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      “Space that is exclusionary does not live up to its full potential”

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      It’s time for equitable design to become a priority rather than an afterthought, writes Google’s Annie-Jean Baptiste.

      When you think about equitable design, what does it look like? In my mind, it means everyone being able to move seamlessly throughout spaces without having to think about how their identity might change their approach or reception. This includes a person’s age, race, socioeconomic status, whether they have a disability, and more.
      Equitable design is about creating a world where products, services and experiences are made for everyone and are helpful to everyone, with a particular focus on groups that have been historically marginalized. It’s about creating a world where everyone belongs.
      It’s not enough to create for one type of person
      Equitable design isn’t an afterthought. It’s imperative to ensure environments work for as many people as possible. When we do that, we create spaces that not only reflect the world around us, but create the space for innovation to blossom. When spaces are inequitable, they stunt ideation, growth and change. Non-inclusive spaces can at the least be alienating, and at most, be harmful and dangerous (hospitals come to mind).

      There are many factors that can contribute to making someone feel like they don’t belong in a space. For instance, have you ever walked into a store and felt like you were being followed or that you were unwelcome because of your race? Have you ever gone to a restaurant and found that there wasn’t enough space for your wheelchair? Have you ever gone to a movie and realized that there weren’t subtitles in your language? All of these are examples of experiences that can leave people feeling uncomfortable or unwanted.
      It’s important to be intentional about designing inclusively and being considerate of every person’s identity. All of us have bias, but we must move from intent to impact. It’s not enough to create for one type of person. We must build to reflect that world and commit to learning about experiences unlike ours in order to do so.

      DAF launches to “ensure Deaf people have a stake in architecture”

      There are several approaches to creating inclusive and accessible spaces, including being thoughtful about how a space is designed. One of my favorite examples of this is by the Magical Bridge Foundation. Their organization designs and creates playgrounds that center around inclusion across several dimensions, including ability and age. This ensures that people with a variety of identities are able to equitably enjoy the space.
      Another aspect of inclusive design in physical spaces could be the presence of adjustable lighting, which can be highly beneficial in a multitude of environments, including workspaces. Adjustable lighting could include dimmable lights or blinds/curtains to regulate the amount of natural light. This type of lighting allows individuals to modify their environment to best suit their visual needs, enhancing comfort and productivity. It can also help all skin tones show up beautifully and accurately by ensuring people have the ability to adjust to what works best for them, whereas non-adjustable lighting can fail to account for darker shades and hues.
      Spaces can also be used to celebrate identity. For many historically marginalized groups, having environments to authentically connect to is extremely important, because there’s nothing quite like being in a place that was designed with your experience in mind. For the LGBTQ+ community, these types of affinity spaces can cultivate a feeling of belonging. Another example, Black Girl Green House in Oakland, creates spaces for Black women to come together in community.
      There are many benefits to having inclusive spaces
      While progress is being made, there is so much work that needs to be done.
      Consider what a person’s experience would be in a space from end-to-end. The physical components are just one aspect of that. When they enter a space, they should be greeted warmly. There should be someone who speaks their language available to help with questions. Signage should be clear and easy to understand, agnostic of reading level. Hallways should be wide enough for wheelchairs. It’s worth co-creating with communities that may be most at the margins to ensure that you are creating an inclusive experience for as many people as possible.
      There are many benefits to having inclusive spaces. They can not only help to create a more just and equitable society, but, at an individual level, they can also help to improve well-being both physically and mentally, by reducing stress and anxiety. These spaces are able to provide people with a sense of community, belonging, and support.

      “Despite the media buzz, ‘Femtech’ is still struggling to find equality”

