Features Archives

Hotel Genevieve in Louisville features colour-coordinated guest rooms

Room types are organized by bold colours at this hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, which was designed by US hospitality group Bunkhouse and Philadelphia-based design studio Rohe Creative.

Located in Louisville’s East Market district, also known as NuLu (New Louisville), Hotel Genevieve occupies a new six-storey, black-brick building that’s within walking distance of some of the city’s biggest tourist attractions.

Lobby with pink terrazzo floor and matching plaster walls — In the hotel’s lobby, pink terrazzo flooring matches the plasterwork behind the reception desk

The hotel takes its name from a regional type of limestone, Saint Genevieve, which is a key ingredient in local bourbon production and also prevalent in Texas, where operator Bunkhouse is based.

The company collaborated with Rohe Creative on the interiors, which are intended to reference Louisville’s history.

Dark bar lounge with a vaulted golden ceiling — Communal spaces for guests include a speakeasy-style bar with a golden vaulted ceiling

In the lobby, pink tones of terrazzo flooring are echoed in the plasterwork behind the reception desk, surrounding an equestrian-themed mural.

Artworks are displayed on white walls and in front of red velvet curtains to form a gallery around the lobby seating areas and corridors.

Blue guest bedroom with large bed — The rooms are coloured by type and the smaller spaces feature a blue palette

The adjacent all-day restaurant, Rosettes, serves food made with local ingredients and is influenced by al fresco Parisian cafes and chef Ashleigh Shanti’s Southern background. This bright, brasserie-like space combines green-tiled floors with colourful dining chairs and retro light fixtures.

“Richly decorated, each design accent tells a story, from bold usages of colour to a playful mix of vintage and modern furniture, and a vivacious art program featuring local talent,” said the hotel team.

View through an arched opening into a blue bedroom — The chosen colour in each room extends across the wall and ceiling, as well as into the bathrooms

A mini market on the ground floor, which is “part convenience store, part pop art installation”, sells locally sourced provisions, handmade artisanal goods, and coffee and snacks to go.

There’s also a dark and moody speakeasy-style bar with lounge seats and a golden vaulted ceiling.

Terracotta-coloured hotel room with two queen beds — Double Queen rooms are decorated in a terracotta hue

“Luxurious and feminine architectural details bring life to the space and reference the city’s namesake, King Louis XVI, heavily featuring Louisville’s vibrant local flora and fauna, with goldenrod [plants] shining throughout the suites and ground-floor restaurant,” said the hotel team.

The hotel’s 122 guest rooms are each painted a distinct colour that correlates with their size or type. These hues cover the walls and ceilings, and also extend into the bathrooms via floor and shower tiles.

Yellow-coloured living room within a hotel room — Four Suite Genevieve rooms have a separate living room and are coloured yellow

Smaller rooms, including the King Louie and Petite King categories, feature a blue palette, while the slightly larger Double Queens are decorated in a terracotta hue.

Four Grand King rooms accommodate a seating area and are also painted blue, while an additional four Suite Genevieve rooms have a separate living room and are coloured yellow.

All of the rooms boast custom features and fittings by ROHE, as well as paintings and prints by Kentucky-born artist John Paul Kesling.

The rooftop venue, Bar Genevieve, serves cocktails and French-Mediterranean food from an indoor space that opens to the outdoors.

Spacious bar area with teal accents — Bar Genevieve on the top floor features teal accents and can be hired for private events

The bar area is accented with deep teal colours across the counter, stool seats, arched window frames and floor-to-ceiling velvet curtains that can be used to divide up the room.

Hotel Genevieve has also partnered with local organisations Black Soil Kentucky, Louisville Orchestra, and the Olmsted Parks Conservancy for programming across its varied communal spaces.

Exterior view of black-brick building — The hotel occupies a new black-brick building in Louisville’s East Market district

Kentucky draws visitors for its bourbon production and horse racing heritage, and demand for high-end accommodation in the state appears to be on the rise: a new five-star hotel called The Manchester also recently opened in Lexington.

