Editor’s Letter – March 2022

First things first.

If you'd like to donate to the humanitarian effort to aid those affected by the crisis in Ukraine, you'll find links to some suggested organisations at the end of this letter. We should never forget the human toll of armed conflict, above and beyond the senseless destruction of our built environment’s very fabric.

We covered, just over a year ago, what we identified as a trend in the relatively unsung Ukrainian architectural scene – interiors that marry the rough with the smooth. A certain roughness, a certain rawness, delivered via highly textural exposed concrete, offset by a judicious use of warm wood elements and soft, upholstered furniture. Just one strand in the work of a proud creative community for whom we hope and pray now for better days.

Dark times call for greater illumination. 'Everybody has a right to see the stars,' argues Dutch artist and trained architect Daan Roosegaarde, whose social design lab Studio Roosegaarde has worked with UNESCO to turn off the lights in the Dutch city of Leiden, unveiling an astral panoply normally unseen due to chronic light pollution. Speaking as part of Lighting Design Week – the latest instalment of Architonic’s Global Design Agenda – Roosegarde also discusses Waterlicht, an ambitious light installation set to open later this month at Loevestein Castle, which functions as, among other things, a critical commentary on the rising sea levels that attend climate change.

Further contributing illuminati include Daniel Monheim from Swiss office Christ & Gantenbein, lighting-design grandee Bernhard Dessecker, and Barcelona-based multidisciplinary practice External Reference’s Carmelo Zappulla. ‘Darkness and light complete and nourish each other,’ says Dessecker, in a call for the judicious use of light, for reasons of both sustainability and utility, something to which our recent piece on the space-shaping potential of exterior-lighting planning speaks clearly.

Speaking of light, there was plenty of the stuff in its natural form (thank you, God!) when we travelled to Southern Germany to film on location at the Volksbank Albstadt, a regional bank HQ that functions as an exemplar of How To Do It Right when it comes to driving transformation in workplace behaviour through transformative workplace design. Go-to office-solutions brand Interstuhl collaborated closely with their client to deliver a total concept that supports a flexible and agile work culture. ‘I measure the return on investment,’ explains Volksbank Albstadt board member Benjamin Wurm, ‘when I walk through the building and talk to my colleagues. When people are happy, there’s nothing better.’ Amen to that.

Stay well and be inspired!

Simon Keane-Cowell
Editor-in-Chief

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