      Creating inclusive spaces allows everyone to thrive and tap into their creativity no matter where they are: in the workplace or in the world. Creating inclusive spaces means developing an environment where everyone feels welcome and respected, regardless of their background, identity, or beliefs. There are many parallels between creating inclusive products and inclusive spaces. Space, in fact, is a physical product that people will interact with, utilize and connect with.
      Space that is exclusionary does not live up to its full potential. Better decisions and ideas come from dissent, friction and multiple perspectives getting to a solution that is nuanced and multifaceted. The outcomes are better for everyone when you create spaces where groups that have historically been at the margins feel like they have agency to speak their truth.
      When creating inclusive spaces, products or experiences, you must always ask: who else? Who else should be involved? Whose voice needs to be a part of the process? As designers, developers, marketers, and creators, we have an opportunity to create products and services that make people feel seen.
      We must admit that we don’t know everything, and ensure that we include diverse perspectives
      In order to do that, we must admit that we don’t know everything, and ensure that we include diverse perspectives, particularly from people who have been historically marginalized, at key points in the process — ideation, research, design, testing, and marketing. This means being humble, asking questions, and letting those with the lived experiences guide the way. Center the experiences of historically marginalized communities, and build with them, not just for them.
      It’s not enough to build something you would like, because you don’t represent the world. When we broaden our perspective and bring in other perspectives, we design, create and innovate for everyone.
      The photo is by Red John via Unsplash.
      Annie Jean-Baptiste is head of product inclusion and equity at Google and founder of the Equity Army network. Her first book, Building for Everyone, is published by Wiley.
      Dezeen In Depth
      If you enjoy reading Dezeen’s interviews, opinions and features, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.

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      “Not having architectural education makes you find different solutions” says Charlotte Taylor

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      Visualisation artist Charlotte Taylor discusses how she is translating her digital design work into built architecture projects for the first time in this interview.

      Taylor is the founder of 3D-design studio Maison de Sable, where she collaborates with other 3D designers on renderings of imaginary, fantastical interiors and buildings.
      Recently Taylor’s designs have become less fantasy-driven and closer to real spaces, with some of them set to get built as physical architecture projects.
      “In the long term, I’d like to move more into architecture,” Taylor told Dezeen.
      Taylor is venturing into built architecture projects for the first time. Image by Thea Caroline Sneve Løvstad and top image by Nicholas PréaudHaving not pursued formal architecture training, the designer believes there should be more non-traditional pathways to designing buildings.

      “I didn’t train in architecture at all,” she said. “I think it would be great if there were more entries into architecture because it’s such a hard career to get into.”
      “I’d like to think that there’s hope that you can get into building physical spaces through unconventional means.”
      Casa Atibaia is a fictional home in Brazil that is due to be built. Image by Nicholas PréaudOne of Taylor’s designs due to be built is Casa Atibaia, a house that was originally conceived as an imaginary project in collaboration with designer Nicholas Préaud.
      The duo imagined the house situated by the Atibaia River in São Paulo, creating a digital model of part of the riverbank based on information from Google Maps.
      The interior of Casa Atibaia features on the front cover of Taylor’s bookFrom this, Taylor and Préaud designed a concrete and glass fantasy home raised on huge boulders, the interior of which features on the front cover of Taylor’s first book, Design Dreams, published last month.
      Although the project was not originally intended to be built, Taylor is now in the process of finding a plot of land suitable to actualise the design.
      The fantasy home is raised from the floor on boulders. Image by Nicholas PréaudTaylor has also collaborated with architectural designer Andrew Trotter on a house in Utah, which forms part of Trotter’s wider design for a hotel and retreat centre named Paréa.
      The house, which is currently under construction, was designed to blend into the desert landscape with large spans of glazing and walls finished in lime plaster.
      Taylor also worked on a house in Utah that is currently under construction. Image by Klaudia AdamiakAccording to Taylor her fictional designs have received a mixed response from architects, with some saying that “in the real world, it doesn’t work like that”.
      But for Taylor, not having an architecture degree and exploring spatial design digitally without being constrained by lighting, noise, safety and budget requirements allows for more creativity.
      The house in Utah was designed to blend into the landscape. Image by Klaudia Adamiak”It acts as a sort of creative playground for me in which I can test out all these concepts and see how they work visually,” said Taylor.
      “Then bringing that into the physical world and working with engineers and architects, it becomes pared down.”
      “I think not having architectural education makes you find different solutions or ideas to bring to the real world that wouldn’t have come from just designing an actual space,” she added.
      According to Taylor, digital design allows for more creativity than designing for the real world. Image by Klaudia AdamiakThe designer mentioned that her design icon Carlo Scarpa also never became a licenced architect.
      “My icon, Carlo Scarpa, never had his full qualification, so there are little stories that inspire me, but the general thinking is quite rigid – this particular entry is a bit frowned upon from what I’ve experienced,” said Taylor.