Bunkhouse operates multiple properties across North America, including the Austin Motel and nearby Hotel Magdalena, Phoenix Hotel in San Francisco and Hotel San Cristóbal in Los Cabos, Mexico.

The photography is by Nick Simonite.

Reference

Architecture

Red Dunes Playtopia features “cave-like” play spaces and undulating hills

By Zarkon Group,16/07/2023

Sloping red dunes and cavernous spaces feature in this playground, which local studio XISUI Design has created in a residential area in Guangzhou, China.

Built above an underground parking unit, the play area takes cues from natural forms including mountains and caves and comprises a playful arrangement of hills and arches designed for climbing and discovery.

“The design revolves around utilising the undulating red dunes to provide an attractive terrain for children to come and engage in activities such as running, jumping, and playing,” studio design director Hu Yihao told Dezeen.

Image of Red Dunes Playtopia — Red Dunes Playtopia was designed by XISUI Design

The studio used a load-bearing concrete shell for the structure of the playground, arranging the openings so that the loads are transferred to the supporting columns of the building below.

“Through concealed structural supports beneath the main weight-bearing concrete shell, the upper weight is precisely transferred to the supporting columns of the underground garage,” said Hu.

“This reduces the amount of earthwork volume used, reducing the weight of the load, and ensuring safety and stability.”

Photo of Red Dunes Playtopia by XISUI Design — The playground consists of hill-like structures

A variety of areas were hidden beneath the concrete shell, where the undulating topography of the land underneath helps to form organic landscapes designed to evoke the atmosphere of a cave.

Accessed through curved openings between sloping bridges, the covered play space is punctuated by a central white column, where a ladder leads to a white playhouse that sits above the concrete shell and connects to a metal slide.

Photo of the Red Dunes Playtopia by XISUI Design — It has a concrete shell

“The use of undulating concrete shell structures creates cave-like spaces that blend harmoniously with the terrain, offering both climbing opportunities and fantastic sheltered areas,” said Hu.

“This design approach ensures seamless integration with the natural topography while minimising structural elements and maximising space utilisation.”

The landscape was coloured with a range of red and blue tones arranged in a blocky pattern of curving shapes that follows the topography of the playground.

“Our client expressed an interest in incorporating a celestial theme into the children’s play area, specifically referencing the concept of Mars,” said Hu.

“To balance the overall colour scheme and avoid excessive dominance of red tones, we also incorporated complementary blue hues to enhance contrast and visual interest.”

Photo of the playground — Climbing walls, slides and walkways cover the hills

Up the sides of the shell, ropes and climbing walls provide access to the top of the hill, with white railings placed along the edges of the arches to provide additional safety.

Play equipment, including tunnels, stepping stones, slides, and tactile climbing frames, has been arranged across the rest of the site into zones suited towards different age groups, ranging from toddlers to teenagers.

“We aimed to provide a balanced range of activities that cater to different stages of child development, including exercises that enhance upper and lower body strength, balance, social interaction, and parent-child bonding,” added Hu.

Flattening out towards the edges of the site to simplify access, the topography was designed around these zones, with a smaller hill to one side of the site catering to toddlers and the larger shell on the other end providing more challenging terrain for older children.

While trees are dotted around the play area, the main green spaces were placed around the edges of the site where the ground dips to absorb draining rainfall.

“Meticulous calculations and simulations have ensured a comprehensive natural drainage system, effectively managing rainwater flow despite the undulating terrain,” said the studio.

“This innovative approach eliminates the need for surface drainage outlets, allowing rainwater to naturally disperse into green spaces and designated peak drainage outlets.”

Other playgrounds recently featured on Dezeen include a tree-inspired office playground in Tel Aviv and a series of giant rocks on wheels designed to encourage adventurous play.

The photography is by Hu Yihao.

Reference

Interior Design

JJ16 apartment in Madrid features curves and colour blocking

By Zarkon Group,13/07/2023

Madrid studio Lucas y Hernández-Gil has completed a family home that makes the most of every inch, with details including a yellow storage wall, a corridor kitchen and a hidden closet.

JJ16 is a three-bedroom apartment in Madrid’s Salamanca district, but until recently it had been used as an office.

