during sunset.

WATER INNOVATION CENTER

Northeastern Gulf Coast | Mexico

Role: Creative Director

The Water Innovation Center on Mexico’s northeastern Gulf coast was conceived with APS Designs as creative director for International Development, a New York–based advisory group working with multilateral organizations, UN entities, governments, and private-sector partners. In response to growing water scarcity, the center is envisioned as an educational and cultural destination that reimagines desalination through design, public engagement, and innovation—bringing visibility and long-term resilience to water infrastructure.

Exterior view of The Saudi Chocolate Museum, a modern building with a curved wooden facade, palm trees, and people walking and sitting outside.

CHOCOLATE MUSEUM

Corporate Museum | Miss Feionkah | Saudi Arabia

Role: Designer and Creative Director

The Chocolate Museum in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, was conceived by APS Designs, with the studio leading the project as creative director and designer. Informed by a close understanding of Miss Feionkah’s identity as a celebrated Saudi chocolate brand, the museum transforms the essence of the brand into an immersive spatial journey—where storytelling, heritage, craft, and sensory experience come together in a singular destination that deepens engagement and elevates the brand’s cultural and commercial presence.

Interior of a modern sporting goods store with white walls, bright lighting, and display wall for sneakers. Shoes are arranged on shelves and benches. A digital screen shows a close-up of sneakers. The store has a clean, futuristic design with green accent lighting.

DUOZOLU

Retail Environment | China

Role: Creative Director

As Creative Director for DuoZoLu, APS Designs conceived the retail experience and overall design identity for the brand’s stores across multiple locations in China. The work established a scalable spatial language spanning display, circulation, atmosphere, and brand presence, creating a consistent retail vision adaptable to different store formats and urban contexts. Positioned at the intersection of fashion, innovation, and sustainability, the project reimagined the sneaker boutique as an immersive and contemporary retail environment.

People walking, sitting on benches, and enjoying a park with a modern metallic sculpture of four large arches and a fountain, with tall buildings and a partly cloudy sky in the background.

NEW ARC

Public Competition | Newark, New Jersey

Role: Artist and Design Direction

The New Arc by Antonio Pio Saracino, developed through APS Designs, was selected as the winning proposal of a public competition led by Newark’s economic development leadership for Mulberry Commons. Conceived as a landmark for the city park, the project engages Newark’s broader civic vision, reinterpreting the symbolic language of the arch as a contemporary gateway to identity, renewal, and future growth within the city’s evolving public realm.

A large white modern sculpture in the shape of a spiral arch around a city square, with trees and buildings in the background and a blue sky with clouds overhead.

THREE ARCHES

Three-City Cultural Landmark | Puglia, Italy

Role: Artist and Design Director

Three Arches of Gargano is a cultural landmark initiative designed by Antonio Pio Saracino in partnership with three local municipalities, linking three historic cities through a contemporary narrative of pilgrimage, identity, and spiritual continuity, and transforming the Via Sacra Langobardorum into a unified civic and symbolic journey. Through three distinct yet interconnected arches, the project translates the spiritual heritage and cultural memory of the Gargano into a shared landmark vision across three historic cities in northern Puglia.