      Casa Atibaia designed to be “ideal modernist jungle home”

      Having learned most of her design skills from experimenting with digital design and collaborating with other designers, Taylor describes herself as “self-studious” and encourages other designers to create work that they feel best represents themselves.
      “Strive to build a portfolio that excites you and represents you the most,” Taylor said.
      “Through building a portfolio and working with 3D designers and architects was how I learnt – it’s very research-heavy.”
      She founded the 3D-design studio Maison de Sable. Image by Klaudia AdamiakTaylor’s Design Dreams book features 3D designs of buildings and interiors created by herself and other artists.
      The curation includes fantasy-like environments as well as renderings of interiors that appear like real, tangible spaces.
      “[The book] became a space in which to share my personal projects, the artists I work with and work I admire around the field of interiors and architecture,” said Taylor.
      Taylor recently published her first book. Image by Klaudia AdamiakAlthough most of the images are already widely shared online, by collating them all into one volume Taylor hopes readers will enjoy getting lost in the printed format.
      “The same way that the Instagram page acts where people go to get lost in the images, to have that in a physical format means you are able to spend more time in detail than you can on a phone screen,” she said.
      Design Dreams features work by Taylor and other digital designers”To take something digital that doesn’t exist in the physical world and bring it to print was quite important for me, to see it in that way,” the designer added.
      Although they work in the digital sphere, Taylor maintains that 3D-visual creators play a part in interior design trends.
      It collates digital designs into a physical format”The arts trends that happen in 3D gradually make their way into interior spaces, and it’s really interesting to see the Pinterest effect,” she said.
      “People love to collect images and make their ideal moodboard with them, and these spaces really play into that. People are constructing their own ideas and making architecture and interiors more accessible rather than something very professional.”
      In her own interior visual designs, Taylor includes elements from her actual home to make the spaces feel more relatable than traditional architecture renderings.
      The Design Dreams book includes fantasy interiors and ones that look like real spaces”It’s down to the construction of the images, they have this sort of lightning and familiarity, and we always put little props that will often be things from my home,” she said.
      “These little details make it lived-in and more relatable versus traditional architectural visualisation, which can be very sterile and not aesthetically relatable.”
      Taylor has also previously worked on various NFT projects, including a video artwork informed by an OMA-design sculpture and NFT capsules that contain digital images of fantasy architecture projects.
      The images are by Charlotte Taylor unless stated.
      Dezeen In Depth
      If you enjoy reading Dezeen’s interviews, opinions and features, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.

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      Ronan Bouroullec creates pared-back furnishings for 17th-century chapel in Brittany

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      Following the wildfires that ravaged Brittany’s Arrée mountains last summer, Ronan Bouroullec has reimagined the interior of the region’s historic Chapelle Saint-Michel de Brasparts as part of a full restoration.

      Originally built at the end of the 17th century, the chapel is a modest building without lighting or electricity, perched on top of a prominent hill that rises above the surrounding moorland.
      Chappelle Saint-Michel de Brasparts has undergone a full restorationBreton businessman François Pinault, founder of luxury group Kering, financed the chapel’s restoration after it was damaged during the wildfires, patching up its metre-thick stone walls, rammed-earth floors and the exposed oak frame supporting the slate roof.
      Bouroullec, who was born and raised in Brittany, remembers the chapel from his childhood and was compelled to design a new altar and several furnishings for the building as part of the refurbishment.
      Working in collaboration with local artisans, he used a trinity of roughly-hewn materials – granite, steel and glass – that would stand the test of time while reflecting the building’s rugged rural location.