Kitchen with chrome counter in JJ16 apartment by Lucas y Hernández-Gil — JJ16 is a three-bedroom apartment for a family of four

Lucas y Hernández-Gil, a specialist in interior architecture, converted the property back into a residence for a family that includes a mother, three teenage children and their dog.

The challenge was not only to make it feel like a home again but also to create space for everyone’s personality within the 165 square-metre footprint.

The designers achieved this by combining space-saving strategies with statement details, providing both functionality and character.

“Everyone had a clear idea of what they needed, which translated directly into the spaces,” said studio founders Cristina Domínguez Lucas and Fernando Hernández-Gil Ruano.

“Far from generating a conflict, different colours and materials give the house a richness, a harmonic heterogeneity,” they told Dezeen.

Pink, grey and chrome Kitchen in JJ16 apartment by Lucas y Hernández-Gil — The room is defined by shades of soft pink and grey

Optimising JJ16’s layout was crucial but difficult given the irregularity of the floor plan.

Lucas y Hernández-Gil’s strategy was to make every space, including the corridors, as useful as possible.

Utility area in corridor of JJ16 apartment by Lucas y Hernández-Gil — The utility area also occupies a corridor space

The kitchen now occupies a connecting space between the entrance lobby and the living room, freeing up space at the front of the apartment for a spacious main bedroom.

Meanwhile, the corridor leading to the main bathroom and the third bedroom incorporates a mini library and a utility area.

“The main challenge was the deep layout and long corridor,” said the architects.

“We provided circulation with content by creating spaces within it. This turned out to be one of the best design decisions of the project.”

Bedroom with curved wall in JJ16 apartment by Lucas y Hernández-Gil — A curved wall frames the main bedroom

Curved partitions create variety within JJ16’s layout. The largest of these separates the living room from the main bedroom, but other curves can be found in the second bedroom and a shower room.

Many spaces have their own colours, which contrast with the bright white tones that otherwise dominate the interior.

Bedroom with orange walk-in closet in JJ16 apartment by Lucas y Hernández-Gil — The third bedroom is a twin room with a hidden walk-in closet

The bright yellow bookshelf wall is the most striking, while the adjacent kitchen offers a two-tone effect with shades of soft pink and grey, and matt chrome finishes.

Bedrooms have a minimal feel, but they boast colourful dressing rooms and en-suites. Bright orange was chosen for the hidden walk-in closet, located in the twin third bedroom, while deep purple adds a luxury feel in the main bedroom.

Bedroom and en-suite with patterned floor tiles — Patterned tiles feature in the bathroom and en-suite areas

Floor surfaces provide more visual interest. Living spaces feature oak parquet, while bathrooms are all finished with patterned cement tiles.

This bold approach to colour and texture is a common feature in the work of Lucas y Hernández-Gil, whose other recent projects include the sunset-inspired Naked and Famous bar and the stylish Casa A12.

Bathroom with orange counter and chequered tiles — The main bathroom also features a curved shower room

“The approach to colour is a constant in our design process,” said Lucas and Hernández-Gil Ruano.

“It is about activating spaces and achieving a warm and joyful domestic atmosphere.”

The photography is by Jose Hevia.

Project credits

Architecture: Lucas y Hernández-Gil
Collaborators: Lucía Balboa, María Domínguez, Sara Urriza

Reference

Architecture

Monolithic New York museum pavilion features “perfect cube” gallery

By Zarkon Group,13/07/2023

Spanish architects Alberto Campo Baeza and Miguel Quismondo have collaborated to create the Robert Olnick Pavilion for the Magazzino Italian Art museum in Cold Spring, New York.

The concrete-clad pavilion is the second structure on the campus of the museum, which is dedicated to promoting Italian art and design in the United States.

Quismondo, who designed the first building on the site, worked with Baeza to expand the gallery capabilities of the institution.

Concrete building with vertical protrusion and square windows — Alberto Campo Baeza and Miguel Quismondo designed the Robert Olnick Pavilion in New York

The pavilion is partially submerged into a sloping green hill, with entrances on either side of the building at the top and bottom of the grade.

