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Monocle on Design
Your essential guide to design, covering furniture, craft, and architecture. Discover fresh stories, rising talents, and the latest from top studios.
Latest Episodes
Extra: Old meets new
Conran and Partners’ interiors director, Simon Kincaid, on the challenge of renovating the Norman Foster-designed building at 200 Gray’s Inn Road, London.
Alexander McQueen, wildlife crossings and Lee Broom
We check out a new exhibition showcasing work from the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen. Plus: how wildlife overpasses in Australia have helped protect native species; and Lee Broom shares his design trajectory.
Extra: Pool shark – a history of the lido
We plunge headlong into the history and design of outdoor swimming pools with writer Christopher Beanland.
Rethinking prisons; Irish typography; and climate design
We talk to a firm in the US that’s designing justice infrastructure that challenges the mass-incarceration model. Plus: we discuss typography in Ireland and breeze through a history of keeping cool before air conditioning.
Extra: Humour and architecture
Comedian and design enthusiast Tim Ross ponders how easy it is to find cheer in architecture.
Architecture: a laughing matter?
Today we’re approaching two topics that are rarely mentioned in the same breath: humour and architecture. Angela Brady, Kate Wagner and Owen Hopkins ask whether mirth can add to the debate on the built environment.
Jonathan Tuckey, homeworking and Aussie modernism
We hear from UK architect Jonathan Tuckey on why repurposing buildings can be better than bulldozing and starting over. Plus: how modernism shaped Australia, as well as insights from some of the biggest names in design.
Extra: Building to last
We look at how temporary structures can become permanent: from Gustave Eiffel’s tower and the London Eye to Melbourne’s popular M Pavilion programme.
Temporary architecture
We cast an eye over ephemeral architecture and consider the enduring role of temporary buildings. Although most designers build structures to last, there are some benefits to our health and even our skylines to creating spaces that are made to be dismantled.
Extra: Alexander Girard
One of the leading figures in US postwar design, Alexander Girard was a polymath who created everything from bold graphics and textiles to colourful branding for Braniff International Airways.