      Ronan Bouroullec designed a new altar for the chapel”Heavy enough not to be moved, sturdy enough not to be damaged, rough enough not to require cleaning, the elements that Ronan Bouroullec has placed in the chapel must succeed, despite or because of these characteristics, in creating a sensory experience,” wrote Martin Bethenod, former CEO of Pinault’s Bourse de Commerce museum, in an introductory text for the project.
      “The bush-hammered granite, blurred glass, hammered steel, the choice of a galvanized finish to soften the contrast of the cross and candlesticks with the whiteness of the lime-rendered walls – each intervention combines sensations of roughness and softness, of force and tremor.”
      The granite altar is topped with a simple hammered-steel crossNuit celtique de Huelgoat granite – quarried less than 15 kilometres away from the chapel – was cut into three pieces before being worked by local stone mason Christophe Chini to create an altarpiece, its horizontal base and a console table for candles and offerings.
      Bethenod compares the dark stone, studded with shards of white, to “the starry night sky over the chapel, virtually devoid of light pollution”.

      Álvaro Siza combines geometric forms for white-concrete church in Brittany

      The metal elements – a simple cross and a group of three tall candle holders, all in hammered steel – were the result of another collaboration, this time between Bouroullec and Roscoff-based metalworker Mathieu Cabioch.
      Some of the candles stand directly on the altar while the rest are integrated into the Brutalist console table, which consists of a long slab of granite, seemingly supported by several of the steel candle holders.
      A mirrored glass disc is mounted centrally behind the altarThe final element in Bouroullec’s material trinity is glass, in the form of a large mirrored disc that hangs centrally behind the altar.
      Made by glassmakers from the Venice area, with whom Bouroullec has worked for several years, the piece was designed to create a dialogue with the two stained-glass windows in the apse, which are the chapel’s only surviving decorative element.
      “More than a mirror, more than an object, it is a light source without physical substance, as if a round hole had been made in the wall to reveal daylight, unpredictable and constantly changing,” said Bethenod.
      Steel candleholders are also integrated into a wall-mounted consoleBrittany is home to some of the world’s oldest standing architecture. Other projects making use of the region’s historic buildings include this conversion of a 17th-century barn into a printmaker’s studio.
      The first new church to be built in Brittany in the 21st century was completed by Portuguese architect Álvaro Siza Vieira in 2018, featuring a sculptural composition of intersecting concrete forms.
      The photography is by Claire Lavabre courtesy of Studio Bouroullec.

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      Forma is a nomadic design gallery popping up around Berlin

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      Contemporary German furniture designs are displayed alongside vintage pieces at this travelling gallery that multidisciplinary designer Vanessa Heepen has launched in Berlin.

      Rather than having a permanent home, Forma will take over different locations across the German capital.
      Forma’s first exhibition was held in a building next to the Spree riverThe gallery’s inaugural exhibition, titled The Room I Walk the Line, was recently on show on the ground floor of a mixed-use building in Friedrichshain, nestled in between fragments of the Berlin Wall on the banks of the river Spree.
      “To be honest, the area is not where I would typically choose to open a gallery,” Heepen told Dezeen. “But when I first saw a picture of it on a real estate website, I was deeply touched by its huge windows, red columns and by the water, of course.”
      It featured German designers including Nazara Lázaro (left) and Studio Kuhlmann (top right)A trained interior designer, Heepen largely left the space in its found state but worked with her team to create a simple mahogany bar counter and storage unit for the gallery.

      She also asked “soft architecture” studio Curetain to create a white latex screen for the corner of the gallery.
      As part of the exhibition, this served as the backdrop for a tall white spectator shelf by Stuttgart-based Freia Achenbach, along with a graphic white stool by local designer Nazara Lázaro.
      This wiggly coat stand was mong the vintage pieces featuredOther pieces in the exhibition included a pigmented concrete chair by Carsten in der Elst and hanging metallic stars by Studio Kuhlmann, both from Cologne, as well as a translucent shelf by Berlin’s Lotto Studio.
      Forma also sourced a number of vintage pieces from Moho – a 20th-century furniture showroom in Prenzlauer Berg – among them an embossed metal cabinet and a wriggly coat stand.