It has a monolithic concrete facade with little detail, punctuated at points by simple square windows. At the top of the hill, the structure has a vertical element that gives the whole building an L shape.

Within this space a double-height gallery was conceived of as an isotropic room that is a “perfect cube”, according to the architects. Windows were placed at each corner to create a sundial effect when light from outside enters.

White interior room with light streaming through square windows — The architects included a perfectly cubic room that functions like a sundial with strategically placed windows

“We built the Robert Olnick Pavilion like a poem: a white cube traversed by light,” said Baeza.

“The main space will embody the beauty of the artwork it exhibits, and with an isotropic design that carves an opening into every corner, each detail will be touched by magnificent sunlight.”

“Not unlike the excitement of birth, it is with great anticipation that we deliver this second building to the museum.”

Polished concrete floors and white ceilings — The interior features polished concrete floors and white ceilings

The building has two floors and a mezzanine, with a long first floor that stretches the length of the structure and holds a variety of programming spaces, terminating at a glass end wall that overlooks a sunken courtyard.

The primary floor holds the two main galleries, one in the long end of the building and another housed in the double-space element created by the vertical element at the top of the grade.

“The pavilion has a humble layout that highlights industrial materials such as concrete to facilitate a conceptually strong and aesthetically neutral environment to compliment the postwar and contemporary Italian art and design it will exhibit,” said the museum.

White room with beams of sunlight — The galleries will hold art by Italian creatives

Between the two gallery spaces is a mezzanine level that is accessed from the door at the top of the slope. This space holds a cafe with a seating area that extends outdoors.

All the interiors are stark white, in line with the minimalism of the facade. Polished concrete flooring and seamless overhead lights were designed to add to the smoothness of the interior.

White light in white gallery space — The structure has two floors and a mezzanine

The museum plans to launch its first exhibitions in the fall, featuring the work of Italian designers and artists such as painter Mario Schifano and architect Carlo Scarpa.

Baeza and Quasimondo has been working with museum founders Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu for more than twenty years, and designed the pair’s home, which was Baeza’s first US project, in 2003.

Other projects by Baeza include a sports complex in Madrid designed to be a “box of light” and a white-walled minimalist house in Monterrey, Mexico.

The photography is by Marco Anelli.

Reference

Architecture

Dezeen Debate features David Adjaye’s “wonderful” first skyscraper

By Zarkon Group,30/06/2023

The latest edition of our Dezeen Debate newsletter features David Adjaye’s reveal of the 130 William skyscraper in Lower Manhattan. Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now.

Ghanaian-British architect Adjaye has completed the 130 William skyscraper in Lower Manhattan, which is the first skyscraper finished by the architect and his studio Adjaye Associates.

The tower is 800 feet tall and has an exterior that is covered in hand-troweled concrete panels.

Readers were fascinated by the tower. One thought it was “wonderful” that the skyscraper is not “just another blue glass box”, whilst another disagreed, describing the building as “another pointless skyscraper for the super-rich to live in”.

Hotsat 1 satellite — Hotsat-1 satellite launched to identify energy-inefficient buildings

Other stories in this week’s newsletter that fired up the comments section included British technology company SatVu’s launch of a satellite that will map the energy efficiency of buildings from space, architecture studio Hickok Cole’s use of AI chatbot ChatGPT to design a large mixed-use building and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and Moody Nolan’s reveal of a museum in South Carolina.

Dezeen Debate

Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday and features a selection of the best reader comments and most talked-about stories. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Debate or subscribe here.

You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Agenda is sent every Tuesday containing a selection of the most important news highlights from the week, Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours and Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design.

Reference

Interior Design

Dragon Flat by Tsuruta Architects features AI-generated engravings

By Zarkon Group,21/06/2023

UK-studio Tsuruta Architects has combined artificial intelligence with CNC cutting in a revamp of a home in London’s Notting Hill.

Dragon Flat features engraved wall panels and joinery incorporating AI-generated images, including a map of the River Thames and a graphic floral motif.

