Mix Interiors 234 by Mix_Interiors

Amtico through the years

1964 1994 1996

TheCoventryfactoryexpandsfurther toincludeathirdlineforthenew PVC-Freeproduct,Stratica. ventureAmticoInternationalbeginsasajoint between Courtauldsand American Biltrite.Ayoungchemist,JohnHarrisjoins thebusinessasitsfirstCEO.

JonathanJohnHarrisretiresandissucceededby company’sDuck.He’sthesecondCEOinthe ourhistoryandisstillatthehelmof globalbusinesstoday.

initiallySpacia,anewproductcollection,islaunched inAustralia,thenintoEuropeandUS.

2016 2021 2022 2003 2004

‘Amticomakesitpossible’becomesournew propositiontoourcustomersacrosstheglobe,signalingour confidenceinthe collaborativecreativity,product innovationandservicethatsetsourfloorsapart.

Foundations,ournew sustainabilitystrategy,islaunchedtoour

Responsible Foundations,ournew sustainabilitystrategy,islaunchedtoour customersglobally.Aninternalversionofour sustainabilitystrategy,calledImpact,is launchedtoourpeopleinparallel.

1996 2000

CEOJohnHarrisleadsa Management BuyOutfromCourtalds,bringingthe businessintoprivateownership.

Amticoopensanew,dedicatedResidential salesoffice,samplewarehouseandtraining facilityinSolihull,WestMidlands.

2022 2024 2004 2007 2013

collection,Amtico’sfirstloose-layflooring SpaciaAccessislaunched, offeringadhesive-freeinstallationfor commercial environments.

OurcoreLVT collectionscannow bespecifiedwith bio-attributedPVC,anoptioncalledAmticoBio.

relaunched.Amtico’sflagshipcollection,Signatureis Thiscollectionof188productspushestheboundariesthrough inspirational,cuttingedgedesign.

Amticocelebrates60yearsof Britishflooringexpertise.

AMTICO

70 49 64

26 Upfront Projects, products and people through a futurecentric lens.

36 Things I’ve Learnt Woods Bagot’s Julian Cross shares his biggest lessons learnt from a life in industry.

38 Height of Design

Multi-disciplinary designer Linda Bergroth selects the one item she feels epitomises great design.

40 View from the Outside

Madeleine Kessler explores how a future-focused

design approach can benefit human and planets for generations to come.

42 In conversation with: Rachel Basha-Franklin

The founder of Basha-Franklin reflects on curiosity, collaboration and building a next-gen practice.

49 In conversation with: Double Decker

Double Decker’s Melita Skamnaki and Wilhelm Finger on the art of storytelling.

54 The Ask Conran and Partners' Tina Norden asks, does the designer know best?

56 Case study: Loom Club

The future is local at Kasawoo’s modern take on members’ clubs.

64 Case study: art’otel Hoxton

The latest outpost from art’otel fuses architectural style with art-inspired interiors.

70 Case study: White Arkitekter At White Arkitekter’s selfdesigned UK HQ in Clerkenwell, the studio embraces the existing and shuns uniformity.

78 Case study: Greenford Quay At West London’s The Glassworks, community building and design innovation walk hand-in-hand.

86 Case study: MM:NT Berlin

In central Berlin, a new aparthotel provides a testbed for the techsavvy future of hospitality.

92 Designing for Difference

Shawn Adams on the power of incorporating diverse global design perspectives.

94 Positive Impact: Everything old is new again MVRDV explores the potential of low-tech materials in a luxury setting.

98 Fast Forward: Beauty drives performance

How a space looks is more than mere aesthetics, says Gensler’s Lindsay Roth.

102 Paradoxically Speaking

Our issues with tech stem from misuse, not design flaws, counters Neil Usher.

104 Mix Roundtable with Atlas Concorde

The spaces of the future, realised.

112 Mix Roundtable with Autex Acoustics

How can we nurture community and promote collaboration?

120 Mix 30 under 30 Class of 2024

This year we recognised a new cohort of bright young things making their mark on the commercial interior design industry.

134 Events

From Orgatec to Mix Awards North, we round up the highlights from the last few events of 2024.

142 Mix Talking Point: design in times of crisis Mirzoyan Studio’s Nastia Mirzoyan reflects on design as a vehicle of resilience – while continuing to lead her practice from Kyiv.

146 Material Matters

Zaha Hadid Architect’s Eduardo Sant’Anna highlights four of his go-to materials.

147 Material Innovation

French agency hors-studio presents Trosne, a stackable furniture collection designed to navigate a changing climate.

148 The Final Word Workplace musings from Criteo’s Mike Walley.

MillerKnoll London. Now open in St John’s Square.

In the heart of London’s design community, our new space brings together our Herman Miller, Knoll, and Maharam brands and is a short walk away from the vibrant showrooms of our Muuto, NaughtOne, and HAY brands.

Colophon

The cover Designer Manufacturer

Get in touch

Managing Editor Harry McKinley harry@mixinteriors.com

Deputy Editor Chloé Petersen Snell chloe@mixinteriors.com

Editorial Assistant

Charlotte Slinger charlotte@mixinteriors.com

Editorial Assistant

Ellie Foster ellie@mixinteriors.com

Managing Director Leon March leon@mixinteriors.com

Account Manager

Stuart Sinclair stuart@mixinteriors.com

Account Manager

Patrick Bowley patrick@mixinteriors.com

Account Manager Gaia Cafarella gaia@mixinteriors.com

Marketing Manager Paul Appleby paul@mixinteriors.com

Head of Operations Lisa Jackson lisa@mixinteriors.com

Advertising and Events Operations Manager Maria Da Silva maria@mixinteriors.com

Art Director Marçal Prats marcal@mixinteriors.com

Founding publisher Henry Pugh

Buckley Gray Yeoman, in collaboration with the artist George Longly, took inspiration from the diamond polygon motif inherent in the Amtico flooring design. The use of refracted light and colour is a response to the physical properties of diamonds; the complex repeat patterns drawing the viewer in and holding their gaze. The design aims to mimic the repetitive patterns of the product and creates a more abstract composition that echoes the geometries in an organic and playful way.

bgy.co.uk

Starting its journey back in 1964 as the UK’s first manufacturer of LVT flooring, this year Amtico marks its 60th anniversary in operation. To commemorate, a bespoke diamond-inspired floor has been installed at its Coventry factory, designed by Amtico's in-house team featuring a polygon motif using Onyx Marble and Polished Gold stripping from the Signature LVT collection. The Onyx Marble design draws inspiration from 20th century inlaid marble floors, highlighting Amtico's long tradition of craftsmanship.

amtico.com

Subscription

To ensure that a regular copy of Mix Interiors reaches you or to request back issues, call 0161 519 4850 or email lisa@mixinteriors.com

Annual Subscription Charges UK single

(airmail) Outside Europe

(airmail) Contact

Unit 2 Abito, 85 Greengate, Manchester M3 7NA

Telephone +44 (0) 161 519 4850 editorial@mixinteriors.com www.mixinteriors.com

Instagram @mix.interiors LinkedIn Mix Interiors

Welcome

I’m recently returned from Athens, a majestic hub of both classical and modernist design. I was in the city for the inaugural Hotel Experience forum and, hosting two panels, for all the fascinating conversation that unfolded onstage, there was just as much off. And while the event schedule was full, one of the highlights for me transpired on the fringes: a late supper organised by the founders of art consultancy Double Decker – an interview with whom you can find within this issue.

It was a small, informal gathering of seven industry figures at the tail end of an otherwise demanding but productive day –at a smart restaurant in a stylish neighbourhood. Early talk was, naturally, of shop; of recent and upcoming projects, of lessons gleaned from the day’s panels, and of the design landscape broadly. However, by the time the starters had been ferried away, conversation had turned to more intimate matters – among them, family, new hobbies, languages spoken and restaurant recommendations. In a beautifully realised setting – all statement lighting and gleaming white – we connected over the most human of topics, good food and wine acting as fine social lubricants.

When chat swung to artificial intelligence and the role it will play in the design of tomorrow, Adam Tihany – widely considered the first bearer of the ‘restaurant designer’ title – remarked that it is experiences such as this that computers cannot create or even recreate. It is, after all, humans who activate spaces and human designers who imbue their work with ‘soul’.

Technology, and the ramifications of its adoption, is a hot topic within the world of commercial interior design, and indeed within these pages. We’re seeing digital data gathering being used to inform how hotels are developed, such as at Berlin’s MM:NT; technology infused into design to create immersive experiences, including at the new art’otel London Hoxton; and in our Mix Roundtable with Atlas Concorde, artificial intelligence generating the commercial spaces of tomorrow, from workplace to BTR, based on the immense insight of our assembled sector leaders.

Yet while we’re already feeling the power and potential of technology in action, there’s also a demarking of the boundaries. In her interview, BashaFranklin’s lead, Rachel Basha-

Franklin, explains that though there are more tools to aid in the design process than ever before, the time has come ‘to slow down to make sure the quality is right’, that design isn’t ‘building as much as we can, as fast as we can’, whatever advancements we may be able to utilise. Similarly, in our Mix Roundtable with Autex Acoustics, collaboration is the order of the day, as our influential guests discuss the ways in which we can better share ideas, communicate and build community – all distinctly human endeavours.

So back to Athens, fresh from a conference in which we discussed the future of design, and perhaps my greatest takeaway is the most simple: successful spatial design is that which allows us to create meaningful experiences. Technology may have a part to play, but bringing the ‘soul’, to borrow from Tihany? Well, that’s on us.

Harry McKinley Managing Editor

Incara is a range of functional, ergonomic wiring devices dedicated to any modern, flexible workspace, from office to hotel, café, airport or any other shared working environment.

INCARA™

Visit brunner at Orgatec

22-25 OCT 2024

HALL 8.1

STAND EO21

Our award winning tables and chairs are renowned for an effortless blend of beauty and functionality, with our latest innovations poised to reinforce our market-leading position.

This year, our stand will showcase many new innovations, including the revolutionary ‘ray work’ chair and ingenious ‘wave’ table system. Years in the making, both have been meticulously considered, designed and executed in partnership with the prolific Jehs + Laub design studio. brunner-uk.com

Circular acoustic solutions

All our acoustic products are made from waste materials such as discarded cotton linters or upcycled PET bottles.

Manufactured in Europe to your specific needs. Now available in UK and Ireland.

Visit impactacoustic.com or contact us today at uk@impactacoustic.com to learn more.

ARCHISONIC® Cotton is a natural product solution that solves the problem of sound absorption while being fully circular. The tiles are completely reusable and 100% of the sound absorbers can be returned to the production process at the end of their life.

SOFT SEATING

A deep-rooted heritage in soft seating manufacturing.

Adaptable configurations for ceilings

Every element of our product has been thoughtfully designed to add colour, texture, and elegant form to grid type ceilings

Square frame style, Grid Ceiling Tiles Collection

Scan below to learn more

Feasting under the Holm Oak tree, cultivated for its acorns rather than its wood.

Acorns that form the traditional diet of this characterful animal, resulting in the finest ibérico ham.

By chance, woodland management handed us this protected 400-year-old treasure.

We took great care to capture the essence of its rich, pronounced grain.

We used gentle scraping and brushing techniques, softened the dark knots with a delicate milky wash, and crafted each plank with undulating bevelling.

The result, a raw yet refined look, steeped in authenticity.

Get to know the new designs at karndeancommercial.com/whatsnew

IT BEGINS WITH

THE BLACK IBERIAN PIG

THE LEADING UK-BASED SPECIALISTS IN THE DESIGN AND SUPPLY OF CERAMIC AND PORCELAIN TILES.

Since 1901, we have proudly designed high-quality wall and floor tiles, preserving our rich history and heritage in the heart of the Potteries, Stoke on Trent. What sets us apart is our experienced in-house design team, who travel the world seeking inspiration and sourcing on trend ceramic and porcelain tile collections to bring to market. Our extensive product portfolio has been featured in interior design projects globally, including residential spaces, education facilities, hotels, hospitals, leisure facilities and commercial developments.

We don’t just design and supply the finest quality products; we also deliver exceptional service. With our unrivalled stock availability, next day delivery, first class customer experience and technical support, you can trust that our 120+ years of expertise ensure all our products and services meet the highest quality standards. We also remain committed to providing sustainable materials and ensuring all partnering factories hold the same values and principles.

PATTERN COLLECTION

Today’s workspaces provide the agility to experience work in a way that suits you. This idea is behind Pattern, three carpet tile designs; Balanced, Tailored and Unchained are inspired by personal responses to ways of working as we strive to find a place for our own wellbeing.

mohawkgroup.eu

The collection that expresses the individuality of experience

Whether seeking the sense of security provided by structure and routine, the ability to flex with the task in hand or to work wherever and whenever;

Pattern interprets these experiences in structured carpet tiles made with the world’s first carbon negative yarn.

With the structured loop piles of Pattern you can form a workspace grounded in routine, balance or freedom across a range of 16 colours presenting highly functional tones and subtle, pastel-like hues.

TAILORED

The adaptable and dynamic Tailored explores a self-controlled way of working. Inspired by personalities with the agility to flex between task and collaboration and the ability to find freedom in working patterns.

UNCHAINED

Unchained’s expressive pattern represents personalities that put freedom before all else – nomads who roam and experience work in all kinds of places.

Unchained’s expressive pattern represents personalities that freedom before all else – nomads who roam and experience work in all kinds of places.

BALANCED

Balanced has a strong sense of routine and rhythm – a relationship with work that has rules and boundaries. A settled and structured look to reflect a personality seeking order in their working lives.

BALANCED

colour islands

Rugs by Ege Carpets

Explore colourful rugs in any size and shape

Our rugs are beautiful islands creating soft and warm atmospheres in the sea of concrete, hardwood and ceramics. All rugs can be customised to complement and highlight any interior.

sustainable design at your feet

Novel nostalgia

American gelatine pudding brand Jell-O has made its debut into the interior design space with a series of inflatable chairs, inspired by its most iconic food product.

Inspired by the original Jell-O bundt cake mould, The Jelly Collection comes in red, orange, yellow and green colourways, that represent the flavours strawberry, orange, lemon and lime respectively. Witty meeting ergonomic, the smooth curvature of fluted forms makes for a novel but comfortable seat, where the handy arm slot is primed

for the user’s Jell-O snack of choice. The air-filled chair comes complete with a tiered backrest that wraps around the cyclical divet base for increased relaxation.

After observing the rising trend of translucent home décor amongst Gen Z consumers, umbrella brand KraftHeinz’s main objective for the release was to contemporise Y2K nostalgia for modernday tastes, bringing its long-standing heritage in the convenience food market to the attention of a new generation.

Following Jell-O’s 2023 rebrand, The Jelly Collection launch sits in congruence to the brand’s fresh visual identity, injecting a light-hearted ‘playful spirit’ to an interior décor landscape that has previously teetered on the ultra-slick and minimal. The product line exemplifies how throwback culture can transcend boundaries between the food and interior design industries, all the while introducing tongue-in-cheek ideas to the oftentimes serious world of A&D.

Game design levels up

In a surprising collaboration, Zaha Hadid Architects has joined forces with Epic Games’ Fortnite to design Re:Imagine London; an alternate imagining of the capital that can be both explored and edited by players in minute detail.

Since its inception in 1979, ZHA has been renowned for its highly polished and narrative-driven projects, often gargantuan in scale but rooted in humanistic design. On the opposite side of the coin, Fortnite, a battle-royale style shooter game released in 2017, with approximately 650 million users registered to date, is best known for its pave-making graphics and absorbing storylines.

This coming together of two interdisciplinary powerhouses sees ZHA’s starchitecture design rendered through Fortnite’s cartoonish lens, which begs the question: is there a role for high design in game environments?

Upon closer inspection, the partnership between ZHA and Fortnite starts to make more sense than might be initially imagined. Unreal Engine, a cuttingedge 3D modelling software for creative practitioners, is now commonplace in most architecture and design practices, as project walk-throughs depicting hyperrealistic UX has become the expectation for clients. Meanwhile, UEFN (Unreal Engine for Fortnite) is a specifically adapted

version of the programme, fortified with a powerful toolkit for the publishing of dynamic built environments, like that of Re:Imagine London.