      Herzog & de Meuron’s Museum of the 20th Century an “environmental disgrace” say critics

      One of Heepen’s main motivations for founding the gallery was to carve out a space for showcasing design-led furnishings in Berlin, which she says is something of a rarity in the German capital.
      “It is a discursive topic, and people have always been unsure about the success of it,” she explained. “After Forma’s first edition, I am glad to say it was hugely successful”.
      Contemporary design pieces included a translucent shelf by Lotto StudioThe designer is currently on the hunt for Forma’s next location and will let the new setting inform her selection of furnishings.
      “I’m always open to something new that occurs within the process,” she said. “I hold on to my vision, but I am also open to taking a detour.”
      Also featured was a pigmented concrete chair by Carsten in der ElsElsewhere in Berlin, Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron is currently constructing a major new museum for modern art.
      The building’s design came under fire at the end of last year, when it was discovered its complex air conditioning system would result in the venue using four times as much energy as a nearby museum from the 1800s.
      The photography is by Matthias Leidinger. 
      The Room I Walk the Line was on show at Mühlenstrasse 63 in Berlin from 15 June to 15 July 2023. For more exhibitions, events and talk in architecture and design, visit Dezeen Events Guide.

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      Three weeks left to enter Dezeen Awards China 2023

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      There are only three weeks left to complete your Dezeen Awards China 2023 entry!

      Dezeen Awards China, in partnership with Bentley Motors, is open for entries. The entry period ends at midnight Beijing time on Thursday 24 August, after which late entry fees will apply.
      Why enter Dezeen Awards China?
      Dezeen Awards China will celebrate the best Chinese design talent and highlight Chinese architects and designers’ growing global influence.
      Shortlisted and winning entries will receive significant recognition! They will receive a page on Dezeen’s WeChat account and on the Dezeen Awards China site.

      Projects will also be featured on Dezeen’s social media, with a following of seven million, as well as in Dezeen’s newsletters to over half a million subscribers.
      Find out more about Dezeen Awards China ›
      Who are the judges?
      Your work will be judged by a panel of 15 leading professionals from the architecture and design world in China including Ma Yansong and Rossana Hu, as well as high-profile international figures such as Ilse Crawford and Michael Young.
      Our judges are not only looking for beauty and innovation but also for projects that strive to benefit users and the environment. Full details of the judging process can be found on the terms and conditions page.
      See the judges announced so far ›
      Who can enter?
      Dezeen Awards China is for studios based in China! Entries from international firms will only be eligible if they have an office based in China that primarily delivered the project. It is open to studios large and small, with adjusted entry prices to avoid large companies dominating the categories.
      Your project must have been completed between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2023 and doesn’t have to be located in China.
      Read our terms and conditions ›
      How do I enter?
      For more information on how to create and submit your entry please click here. You can also drop us a line at [email protected] if you have any questions and someone from the team will get back to you!
      For information about Dezeen Awards China in Chinese, please visit our WeChat mini program by scanning the code below with WeChat.
      了解中文版有关 Dezeen 设志大奖的信息，请使用微信扫描右方太阳码访问 Dezeen 设志大奖的微信小程序。

      Dezeen Awards China 2023
      Dezeen Awards China is the first regional edition of Dezeen Awards, to celebrate the best architecture, interiors and design in China. The annual awards are in partnership with Bentley Motors, as part of a wider collaboration that will see the brand work with Dezeen to support and inspire the next generation of design talent in China.

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      SFMOMA furniture exhibition features “conversation starters”

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      Designers including Bethan Laura Wood and Maarten Baas have contributed a range of “sometimes jarring” chairs and lighting to an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

      Called Conversation Pieces: Contemporary Furniture in Dialogue, the exposition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) features 45 pieces of furniture and decor “that prioritise meaning and material choice over function and practicality”.
      Jay Sae Jung Oh presented an otherworldly chair”The works on view are sometimes jarring, often bold and always conversation starters,” said the museum.
      Drawn entirely from the SFMOMA collection, some of the pieces were chosen purely for their alternative appearance, such as an otherworldly leather and plastic armchair by South Korean designer Jay Sae Jung Oh.
      Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown was designed by Germane BarnesOther pieces of furniture were selected for their commentary on social issues. For example, a piece by American architect Germane Barnes is a porch chair topped with an oversized backrest shaped like a milled wood comb.

