Sponsored by
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
Architecture for animals
We ask what designers dream up when they put animals at the centre of their thinking, see the silkscreen printers pushing on in Beirut and visit a Stirling prize-winning building to augur the future of the news industry.
Extra: Centre Point – taming a white elephant
The Centre Point building has been a firm fixture of the London skyline since its completion in 1966. Designed by George Marsh, its 33 storeys have remained virtually empty ever since. Together with Conran + Partners, Almacantar has redeveloped the Grade II-listed building with heartening intentions: but can it redesign…
‘Why Materials Matter’
We peek inside the innovative Berlin-based design company that’s developing pollution-eating façades to tackle city smog. Plus: Mexican architect Frida Escobedo on her love of traditional materials and a discussion on the ethics of what we build with in new book ‘Why Materials Matter’.
Extra: The Frankfurt kitchen
Considered to be a milestone in domestic architecture, we trace the roots of the modern kitchen back to 1920’s Frankfurt and the woman who cooked up a storm within in: Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky.
Hostile architecture
We look at the ups and downs of ‘hostile’ or ‘defensive’ architecture, those prickly interventions designed to curb anti-social behaviour, vandalism and lingering. Plus: a new book about weaving and a special dispatch from Vienna Design Week.
Extra: Designing Disneyland
Will Disney’s theme parks continue to uphold the ideals of Walt’s original vision?
Fixing public space
Public space in cities is increasingly scarce, we seek out an example in Lebanon that’s getting it right. Plus: Monocle’s Fashion editor Jamie Waters on why Celine’s new creative director is causing a stir and a report on the designers who call Vancouver home.
Extra: Remembering Robert Venturi
We discuss the reluctant father of postmodernism and his life and work partner, Denise Scott Brown. Venturi redefined not only how buildings should look but how we should think about architecture’s role in the world.
‘California Captured’
We make for the sun-soaked hills of southern California to examine the post-war modernist-architecture boom (and mine a few lessons for today). Plus: Josh Fehnert talks to Katie Treggiden about London Design Festival.
Extra: The UK’s post-war prefabs
In post-war Britain, prefabricated houses were a temporary solution to a sudden housing problem; but 70 years on, some homes are still standing.