As the design process of real and virtual worlds overlap, a mutually beneficial relationship between architectural and game design (two seemingly contrasting industries) seems to unfold, posing further queries: will optimised gamemaking technology dictate the future of A&D; a gamification of the industry, if you will? Similarly, will game designers turn to lofty architectural firms to improve their dreamed realities?

zaha-hadid.com

Flipper’s Roller Boogie Palace

Known as 'Studio 54 on wheels', the original West Hollywood Flipper's was a hedonistic party hotspot founded by Ian ‘Flipper’ Ross in 1979. Despite its existence being short lived, Flipper’s was notorious for its inclusivity, with Laurel Canyon cowboys, coming-of-age skaters and A-listers like Prince, Nile Rodgers, Cher and David Bowie all rubbing shoulders (or derby boots) there.

Across the pond, more than four decades later, the reimagining of the venue –Flipper’s Roller Boogie Palace – opens in London’s White City, instigated by Flipper’s daughter Liberty Ross. Paradoxically straddling nostalgia and futurism, the new venue was readily received as the largest indoor roller rink the capital has seen.

Continuing her family heritage, Ross approached Sheffield-based interior design firm and branding agency 93ft to capture the spirit of 80s Los Angeles in both interior and visual identity. Grungeglamour of the early eighties meets the world-class lighting production of the modern day; Flipper’s Roller Boogie Palace comprises a competition-size, black beech roller disco with digital screens, a 60-person mezzanine club lounge, as well as a pro-skate shop complete with a 4m rotating pivot door. Palm trees, neon signage and mesh cages also point to the kitsch design sensibilities of the golden era, where pink banquette seating and industrial-style high stools invite conversation.

Ross’ brief to 93ft stressed a destination impressive enough to encourage returning visitors, but more so an atmosphere of inclusivity and gathering, much like that of the original venue. As with concepts like Flight Club and the emergence of axe throwing, Flipper’s Roller Boogie Palace is a direct response to a cult revival of retro activities, perhaps, marking a social hankering for human interaction and a return to community.

Photography:

John Carey

Step Intoo hassle-free floors

Achieve beautiful ultra-matt wood and stone design floors in no time at all with Moduleo Intoo. Making vinyl flooring more adaptable, the loose lay installation also saves hassle. And when it’s time to leave it all behind, Intoo is simple to remove and reuse or recycle.

Reworking works

Helmed by creative real estate developer General Projects, Kentish Town’s Highgate Studios is undergoing a full remodel, the historic development receiving a ‘lighttouch restoration’ to reestablish itself as one of North London’s largest creative, media and technology campuses.

Highgate Studios’ industrial studio space is currently home to tenants such as Warner Bros’ gaming subsidiary Rocksteady, Alison Brooks Architects and French audio manufacturer L-Acoustics. A significant cultural destination at the height of the arts and crafts movement, the former Sanderson’s wallpaper factory has been a hub for North London’s creative scene for decades.

General Projects is reconfiguring the 212,0002 sq ft structure to maintain its historical features, at the same time future proofing the workplace for the needs of a new cohort of creative businesses. Utilising the design expertise of architecture practice Piercy & Company, works have been set in motion for an array of reimagined spaces, from intimate units to large, open-plan studios.

So far, a new entrance and foyer has already been completed. Complete with a club-style reception and on-site café operated by local, female-owned LUNAR, the space provides an improved arrival experience for employees and their creative partners, alongside members of the public who wish to engage in the

studios’ pending events programme. As for the site’s work areas, fully revised circulation serves to connect creatives directly to leisure facilities such as a gym, lounge, library and flexible breakout rooms, blurring the lines between business and leisure.

Yet to be realised, General Projects plans to allot vacant space for ad-hoc artist workshops and exhibition space, adding to the vibrancy of the estate and seeing the professional and public realm yet again meld together. Also in the pipeline, a new garden, benefitting from biodiverse urban greening, will establish a more organic connection with the local community.

highgatestudios.com

ECHO lock is totally unique, yet you already hold the key..

Coming soon..

Interested? Scan the QR Code to find out more

DSDHA snares Camden student housing bid

Camden Council has recently approved DSDHA’s plans for a Private Bedroom Student Accommodation (PBSA) and residential development adjacent to the legendary Roundhouse venue.

Facilitated by local developer Regal, 100 Chalk Farm Road’s transformation will comprise four new blocks of 264 student bedrooms, 30 affordable homes and approximately 11,000 sq ft of street level commercial space, built opposite the Grade-II listed performance venue. Replacing a concrete office block that presently impedes views of the concert hall and occupies the maximum square footage of the site, the proposal is set to open to the street with cylindrical structures and inviting shopping and dining options.

Inspired by Camden’s cultural significance in music and the performing arts, the new mixed-use complex will feature three drum-shaped elements that range from six to 12 storeys in height. Horizontal louvres and fluted panels will also nod to percussive instruments, as well as adding to the building’s overall solar shading strategy. To be constructed at podium level, urban landscaping will take precedent in the form of a shared private garden, offering a quiet oasis amidst a bustling metropolitan context. Lush planting, seating and a playground for young families will be reserved for residents and students from this vantage point, where the retail units below will connect the building to the wider public realm.

Neighbouring Roundhouse and Regent’s Canal Conservation Area have been carefully considered in DSDHA’s design process, the scheme hoping to highlight and respect the industrial heritage of the waterways and historical architecture, whilst contemporising the standard of student housing in the area. With construction expected to commence late 2024, DSDHA has also observed BREEAM Outstanding and the WELL Platinum specifications as part of its ambitious environmental aspirations.

dsdha.com

Things I've learnt

Julian Cross is principal and regional design leader for Europe for Woods Bagot. He has more than 20 years’ of architecture and design experience, encompassing the UK, Europe and the Middle East, from luxury residential and hotel projects to high-end mixed use developments and largescale urban masterplans.

woodsbagot.com

@woodsbagot

Continual learning.

Always keep learning and remain open to new ideas. My long-term interest in the profession is motivated through continual learning and the curiosity around new ideas, especially from the young and emerging generation of designers. Being an external examiner at several universities, I find myself regularly exposed to the latest thinking where I am both inspired and challenged to look beyond the status quo.

No copy and paste.

Over the past 25 years, I have gained valuable lessons from each project I’ve completed. Every project is unique, with its own set of challenges and requirements, ensuring there is never a copy and paste solution. With a design tailored to meet the distinct needs of each client, you can create beautiful solutions to complex challenges.

Tell a great story.

Buildings and cities tell stories, with each new structure adding a fresh chapter to an ever-evolving story. By creating a strong narrative about a place and its people, you can engage with all the project stakeholders in an equitable way, fostering empathy and connection. This approach is a great way to drive your design story from concept to completion, and to your end users, who ultimately become the recipients and future storytellers of the space.

Context is key.

No matter where your project is in the world, it is intrinsically linked to its context. Find a resonance with place through form, materiality, function, or tradition, and you will build a foundation upon which meaningful design emerges.

Stay positive.

No matter what a project throws at you, remain positive and never give up. Problems are almost always solvable and even when they feel impossible at times, they rarely are! I’ve been in the position many times during my career where I have felt stuck, but in remaining optimistic I have always found a solution. It’s worth keeping in mind that if you look shaky as a leader, everyone else will feel it too; so stay steady, and your team will follow suit. Remember that our profession is a marathon not a sprint, so pace yourself accordingly.

ALTO CANOPY HIGH & LOW BENCH

Linda Bergroth

The height of design

Linda Bergroth is a multi-disciplinary Helsinki-born designer working across interior architecture, product and set design.

@lindabergroth

The item

MUJI Steel Unit Shelf.

The why

MUJI Steel Unit Shelf’s airy look combined with a steady structure strong enough for heavy art books is one thing, but what really makes it different from other modular shelving systems is it’s friendly, approachable feel. It is made out of steel sheets and rods and looks technical, yet also kind and friendly –something you feel comfortable to have in your private space. I am especially fond of the original light grey version, with all visible parts – except bolts –powder-coated in the same tone. It has enough colour not to look dull in front of a white wall, but is neutral enough to fit any interior.

The inspiration

I can think of numerous individual design objects that have inspired my thinking, but this one I see as a working horse that holds my most precious source of inspiration: art books and travel notes. I use the 82cm high modules, arranged next to one another: books on the bottom in two rows and the top is used as a side board to display objects from recent travels, ceramics, art and arrangements of precious items. Books are arranged in categories and then by colour, not for the aesthetics but because that’s how I memorise them. So, the MUJI Steel Unit Shelf acts as a frame for everything I’ve seen and read; my travels, art and design work in progress.

What do you think has been the impact of this item?

The Steel Unit is MUJI’s first furniture design and has been produced since 1996. True to the anonyms MUJI spirit, I actually don’t know much about its story, except that the dimensions are based on classic Japanese architecture that all MUJI storage items since have been

designed to fit in. It’s a classic and for me falls in the same category as Dieter Rams designs – clear, functional thinking with a certain softness that makes you feel good.

The personal connection

I feel that the stainless steel shelf decided to enter into my life at some point and stick along, rather than me consciously choosing it. I only realised how much it meant to me when moving to a bigger space and I needed some additional modules for a wall to wall composition. It turned out that the sales of the light grey finish had been stopped in Europe and I had to source used ones from all sorts of online platforms. When picking up the goods, all sellers mentioned how many passionate messages they received from buyers trying to secure a purchase. This quiet piece of furniture has created a lot of emotion in many people.

A Minister for Future Generations and the Planet

Madeleine Kessler is an architect, curator and urbanist dedicated to designing joyful people-centred places that contribute positively to our planet.

madeleinekessler.com

As an engineering student, I remember a lecturer saying, “Design a bridge with a 100year lifespan, so you’ll be long gone when it collapses.” Though humorous, the remark underscores a serious reality, that the decisions we make today have long-lasting impacts, whether we are here to witness them or not. Yet, with growing impatience and short-term thinking among those in power, strategic decisions increasingly prioritise immediate needs over a long-term vision. How, then, do we encourage a mindset shift that prioritises long-term value in the design and engineering of our infrastructure, built environment and urban spaces, ensuring that our cities and planet not only survive but thrive in the future?

More than sixty years ago Jane Jacobs' seminal book The Death and Life of Great American Cities transformed the discourse in planning and urbanism by placing a focus on human scale, people and communities. Jacobs wrote, “cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody”. But who do we really mean by ‘everybody’? And how do we ensure that everyone, including those from under-represented backgrounds, future generations, multi-species

and the planet, all have a voice in shaping our urban environment?

Last year, I curated the National Infrastructure Commission’s first-ever design symposium, where we explored how to better embed design into strategic decision-making. One approach discussed was seventh-generation thinking, inspired by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of Indigenous nations in northeast North America, which considers the impact of today’s decisions seven generations from now. Could having someone at the table, representing generations yet to be born, help ensure a longerterm, more visionary approach to decision-making, leading to a more sustainable, resilient and healthier urban environment?

In 2015 the Welsh Government’s Well-being of Future Generations Act mandated that public bodies consider the long-term impacts of their actions. As part of this, wellbeing hubs in health and social care have been developed, integrating services to better meet community needs holistically. Could embedding this type of thinking even further across all public and private bodies in the UK be the answer? Should a custodian for future generations be present in every boardroom?

In 2017 New Zealand granted legal personhood to the Whanganui River, appointing legal guardians to protect its long-term health. By giving the river a legal voice, New Zealand shifted from shortterm exploitation to longterm care. This radical move ensures that environmental needs are respected, with developers incorporating more sustainable practices into their projects. It has led to stricter regulations on water use and land development. Could a minister for the seventh generation and our planet inspire us to go beyond temporary measures and integrate equal representation and long-term care for ecosystems into our governance?

The decisions we make today – the infrastructure, cities and buildings we design – will impact generations to come. We are in the midst of a climate, social and economic crisis, and it is more important than ever that we design for the future. Appointing representatives for those without a voice would ensure that long-term sustainability is prioritised over short-term profits. A Minister for Future Generations and the Planet would enable the UK to lead in creating urban environments that support both human and planetary health for generations to come.

Words: Natasha Levy

Photography: Taran Wilkhu, Phillip Durrant

Where it took her

Founder of the eponymous design studio, Rachel Basha-Franklin reflects on curiosity, collaboration and building a next-gen practice.

In 2002, designer Rachel Basha-Franklin decided to up sticks from her native Australia and move thousands of miles across the world to London. It was a daring choice that turned out to be hugely rewarding – just five years later she was able to establish her eponymous design practice, which has since masterminded some of the capital’s most exceptional workspaces.

One would have a hard time finding aesthetic parallels between them: the interior of 26 St James’ Square, for instance, is decked out with the same rich

materials that could be found in a private members club, while the headquarters of insurance firm Velonetic (set inside the iconic Lloyd’s building) has a futuristic mix of modular stainless steel elements and LED lights. The Myo offices in St Paul’s, also designed by Basha-Franklin’s practice, look different too – and it's where we convene for our interview. As I'm guided through the first floor, I pass a lustrous copper reception desk, seating areas dressed with plump red-velvet armchairs, and a sculptural staircase set against a faceted stone wall – full of character and devoid of corporate

Rachel Basha-Franklin

Above:

Centre:

Circulation at 26 St James’ Square

coldness, the space feels more like the lobby of a boutique hotel. “Our approach is very much about the site, the building and its location… We don't do cut, paste, repeat,” Basha-Franklin says once we’re sitting comfortably at a table. “It’s been my dream to connect the best of what people have at home or in a hotel to their office so that they feel valued and actually want to come into work. It’s an opportunity to turn people's everyday life into an elevated experience.”

The office stretches up a further two floors, providing a mix of casual and formal work settings that overlook the immense St Paul’s cathedral and its bustling surrounding streets – a starkly different landscape to what BashaFranklin grew up with, having spent her childhood in a country town a few hours' drive south of Sydney. “It wasn’t the most inspiring place in terms of architecture,” she reflects, “but we had beautiful rivers, beaches and mountains, so that was all

really amazing.” She fed her early interest in spatial design by pouring over copies of Vogue Living magazine and taking trips into the city with her family. Whilst there they’d visit restaurants and cultural landmarks like the Jørn Utzon-designed Sydney Opera House, experiences that Basha-Franklin felt “offered a connection to another world”.

She would go on to study interior design at degree level, enrolling in a four-year course at University of Technology Sydney. Several of her professors were former architects and had an interdisciplinary slant to their teaching, which informed Basha-Franklin’s design approach at large: “I felt like it was a really fortunate time to be there and we got a lot out of our education.”

After graduating she was reluctant to be pigeonholed to a particular sector so cut her teeth in industry by working at a medley of different architecture studios, from those that focused on residential interiors to others which specialised in fast

Kitchen area at Myo St Paul's

Right:

Coworking at Myo St Paul's

paced, nose-to-tail retail projects. However, by the time she reached her late 20s, she was ready for change: “I’m a curious person and had itchy feet. I'd also reached my outer limits in Sydney; as beautiful a place it is, and a great environment to live in, when you're a designer you need to have more experiences and more understanding,” she says. “I wanted to see where a big city would take me.”

She set off for London, where she soon secured a position on the interiors team of now-defunct practice Llewellyn Davies Yeang. Here she contributed to the design of several offices, as well as major healthcare spaces like Great Ormond Street Hospital. “We were working with architects, landscape designers and also had a fantastic art programme for that particular building – I loved seeing how something came together so holistically.” Yet this collaborative approach that Basha-Franklin so much enjoyed soon came to a halt as the practice made the

decision to solely focus on architectural projects, shutting down a majority of the other departments in-house. At this point, Basha-Franklin and another colleague decided to step out and form a design studio of their own. Their early days of operation unfortunately coincided with the 2008 financial crisis, but a couple of large commissions kept them afloat. The quieter market also gave Basha-Franklin the opportunity to have and raise two daughters.

Nearly a decade later in 2017, Rachel became the sole shareholder in the company and transformed the studio into the closely-knit collective of designers and architects (including her husband, Alex Franklin) that it exists as today. “I know a lot of companies that bill architecture and interiors separately; that creates divides and then there’s competition for resources and profitability,” she says. “As a nextgeneration practice, we make sure that the mindset is to flourish, not to compete.”