      Called Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown, the piece was described by Barnes as a representation of Black hair, meant to highlight how Black hair “is often policed and frowned upon instead of celebrated as it should [be]”.
      Maarten Baas’ contribution features a bright blue clay chairDutch designer Baas and Italian architect Gaetano Pesce were also included in the exhibition.
      Baas created a bright blue chair covered with clay while Pesce contributed an organic-looking fabric and resin chair called Seaweed, which resembles clumps of tangled algae.
      A series of lighting designs accompanied the furniture. British designer Bethan Laura Wood created a spindly glass and metal chandelier called Criss Cross Kite.
      Gaetano Pesce contributed a fabric and resin chair called Seaweed”A chandelier is normally a very fancy-pantsy centre light,” said Wood, reflecting on her work.
      “I definitely want to play with this idea of fantasy within the thing.”
      Unique Girl is a playful lamp by Katie StoutAmerican designer Katie Stout’s ceramic lamp Unique Girl was also on display. The lighting piece is characterised by an abstract figure that the designer said is meant as a commentary on domesticity and femininity.
      All of the furniture in the exhibition was arranged across a deep red carpet interspersed with amorphously shaped plots of floor space to form a meandering pathway.

      Mixed Seats aims to show “what a chair could be”

      “Sparking dialogue throughout the gallery, Conversation Pieces presents chairs and lamps that surprise and garner attention unapologetically,” said SFMOMA.
      Last year, the San Francisco museum showcased an exhibition of work by architect Neri Oxman, while it recently became the first museum to acquire a module from the Japanese Nakagin Capsule Tower.
      The exhibition was curated within a winding spaceConversation Pieces: Contemporary Furniture in Dialogue was on display at the SFMOMA from 20 August 2022 to 25 June 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
      The images are courtesy of SFMOMA.

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      Chinese architects and designers can “bring something different to the world” say Dezeen Awards China judges

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      Architects and designers in China are poised to have a greater global influence as the country emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, according to Dezeen Awards China judges at a talk at Design Shanghai.

      Hosted by Dezeen’s co-CEO Benedict Hobson, the panel discussion marked the launch of Dezeen’s new regional edition of Dezeen Awards to celebrate architecture and design in China, which is open for entries now.
      It featured Dezeen Awards China judges Alex Mok and Frank Chou, alongside Neri&Hu managing director Jerry del Fierro, who stood in for Dezeen Awards China judge Rossana Hu, who had to pull out due to illness.
      Frank Chou is a product designer and Dezeen Awards China judgeAccording to Chou, who is one of the most established product designers in China, the country has a huge amount of untapped design potential.
      “In Europe, there are so many design firms,” he said.

      “In China, we have a population of 1.4 billion, but how many designers are there? There’s really a huge potential for Chinese designers to bring something different to the world.”
      Frank Chou designs furniture under his own brandChou believes that emerging Chinese designers are cultivating a unique, contemporary design language that draws from China’s rich history without being overly deferential to it.
      “We need to shape the real modern Chinese culture,” he said.
      “When we talk about culture, many people equate this to history, to something in the past. But we should also be thinking about the culture of the future. What will be China’s future culture?”
      Jerry del Fierro is managing director of Neri&HuOne firm that has successfully created a contemporary Chinese design identity is Neri&Hu, one of China’s best-known architecture and design studios.
      According to managing director Del Fierro, the practice’s co-founders Hu and Lyndon Neri have been highly influenced by cultural theorist Svetlana Boym and her concept of “reflective nostalgia”.
      “Reflective nostalgia is not a nostalgia that recreates the old, it respects the old but projects something new, something inspiring,” he said.
      “It’s not about feeling sad about something that’s lost, but rather to taking elements from the past and making them fresh and new.”
      Recent Neri&Hu projects include The Relic Shelter teahouse in Fuzhou, ChinaHe believes that the conditions are right in China for architects and designers to push boundaries.
      “If you work in America, and I worked in America for many years, some of the developers are very conservative,” he said.
      “A lot of the Chinese developers are actually ready to try something more innovative. I think there’s something to be said about the culture here that allows for innovation.”
      Alex Mok is co-founder of Linehouse and a Dezeen Awards China judgeMok, who is co-founder of Shanghai- and Hong Kong-based architecture and interior design studio Linehouse, agreed.
      “Transitioning from working in the UK to China was a revelation,” she said.
      “At first, I was a bit shocked. But very quickly I just embraced how fluid and fast it is here. We now have the opportunity to be working globally, but our heart is still in China.”
      Taking place as part of the Forum programme of talks at Design Shanghai 2023, the first edition of the annual trade show that has taken place since China relaxed international travel restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic, the panel discussion explored how China’s architecture and design scene has been impacted by the pandemic.
      Recent Linehouse projects in China include the Coast restaurant in ShanghaiAccording to Mok, Covid-19 forced many architecture and design firms in China who previously relied on foreign workers to nurture and cultivate local talent instead.
      “Everything had to be more local, which I think was a positive thing,” she said.
      “It became a bit more about Chinese creativity. When we were hiring, we kept getting all these CVs from foreign architects, but it was impossible [to hire them]. This meant we ended up fostering more local Chinese talent.”
      Del Fierro said that Neri&Hu experienced something similar, with many of the firm’s foreign workers returning to Europe or the US and working remotely. According to Fierro, this had the unexpected but welcome consequence of increasing the practice’s international projects.
      Covid-19 pandemic created “new opportunities” for architects and designers
      “Our practice is very different from three years ago,” he said.
      “When the pandemic happened, there were a number of our staff who wanted to return to Europe. We now have about 50 per cent of our projects diversified. Fifty per cent of them are still in China, but 50 per cent are now outside of China.”
      According to Del Fierro, the global acceptance of remote working will provide more opportunities for firms based in China to work on projects abroad.
      “The concept of remote working is now very commonplace and we are not limited by physical travel anymore,” he said.
      “So suddenly, we have all these new opportunities. We are based in Shanghai, can we work in Cape Town? Absolutely! And we don’t have to go there every month. So I think the pandemic caused an interesting situation to create new opportunities.”