Staircase and kitchen in Dragon Flat by Tsuruta Architects — AI-generated engravings feature on both floors of the home

A CNC router – a computer-controlled cutting machine – allowed these designs to be directly transferred onto wooden boards, which have been used for surfaces within the interior.

Taro Tsuruta, founder of Tsuruta Architects, said that he decided to experiment with AI because there wasn’t room in the budget to collaborate with a graphic designer.

River Thames engraving in Dragon Flat by Tsuruta Architects — A map of the River Thames features in the living space

Using DALL-E 2, an AI program that transforms text instructions into high-quality images, he was able to create bespoke designs for the kitchen and bedroom space.

“I typed a series of prompts and ran a series of variations, then came up with an unexpected yet expected result,” he told Dezeen. “It was like sculpting a form with a keyboard.”

Tatami room in Dragon Flat by Tsuruta Architects — Upstairs, a tatami room features a row of engraved peonies

Tsuruta’s clients for Dragon Flat were a young Asian couple who moved to London five years ago. The property they bought was a two-level maisonette in a 1950s council block.

The renovation sees the home subtly reconfigured.

The lower level is opened up, allowing the kitchen to become part of the living space, while the upper level has been adapted to create more storage.

This revamped upper level includes a walk-in wardrobe and a tatami room – a typical space in traditional Japanese homes – as well as a main bedroom.

Floral engraving in Dragon Flat by Tsuruta Architects — The designs are etched into OSB wall panels

The River Thames image features in the new living and dining room. Engraved plywood panels front a grid of cupboards, creating an entire wall of storage.

The floral pattern, designed to resemble “an army of peonies”, can be found in the tatami room.

Images of these flowers are etched into white-washed oriented strand board (OSB), which forms wall panels. This creates a colour contrast that allows the design to stand out.

“We did quite a few sample tests, changing the needle size of the CNC router to get it right,” said Tsuruta.

The aim here, he explained, was to create a design that playfully references Arts and Crafts, a movement that embraced floral imagery but rejected the technological advances of its time.

“Arts and Craft was very labour-intensive,” said the architect. “Our process is the opposite, but we share a common goal of enriching the lives of occupants.”

Bedroom in Dragon Flat by Tsuruta Architects — The addition of a walk-in wardrobe frees up space in the bedroom

CNC cutting has played a pivotal role in many of Tsuruta’s projects. Examples include The Queen of Catford, a group of five flats filled with cat faces, and Marie’s Wardrobe, a home with a highly intricate custom staircase.

Dragon Flat is his first completed project to incorporate AI, a process he said provides infinite options but requires human input in order to achieve a successful result.

Staircase and living space in Dragon Flat by Tsuruta Architects — A floating timber staircase allows light to filter through

“This process is pretty much the same as with any tool,” he said. “At the end of the day, we were the ones to select and move on to the next variation or stop there.”

The interior also features other playful details, including a floating timber staircase. Built in the same position as the original stairwell, this perforated volume allows more light to filter between spaces.

Bathroom in Dragon Flat by Tsuruta Architects — OSB and marble contrast in the bathroom

The bathroom combines marble with OSB, creating an intentional contrast between luxury and low-cost materials, and also includes some small motifs showing bats.

“The symbolic meaning of peonies, dragons and bats, together with the Thames River, is ambiguous,” added Tsuruta.

“We want people to keep thinking and talking about them, but overall they are believed to bring prosperity and a happy life.”

The photography is by Tim Croker.

Reference

Architecture

Photovoltaics, Often Misunderstood as Visual Nuisances, Are Powerful Architectural Features

By Zarkon Group,31/05/2023

Judging for the 11th A+Awards is now underway! While awaiting the Winners, learn more about Architizer’s Vision Awards. The Main Entry Deadline on June 9th is fast approaching. Start your entry today >

The potential for making an architectural statement with solar PV panels, particularly in the form of a canopy, has been availed by architects for a while now. There is the often-photographed monumental solar canopy at the Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain, from way back in 2004. More recently, Gensler Architects have built an enormous hypostyle portico covered in solar panels at the Fifth + Tillery office in Austin, Texas. These sweeping expanses of glass and silicon on exposed latticework structures are naturally dramatic and expressive while providing a dappled shade or shelter from the rain.