Interview

Rachel Basha-Franklin

Below: Velonetic, The Lloyds Building

Both sides of the practice are currently working together on the overhaul of 25 Hanover Square, a seven-storey building occupying a prime corner plot in London’s affluent Mayfair. Though the structural framework has been largely retained, the Basha-Franklin team has plans to introduce a new façade crafted from limestone and pre-patinated Corten steel, its reddish hue referencing the brick colour of the area’s historic townhouses. For the interior, they’ve proposed creating an upscale workspace at ground level and converting the top floor into a terrace for entertaining guests. Winding throughout the building will be a dazzling staircase with a molten metal balustrade, which Basha-Franklin says will “look like a piece of jewellery”. “It’s a complete turnkey project, we'll probably pick the knives, forks and glasses to go with it as well,” she adds. Considering that the site is 24,000 sq ft, to some it may seem superfluous

that the designer is even thinking about the cutlery – but to Basha-Franklin, paying attention to these little details is integral. “There’s a lot of reasoning as to how and why we do things. It's not just ‘we like that’ or ‘we have a feeling for this’, it's embedded in something that's strategic,” she explains. “We're really conscious that we're [on a project] to the end. We want to choose the cushions, arrange the plants and make sure that when the client takes it on, it's done to the best it can be.”

Basha-Franklin also emphasises that completing projects to a high standard requires time, a resource she thinks is increasingly being mishandled because of artificial intelligence’s growing presence in the design process. “I come from a time when designing was much slower and about working with pen and paper; every line on the page was more permanent and considered,” she explains. “The

Left: Kitchen area at Myo St Paul’s

Right: Lounge area at 25 Hanover Square

“As a next-generation practice, we make sure that the mindset is to flourish, not to compete.”

technological change that I’ve seen in my career has been pretty phenomenal and we've now got a lot of tools to help us, but we've got to slow down to make sure that the quality is right…not just keep building as much as we can, as fast as we can.”

Still as curious as when she first arrived in London, Basha-Franklin mentions towards the end of the interview that she’s recently become “a bit obsessed” with ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement, and wants to start amplifying the practice’s use of indoor planting. They’re also in talks with a mycelium company to see how it can incorporate products made from the fungal root into their future projects –which Basha-Franklin hopes will include more mixed-use buildings. “That’s where our brain works best, bringing together complexities into a cohesive development,” she concludes. “I think the best is yet to come.”

Down to a fine art

Double Decker’s Melita Skamnaki and Wilhelm Finger on the art of storytelling and building narratives beyond design.

Soho has always been a bit different – long contrasting with polished neighbour Mayfair as home to a bohemian counterculture of intellectuals and immigrants; a meltingpot of ideas and cultures, and in the last 70 or so years, an artistic hub. It makes sense that art consultancy Double Decker would make its base here, hidden behind a graffitied door above a chic ramen restaurant in the heart of the district. Specialising in art curation for the hospitality sector, the colourful chaos of Soho is where inspiration starts for founders Melita Skamnaki and Wilhelm Finger, working with artists from around the world to curate, source and commission for an international portfolio of clients and projects. Inside,

the studio is bright and warm, matched in tone by its owners, with mid-century furniture, carefully curated objects and, of course, a collection of original artwork lining the walls.

Friends for many years, Skamnaki and Finger met at Kingston University, eventually launching Double Decker in 2009. Their different cultural backgrounds and varied experience complements each other in business and in life – Germanborn Finger working as an art director in fashion publishing and the music industry, and Skamnaki, born and raised in Greece, with a background in copywriting and creative direction. The pair’s ultimate goal is to create a story; something to explore, using art to layer new narratives on top of

Words: Chloé Petersen Snell

Photography: Courtesy of Double Decker, Cunard and the artists

a scheme’s interior design. An academic background and respect for art history makes it easy for them to create collections that go beyond trends, crafting the unexpected for a category of luxury guests that have seen it all.

“Knowing trends is important of course,” says Finger. “We like trends, but we also like to make our own. That’s the beauty of where we are at the moment in time – everything goes. There is a really eclectic style and it comes down to how you compose it.”

“Which sometimes is a gut feeling, to dare to put things together that don’t necessarily match. We take the [interior designer’s] vision, we study it and then we respond with our story as another layer,” Skamnaki continues. “And we can often find more because art is, in the end, a more powerful medium,” adds Finger.

Celebrating 15 years of creative collaboration in 2024 (“We spend more time with each other than our partners!”), the company has evolved into a formidable, yet quiet, powerhouse in the world of hospitality, working with some of the biggest names in the industry – most recently with David Collins Studio to create the world’s largest floating art collection for Cunard’s Queen Anne cruise ship. Working with the interior designers, Richmond

International and creative director Adam Tihany, Double Decker sourced and commissioned a colossal 4,300 unique artworks alongside 500 object d’art, enhancing and complementing the design experience and challenging the clichés of a typical cruise ship. “Cunard have been breaking the rules since they started,” says Skamnaki. “And that was also a very big reason why they commissioned us,” adds Finger. “They wanted innovation, something bold, fresh – creating a ship for the next 25 years.”

A five-year venture, the team broke the mammoth undertaking down into multiple projects, which Skamnaki describes as travelling into different worlds from space to space. Carefully chosen for each site-specific area of Queen Anne, from public lobbies and restaurants to the individual cabins, the art collection takes guests on a visual journey inspired by the timeless luxury of sea voyages and Cunard’s history. In the Grand Lobby, A Cunard Journey by Ian Kirkpatrick, inspired by ancient Greek amphorae, features three brass-etched lenticular panels that narrate the journey of a Cunard liner from departure to arrival, evolving as guests move through the space. In the Royal Court Theatre, photographer Lara Angelil’s series of bespoke editorial photographs, inspired by Cunard’s past entertainers, showcases

Below

This page left: ‘A Cunard Journey’ installation by Ian

Below: Cabin on Seaborn Pursuit

Left: Cunard’s Queen Anne cruise ship, suite lounge – photography Dimitris Spyrou

left: Lamprini Zachoupolou, Cunard’s Brittania Club

Kirkpatrick

performers in dramatic movement – commissioned and art directed by Double Decker. Every space and corner is thoughtfully considered and brought to life by the power of art, including the 1,500 cabins featuring bespoke still life pieces also commissioned by the team – not one faded seaside poster to be seen. “It’s not cruise ship art, it’s not hotel art,” says Finger, “the collection is completely unique – just like the design. The restaurants could easily be picked up and placed in the centre of London.”

Of the 300 artists chosen, 32 graduates from Royal College of Arts, Central Saint Martins and Parsons School of Design were commissioned with an open brief. Each school was given a staircase, three across 14 levels, which the team refer to as a ‘vertical gallery,’ now a key part of the ship’s experience. “We like discovering talent,” Skamnaki explains. “We like working with people and releasing their potential – pushing them into different worlds. We believe we can write a strong brief and mentor them to create something fresh – before they have all these limits put on them by clients and galleries. For example, we take an artist who typically

creates paintings or sculptures and we translate it to a tapestry visual. We want to release the potential of an artist a little bit further than expected.”

Another formative project also floats – The Seaborn Pursuit, Seabourn's second ultraluxury expedition vessel that sails from the Amazon to Antartica. The collection drew from the spirit of exploration, speaking to the diverse geography of the trip and its well-travelled guests. “That was a different level of guest,” Skamnaki muses, “because of the exclusivity of the experience. You have a cultured audience; you need to offer something they haven’t seen before.”

Part of the 700-piece collection, the main atrium features Magical Sky, an interactive sculpture designed by Double Decker themselves, inspired by the shapes and colours that are visible in the night sky along the ship’s journeys. A concave dome atop a plinth invites guests to peer inside, revealing multiple layers and reflections that create a connection to the sky outside.

A sense of place is an important source of inspiration then, and the team source local artists and undiscovered talent to

“ We take the [interior designer’s] vision, we study it and then we respond with our story as another layer.”

Below:

Olaf Hajek’s ‘Ludwig II’ and ‘Empress Sissi’ at Rosewood Munich – photography Davide Lovatti

Right: Thomas Trum’s ‘1972 Olympics Revisited’ Rosewood Munich –photography Davide Lovatti

tell an authentic story of a space and its surroundings. “We draw a lot of elements from heritage,” details Finger, “and pull all the ingredients of a space together to make a story out of it. Sometimes our storytelling comes also out of some secret past. We are working on a building in Morocco, a former palace, but it was also once a hospital. If you dig really deep you can find some interesting stories to tell which are not on the surface – and of course guests are always very curious to find out more.”

Located in two grand, historical buildings, Rosewood Munich hotel’s collection is centred on a theme of ‘Munich stories,’ drawing from key moments in the city’s history, architecture and culture to bridge the past and present. Helena Parada Kim’s pastel depictions of Bavarian clothing contrast with Katarina Ziemke’s tactile rice paper works, while bold, abstract paintings by Thomas Trum pack a punch in the deluxe suites.

At 25hours Dubai, Double Decker was inspired by the narratives that shape modern-day Dubai and the city’s overlooked past, including the heritage of the Bedouin and Hakawati (Arabic

for storyteller). Working with both local and international artists, highlights include the impressive Under the Same Sky, a 25-metre acoustic ceiling fresco by artist Dominik Bulka that depicts a contemporary interpretation of the constellations, referencing the lifestyles of both the nomadic Bedouins and modern travellers. The collaboration was hugely successful, with future plans with 25hours in the team’s buoyant pipeline, alongside a series of projects with Four Seasons in Greece and Morocco, a hotel in Barcelona and a number of projects closer to home in London.

Espresso cup empty and homemade biscuits vanished, we pore over photos of past projects, Skamnaki and Finger effortlessly detailing the reasoning and process behind each piece of art – a testament to the passion they have for their product. And yet, as curators, do the duo often feel overlooked – their meticulous storytelling and brand building lost when projects are covered in the press? “Of course, the art and artists are so important, but knowledge and curation is what makes the space work,” says Skamnaki. “We can add the soul to a project.”

Left: Lobby at 25hours

Downtown Dubai

Does the designer know best?

conranandpartners.com

Over the years I have realised that being a diplomat is as much part of the design profession as creativity. Without people – and persuasive – skills it is very hard to stand your ground as a designer and convince clients, technical consultants and anyone else involved in a project of our point of view –and create a holistic, resolved and considered end result.

We do have some preparation of this reality through design crits at university – which seemed to run under ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ in my university days. But, actually, this prepares one quite well for the real world, where at times we can be equally strongly refuted.

It is very hard to challenge your client and paymaster, in particular if they are opinionated and know or think they know about design. We need to be clear and considered in our arguments for our solution, stay rational and show them that our proposal not only makes sense, but resolves the issues they asked us to.

We often find that we get feedback to change something that we don’t feel is right. The key for me is always to understand why this is being asked. What is the actual concern the client has – and very often it is not a specific design solution (that is often the interpretation of a project manager!), but the comment is based on another concern about money, regulations, cultural issues or even personal tastes and dislikes of a colour or finish. Finding out what the actual issue is helps us to find a solution that still works with the design and can often be a much better solution; after all, that is what we are being paid for.

This requires an amount of trust, but also the willingness to listen and understand one another. How can we rationalise decisions and suggestion in a way that makes sense to the client? We have to educate them on our reasons and way of thinking, appropriate to their project and brief. It is important that we show passion for our work and are willing to explain and defend it. A client who wants a designer to just do

what they say doesn’t want a designer at all, they need a draughtsperson.

We do what we do because we love it, we live and breathe it, and come to our conclusion after much hard work and deliberation. So we should stand up for our beliefs and be strong in our views, but also be open to good and constructive criticism. This applies in particular when working in other countries as conventions and understanding – as well as cultural sensibilities – may differ. We often sense the relief when an international client realises that we have researched, understood and taken into account the specifics of their country.

Having a studio in HK has been a real eye opener for me in terms of being sensitive to how people work and relate to each other. It is very different to the UK, even if on the surface it seems the same. But we also have to pick our battles. Sometimes things are worth fighting for, but sometimes it is also worth stepping back and agreeing to a suggestion if it is not as important to the overall project.

Tina Norden is a principal and co-owner at Conran and Partners.

Social fabric

The future is local at Kasawoo’s modern take on members’ clubs.

Words: Chloé Petersen Snell

Photography:

Ed Reeve, David Valinsky

Loneliness is a problem in 2024. What was once seen as a little-discussed issue reserved for the elderly is now a growing epidemic amongst younger people – recent data from the Office for National Statistics revealing that the number of individuals experiencing chronic loneliness has increased to 3.83 million, despite today’s hyperconnected world. Now, people under 30 are the most lonely age group –twice as likely to be persistently lonely than over 70s; a significant shift that has been accelerated by the pandemic.

In Islington, Kasawoo has unveiled its design for the first Loom Club, a partiallycrowdfunded take on members’ clubs that is aimed at combating the isolation felt by a growing number of us. In contrast to similar spaces in Central London, Loom provides a space for the local community to interact and connect from day to night, all within a 15-minute walking distance of their homes.

Image on previous page: Loom Club coworking lounge –photography Ed Reeve

Below: Front entrance, central London

“We are always collaborating with suppliers who align with our mission for a more ‘gentle’ approach to building.”

Loom Club sits across two floors at The Ivories, a former piano factory set back from Essex Road, standing tall among the surrounding area’s leafy Georgian townhouses. The Art Deco building is now a lively community hub with internal courtyard and communal garden – home to architects, a dance studio, chefs and even a shoe-maker. Comprising various coworking, fitness and social spaces, the building’s obvious industrial character has been retained by Kasawoo in a balance of old and new; introducing fresh, modern elements to create a comfortable and functional space with a focus on sustainability.

Across the airy, open-plan coworking and social floor, Kasawoo leaned on four pillars: gentle interventions, truthfulness to the site and materials used, spatial flexibility and adaptability, and prioritising local partnerships and suppliers: “We think it is especially important for small practices like us to build a network of like-minded and trusted collaborators,” comments

Left: View of the main space Below: Public bathroom Right: Communal kitchen

Kasawoo co-founder and director Darius Woo, “to constantly inspire and challenge the way we work.”

The front of the main lounge is primarily a social space, with a large kitchen designed and fabricated by Hølte Studio using sustainably harvested oak wood, dotted with pastries baked in the same building. The island is clad with lowcarbon Hemp Fibre corrugated panels from Margent Farm in Cambridgeshire, creating inticingly tactile ripples that mirror the zone-dividing curtains. Created by local supplier The London Fabric Company, the curtains have been designed with different levels of opacity that change throughout the length of the floorplate as though dipped in water to create different watermarks, creating both visual and acoustic separation. Each multi-purpose area has a unique selection of furniture, from soft seating to more functional desking and caféstyle meeting spots. Meeting rooms at the back of the space are concealed behind grooved acoustic cork panels

and plywood that complement the earthy and minimal colour palette. Next door, washrooms and changing rooms feature wood-terrazzo Foresso countertops, glossy Mandarin Stone tiles and a jazz playlist at a surprising volume – a buzzy contrast to the relaxed hum of the main space.

“As a young practice, what motivates us is a sense of urgency that design needs to respond to local culture, economy, and the environment,” continues Kyriaki Kasabalis, co-founder and director. “In today’s material culture and against the backdrop of the climate emergency, we are particularly interested in defining what ‘lightness’ and ‘sustainability’ mean in construction through minimal and gentle interventions. In addition to always asking ourselves what is the least we need to alter to really make a difference. We are always actively sourcing architectural materials and collaborating with suppliers who align with our mission to realise our desire for a more ‘gentle’ approach to building.”

Loom

Flooring

Amtico

Furniture

Noo.ma

Surfaces

Margent Farm, Acupanel, Muratto, Mandarin Stone, Foresso

Lighting

Artemide, Muuto, Ansell

Lighting, Nordic

Aluminium

As such, the team clad only where necessary, up to 2.3 metres above the finished floor – everything above this point left untouched to celebrate its history. The approach originally came about as a value engineering exercise but became one of the most powerful and overarching conceptual drivers of the project. This approach not only reduced material and labour cost by 20%, but also exposed a series of imperfections and historic blemishes the team were keen to reveal. “We began referring to these traces as 'ghosts of the past,'" says Woo, “recognising them as visible reminders of the building's transformation over time. Trying to do more with less is something that we take quite seriously.”