      Dezeen Awards China open for entries until 24 August
      Chou, Mok and Neri&Hu co-founder Hu are among the first judges to be announced for Dezeen Awards China, which launched in Shanghai on 8 June in partnership with Bentley. Further judges will be announced in the coming weeks.
      Dezeen Awards China is open for entries now until 24 August 2023, but studios can save money on their entry if they enter before 13 July 2023.
      There are 17 project categories to enter across architecture, interiors and design. The winners of these project categories will go head to head for the chance to be crowned one of three project of the year winners across architecture, interiors and design.

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      There’s still time to be listed on Dezeen’s digital guide for London Design Festival 2023

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      You can still list your London Design Festival 2023 event on Dezeen’s Events Guide’s digital guide to the festival, which takes place in venues across the city from 16 to 24 September.

      The festival offers a programme of exhibitions, installations, tours, open showrooms, workshops, talks and networking opportunities, as well as the Design London trade show.
      2023 marks the 21st anniversary of London Design Festival, which explores crafts, fashion, art, furniture, graphic and digital design, urban planning and education.
      Our guide highlights the key events taking place during the nine-day festival, which last year spread across 12 districts in London.
      Get listed in Dezeen’s digital guide to London Design Festival

      Get in touch with the Dezeen Events Guide team at [email protected] to book in your listing or to discuss a wider partnership with Dezeen. There are three types of listings:
      Standard listing: For only £100, we can include the event name, date and location details plus a website link. These listings will also feature up to 50 words of text about the event. Standard listings are included at the discretion of the Dezeen Events Guide team.
      Enhanced listing: For £150, you will receive all of the above plus an image at the top of the listing’s page and an image in the listing preview on the London Design Festival festival guide page. These listings will also feature up to 100 words of text about the event.
      Featured listing: For £300, your listing will feature everything as part of an enhanced listing plus inclusion in the featured events carousel and social media posts on our @dezeenguide channels. This includes one post per channel: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and up to 150 words of text about the event. This text can include commercial information such as ticket prices and offers, and can feature additional links to website pages such as ticket sales, newsletter signups etc.
      The London Design Festival guide follows the success of our digital guide for Milan design week 2023, which received over 75,000 page views.
      About Dezeen Events Guide
      Dezeen Events Guide is our guide to the best architecture and design events taking place across the world each year.
      The guide is updated weekly and includes virtual events, conferences, trade fairs, major exhibitions and design weeks.
      For more details on inclusion in Dezeen Events Guide, including in our guide to London Design Festival, email [email protected].
      The illustration is by Justyna Green.

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