Camilla Meshiea and Ryan Sheehan’s Counter 71 earned a loyal following in Shoreditch for its intimate chef’s table format. Now the pair have reimagined the venue as Appalachia, drawing on the culinary traditions of America’s eastern mountain range. This time, it’s personal: Meshiea’s mother’s family settled in Georgia before working their way west to Nebraska, while Sheehan’s Irish family put down roots in Savannah, where Meshiea and Sheehan later met and married. The space has been refreshed rather than rebuilt, with chef Ali Borer, formerly of Smoking Goat, brought in to lead the refocused kitchen.

Wallpaper* dines at Appalachia, London

The mood: A home from home

Meshiea says that the vibe at Appalachia should feel like she’s throwing a party for her customers – which means ‘flattering lighting and a room a little too small for the head count’. Extra covers have been created thanks to new countertops hewn from the same marble as the original counter now running along the windowsills, with flip-out stools squeezed in to make the most of the room. ‘At our launch parties, we could already feel the dynamic shift,’ Meshiea says. ‘Staff had to wiggle through a tighter space, and everyone felt a kinetic energy bristling in the crowd.’

The fast turnaround between Counter 71 and Appalachia was necessarily short to limit the time the restaurant was closed. ‘Independent restaurants like ours are a dying breed,’ Meshiea says, ‘so we’ve had to be inventive. Our design inspiration is informed by wanting our passion and personalisation to be palpable to customers. Ryan did a lot of the building work himself, so brings that sense of home and community to the space.’

Much of the art on the walls has come from the couple’s own home in Fulham: in the downstairs bar, Water Water is by painter Betsy Cain, a connection made through Meshiea’s friend Susan Laney of Laney Contemporary in Savannah, while Migration, upstairs, is by another Savannah-based friend, artist Lisa Watson. A giant textured mirror, meanwhile, also from the couple’s home, suggests mountainous topography. ‘I wanted the sense of Appalachia as a theme or concept to feel present only obliquely,’ Meshiea says.

The food: Fire and fusion

Borer’s cooking brings together the disparate strands of Appalachian culinary tradition forged from centuries of immigration and fuses them with fire-led, Thai-influenced technique. The result is a melting pot of American, European and Asian influences, which might result in anything from a curried crab omelette with chilli, ginger and seaweed butter sauce to a smoked pork chop with spiced collard greens, with sophisticated touches elevating the homely preparations: the butter-brined half chicken comes with miso grits and black pepper gravy.

With Sheehan in charge of the basement bar, called Lowcountry, the drinks here are as important as the food. Meshiea describes her husband as an encyclopaedia of bourbon, and the bar houses a collection of rare bourbons and rye whiskies. But there are contemporary takes on the American classics, too: try a banana pudding Sazerac, made with brown-butter-washed rye, vanilla rum, banana liqueur, absinthe and Peychaud’s Bitters – though not, perhaps, matched to the banana pudding choux bun on the dessert menu. You can have too much of a good thing, after all.

Appalachia is located at 71 Nile St, London, N1 7RD, United Kingdom

A Welsh cottage, White Breakers, has been reimagined for the 21st century, courtesy of London-based architecture studio Unknown Works. The aim was to redesign an existing single-storey house on the edge of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park to improve both functionality and sustainable architecture – and to do so in the 'stealthiest' way possible.

Explore this reimagined Welsh cottage

The house offers long views of the Irish Sea and features large windows that bring in the natural vistas in all the main spaces. The architects sought to enhance this, implementing a muted colour palette inside and out, with dark colours outside and bright whites and timber accents inside. The slick look achieved makes the house discreet as well as warm and sophisticated.

Energy efficiency was a huge priority for the team and its client. Ensuring a low carbon footprint, both in terms of construction and the home's eventual habitation and operation, informed many of the design decisions. Keeping things nature-friendly was also crucial. A bat box was installed on the building's exterior, for example.

The clients, a pair of creatives with a main base in London’s Notting Hill, are a long-term Unknown Works collaborator – their London home was the practice’s first completed project, in 2016. This allowed the team to have flowing, in-depth discussions, working through the elements of the structure that needed updating and the best ways forward in each case.

It was ‘a bit of a Frankenstein building’, says Unknown Works director Kaowen Ho. ‘It was typically energy inefficient, like so many properties of its era, built with ad hoc extensions and very little thought given to the lifecycle of the building or how it might be used in the future, let alone sustainability or biodiversity. The house also showed signs of water ingress, thermal bridging and damp, amongst other critical construction flaws, whilst the interior was a warren of small spaces with no sensible layout or flow.