Below: A flexible work nook

Right: The space celebrates the ‘bones’ of the building

“We are interested in weaving together the old and the new, the polished and the raw, to reveal and create alternate histories for the future,” Kasabalis adds.

“We purposefully worked with mundane basic materials and collaboratively with our client, contractor and suppliers to craft a solution that was more than the sum of its parts.”

Loom Club’s success has demonstrated the potential of multi-purpose local hubs with a vision is to expand into Islington and build a local network in other adjacent neighbourhoods – following the same gentle design approach from Kasawoo that has proven so popular in Islington.

The New Eastender

With architecture by Squire & Partners and interiors by Digital Space, art’otel London Hoxton tells a tale of place – of the neighbourhood’s recent past, its present and its future.

Words: Harry McKinley Images: courtesy of art'otel

art'otel Hoxton

Just over two decades ago The Guardian newspaper was already pontificating on the so-called demise of Hoxton. ‘Popularity has killed personality’, it expressed; the artists ‘priced out’, the hipsters having ‘moved on’. This sounding of the death knell feels, in 2024, more than a tad premature. Granted, some of the neighbourhood’s more jagged edges have, in recent years, been polished down. But cities evolve, and just as the crime-ridden, faintly squalid Hoxton of the early and mid-80s evolved into a home for alternative culture in the 90s – becoming the ultimate hipster destination – so too has the district now developed into something new. The Hoxton of today is a merging of the high and the low; swish fashion retailers sitting toothto-jowl with vintage emporia, independent coffee shops rubbing against familiar sandwich chains and eclectic street art flanked by contemporary construction in glass and steel. Hoxton is still cool, albeit in a different way.

The arrival of various hotels is testament to the area’s transformed character, and its ever-growing popularity. The latest, the 357-key art’otel London Hoxton, encapsulates both the past and the present – with its emphasis on urban art and rendering of modern luxury.

Squire & Partners led on the project’s architecture, devising a 26-storey building that references Old Street’s regeneration and association with technology. It is a new landmark in an otherwise mostly low-rise quarter.

“The cylindrical architectural form and external detail makes a subtle nod to nearby Silicon Roundabout’s history in the development of the computer,” explains Murray Levinson, partner at Squire & Partners. “It references the cogs and other mechanical components that the very first analogue computers were built with.”

The building is wrapped in a collection of bespoke, non-structural ‘fins’ that represent those stacked cogs – grandest in proportion at street level to afford guests a “sense of arrival”, as Levinson details, then serving to create solar shading and privacy between rooms and suites as one ascends, without corrupting the superb views across the capital.

Of course, for the art’otel group a strong artistic narrative is central to any property, and a discovery on the original site would prove a boon for Squire & Partners.

“Two large-scale Banksy artworks were found,” says Levinson, “[so these] have been conserved and incorporated into the building design; carefully integrated into the face of the two mixed-use blocks that flank the tower respectively, to form the entrance and exit of the hotel and place the artworks on public display.”

Inside, the Squire & Partners-devised architecture plays with scale, with ground-level public spaces packaged around a central core. The street-facing bar and restaurant, Brush Grand Café, connects with a lower ground, five-metrehigh gallery space and 60-seat screening room; the cavernous main hotel entrance, providing a dramatic welcome for guests, who are ferried to the first floor lobby via feature escalators.

If you’re wondering quite how escalators can be framed as a feature, it’s here that the work of Digital Space, the studio tasked with interiors, comes to the fore.

“The aim was to provide guests with an immersive artistic journey from the moment they step into the building, until they retire for the night – ensuring that the art is not merely decorative but an integral part of the overall experience,” says the studio’s lead, Eyal Shoan. This sees three large LED walls serve as ‘dynamic canvases’ for video work by D*Face – the hotel’s ‘signature artist’, whose illustrative creations are woven throughout.

“Behind the reception area, plexiglass pillars frame another impressive artwork by D*Face, offering a unique perspective from every angle due to the pillars' distinctive shape,” continues Shoan.

Below: The feature escalators

Centre: The building's computerinspired architecture

Right: The main reception

“Throughout the restaurant and bar on both the ground and first floors [where the reception leads to an all-day bar and lounge], perforated metal curved panels adorned with D*Face's paintings are seen from outside, especially in the evening, becoming part of the street art.”

The hotel provides an impressive cluster of flexible, interconnected public and community amenities then. The art gallery is equipped with state-of-the-art video mapping technology and bookable for private events, there’s an in-house artists’ studio to support emerging talent and, beyond the compelling F&B offer on the lower levels, there’s a plush spa with a swimming pool – flanked by illuminated glass walls and with a smart mirrored ceiling. A 25th-floor restaurant is also soon to be revealed, featuring elevated dining both literally and figuratively, and set to benefit from panoramic vistas of Hoxton and the nearby skyscrapers of The City. Expansive conferencing facilities are also hosted on the upper storeys (again with the latest gadgetry), complementing the nearly-complete five-floors that will be dedicated to agile coworking – a nod to the neighbourhood’s glut of digital nomads, creative start-ups and mobile tech businesses.

Guestrooms start from the 7th floor, primarily so they can benefit from those desirable views, and D*Face’s artwork is once more incorporated, now on a more intimate and human scale – on TV walls, on rugs and even in the shower glass.

“The aim was to provide guests with an immersive artistic journey from the moment they step into the building.”

“Hoxton and Shoreditch embody London’s creative scene, boasting cutting-edge galleries, vibrant street art, live music venues, trendy bars and eclectic restaurants,” says Shoan. “The location within East London's flourishing art scene was pivotal in our design process. Our challenge was to craft a luxurious hotel with high-end finishes that not only stood out for its excellence but also harmonized with the artistic ambience of the neighbourhood.”

Perfectlyimperfect

At White Arkitekter’s selfdesigned UK HQ in Clerkenwell, the studio embraces the existing and shuns uniformity.

Words: Charlotte Slinger

Photography: Paul Riddle, David Cleveland

FFrom a cursory look at its brick façade, you would be forgiven for thinking 77 Bastwick Street is simply another 1960s London office block. This is precisely what White Arkitekter first thought when presented with the somewhat uninspiring listing – that is, of course, until the landlord made them the rare promise of full creative control. One of Scandinavia’s leading practices, White Arkitekter specialises in sustainable architecture, urban development and interior design, with eight Swedish offices and international outposts in Germany, Norway, East Africa, Canada and London. The move to 77 Bastwick Street in the heart of Clerkenwell was prompted by the London team outgrowing its original home, where staff would be relegated to the pavement outside for private phone calls and vie over the breakroom’s solitary microwave. The concept for this new office therefore placed comfort, flexibility and, of course, sustainability at its heart, with White Arkitekter adopting a circular approach of reuse and carbon retention throughout – qualities that earned the project a gong at 2024’s Mix Awards.

Entering the building at ground level, employees are dispersed across a spacious floorplan flooded with natural light from street-facing windows. Joining these banks of desks – some of which the practice rents out to local businesses

– is a pinboard corner dedicated to creative brainstorming, as well as call booths with train carriage seating for conducting client meetings or focused work. Continuing its light-touch approach, White Arkitekter opted to retain the central staircase connecting this floor with the basement level – a space which, despite initial misgivings, has now become the firm’s favourite asset. This basement space is home to a staff kitchen, model workroom and multiple meeting spaces, including ‘the dark room’, a moody, black-painted meeting room abundant with houseplants. Illuminated throughout by Muuto pendants, this level is also brightened by light, quintessentially Scandi hardwood flooring, complemented by a family-style wooden dining table by Stolab. Here, staff gather every day to take a team lunch, with almost everyone eating together from 1-2pm – a habit we witness firsthand during a tour of the space, and one that was established long

Image on previous page: The communal workspace

Above: Storage units and lounge seating

before the move, says White Arkitekter Associate Laura Davies. This lively, closeknit atmosphere is something her design team were striving for in the basement space, where they have adeptly cultivated a homely, living room feel.

The downstairs space also showcases the project’s most striking feature: despite facing some resistance from the contractor, the team persevered with retaining and revealing the building’s concrete structural columns. Doing so not only saved considerable amounts of embodied carbon and expanded the basement’s ceiling height, but the raw quality of the stripped-back columns also became a key part of the project’s aesthetic. “It's a lot about celebrating the existing building; it’s just such a shame that so many of these things get covered up,” Davies explains. Acting as both architect and client within a compact footprint, White Arkitekter had more freedom to make these bold,

Left: A meeting room

Centre: The central staircase with storage

Right: First-floor office

sustainable choices. “It was the perfect opportunity to do something like this, because you aren't faced with a lot of the regulations that you are, say, on a large-scale residential or healthcare project – which is predominantly what we do,” outlines Davies. “Especially as so many businesses now have incentives or responsibilities to include an element of reuse, it was made easier by tapping into that network who are searching for other people.” These upcycled finds include an eclectic mix of acoustic ceiling tiles, which were donated from other London architects leaving the city; here, imperfections and non-uniform styles were celebrated as charming additions to the space, rather than as faults to be fixed. Another is the selection of reclaimed mid-century chairs, sourced either from the previous office space, antique shops or upcycling sites like Gumtree. These brown leather pieces would in fact be used as a starting point for the whole design process, inspiring the understated, neutral colour scheme which would later be balanced with a selection of warmer shades, including dark green and rust orange.

“It's a lot about celebrating the existing building.”

Below: A comfortable lounge space

From providing a full-service kitchen to secure bike storage and showers, the practice acknowledged how employee wellbeing has become a non-negotiable in the postpandemic office. The project was therefore realised through a co-design process with its Clerkenwell staff base, taking inspiration from the practice’s Scandinavian roots not just in terms of aesthetics, but also its egalitarian values. “In Sweden, but also within our employeeowned company, there’s a culture where everybody has a voice,” explains Davies, recalling the partner-led workshops that established three key requirements: comfort, storage and culture. Now, the project continues

to evolve as a self-designed workspace, with employee surveys identifying tweaks and improvements – ranging from additional tech in meeting rooms to new suggestions for underused seating areas.

What does Davies hope 77 Bastwick Street can demonstrate to the rest of the industry? “That you definitely don’t need to have this perfect aesthetic where everything looks the same; instead, work with what you've got and then invest in those elements that do need to be new. Ask, how can I create a space that people actually want to use, whilst also doing something environmentally – and morally – better?”

Flooring

Tarkett

Furniture

Benjamin Studio

Stolab

Vitra

Surfaces

Forbo Rockfon

Lighting Muuto

XAL Lighting

the way Leading

At West London’s The Glassworks, community building and design innovation walk hand-in-hand.

Words: Helen Parton

Greenford

Greenford Quay Case Study

''It's about building a community,” says Lauren Gilling, design director UK at Greystar Europe as we begin our tour of The Glassworks. This build-to-rent scheme represents Phase 3 of the investment property managers’ scheme in Greenford Quay, West London. “We like quite strong narratives, so we always start with our interior designers looking at personas: who are these people? We want to know their names, whether they have dogs or children; what's it going to be like for our residents? And then we design around what they're going to need.”

Glassworks is part of the transformation of a 27-acre disused brownfield site, previously occupied by GlaxoSmithKline and Lyons Bakeries, which will ultimately include over 2100 new homes in seven main buildings, set around the Grand Union Canal. The Glassworks for its part has 354 homes, as well as community and amenity spaces.

Image on previous page: Main lounge area

Johnson Naylor

Image: Mickey Lee

If these last few years have taught us anything, it’s that offices are not simply four walls and some desks. When done right, they become vibrant hubs for collaboration, creativity, and connection, fuelling conversation and challenging ideas.

Workplaces are the lifeblood of our cities and towns, injecting energy into local businesses. We feel they are underrated, so we’ve launched the ‘Let’s Go to Work’ campaign to celebrate all the benefits of in-person collaboration at the office. Get in touch to learn more about what this campaign means to us.

Greenford Quay Case Study

“We always have a double height space; it makes a really big difference,” Gilling continues as we ascend from ground floor to mezzanine. “You can just feel that sense of scale and welcome. It’s an extension of people's homes, so it needs to be just as comfortable as well as impressive.”

A tree provides something of a centrepiece on the ground floor and indeed provides a useful frame of reference for the interiors. Joel Geoghegan, associate partner with interior architects Johnson Naylor –responsible for designing all the residents’ amenities and shared spaces on ground, mezzanine and top floor – describes this as ‘second nature’. “This also links to the context of giving something a second life. We brought that through in accent ‘pre-loved’ pieces of furniture alongside new pieces. The natural fibres in the upholstery, linens and cottons, feather and down (not foam), and character timbers with natural knots and imperfections all enrich this theme.”

Care has been taken on what might be deemed the more mundane but necessary elements, such as the post room, which is neat yet generously proportioned to cater for the modern predilection for online deliveries. Continuing the practical theme, Geoghegan says, “the faux sisal rugs provide the warmth and texture required but are much more durable for the high traffic spaces.” And for dog owners, there’s a pet spa on the same level, with washing and drying facilities against the backdrop of some pretty exquisite dark turquoise tiling.

The mezzanine has yet more of what Geoghegan describes as a “West Coast, Californian spirit,” and key pieces like “the Gervasoni Ghost sofas and chairs embody the sense of ‘worn in but never worn out’”, that the design team was looking for.

In-situ art ranges from pieces by Loesje van Herp (who foraged flowers that held reference to the wildflowers that grow naturally next to canals) to richly painted artworks by Maartje van den Noort in the Club Lounge on Level 14. While lighter neutrals are mostly the order of the day colour-wise, the private dining area has what Gilling describes as “quite a bold look to colour drench the space”, in what appears to be a rich mushroom hue.

The studio, one-, two- or three-bedroom apartments again have what Johnson Naylor, which consulted on the apartment finishes and palettes, describes as “soft, familiar – like well-worn chinos’ with colourways to match – greys, browns and creams”. So far so aesthetically pleasing but there’s a practical sense of wonder when one dives deeper into the build narrative, as Ronan Farrell, head of design at Tide, which had the role of developer and contractor, explains:

“We like quite strong narratives, so we always start with our interior designers looking at personas.”

Left: The outside terrace

Above: The club lounge

Right: The double-height mezzanine

Greenford Quay Case Study

“We deliver all our projects using our sister company Vision Volumetric. They produce 3D volumetric units utilising traditional building materials such as lightweight concrete, steel and plasterboard.”

Vision’s scope includes, “all of your light fittings, fixtures, switches, windows and kitchen appliances – all fully completed off site,” Farrell adds. With everything loaded into the unit in the factory, delivered to site and then craned into place, this meant The Glassworks was handed over six weeks ahead of time.

“People think volumetric, they think it will look like a prefab building from the outside, but each unit has its own structural integrity and is effectively just a rain screen,” Farrell continues. “That really frees up the architects to deliver, in this case a traditional brick for the most part, with some aluminium cladding.”

Richard Foxley, associate partner with architects HTA Design, talks about local context and landscaping: “The form of the building facilitates the outdoor space because you've got this E-shaped plan that gives you those central courtyards on three sides.” A new bridge across the canal opened up the site’s waterside charm. “We wanted to get into bringing biodiversity increase back,” Foxley explains. “We used the demolished building materials and some of the cut material to level off this half of the site, including the amphitheatre at the south-

facing, canal edge space. The building is run on a communal energy centre, also located within the public realm.”

From the sign outside declaring this ‘West London’s Canalside Community’ to Johnson Naylor’s mantra about the design being “simple, comfortable and purposeful,” this is a beautiful, practical build-to-rent scheme. As Gilling concludes, “building a home is the most important building we can build.”

Right: Club lounge details

Johnson Naylor

moment Lightbulb o e b b g

In central Berlin, a new aparthotel provides a testbed for the tech-savvy future of hospitality.

