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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: The Balkans’ solid effort
Towards a Concrete Utopia is the Museum of Modern Art’s retrospective on architecture and urban design in the Tito era. Could it revise negative perceptions of the postwar tower blocks in cities such as Belgrade, Sarajevo and Skopje? Monocle’s Guy De Launey reports from Ljubljana.
Library design: turning the page
The internet has forced libraries to adapt: what was once a space that merely lent out books has had to become a bona fide meeting place. We learn a few lessons in library design from bookish Finland and find out how Brazil is boosting literacy.
Extra: Funkhaus
Sitting on the banks of the river Spree, the Funkhaus was built in 1951 as a radio broadcast centre for the German Democratic Republic before being abandoned after the fall of the Berlin wall. Fast forward nearly 30 years and the building has been taken over by new owners who…
Greek revival
We head to the Greek capital for a peek inside the studios of the best and brightest in design and architecture. Plus: we delve into the history of mosque design in Britain.
Extra: Who is Gustav Peichl?
Vienna’s architectural legacy is well known but you may not have heard of Gustav Peichl. The Austrian architect’s 70 buildings straddle the mid to late 20th century and are the subject of an intriguing new exhibition. Alexei Korolyov reports.
Reimagining architecture
We explore the work of Bodys Isek Kingelez, a late Congolese artist who reimagined his home city, and offer our take on a new architecture award keen to vaunt the work of lesser-known practices from emerging nations. Plus: Josh Fehnert talks through the design headlines with architecture critic Oliver Wainwright.
Extra: Watching the clock
Technology is eroding our need to wear traditional watches but is the accessory really running out of time? Swiss company Oris doesn’t believe that hour is upon us just yet.
Workplace design
We forego the gimmicks and reveal the hazards of hot-desking as we imagine a more meaningful manner in which to improve office design. Josh Fehnert is joined by academic and writer Jeremy Myerson, who is working on solutions for building better a workplace.
Extra: What happened to the town square?
Ireland’s exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale is entitled “Free Market” and ruminates on the changing role of the town square in civic life. Here we ask if such spaces should be for public discourse or for parking cars – and whether these time-tested spaces are disappearing.
Fashion forward
We sit down with the Tokyo-based company designing suits for blue-collar workers and visit an exhibition at London’s V&A exploring how fashion and sustainability can go hand in hand. Plus: what do we really know about enigmatic fashion designer Charles James?