Fifth + Tillery by Gensler, Austin, TX, United States

On residential houses, however, the pattern is to simply stick solar panels dumbly on the roof in any way they may fit. Newly built houses abound where exceptional care has been exercised over every detail and proportion, no expense spared on materials — except for the ill-shaped clump of solar panels laid out across the roof. It’s as if there is an unspoken agreement not to notice. But you can’t look away: there they are in full sun atop the house: ugly, unloved, visually jarring.

Renewable Energy Tartan

It’s a shame because solar canopies, awnings, eaves, and screens are an opportunity to add construction details and architectural rhythm that is inherent in the trellis-like structures supporting solar arrays. The cross-crossing supports of various thicknesses combined with a grid of individual solar cells naturally form a tartan plaid with layers of depth and visual interest. Although the panels can be mounted at any angle or even flat, the most efficient orientation is always a south-facing slant that can be a strong visual counterpoint to the normally rectilinear forms of a typical house.

Windkraft Simonsfeld, Lower Austria by Arch.

Ernstbrunn Windkraft by Architekturbüro Reinberg ZTGesmbH, Energiewende Platz, Korneuburg, Niederösterreich, Austria

Solar Photovoltaics Everywhere

Solar canopies can power a house and provide well-modulated shade at the poolside, or they can float over the house, shading the roof while adding visual interest to the façade, as in this application of solar panels on an office building façade, with the array jauntily tipped over the front of the building at a skew angle. Panels can be integrated as a carport roof, a door awning, an eave line, skylights, an atrium roof, windows, a deck railing, a brise-soleil, a screening element, or even a garden fence. So it’s a wonder that they almost always just get stuck on the roof in the most unsightly possible way.

A shade trellis is an often-used feature when designers want to make an attractive sheltered backyard space. When made of solar panels, it can not only provide modulated shade but also rain cover. But any surface that receives sunlight can, theoretically, be made into a solar electric collector. Yet, few to no examples of solar panels are being used for features like railings or screening elements in residential architecture.

A solar eave will provide the shadow line of a traditional eave and the opportunity to de-materialize the eave as it reaches its edge. Combining bi-facial panels with clear glass panels offers another opportunity for modulation.

Solar panel and glass canopy. Image by Charles via Pixabay

Lots of Choices

Manufacturers offer a wide variety of specialized solar panels just for solar roofs, canopies, and walls. Bi-facial panels that are glass on both faces are the most commonly used. These panels contain an array of dark silicon cells sandwiched between two sheets of glass. The silicon cells can be arranged at various spacing to adjust the amount of opaque versus clear area. Amorphous silicon glass panels present a uniform look without tiled silicon cells and can be made in various colored tints. Panels are also available in different sizes and form factors as well. Some panels can even be combined with windows and skylights. What if a building’s cladding material were entirely made of solar panels? More power to it! Added to the variety of panels is the variety of off-the-shelf mounting systems available, from minimalist to water-tight.

There is no excuse not to make solar photovoltaics part of the architecture. So, architects and designers, it’s time to embrace solar PV as part of the design and not just an unsightly piece of electrical equipment mounted on the most visible part of the house!

This article was written in collaboration with Californian architect Ian Ayers.

Reference

Architecture

Dezeen Debate features “beautifully executed” brick cafe in South Korea

By Zarkon Group,25/05/2023

The latest edition of our Dezeen Debate newsletter features a red brick cafe in South Korea by Seoul studio Sukchulmok. Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now.

Seoul studio Sukchulmok has designed a red brick cafe in South Korea inspired by European public squares.

The building, named Parocindo Bakery Cafe, features lively curved shapes and rounded walls. For its interior, the studio used small tiles made from travertine limestone.

Commenters dissected the project. One loved the project and thought it was “beautifully executed”, whereas another described it as “odd” and “strange”.