Words: Chloé Petersen Snell

Photography: Silke Briel, Lars Brønseth

Billed as one of the most effortlessly creative cities in Europe, it’s no surprise that a new type of experimental hospitality has found its home in Berlin’s central Mitte district. Next to the lively cobbled streets of Hackescher Markt, known equally for its historic architecture and vibrant nightlife, the new MM:NT aparthotel is pitched as a ‘laboratory’ by Australian operator Adina and TFE Hotels; a way to test new ideas for the new values of future travellers. With the rise (and, perhaps, fall) of Airbnb, the concept aims to understand if guests would prefer to sacrifice the more conventional service-led hotel experience for the selfservice, digital-led approach that Gen Z and millenials are so accustomed to.

Developed with experiential design expert Philippa Wagner of PeoplePlacesSpaces and designed by ACME and BWM, MM:NT (pronounced ‘moment’) will operate in an on-going beta mode, continually gathering feedback from guests to shape and redefine what their hospitality offering will look like in the future. A web-based app runs the show – allowing guests to check in, check out, access smart storage lockers and shared amenities, and communicate with staff with a click of a button.

“The big idea was to create a new hospitality brand that responded to the emerging travel values of future travellers,” explains Wagner, “and one that could always evolve. It was also to push the boundaries of convention and

Image on previous page: Middle Room

Left to right:

Little Room, Big Room, bathroom, lobby

“The early phase of the project was characterised by a real sense of freedom to rethink the travel and stay experience.”

use the opportunity to build something entirely from scratch that did not have to adhere to the ‘rules.’”

PeoplePlacesSpaces helped TFE Hotels define a future guest mindset, described as "Kindred Travellers," who prefer unique experiences and are open to new ways of interacting with hospitality. The brand encourages guests to engage with similarlyminded local businesses for wellness activities and dining out, promoting a collaborative, sustainable travel model shaped by real-time guest feedback.

Attempting to access a cutlery drawer using an app is a new experience even for this digital-savvy millenial traveller, and the concept does take a little getting used

to – not quite the solo nature of an Airbnb nor the watchful service of a hotel – but one Wagner and TFE hope to understand and develop as they expand.

“We are also going back into future testing phases, changing the things we heard guests liked or didn’t like, or trying new things as people and the world change. We are defining the blueprint for the first MM:NT rollouts – but that doesn’t mean that that’s it. By its very virtue of being in beta, the brand will continue to learn every time it opens a new location.”

A simple swipe of thumb and the door opens from the pavement straight to ‘The Hub’, a relaxed, communal lobby which the six rooms open on to. It’s a beautiful

“Rich, shared spaces were made possible by re-thinking typical apartment hotel layouts.”

space: a muted palette of natural materials is complemented by warm lighting and a speckled blue dining-and-working table from Smile Plastics. Vintage rugs and furniture blend with modern pieces, and a pink-tiled counter offers self-serve coffee and sandwiches during the day and German beer and wine at night.

The rooms available are Little, Middle and Big, offering different amenties and price points. ACME led the design, crafting all of the shared spaces and four of the varioussized standalone bedrooms. In true experimental spirit, Austrian practice BWM took on Room 00:02 – a Middle room – to test a secondary approach to MM:NT’s design brief.

The Big and Middle rooms are more typical aparthotels, with space maximised through clever spatial interventions and bespoke joinery. In the more generous Big room, a kitchen and open-plan dining and living space makes room for up to four people – all wood and tiles, with recyled-wood terrazzo countertops from Foresso and Snøhetta chairs made from recycled fishing nets. This natural and sustainably-focused materiality continues through to the BWM-designed Middle room, with eco-friendly sage green tiles and green-stained-pine kitchennette. The room's design has also been engineered to thoughtfully optimise space and give guests the flexibility to adapt the layout to their needs, with a modular approach featuring bespoke pull-out seating and foldable wall panels that double as desks.

Communal lounge area

The compact and windowless Little rooms – one just 11 sq m – were also designed by ACME, with large feature vanity space and luxurious rainfall shower. ACME utilised Häfele’s smart lighting which has three modes: vitality (morning and wakeup), social (day) and relax (night). Clutter is avoided, and a clever storage system blends seamlessly into the cosy wood-walled space.

“The early phase of the project was characterised by a real sense of freedom to rethink the travel and stay experience,” comments ACME’s Emma Buckley. “We discussed every part of a guest journey with a radical sense of ignorance, to not replicate rooms as they always have been, but to rethink every part and question what adds real value. Do we need

windows? Do we need televisions? Do we need somewhere to cook? Do we need a longer table for a few people to work together? Are there new ways of thinking about sleeping and relaxing that produce new rooms and configurations unlike any we are seeing today?”

“Rich, shared spaces were made possible by re-thinking typical apartment hotel layouts,” continues ACME’s Lauren Franklin. “For example, instead of each guest room having its own small table and chair, we created compact bedrooms and a shared lounge, a social space for coworking and somewhere to enjoy a drink or bite to eat. [The challenge] was working with these small spaces, and creating rooms that didn't feel cramped even though the area was limited.”

The modular design of the hotel has been created to work anywhere. ACME have applied the model to different test sites –redundant buildings which may otherwise have been demolished – including a 60s office building, a department store and an industrial site. The future of MM:NT is being written as we speak, Wagner notes, with big ambitions for TFE to roll the brand out across different locations – constantly learning and evolving from their guests. After all, an investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Lobby bar

Designing for Difference Shawn Adams

Learning global

Shawn Adams is an architect, writer and lecturer. He is also cofounder of the sociallyminded design practice POoR Collective.

poorcollective.com

Architecture and design have historically been dominated by Eurocentric traditions, often neglecting the rich knowledge and creativity from other parts of the world, such as Africa and Asia. As we face global challenges like the climate crisis, the importance of diverse perspectives is more critical than ever. To drive true innovation and tackle global challenges, it is crucial to draw inspiration from designers worldwide. By incorporating diverse cultural insights, we can create solutions that are not only inventive but also tailored to the changing needs of contemporary society.

Learning from a variety of design traditions allows us to approach problems from fresh angles, fostering creativity and adaptability.

Learning from global design traditions exposes architects and designers to a broad range of principles and techniques, offering fresh approaches to problem-solving. In many African countries, for instance, designers prioritise local materials, natural ventilation, and ecofriendly practices, resulting in sustainable structures with low carbon footprints. The Tropical Modernism movement is an excellent example, blending modernist styles with local, vernacular

design to create climateadapted, environmentally responsible architecture.

One striking example of the power of global perspectives in design is the 2023 Venice Biennale, curated by GhanaianScottish architect, academic and novelist, Lesley Lokko. This Biennale, titled ‘The Laboratory of the Future,’ celebrated African architecture and broke away from the traditionally Eurocentric design framework. Lokko highlighted non-Western approaches rooted in local resources, cultural contexts and environmental principles, demonstrating how different perspectives can fuel innovation. Much of the exhibited work tackled important themes such as climate change, urbanisation and social equity through an African lens. This in turn provided valuable insight as to how different designers dealt with contemporary issues that every community currently faces.

To design for a truly diverse world, we must stop applying universal principles and instead embrace culturally specific design clusters that reflect local identities. The future of design does not lie in a singular, dominant narrative but one that seeks to learn from practices of people from all over the globe. By engaging

with indigenous, African, Asian, Latin American, and other design traditions, designers can uncover solutions to contemporary problems and draw on generational techniques.

Our willingness to learn from others, whether through collaboration, respectful appropriation, or deep research can help to unlock the potential for a design industry. It pushes the boundaries of creativity. By adopting a global mindset, designers will be able to experiment with new forms, materials and techniques and in turn come up with new answers for current questions. This cross-pollination of ideas leads to forward-thinking advancements that push the boundaries of design.

For too long, architecture and design has been heavily shaped by Western ideals, prioritising Eurocentric aesthetics, methods and values. This focus has often led to a homogenisation of the built environment and design landscapes, marginalising the contributions of nonWestern cultures and stifling creativity in the process. However, by actively embracing and incorporating global perspectives, the design world can foster an inclusive, dynamic and diverse industry.

Everything old is new again

Recycled bottles at Bulgari and repurposed fishing nets for Tiffany: MVRDV explores the potential of low-tech materials in a luxury setting.

Words by: Chloé Petersen Snell

From fashion to jewellery, the luxury industry is waking up to its contribution to the climate crisis, adapting not only its practices and production but also its perceived values – perhaps taking advantage of a growing number of ecoconscious millenials and Gen Z consumers who are predicted to take up 70% of the luxury market by 2025. When it comes to a physical presence and architecture and design’s impact on brand perception, is there an incompatibility between sustainable materials and the luxury category? Do hemp and mushroom panels align with the traditional notions of the luxurious or opulent?

Associate director at global architecture and urbanism practice MVRDV, Aser Giménez Ortega believes that luxury and sustainability can coexist, defining the concept as one that embodies beauty, rarity and craftsmanship – no matter the material. The focus, he says, must shift to our behaviour and the perception of luxury within overconsumerism.

“[Luxury] is always related to exclusivity, exquisite handicraft and outstanding fabrication – something that goes beyond the ‘standard’,” he explains. “There is nothing in the true essence of luxury that implies that it has to be something that is bad for the planet. For many years, exclusivity in high luxury was related to the most precious natural stones and rare resources. But the quarries are getting emptier and emptier. We need to move on from there and explore the possibilities.”

Of course, retail is rooted in consumer behaviour; even luxury consumers are now demanding sustainability, and Giménez Ortega has seen a shift in attitudes, both from a consumer perspective but also as a brand response. It’s generational, he attests – a new cohort of luxury spenders highly aware of climate change and eager to support brands that are geniuinely making a positive impact in an era of rampant greenwashing.

“The consumer goes first and the brands adapt. [Younger generations] have brought that consciousness as a group. There is so much variety and opportunity in the market that it is now not only about the product, but the values that it represents. Sustainability and the impact it has on the planet, but also the workers: where and how has it been produced? Can I enjoy something that is bad for our planet and the communities producing it? [Attitudes and behaviours] have changed, but we are not there yet.”

Showcasing the potential of repurposed materials in luxury retail environments, the practice designed a coral-inspired façade for jewellery giant Tiffany&Co at Singapore’s Changi Airport, crafted from 3D-printed recycled ocean plastic including old fishing nets. Working in collaboration with Amsterdam-based Aectual and Milan’s BUROMILAN, the design highlights the brands sustainability commitment (including reef conservation) and incorporates Tiffany’s signature robinegg-blue with organic patterns and colour

palette inspired by Singapore’s oceans and the brand’s glass design heritage. Aectual employed a 3D printing technique known as Fused Granular Fabrication, which involves layering melted plastic granules to form a solid 3D object.

“We asked, what if the façade is the final step of a ‘cleaning’ action – using the reclaimed plastic as statement for Tiffany’s commitment to preserve and protect nature,’ Giménez Ortega details. The façade features a layered glass screen with colour gradient that transitions from light to deep blue, with MVRDV’s “technology taskforce” ensuring the design’s durability and BUROMILAN addressing strict fire safety regulations by incorporating a seawater-based chemical.

“It was also about the handcrafted nature of the jewellery sector, extending it into its architecture,” he notes. “I saw people passing by, touching, asking about the material – it creates a kind of rarity and excitement that is very luxurious. It doesn’t matter if it’s made out of plastic waste.”

In 2021, MVRDV unveiled a new flagship Bulgari store in Shanghai, featuring a striking, jade-like façade created from recycled champagne and beer bottles produced at the Magna factory in Teutschenthal, Germany, which specialises in glass treatment. The design’s sintered green glass creates a jewel-like appearance enhanced by energy-efficient back lighting.

Like Tiffany, the process started with a deep-dive into the brand’s history and heritage, with a desire to build in repurposed materials from the start. The team wanted to create a sustainable version of the semi-precious stone, jade – linking the heritage of Bulgari to the heritage of Shanghai. “In Asia, they have a beautiful saying, gold has a price and jade is priceless,” says Giménez Ortega. “We found a [manufacturing process] that used glass, including reclaimed bottles. It’s a highly complicated handcrafted process, because the colour is based upon the proportion of different colours of glass you use.”

Crafted from a mix of green, white and transparent bottles, the manual process creates an effect that creates bubbles that offer varying transparencies and colours, resembling jade. Future Bulgari store designs will utilise 100% circular economy materials, part of an ongoing collaboration with the brand.

In short, MVRDV’s approach acknowledges the complexities of the climate emergency, while still offering an intriguing design story. “We’re very optimistic as designers,” concludes Giménez Ortega, “and to incorporate luxury into our practice has been fascinating. We always want to take it further, to create products and spaces that enhance our research; exploring traditional handicraft, sustainable materials and linking back to the people producing them. We go beyond simply ‘recycling’ to create unexpected results and beauty with a story that interests people, treating the material with high standards in both quality and in beauty – that’s part of our process and what makes it fascinating.”

Beauty drives performance

How a space looks is more than mere aesthetics.

Words: Lindsay Roth, Design Director and Principal, Gensler

Photography: Ben Tynegate, Vigo Jansons

Image on previous page: Lounge at Pladis Global

Below left: Coworking booth at Buro Happold

Below centre: Collaboration zone, Buro Happold

Below right: Edelman Francis House

At Gensler we have always taken pride in delivering workplaces that are rooted in a human-centric approach; spaces that provide a dynamic experience for employees. The world has changed rapidly over the past few years and as result how we think about the workplace, productivity and employee experience has also shifted. We have started to see that the workplace is no longer an obligation (nor should it be), but a destination that provides space for people to work and enables them to be the best versions of themselves. This is how the workplace of the future will grow and support the talent of the future.

Gensler has been researching the workplace for almost 20 years and, during this time, we have seen rapid changes to the strategies implemented for designing the workplaces of the future. Our most recent Global Workplace Survey reveals the various drivers needed to create a high-performing workplace,

highlighting new ways to consider the spaces and places we design. These aren’t only focused on effective drivers such as lighting, meeting room space etc., but also on drivers that influence the experience of employees in the space. I was fascinated that the data revealed that beauty played a crucial role in the success of a workplace.

As a designer, I enjoy being able to curate the space people experience and beauty often plays a key role in my work. I don’t intentionally set out to design a ‘beautiful’ space, but I do consider how the space will make people feel. In many instances, a traditionally ‘beautiful’ space has the power to evoke emotion in those experiencing it. As we as designers continue to refine our design practice to create workplaces that meet the needs of the next generation, I believe beauty will be a new driver that will impact how these spaces perform in decades to come.

“Designers must design for emotion by combining experiential elements with functional aspects.”

Measuring Workplace Performance

In our latest Workplace Survey, we acknowledge that new performance metrics are required to design better workplaces. One of the key takeaways that the data reveals is that top performers work differently. They have better workplaces with better experiences, with beauty playing a significant role. This can lead to users feeling more valued and more aligned with company values. They can feel more engaged and confident when in the space. This was seen across the globe in our data and allows me as a designer to design with conviction and envision more evocative and experience-rich spaces. Spaces that make users feel inspired and provide room to develop as professionals.

Ultimately, our research shows that having a well-designed workplace is no longer sufficient. As employees increasingly seek unique and enriching experiences in their work environments, merely having a space that is functional and efficient won't suffice in creating a highly desirable place to spend time in. To transform good workplaces into exceptional ones, designers must design for emotion by combining experiential elements with functional aspects.

Beauty as an Experience Driver

But what does designing for emotion entail and what does beauty look like in the workplace? Beauty focuses on how a space looks and feels to its users – it can affect mood and has the power to elevate a workplace, encouraging feelings of warmth and providing room for innovative thinking. Beauty can be designed through the creation of an ecosystem of spaces that are fitted with a carefully curated colour palette, which features bespoke furniture and lighting, reflecting a brand’s mission and purpose. Beauty can also be incorporated by bringing aesthetics from other sectors such as hospitality into the workplace. As a result, many of the offices we now design are amenity-rich, hospitality-led spaces.

One recent example of the integration of beauty in design is our partnership with global communications firm, Edelman UK. We created an innovative design for their new London headquarters, Francis House, utilising a former 1900s warehouse to create a unique village concept as the business enters its next evolution. We retained as much of the original building as possible, incorporating exposed façades and adding a modern touch through the

incorporation of high and low zones with a vibrant colour palette of reds, blues and greens, complemented with biophilic touches and tailored furniture. The space also features 700 seats with 24 different seating typologies, offering a range of spaces for employees to connect, work and recharge. To date, we have received positive feedback on the impact the space has had on productivity and the client has seen an increase in the number of employees coming back to the office.

