Design
For Lina Ghotmeh, museums aren’t mausoleums but stages for debate and repair
A series of new commissions has confirmed Lina Ghotmeh as one of the world’s great architects. Here, she tells us about culture, craft and the poetics of building for the future.
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Troutbeck’s secluded cottages in the Hudson Valley are perfect for a late-season escape
The Hudson Valley is home to an abundance of reinvented barns and design-forward inns. But Troutbeck – an estate hotel homesteaded in the mid-18th century – stands out. The Dutchess County property was once…
New design festival Currents adds a fresh spark to Berlin Art Week
Mid-September is a vernissage-packed time in the German capital, with almost every art gallery in the city opening its autumn show during the annual Berlin Art Week. And, thanks to Currents – a new…
At Helsinki Design Week, the real product on show was a better city
This year’s Helsinki Design Week focused on design’s role in making cities more lively. The event, which finished at the weekend, included about 250 talks, exhibitions and showcases in venues across the Finnish capital.…
What can you expect from an all-women-designed building? Architecture that prioritises community
Conversations with the community led to the creation of Toronto’s Reina condominium complex, complete with multi-generational units, ample stroller parking and child play areas visible from the communal gym.
‘Buildings affect our health’: Thomas Heatherwick on how dull architecture is just as harmful as fast food
The world-renowned English designer behind Azabudai Hills and Olympia is on a mission to make buildings that better serve our wellbeing.
How the reconstruction of Lisbon’s Baixa district became a model for modern urban planning
Lisbon’s Baixa neighbourhood, ravaged by natural disasters in the 18th century, is a design lesson in reconstruction that breathes harmony and order.
Lobby group: how the best hotels can outstay any Airbnb
Almost a decade ago, industry analysts were predicting the decline of the hotel. Decentralised and cheap peer-to-peer business models such as Airbnb were supposedly sounding a death knell. Initially, I must admit, it was…
Can neuroscience help architects design buildings that make us feel better?
Buildings do more than just shelter us: they inform how we feel on a psychological and physical level. Researchers in the field of neuro-architecture are developing new ways of creating stress-free urban environments.
Mount Street Printers demonstrates the appeal of fine print in a digital age
Where other printing companies have failed, Mount Street Printers endures. The secret, its director says, is innovation and custom-made equipment.
Can good design support learning? A Catalonian kindergarten is trying to find out
Architecture firm Sarquella + Torres led the redesign of the school complete with extra-wide hallways that pull double duty and a dragon head-shaped waterspout hanging from the eaves.