Venice Architecture Biennale pavilions — Venice Architecture Biennale “does not show any architecture” says Patrik Schumacher

Other stories in this week’s newsletter that fired up the comments section included an opinion piece by Patrik Schumacher on the “lack of architecture” at the Venice Architecture Biennale, four inflatable structures by Steve Messam at Clerkenwell Design Week and BIG being named as the masterplanner of Neom’s octagonal port city.

Dezeen Debate

Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday and features a selection of the best reader comments and most talked-about stories. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Debate or subscribe here.

Reference

Sustainable News

Dezeen In Depth features exclusive interview with Yasmeen Lari

By Zarkon Group,06/05/2023

This month’s Dezeen In Depth newsletter features an exclusive interview with the 2023 RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner and reflections from Max Fraser on Milan design week. Subscribe to Dezeen In Depth now.

Architects must stop waiting for commissions from wealthy clients and prioritise designing for the planet, says RIBA Royal Gold Medal winner Yasmeen Lari in this exclusive interview.

Speaking to Dezeen from her home in Pakistan, Lari said she hopes her Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Royal Gold Medal win can encourage other architects to use their skills to alleviate crises such as climate change.

“I feel that an architect’s role should be more of an activist now,” Lari told Dezeen.

“If you want to change the world, then you’ve got to fight it out. Otherwise, you are just driven by what other people want,” she continued.

Read the full interview ›

Aerial view of a bamboo pavilion in Makli by Lari, who specialises in creating low-cost and low-carbon buildings for disadvantaged communities

April’s Dezeen in Depth also features an opinion piece from Fraser, Dezeen’s new editorial director, reflecting on Milan design week 2023 and an exploration of how different architecture and design studios with famous founders are handling the sensitive issue of succession.

The photography is courtesy of Yasmeen Lari.

Dezeen In Depth

Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design. Each edition includes an original feature article on a key topic or trend, an interview with a prominent industry figure and an opinion piece from a leading critic. Read the latest edition of Dezeen In Depth or subscribe here.

You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Agenda is sent every Tuesday containing a selection of the most important news highlights from the week, Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday featuring a selection of the best reader comments and most talked-about stories and Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours on Dezeen.

Reference

Architecture

Dezeen Agenda features Foster + Partners high-speed rail line in the US

By Zarkon Group,18/04/2023

The latest edition of our weekly Dezeen Agenda newsletter features Foster + Partners’ designs for a high-speed rail line in California. Subscribe to Dezeen Agenda now.

Fosters + Partners and Arup have revealed designs for the first segment of the California high-speed railway.

Four train stations planned for a segment of the 500-mile line will be – according to the studio – part of the continent’s “first high-speed rail segment”.

Wooden one-storey home with a mono-pitched roof and porch — Manuel Cervantes develops “assisted self-production” housing in Mexico

This week’s newsletter also included a DIY home designed by Manuel Cervantes Estudio, Kith and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation’s release of a New Balance sneaker and a new podcast series about designing for climate change by SketchUp and Dezeen.

Dezeen Agenda

Dezeen Agenda is a curated newsletter sent every Tuesday containing the most important news highlights from Dezeen. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Agenda or subscribe here.

You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday and features the hottest reader comments and most-debated stories, Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours and Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design.

Reference

Features

Hotel Genevieve in Louisville features colour-coordinated guest rooms

Red Dunes Playtopia features “cave-like” play spaces and undulating hills

JJ16 apartment in Madrid features curves and colour blocking

Monolithic New York museum pavilion features “perfect cube” gallery

Dezeen Debate features David Adjaye’s “wonderful” first skyscraper

Dragon Flat by Tsuruta Architects features AI-generated engravings

Photovoltaics, Often Misunderstood as Visual Nuisances, Are Powerful Architectural Features

Renewable Energy Tartan

Solar Photovoltaics Everywhere

Lots of Choices

This article was written in collaboration with Californian architect Ian Ayers.

Dezeen Debate features “beautifully executed” brick cafe in South Korea

Dezeen In Depth features exclusive interview with Yasmeen Lari

Dezeen Agenda features Foster + Partners high-speed rail line in the US

Get in touch

about us

Company info

Useful Links

Newsletter