Beauty has a new role to play in driving workplace performance, going beyond mere aesthetics to become a fundamental element that shapes overall functionality and employee experience. This shift is geared towards creating environments that inspire, motivate and contribute to wellbeing. As we look ahead, it is exciting to anticipate how beauty will increasingly integrate with other design principles, such as sustainability, to transform the workplaces of the future.

If it ain't broken

You probably can’t read this at the back, but you’re expecting another diatribe against a program released in 1987 by a small outfit called Forethought and purchased by a keeneyed Microsoft within three months of its release for the comparative bargain of $14m, on the contrary, it’s rare praise and appreciation. After all, it’s been unassailable for almost 40 years. Why? Because it works.

That we are often tormented by PowerPoint is simply a product of how it’s used, not what it’s capable of. That we squish an unnatural volume of text into its landscape form, riddle it with bullets, align it like a cardiogram and ramble in accompaniment is a fault that lies “not in our stars, but in ourselves”.

As is the case with email, rumours of whose death have been greatly exaggerated since the first ARPANET messages were sent in 1971. It may be derided as the ultimate carrier of work, but in ironing out all the deficiencies, inefficiencies and vagaries

of sending letters it quickly became indispensable. Despite challenges from a myriad of upstarts it’s still the favourite conveyance of the written word in business. That we stuff a message with bad news, ripple it with typos and stumble over our grammar, is down to us. We did that with letters, too. They just arrived later.

The desk is another example. The tardigrade of workplace, as I described it in the Elemental Workplace. Thousands of years evolving at the speed of a fish growing legs, now, in a twist of fate, reinvigorated as the essential physical platform for all the kit that enables us to have online calls (the invite for which arrived by email and the material for which is shared in PowerPoint).

There’s a pattern emerging: things designed for a purpose that still do their job effectively decades after they were invented, but are mocked for the habits and practices that have arisen from their use. As a result

of which, they’ve come to symbolise all that’s frustrating about work. Because we love natty new things for work that don’t feel like work. Until we improve them into the mainstream, and without warning, they feel like work.

Our paradox therefore becomes: it works, so we have to replace it.

Of course, another tool whose demise has been both willed and prematurely celebrated in freelance corners of LinkedIn, is the office itself. It’s not a club, café, hotel, shop, gym, library, creche, business class lounge (heaven forbid), or any other non-office amenity. It is what it is and has always been, in a similar form: a place for individual and collective work. It doesn’t need a new purpose, it has one. To get the most out of it, it’s a matter of how we use it. And, of course, how often.

As for the business suit, I still have a few in my wardrobe. Just in case. I really ought to let them go.

Neil Usher is the VP of Places at software company Sage.

The spaces of the future, realised

In partnership with Atlas Concorde, we explored the building blocks of tomorrow’s commercial environments, considering the themes shaping these, our changing needs and dramatically evolving design practices. Then we brought them to life.

Words and moderated by: Harry McKinley

The context

The spaces we inhabit are more than mere boxes. When designed well, they are purposeful, they reflect the world around them and they are imbued with identity. As our needs, values and cultural touchpoints evolve, so to must our commercial environments – be they places of work, play or rest. How to respond to change and create spaces fit for the future is, then, the fundamental issue addressed by architects, designers and manufacturers.

At the Clerkenwell showroom of Atlas Concorde, in the heart of a neighbourhood home to more creative businesses per square mile than anywhere else on Earth, we assembled a collective of some of commercial interior design’s leading thinkers, asking: what might the spaces of the future look like?

Considering both function and form, we sought to explore the forces shaping our environments, subsequently utilising artificial intelligence to visualise the hypothetical workplace, hospitality setting and BTR project of tomorrow.

The foundation

The spaces of the future are, of course, not only for this generation, but the next. For our table, this meant considering the issues that resonate with Gen Z and considering how these might inform the way we conceive and design.

“They’re more interested in the experience of being in a space and how it’s going to affect them,” suggested Scott Brownrigg’s Laurence Orsini, touching on the need to build emotional connections.

Annalissa Devos Head of Interior Design EPR Architects

Sophie Borel Project Planning and Design Manager Cheval Collection

Harry McKinley Managing Editor Mix Interiors

Ali Stewart Associate Director BGY ID

“That’s arguably what makes for a remarkable space, because it’s memorable and inspiring; triggering a response in a way we can’t see.”

Agreeing, EPR Architects’ Annalissa Devos explained that, “human beings seek a sense of belonging and that really speaks to inclusivity, which is important when considering not just who spaces are designed for, but who they’re designed by. Having a team that is diverse and considering different viewpoints from the beginning means already considering how everyone would want to use an environment; integrating a variety of different cultures into the design process.”

While inclusivity factored highly (also addressing the likes of neurodiversity), the primarily value driver for the spaces of future, all agreed, is sustainability

– the increasingly pressing need to protect our planet. The transformation in how we devise spaces then, doesn’t always mean ‘adding new things’ Devos continued, but removing the unnecessary.

“The future will mean more universal design.”

Sustainability, our guests noted, walks hand-in-hand with the desire for flexibility and adaptability; making environments more nimble, longer lasting and requiring them to work harder, for a greater range

of purposes. Combining technology with humanity, a renewed commitment to craft alongside modern production, can work in service to these ambitions.

The practicalities

“Looking at the younger part of our teams, they float around the workplace and don’t really anchor themselves to any one spot,” reflected M Moser’s Raquel Machado. “A laptop is mobile, and so we need to accommodate and nurture that ability to float.”

Particularly for workplaces, spaces that flex are likely to become the backbone of commercial interior design, our experts established, with some reports indicating office usage is almost back to prepandemic levels. The shift, however,

Laurence Orsini

Project Director Scott Brownrigg

Raquel Machado Associate Director M Moser Associates

Jenny Olver Interior Designer Woods Bagot

Sean Kennard Area Sales Manager UK & Ireland Atlas Concorde

is in how and when the office is, and in the future will be, used: with hybrid working models the norm, few come in everyday and demands are changing.

“At home, I can’t grab a coffee and chat spontaneously with someone else on the team,” noted Woods Bagot’s Jenny Olver. “So in thinking about the spaces of tomorrow, there’s going to be an even greater need to consider community. Socialising and collaboration is already a big deal, when part of the week people feel remote.”

It’s here that the workplace can learn from, and incorporate, elements of hospitality – blending restaurant and coffee shop culture

“We can decide when we want to go to a restaurant or stay in a hotel. When we’re there, we want an immersive experience.”

with productive spaces and places for focused or private work.

“The future will mean more universal design,” stressed Atlas Concorde’s Sean Kennard, as talk turned to the blurring boundaries

between workplace, hospitality and even commercial residential.

“There's a need from the market to develop more and more products that can be adapted to different spaces that are not necessarily categorised; specific products, but not clearly defined for sector. We can think about how collections can be adapted to hospitality venues or workspaces and so on, but without compromising on the core concept of quality.”

Working within a business that operates luxury apartments, for Cheval Collection’s Sophie Borel, the priority will be optimising spaces to take account of this growing diffuseness.

“We know people are living differently and, looking to the future, we have to offer opportunities for customisation and using a space for different things at different times of the day – especially if they might be living, working and even socialising all in the same building. In that sense, I think we can start to think of buildings as brands in their own right, with individual design.” Here, the conversation continued, design can be bold and ‘signature’, so long as the building is suited to a variety of uses; fit for a variety of operators or tenants.

The aesthetics

When it comes to how these environments look, there is no onesize-fits-all solution; by necessity aesthetics driven by function. Tomorrow’s hospitality spaces, though perhaps incorporating a dimension of coworking, might lean even more into the experiential, as a point of differentiation.

“Hospitality can be, and should be, an event,” expressed BGY ID’s Ali Stewart. “It’s escapism and theatre, and we will all still need that in our lives. We don’t necessarily control when we have to be in the office, but we can decide when we want

to go to a restaurant or stay in a hotel. When we’re there, we want an immersive experience.” And clients are increasingly willing to embrace the bold, even maximalist, in the experience of the assembled designers.

The other side of the coin, is in adaptive reuse – the demand to see existing urban spaces repurposed as workplaces, for example. Here, authenticity and honesty should drive design, allowing the ‘bones’ of a building to shine through; trying to discover what is there as a form of design archaeology and layering new interventions atop the old.

Nature at work

A dramatic, largerscale workplace with a strong emphasis on multi-function design and adaptability –with intentioned use of biophilia, both in use of real planting and natural worldinspired wayfinding.

Rainbow philosophy

A flexible workplace, with a variety of focused and collaborative spaces, considering neurodiversity through the application of colour psychology.

New spaces in old spaces

A boutique workplace in a repurposed urban garage, using existing or repurposed materials, and with an emphasis on un-defined, flexibly productive space.

Dinner theatre

An ultra-experiential but adaptable hospitality concept, with highly stylised, tech-derived interior architecture that references biomimicry.

Your home, your way

A commercial residential project, that prioritises malleability in use; a canvas for customisation featuring a colour palette that engenders restfulness.

How can we nurture community and promote collaboration?

In this Mix Roundtable with Autex Acoustics, we discuss what it means to successfully work in partnership, ask how knowledge sharing could help find new solutions to present challenges and explore if evolved ways of working — which prioritise diverse perspectives — could be the future of design.

Words

and moderated

by: Harry McKinley

Building community starts at ‘home’.

Collaboration is the bedrock of commercial interior design. To deploy an old adage, every project, large or small, requires ‘a village’. Beyond the fruitful collaboration of client and designer, there’s the myriad partners required to take concept to reality – from product suppliers to creative consultants.

Our assembled collective of industry experts similarly represent immense diversity, from architectural practices and interior design studios, to a coworking brand and a manufacturer (in host

Autex Acoustics), but they all agreed that the ability to meaningfully collaborate starts with building productive community internally.

“The community that we have within our practice is the foundation of how we do good work,” opened Barr Gazetas’ Tina Williams. “Our ability to share ideas is what enables us to then go on a journey with the external project team – developing and refining as we go.”

For David Bishop, Loop Interiors, fostering trust is vital, as he continued: “If we create psychological transparency amongst the team, we make people feel relaxed, trusted and empowered

Harry McKinley Mix Interiors Managing Editor

Guy Smith Design Director Fora (part of The Office Group)

Alexandra Fuente Senior Architectural Associate Gensler

Mehdi Jelokhani Associate Design Director i/o atelier

Russell Glover Group Design Director Peldon Rose

to do their best work. Everyone can have a voice, no one is right or wrong and everyone's opinion can be valued; healthy debate something constructive.”

The design industry’s ability allow multiple perspectives to be addressed – to seek out and include diversity of thought – is its greatest strength, stressed Gensler’s Alexandra Fuente; as The Office Group and Fora’s Guy Smith explained that it’s part of the process by which one “sucks up everything and filters it into a workable idea that can be tested.” Censorship, he suggested, is anathema to creativity, and it’s incumbent on any business within design to make room for a range of viewpoints.

“If we trust each other internally then we’re better able to gain trust from client teams, as a collaborator,” explained Peldon Rose’s Russell Glover. “When we practice collaborating as a studio across weeks, months and years – and get great at it – we inspire confidence in clients.”

“The community that we have within our practice is the foundation of how we do good work.”

Valuing diverse input is great, but does collaboration need structure and purpose?

Our table all agreed that collaboration is good; building trust amongst teams important. But the fault lines begin to show when it comes to defining exactly what collaboration means in practice and the extent to which creative idealism must be balanced with professional pragmatism.

Glover relishes a loose, open method, even if it means that things may occasionally get out of control. “Because doesn’t that mean we’re doing something special together”

Abby Gottermeyer Senior A&D Consultant Autex Acoustics

David Bishop Design Director Loop Interiors

Tina Williams Associate Barr Gazetas

Frances Gain Associate Director, Strategy M Moser Associates

he mused, “or getting to a place we didn’t expect to? There are always days to be more focused, but a day of sharing ideas is never a day wasted because it’s how we avoid creating something pedestrian.”

“The ideal scenario is a diverse team that knows when to default to the opinion of a particular party.”

M Moser’s Frances Gain sees things through a slightly different lens and emphasised the need for parameters: “Collaboration works when there are boundaries and we recognise we have to get to a place of clarity. Brainstorming is great, but it has to be on the basis of heading towards a specific goal and, crucially, it has to end! It’s fine to be inclusive and creative, but we need to be razor focused on what we’re trying to get out of the process. Ultimately, we need to deliver something by a certain time and within certain expectations. And while all ideas are valid, it’s helpful to have some structure around roles and input, because perhaps a total democracy isn’t the best way to get to that place of clarity. Plus, the buck has to stop with someone and accountability is an important element of any project.”

All ideas are equal, but some are more equal than others.

“To use a slightly hackneyed phrase, all ideas are ideal, but some are more equal than others,” joked Smith on the process of designing collectively. “Design by committee tends to see the edges knocked off and you end up with a kind of bland, amorphous lump of an experience.”

It’s here that i/o atelier’s Mehdi Jelokhani posited that successful collaboration isn’t necessarily about democracy or equality, but in recognising that diverse teams benefit from diverse skillsets, and sometimes it’s about leaning on those with the most expertise or experience.

“There’s value in the consensual approach of agreeing together who the best person for a particular piece of the puzzle is, or to input on something – in terms of their skill level and their passion areas. The ideal scenario is a diverse team that knows when to default to the opinion of a particular party, depending on what's being discussed. It doesn't have to be that everyone has to come up with the ‘wow’ concept. The concept could have materials, could have the story, involve research; it could have many different elements. I think it's how you divide and conquer to create a cohesive whole.”

For Jelokhani, approaching collaboration this way also means nurturing and educating the team, taking the time to explain the logic of why one idea may champion over another; why an

idea may be broadly good, but not the right solution for a brief. This, he explained, is how you ensure everyone’s voice is heard and maintain respect and trust.

Collaborating with clients and partners requires careful calibration and solid communication

“You have to be clear from the outset: are you driving or are you the passenger?” That’s the key lesson Fuente has learnt from a career built on productive collaboration and, by extension, effective communication. In any professional relationship, she attested, either one partner is giving direction (in which case it needs to

be clear and have a defined scope), or they’re receiving it, in which case it’s vital to understand “what the final outcome needs to be, what constitutes success and how that will be measured.”

Briefs, she explained, can change and expectations can change. Designers need to be able to get to the heart of what someone wants or doesn’t want.

“We all know the feeling sometimes that we’re expected to read minds,” she noted, light heartedly, “but that isn’t always the fault of another party. The responsibility sits with us all to make sure we’re on the same page. Someone might be unsure, they might be unclear. Learning to ask the right questions is also a part of collaboration. That, and taking minutes is helpful!”

Autex Acoustics’ Abby Gottermeyer is also a strong proponent of open, forthright communication. Ultimately, she explained, her role rests on her ability to understand a client’s needs and their vision for a project – so, simply, she can deliver it to them, ensuring there’s an outcome that precisely meets the brief.

“The information that trickles down is crucial for us,” she detailed. “It comes back to good information sharing and making sure that we understand your specification and what constitutes a satisfying outcome. We’re here to be a good partner and find solutions; to

work with designers. Of course, projects can change or flex and we can adapt to that, but sometimes product suppliers are not the first to learn about those changes. That can create issues down the line. So there’s really a case for ensuring we’re always in a meaningful dialogue with each other. Equally, we’re always happy to start conversations as early as possible in the design process, as that allows us to work with designers in coming up with those solutions. Mehdi mentioned making use of those with the right expertise and we are, after all, experts in acoustics.”

Design studios collaborating with each other would require a radical change of mindsets

Where collaboration gets murky and contentious is when considering how practices themselves might work together. There’s consensus that, for now, there isn’t enough knowledge sharing; not enough opportunity for peers to discuss shared challenges or learn from one another. It’s an area that our leaders feel needs development.

“Take sustainability,” suggested Williams, “that’s an area in which we should all be able to come together to tackle those challenges. There’s no reason why we couldn’t be doing that.”

Collaborating on projects? There, there was less consensus on the table. For Smith, multiple studios working together would be a boon for clients as they would benefit from more perspectives. For Gain, however, there are inherent problems in what would be a new way of looking at project development: “Instead of collaborating with people you know,

whose culture and tone you know, you've now got a quasi-competitor collaborator. You've got to learn their way of doing things, whereas within a team you build more trust with every project.”

“You need to invest time to develop a great collaboration,” continued Glover, working to a positive final note. “But isn’t collaboration amazing? Working with other people? Surely we can all agree there’s nothing better than that.”

30 under 30

This year, we kickstarted the autumn design season by celebrating the Mix 30 under 30 Class of 2024. Welcoming our new cohort of designers to Allermuir’s state-of-the-art Clerkenwell showroom, we sheltered from the September drizzle and raised a glass to the promising young talent informing the future of design.

Recognised for their contribution to the ever-evolving landscape of commercial interior design, this year’s visionaries were selected for their creativity, innovation and demonstrable potential. Bringing energy, ideas and new perspectives to their studios, this next generation of designers are instrumental in shaping the future of the industry for the better; nominated by their colleagues for their outstanding performance and achievements.

“We’re always excited to be a part of Mix 30 under 30,” says Paul Grader, designer at headline sponsor and venue host Allermuir. “It’s such a great opportunity to get young talent together and celebrate them; they’re the backbone of the industry.”

A thank you to fellow event sponsors Amtico, Egger, Impact Acoustic and Specialist Group for supporting this year’s event – all organisations sharing our belief that the first step in supporting emerging talent is recognising and rewarding it.

If you have a remarkable designer you’d like to see recognised at next year’s Mix 30 under 30, entries for the Class of 2025 are now open – just scan the QR code below to submit your nomination.

Andrew Murray

Interior Designer

Joining 74 two years ago from a large architectural practice in Glasgow, Murray quickly embedded himself into the team and local design community. Recently, he delivered a complex PBSA project in Leeds and is now working on a prominent student residential project in London. Murray excels under pressure, consistently meets targets, and has earned commendations for his dedication and professionalism from clients and colleagues alike.

Isabella Williams

Interior Architectural Designer

Basha-Franklin

The Basha-Franklin team describes Williams as determined, enthusiastic and passionate. Her first project with the studio involved assisting with Related Argent's HQ, where she demonstrated exceptional dedication and innovative ideas. Two years later, Williams led a postoccupancy study for the same project, providing valuable insights to enhance workplace engagement. Her research on neuroaesthetics has also become foundational, advancing both the studio’s practices and client education.

Kaz Vadgama

Interior Designer AECOM

For the AECOM team, Vadgama's creativity, maturity and sincerity define his exceptional qualities as a designer and individual. His calmness and professionalism have garnered trust from clients, project teams and partners at AECOM since he joined in December 2021, collaborating across disciplines, drawing inspiration from nature, fashion and culture to create unique designs for high-profile clients.

Lauren Scott

Interior Designer BDP

Scott arrived as a star intern from Toronto, joining BDP London in December 2019. According to BDP, her calmness, adaptability and proactivity quickly became evident despite the challenging COVID19 lockdowns. With experience in various sectors, she has excelled across residential, healthcare and retail environments, notably contributing to Fulham residential projects, Southmead Elective Care, GOSH and Diriyah Gate Food Hall. Scott's positivity and organisational skills have made her integral to BDP’s team and studio life, connecting effortlessly with clients and the wider industry.

Jordy Dent

Senior Project Designer Area

With a hands-on approach from his diverse career, Dent joined Area in 2022, consistently pushing boundaries and delivering exceptional results. His work on Expedia's 250k sq ft office refurbishment in London highlights his innovation and commitment to productivity and wellbeing. Dent brings creativity, adaptability and storytelling to each project, including Causeway Technologies in Birkenhead and Paris, which showcased his talent in integrating modern technology, versatility and cultural sensitivity.

Jennifer Kemp

Interior Designer BGY ID

An all-rounder and indispensable team player in the BGY ID team, Kemp seamlessly transitions between projects of various sectors and scales. Since joining in 2022, she has been dedicated to a high-profile commercial workplace in Bristol, demonstrating enthusiasm, practical rationality and strong attention to detail. Kemp’s confidence and versatility have continued to grow, leading her to champion sustainability within BGY ID –she created the BGY ID 2024 Sustainability Strategy, promoting well-considered, sustainable and inclusive spaces.

Emily Adams

Interior Designer

Bruntwood

Adams joined Bruntwood in 2023 as a junior interior designer and rapidly grew into a talented professional, demonstrating an eagerness to learn, taking on significant responsibilities and becoming instrumental in shaping the Bruntwood product offering. Proactive and collaborative, she supports CAT B fit-outs, manages multiple projects and introduced high-quality design guidance for landlord CAT A+ schemes. Within six months, Adams led her own projects, showcasing exceptional commercial acumen and creative flair.

Rebecca Godden

Interior Designer

Corstorphine & Wright

Godden joined Corstorphine & Wright in 2021, and has made significant contributions to various sectors, including workplace and residential design. She led the fit-out of the new London studio and multiple other projects, each with an emphasis on innovation and sustainability. Actively engaged in design events and sustainability initiatives, Godden is pivotal in promoting circular economy principles and sharing knowledge across the team, and her charm and expertise make her adept at fostering trust with both clients and colleagues.

Emily Brown

Interior Designer

Build Generation

Known at buildgen for her unique creativity and anti-corporate approach, Brown revolutionised the studio’s Union Bank of India project by transforming a traditional space into a modern, engaging environment that delighted employees; her innovative solutions and client collaboration were crucial to the project’s success. Additionally, Brown expertly manages the company’s social media, and has significantly boosted its online presence.

Anna Bishop

Interior Designer

DesignLSM

Bishop joined DesignLSM in October 2022, relocating from Edinburgh to Brighton. Despite being new to the industry she made a significant impact with her design of a luxury care home which received considerable positive feedback. Creating compelling designs for international brands in the Middle East, Bishop has also contributed to award-winning projects for brands such as The Alchemist and Gaucho and is a key advocate for sustainability.

Alicia Scally

Interior Designer

Claremont Group Interiors

Scally excels in crafting detailed design briefs and collaborating with clients to develop creative concepts and design schemes. Her diverse background spans commercial, hospitality and education design, focusing on inclusivity and sustainability. Notable projects, including Arcadis Manchester and AQA Manchester, highlighting Scally’s ability to deliver exceptional, client-focused designs.

Rianna Reid

Interior Designer

Fletcher Priest Architects

Reid is recognised as a dynamic designer at Fletcher Priest Architects, excelling across workplace, retail and hospitality projects. Specialising in workplace design, she has extensive experience across the financial, co-working and tech sectors.

Reid’s keen design eye and project delivery skills have earned her the trust of clients and colleagues and she has played a key role in projects like Storey 155 Bishopsgate and Ciena HQ, as well as significantly contributing to the studio’s CPD and social events.

Chelsea Bernardez

Interior Designer

Gensler

Bernardez's exceptional dedication at Gensler is evident through her innovative design work and multi-faceted contributions. Known for her creativity and fresh ideas, she effectively integrates local cultures with global design visions. Outside of work, Berdardez’s lino print workshops and commitment to sustainability highlight her artistic and responsible practices. Her talents in visualising design concepts, supporting teams and organising office events – along with her entrepreneurial spirit and charitable efforts – make her a valued and well-respected team member.

Josh Hyland

Architect

LOM architecture and design

Educated at the Welsh School of Architecture and Oxford School of Architecture, Hyland previously worked on high-end residential and interior projects in the UK before joining LOM in 2022. At LOM, he has contributed to high-end workplace projects, notably a prime Central London HQ with a complex range of functions. Known for his bold designs, Hyland excels in material and furniture R&D, client relations and team collaboration.

Catalina San Andres

Junior Designer

HLM Architects

San Andres is an innovative and talented interior designer who has quickly become a key member of the HLM Architects team. She actively contributes to thought leadership, focusing on impactful community healthcare projects. Notably, San Andres played a crucial role in designing a sophisticated Life Sciences Campus and enhancing a modular ward at George Elliot Hospital, where she balanced technical requirements with user comfort.

Emily Andreasson

Designer

M Moser Associates

Joining the M Moser team in 2023, Andreasson contributed to a crucial pitch in her first week, with her innovative ideas ultimately securing the project. Her concept for a complex three-storey building, integrating the site's materials and the Thames' history, showcased her impressive storytelling skills. With a unique and diverse background and perspective on design, Andreasson’s confidence and dedication allows her to push the boundaries of design and take risks.

Rachel Khoo

Designer

HLW

Khoo has led diverse projects in the UK and Europe, working for top clients including a global retail tech giant and major financial companies. A contender for the RIBA Bronze President’s Medal, she excels in design and technical skill, building strong client relationships and demonstrating exceptional teamwork. Additionally, her philanthropic efforts, such as fundraising and volunteering, showcase her commitment to positive impact.

Millie Prytherch

Junior Interior Designer

MAWD

Prytherch joined MAWD as a graduate and immediately impressed the practice with her creativity. Thanks to her experience in hospitality design, Prytherch rapidly established herself as a rising star – in demand from both the A&D teams. To date, she has worked on residential, workplace, private members clubs and even super yacht projects at MAWD, displaying her broad skill set and abilities. Nominated for her drive, talent and overall tenacity, the studio describes Prytherch as an “allround designer with a can-do attitude and willingness to go the extra mile”.

Ragda Elhag

Interior Designer

Michael Laird Architects

Elhag is a talented and energetic designer, known at MLA for her conscientious approach to creating functional and sustainable spaces. Her attention to detail was exemplary in delivering One Spinningfields Square, Manchester on behalf of NatWest Group. After four years in Michael Laird Architects’ Edinburgh office, she moved to Manchester in 2023 to join the team setting up the practice’s Manchester studio, which has proven to be a huge success.

Amy Kempa

Architectural Assistant and Designer

Nissen Richards Studio

Kempa joined Nissen Richards Studio during her 'year out' in architecture studies and quickly proved indispensable, staying for over two years. She returned full-time after graduation and has excelled within the interior side of the practice, bringing a sunny disposition and a keen eye for detail. Kempa’s work on key projects like the National Portrait Gallery showcases her ability to balance aesthetics and technical aspects.

Mia Tsujimura

Project Designer

Modus Workspace

Tsujimura is a passionate and talented designer, joining Modus in 2022 and quickly rising to Project Designer. Her attention to detail, proactive approach and commitment to sustainability set a new standard. Tsujimura co-led a 25,000 sq ft project for a global fashion client, managing client relations and maintaining design integrity. Her Danish-Japanese background enriches her perspective and she advocates for design and sustainability through her content creation.

Sophie Grant

Principal Strategy Consultant

Peldon Rose

Grant’s understanding of people and space enables form and function to coalesce in workplace design and build. With a Masters in Space Syntax, Grant adopts a science-based, human-focused approach, allowing her to explore the relationship between people and the built environment – establishing Grant as a voice in the world of workplace, featured in publications like Raconteur and Startup Observer.

Kim Affleck

Junior Designer

Morgan Lovell

A highly motivated and innovative designer, the Morgan Lovell team credits Affleck’s can-do attitude, infectious smile and charisma. Joining straight from university, Affleck quickly showcased her foundational skills and eagerness to learn. She has now contributed to major projects, notably assisting with FFE selection for a confidential financial client on Pall Mall, choosing forward-thinking and sustainable solutions.

James Lait

Interior Designer

Spaceinvader

Since joining SpaceInvader in 2019, Lait has made significant contributions to the studio, particularly through his work on Eden at New Bailey, Manchester’s most sustainable office building. Lait has excelled in a host of studio projects, demonstrating flexibility, creativity and a deep knowledge of sustainable design – highly valued by his team for his dedication, positivity and strong creative and communication skills.

Alice Wells

Senior Designer

Spacelab

Wells joined Spacelab from Australia, significantly impacting the studio’s workplace strategy and design projects in London. She has developed strong client relationships and is currently working on a major fit-out for a long-term advertising agency client. Wells excels in Spacelab’s ‘People Team’, promoting equality and professional development –her creative flair, attention to detail and expertise establishing her an invaluable team member.

Nikita Morar

Architectural Assistant

TTSP

Morar has significantly contributed to various projects at TTSP, including the Mix Awards 2023 finalist Diespeker Wharf refurbishment. She played a key role in client presentations, finish selections and resolving complex construction issues, emphasising sustainability and reuse throughout. TTSP credits her problemsolving skills, Revit expertise and social media contributions as creating a rising star in the industry.

Hannah May

Senior Designer

Thirdway

May is a key team member renowned for her design excellence and client-focused approach. Her passion for hospitality and residential design shines in projects like the Regal House refurbishment, where her sustainable and innovative design surpassed client expectations. She has impressed with her sustainable solutions, including repurposing glass into tabletops, and is valued for a blend of creativity, conscious design and client rapport.

Beth Neill

Senior Interior Designer tp bennett

Neill was nominated for her dedication to exceptional design, mentorship and relationship-building. Since joining tp bennett interiors in 2018, she has excelled in leading and mentoring new talent, engaging with graduate programs and fostering strong client relationships. Her work in London and Dublin showcases a proactive approach, and her passion for design make her a standout industry professional with a bright future.

Anoushka Pacquette

Interior Designer

WILL+Partners

Pacquette’s creative approach shines through her work, particularly in her research on Digital Detox Spaces, which earned her recognition in the BCO Next Gen Ideas Competition 2022. Pacquette's commitment to wellbeing and neurodiversity, along with accolades like the BCO Graduate of the Year Award 2022 and the University of Westminster's Recent Graduate Alumni Award, highlight her exceptional talent and industry impact.

Demi Smith

Senior Interior Designer

Woodalls Design

Smith is an exceptional interior designer known for her focus on the psychology of space and its transformative impact. At Woodalls Design, she excelled in leading the Abercrombie and Kent project, creating a luxurious office that integrates multiple businesses under one roof. Woodalls highlights Smith's innovative thinking, client-focused approach and dedication to sustainability as making her a standout in the field.

Hotel Experience

Over 4,000 architects, hoteliers, investors, social scientists and institutional representatives flocked to the Athens Conservatoire for the inaugural Hotel Experience; a hospitality-focused talks forum, exhibition and networking conference that was the first-of-itskind and scale in the Greek capital.

Photography: Aphroditi Houlaki

Curated by Design Ambassador and Archisearch, under the direction of Vassilis Bartzokas and Aris Marinakis, the two-day event comprised an immersive exhibition of hotel follies alongside a curated itinerary of discussions featuring 70 distinguished speakers. The intention: to explore the economic, social and developmental dimensions of travel, design and tourism to enhance the future guest experience.

Occupying commercial pavilions set on the lower levels of the performing arts venue, the exhibition segment of the event staged key hotel touchpoints inspired by the world of cinema –including The Shining by Stanley Kubrick (1980), In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-wai (2000) and The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson (2014). Designed and executed by Flux-office, the multi-sensory installations saw visitors play hotel guest in an analysis of how recognisable film interiors fared both on and off the big screen.

At ‘the congress’, industry figureheads discussed the opportunities and prospects of the hotel industry locally and internationally. Mix Interiors managing editor Harry McKinley was joined by Adam Tihany and Double Decker founders Melita Skamnaki and Wilhelm Finger, to discuss ‘Seabourn Pursuit – Designing for Extreme Adventures and Ultra Travellers’, where the panel presented the custom-built luxury expedition liner.

Tihany discussed the need to meet ultrahigh expectations for a particular level of traveller, which meant every detail needed to be considered and refined. The onboard art collection, curated by Double Decker, was central to building the narrative of the project; as Tihany explained, creating opportunities to activate spaces – such as hallways that would otherwise be uninspiring, transforming them into floating galleries.

Double Decker explained how, from the outset, they wanted to avoid cliches –no penguins or polar bears. But as the average Seabourn Pursuit traveller has ‘Picassos hanging at home’, they also didn’t want it to be solely about grandeur. Instead, the collection is unexpected and playful, creating a talking point for travellers and fostering community.

‘25Hours Hotel – A Pioneering Case Study for Hotels with Individuality’ saw Mckinley speak with Christoff Hoffmann, founder of the disruptive hotel group; OTTO’s Paola Navone; Studio Aisslinger’s Werner Aisslinger; alongside Skamanaki and Finger. Hoffman mused that 25Hours Hotels was about rooting hotels in storytelling, explaining how he wanted to create elements of discovery and surprise; a window into destinations

where the design could form part of a local narrative. Each hotel should have its own identity, he enthused, unbound by common aesthetics – instead it is the ‘soul’ of the brand that runs through each project.

Across several of the weekend’s talks, a ‘return to roots’ was a recurring theme. On mass tourism in Greece, Stathis Kalyvas, Professor of Government at the University of Oxford questioned: “Don’t we want people who are stakeholders in our country, who identify with our country; as opposed to just coming for the Instagram moment or to tick something off a bucket list?” He continued by saying, “We need to stop thinking about attracting clients and about creating clients; shaping the visitors we want to attract.”

Dr Michael Braungart, meanwhile, cofounder of Cradle to Cradle, tackled the climate crisis, explaining that we need to shift mindsets and overcome the notion that European nations are, individually, too small to affect change. “What we do in Europe is important if we can inspire travellers from India and China to think differently [about consumption].” In that sense, hotels must begin to see customers as an opportunity, as ‘change units’. Similarly, through design, we can take a radical new look at the role of hotels themselves. “A hotel could become a material bank,” he suggested. “A supplier doesn’t need to sell the carpet, they can sell the service of using the carpet.”

Mix Awards North

The countdown is on for this year’s Mix Awards North, as we make our return to Manchester Central on Thursday 28 November to celebrate the very best of commercial interior design from the across north of the UK and Ireland. One of the most anticipated events in the industry calendar, at last year’s landmark event we raised a glass alongside 1,200 of architecture and design’s most influential figures, coming together the celebrate another exceptional year of design in the north. Our panel of expert judges are hard at work behind the scenes, handpicking the finalists from this year’s pool of innovative submissions.

With the festive season just around the corner, we’re excited to close out 2024 in style with the announcement of this year’s venue theme: Aspen Rocks. Guests can expect an elegant and electric atmosphere inspired by glittering, snowy peaks and the luxurious welcome of a classic Aspen ski resort.

Expect a roster of world-class aerial and ground-based entertainment well into the small hours, featuring tightrope, trapeze, flying hoop, fire and acro-balance performers. And, of course, we’ll be welcoming back the signature Mix Awards North indoor fairground rides to guarantee an evening of thrills, including dodgems, waltzers and the Twist.

Don’t miss your chance to be in the room for one of the most important nights in the industry calendar – scan the QR code below to book your tickets now.

Orgatec

Orgatec – the destination trade fair for workplace architects and designers – is back at its landmark location in Koelnmesse, Cologne, with a brand-new event concept.

Running October 22-25th, the event is set to showcase the best of international workplace design, as well as platforming the industry suppliers contributing to more innovatively designed workspaces.

Alongside a more condensed schedule, this year’s designated focus areas will ensure topic-oriented content is easily accessible and tailored to different visitor needs, with product stands being characterised by #InspiredAugmentedOffice, #CircularHouse and #CircularBiomaterials, #OfficeXperience, #IndoorOutdoorHospitality, and #BlindDate respectively. Furthermore, the event will embody a new marketplace feel, adding a welcoming and relaxed atmosphere in

which to browse and network. Exhibitors include office furniture brands Pedrali, Muuto and Blå Station, sustainable textile maker Camira and wall-to-wall flooring expert Ege to name a few. Götessons Design Group will also be hosting a workshop with Re:Used Furniture to demonstrate how upcycling can be used in the workplace.

At the event’s talks segment an array of choice speakers – representing brands and studios at the forefront of workplace design – explore

talking points such as Art works: harnessing the power of art to drive organisational change; Emotioneering the Workplace: how to bring joy, magic and wonder to the office; and Embracing uncertainty: what corporations can learn from chefs. The curated roster intends to inform consumers’ design choices and educate visitors on the shifting requisites of a modern-day workforce.

To buy your ticket, visit: orgatec.com

Events 21–22 November 2024

London

LiGHT

Launching in 2022, LiGHT emerged as the UK’s first and only trade show dedicated to the cutting edge of lighting specification, now returning to Islington’s Business Design Centre for a third year of insight, product launches and networking.

Taking place from 21-22 November, LiGHT 2024 will play host to a packed programme of talks and 150+ lighting brands, all bringing something bold to the shifting landscape of lighting design. From timehonoured manufacturers to up-and-coming designers, this year’s exhibitors will include Artemide, Franklite, Panzeri and LED Linear.

At the Associations Lounge – a shared space situated at the gallery level – there will be ample opportunity for refreshments and conversation over the course of the weekend. Kicking off with a LiGHT lunch on Thursday 21st from 12:00 –1.45pm, a two-day schedule of illuminating talks will play out under the (d)arc thoughts banner.

Representing globally renowned brands and design studios, highlights from the programme includes ‘Why are we still talking about sustainability when what we need is radical action?’ – a panel moderated by Mix Interiors Managing

Editor Harry McKinley and featuring Perkins&Will Principal Adam Strudwick; WeWantMore’s Creative Director Ruud Belmans; Orms’ Sustainability Lead Rachel Hoolahan and Open Structures’ Thomas Lommee – exploring the bold new approaches and creative shifts required to affect meaningful, timely change.

‘Why Women's Groups are important for both women and men’ panel discussion will offer insight from speakers from Ridge and Women in Lighting, Smiths + Women in Architecture, Women in Office Design, Elektra Lighting and JPLD. This discussion will delve into why it is important

to get behind womens' groups in the industry and how peers can help shape and reshape the narrative.

Plus, Experiential Creative Director and Artist Frankie Boyle will showcase her latest installation, titled IntraSpectrum – speaking to the intricate interplay of light and human emotion and creating an immersive environment that offers a moment introspection and self-discovery for LiGHT’s attendees.

To book your tickets, visit: lightexpo.london

Words: Nastia Mirzoyan

Photography: Yevhenii Avramenko

Design in Times of Crisis

Leading Ukrainian architect, Nastia Mirzoyan, founder of Mirzoyan Studio, reflects on design as a vehicle of resilience – while continuing to lead her practice from Kyiv.

Design has always been a reflection of its time, shaped by the social, political, and economic realities that influence how we live. In moments of peace, design can be experimental, playful and exploratory. But in times of crisis, it takes on a deeper significance, becoming not only a creative endeavour, but also a means of survival, adaptation and resilience.

In times of crisis, the design process itself transforms. Flexibility and adaptability become essential as plans are constantly reshaped in response to the volatile environment. Scheduling construction or renovation work becomes an exercise in patience, as interruptions due to air raids or power cuts are frequent.

The challenges also extend to sourcing materials. Importing high-end or specific products has become nearly impossible, forcing designers to be resourceful. This often leads to a more localized approach, where we rely on local craftsmen and suppliers. In one of my recent projects, we used leftover marble from a local supplier to create a unique mosaic, which not only added a personal touch to the space but also reduced waste and environmental impact. This focus on sustainability and resourcefulness is a hallmark of crisis design, where necessity pushes creativity in unexpected directions.

Opposite image: Bursa Bar, Kyiv

Image on next page:

Event space at Bursa Bar

Looking ahead, I believe that design in times of crisis will continue to evolve towards resilience, sustainability and adaptability. More designers will turn to local materials and craftsmanship, reducing reliance on fragile global supply chains. There will also be a growing emphasis on multifunctional spaces that can quickly adapt to changing circumstances, reflecting the unpredictability of modern life. Ultimately, crisis-driven design pushes us to think beyond aesthetics and function, asking us to consider how spaces can meet deeper human needs. It reminds us that, as designers, we have the power to create environments that not only respond to the challenges of the present but also inspire hope for the future.

In these challenging times, design becomes more than just creating beautiful spaces, it becomes a means of survival, of connection and of healing. And in that lies its true power. In a way, design becomes

an act of defiance against destruction and chaos — a statement that life will continue, that people will rebuild and reclaim their spaces.

One of the biggest challenges in project implementation, aside from the direct threats, is power outages. Many manufacturers simply cannot afford to purchase powerful generators due to their high cost, which causes delays. We have to plan work around the power outage schedules, which significantly impacts timelines and quality.

Working primarily on commercial projects such as restaurants, shops, and hotels, I encounter a different atmosphere among clients. There's no focus on finding shelter or comfort — this is a space dominated by speed, focus and a desire for action. Clients want to grow their businesses, quickly implement new solutions and make money despite the difficult circumstances.

Many are launching or updating small venues, even though financing is limited and investments seem risky due to the uncertain future.

In addition to financial challenges, there is a noticeable shortage of workers, especially men, as many have been called into military service. This adds extra pressure on construction work and furniture production. Finding contractors and craftsmen has become a race, as there are fewer and fewer people available to perform these tasks. This leads to project delays, and unlike adapting to air raids or power cuts, it’s a challenge we have yet to fully adjust to.

These challenges force both designers and clients to be more inventive and flexible, making unconventional decisions and incorporating creative approaches with limited resources.

Mirzoyan.cc

FREE REGISTRATION NOW OPEN 20 & 21 November 2024

Join us at LiGHT 24, the UK’s only trade show dedicated to high-end lighting specification.

For those working in design, it’s the best opportunity in the UK to explore new products, access design talks, and network with those across the sector. Now into its third successful year, LiGHT 24 will take place at the Business Design Centre in London. Join thousands of other industry professionals for a fantastic two days of design inspiration.

From the publishers of:

Where lighting and design unite

Eduardo Sant’Anna

Material Matters

Eduardo Sant’Anna is Materials Librarian at Zaha Hadid Architects. He has over 20 years’ experience working within commercial interiors, advising award-winning design studios on the research, application and specification of highend furnishing materials and furniture. He explores materiality and spatiality through critical research on traditional skills and materials, advancing manufacturing technology and science, innovative materials, trends and sustainability.

zaha-hadid.com

@zahahadidarchitects

Sustainable paint

Graphenstone paints are truly sustainable and have a high solid content. Composed of CO2-absorbing lime and graphene for strength and flexibility, their Ambient Pro+ includes light-activated Titanium Dioxide, which breaks down pollutants into harmless gases. Offering high opacity, excellent coverage, and over a thousand colours, Graphenstone paints make the air we breathe cleaner and healthier.

graphenstone.co.uk

Hand-spun brass

Each hand-spun brass dish for the Luna collection from J. Adams & Co. is meticulously crafted using traditional hand-spinning techniques in their workshop in Birmingham. The technique involves carefully spinning a flat brass disc on a lathe while applying precise pressure with specialised tools. The final result is a curved form that beautifully reflects the concealed light source projected from the very elegant and sculptural luminaire.

jadamsandco.com

Recycled leather flooring

Sustainable wood flooring specialist Karta has a brand-new series of 18 sustainable floors made from leather offcuts sourced from the shoe industry. With hyper realistic designs remapped from reclaimed and restored floors by sister brand Ted Todd, the flooring is completely natural, toxin and plastic free. Leather’s inherent thermal properties help regulate indoor temperatures, improve energy efficiency and has sound absorbing properties.

kartafloors.com

Recycled bamboo chopsticks

ChopValue UK diverts used bamboo chopsticks from landfill, reducing the need for virgin materials. Locally sourced, the chopsticks are densified thought heat, steam and immense pressure using proprietary technology, resulting in their very own natural microfiber material. With a variety of surface colour, finishes and patterns, their skilled woodworkers remanufacture the material into a wide range of beautifully engineered products, such as tabletops and wall panelling.

chopvalue.co.uk

Trosne

3D-printed with material waste from the leather industry, French agency hors-studio presents Trosne, a stackable furniture collection designed to navigate a changing climate.

All rise

Founded by Elodie Michaud and Rebecca Fezard in 2016, hors-studio specialises in future-forward material and surface design. As part of the studio’s Agora du Design research grant and its ongoing research into industrial and craft production waste, the French design team unveiled Trosne, its latest sustainable furniture collection, earlier this summer. Developed in collaboration with fellow French designer Emmanuel Hugnot – known for his blend of traditional craftsmanship, digital manufacturing and computational technology – the 3D-printed chair is crafted with Leatherock, a material developed by horsstudio from discarded leather scraps.

When developing the product concept, hors-studio took inspiration from Swiss architect Philip Rahm’s 2023 manifesto, The Anthropocene Style. In this manifesto, Rahm explores how decorative items like furniture can be used to resolve the challenges encroaching on our interior environments due to climate change. Trosne’s modular design responds specifically to the notion of heat rising and cold air settling; its 3D components

mean the piece can be used as stackable highchair, allowing users to adjust their seating height and, in turn, reach a more comfortable temperature. hors-studio sees this function as becoming a growing necessity while global temperatures become more unpredictable – both indoors and outdoors – due to the climate crisis.

As a repurposed waste by-product secured with natural, biodegradable binders, Leatherock is low in energy consumption and allows printed pieces to air-dry without the need for firing. As they continue to develop Trosne, hors-studio is experimenting with 3D-printing in other sources of textile waste, including paper and byssus (discarded mussel beards from the fishing industry). Committed to creating a more integrated circular economy, in 2019 hors-studio also cofounded Precious Kitchen, an opensource transmission platform sharing valuable knowledge and resources across art and design – including recipes for circular materials made with waste from the project's partner companies.

hors-studio.fr

Photography: Ella Perdereau

But is it flexible?

Walley is a leading workplace design strategist and founder of The Lightwell Consultancy.

As companies across the globe continue to wrestle with the big questions around work and what it means ‘to be at work’, some are beginning to show the kind of ingenuity that is the mark of being human. The ability to work within a set of restrictions and spin them, if not to your own advantage, then into a compromise of sorts.

A great example of this at individual level is termed ‘coffee badging’. This is the practice, in response to an in-office mandate, of turning up to the office, badging in, thereby registering one’s presence on the logs and then after a coffee and a catch-up with preferred colleagues, heading back to the home office for the rest of the day. It is effectively just grouping the required commute into the off-peak portion of the day, but not, I suspect, the outcome envisaged by management when they decided on the mandate.

Companies are playing equally loose with the definition of hybrid / flexible. They offer flexible working on the recruitment adverts, but when you drill into the detail you

find there is an attendance mandate or a particular set of days you are expected at the office. This is not hybrid but merely specified attendance days. Sometimes this is in response to management demand and sometimes it is due to available office space. Although I am no fan of mandates, it does fix one of the issues that has been plaguing the development of flexible working: how to ensure those who need to interact, choose the same day to come to the office.

The second great issue of the age is how to derive best value from your office. Left to their own devices, any group of employees will gravitate to working the middle portion of the week. This leaves an expensive asset not bringing value to the company for 40% of the working week. Some companies are beginning to be more specific about which days you need to be in the office, thus ensuring Mondays and Fridays get their fair share of the load.

So, is it fair to call it hybrid / flexible working? I suspect it’s not what most of us have in mind when we think of flexibility.

It does make me wonder if, in the pursuit of balance between cost and utilisation, there is not a market for shared office space. Not in the WeWork model where everyone turns up at the same time and fights for use of the phone booths, but more along the lines of two tenants in one space, each taking certain days of the week to operate from the space.

There would need to be a joint agreement on design and amenities, dynamic signage that would change from one company to the next as each day demanded, designated storage and some agreed house rules. Nothing impossible. There may need to be some serious discussion about who has Fridays and who has Mondays. Each company could have a location to call its own and only pay for the days they use it. It sounds like a real estate manager’s dream. High utilisation with low overhead.

Is it flexible? Not really, but it’s certainly hybrid.

Mike

Bisley is a proud, British manufacturer, with over ninety years’ experience in creating and designing steel and wooden furniture for both commercial interiors and the home.

We often use the phrase that our furniture is Made for Life. This is true of our products, our manufacturing processes and company culture. We create furniture that lasts a lifetime; crafted from the highest quality materials, using processes with minimal environmental impact.

Bisley - Made for you, Made for life.

Caplet

A neat and vibrant on-desk power module with a UK socket and a dual port USB Type C adaptive fast charger, with a maximum 65W, for charging high powered laptops, tablets and smart phones.

on desk power module puts all your charging needs within arm’s reach.