‘Overall, this is a stealthy, subtle and restrained design,’ he adds, ‘with the low-slung black, even brutal, exterior giving way to a very soft and bright interior, offering the warmth and welcome of a proper family home.’

unknown.works

It's been a busy summer for eyewear brand Cubitts. Following hot on the heels of The Yard – the brand's sprawling new headquarters and optical manufactory in King’s Cross, London – on 30 July 2026 it opens its first Manchester shop, concluding a decade-long search for the perfect property.

Welcome to Cubitts Manchester

Located at 16 Smithfield Buildings in the city's Northern Quarter, it occupies part of the building that was formerly Affleck & Brown – a department store that operated from the 1860s until its closure in 1973 and was coined the 'Harrods of the North'.

For more than a century, cloth was sold here by the yard and garments were made to measure. In the same space, Cubitts will now measure, fit, adjust and repair spectacles – it's an accidental parallel but one that the brand enjoys.

'We wanted to be in the Northern Quarter, but only if we could find a building with the history and character to justify our arrival,' says Tom Broughton, who founded Cubitts in 2013. 'Smithfield Buildings felt immediately right: a spectacle shop inside a former draper’s department store, in a neighbourhood shaped by making, music and independent trade.'

As Cubitts grows – Manchester is its 21st shop worldwide and 19th in the UK – Broughton understands the importance of creating retail spaces that have a clear brand DNA, while also reflecting their unique surroundings.

'Each Cubitts store tries to belong to its neighbourhood,' Broughton tells Wallpaper*. 'We start with the building, the street and the people who give the area its character, rather than imposing the same design everywhere. What ties them together is “precision with soul”: precision because optics is technical, exacting and important; soul because it is ultimately deeply human too. While each site is different, each tries to be the antithesis of a clinical optician.'

In Manchester, the interiors come courtesy of local studio Youth – the designers behind the recently opened Cotswolds hotel Hyll – who wanted to create a space that respects the building's past but reflects the city's future.

'Having grown up creatively and professionally in Manchester, we have always been conscious of how the city represents itself through design,' the studio's co-founder Liam McGroarty told Wallpaper*. 'Too often, Manchester is defined by familiar, clichéd references to its musical and industrial past, which can limit how its future is imagined. Our approach for Cubitts was to create a space that reflects where the city is going: confident, progressive and culturally relevant, while reinterpreting its history through a contemporary lens that feels relevant to the people shaping the city today.'

In the store, this translates as precise steelwork and rain-textured glass display units that sit in deliberate contrast to the unrefined finish of the surrounding plaster walls. 'The crafted metalwork reframes the city’s industrial heritage in a contemporary way, while reflecting the precision of the Cubitts brand,' explains McGroarty.

Made to display up to 72 optical frames and sunglasses, the display case's textured glass platforms cast broken, watery shadows beneath the spotlights. Echoing this theme of contrasts, sleek steel-frames wrap the hand-dimpled mirrors, which return a deliberately imperfect reflection.

Elsewhere, divided by waxed-cotton curtains, there is a dedicated repairs desk, an optometric room and a bespoke consultation area – all services that are traditionally relegated to back-of-shop but here, like at Cubitts’ King’s Cross HQ, are made visible. At the heart of the space, a faceted oak counter acts as a social focal point designed to be gathered around rather than a transactional barrier. A turntable is integrated into the joinery, introducing a subtle musical reference that also creates an opportunity to engage with neighbouring record stores.

To make the store feel collected rather than decorated, the team sourced artworks and objects that reflect traditions of tailoring, industry, modernism and close manual work. An original painting by Francis Hoyland depicts a seamstress at work, while a Cubist gouache by Marcel Gille shows a forge worker. A pair of modernist sandstone figures by sculptor Richard Perry sit in front of a speaker, while a vintage revolving bookcase – originally made by Manchester cabinetmakers Goodall, Lamb and Heighway using timber salvaged from HMS Foudroyant – holds a selection of publications from Manchester’s The Modernist.

'It was important that Cubitts Manchester was designed in Manchester, and not just deposited here,' reflects Broughton. 'The result is thoughtful, industrial and warm, with references to the city embedded in its materials, objects and music rather than announced from the walls.'

We spend nearly a third of our life working. And if you consider that we spend around a third of our life sleeping, then it adds up that we spend less time with our families and on leisure pursuits than we do taking meetings, drawing up spreadsheets, balancing books or operating machinery. So, in an ideal world, this place that you spend so much time in should have its pleasurable moments.

New Balance felt the same way when it commissioned a garden for its UK headquarters. This tranquil new outdoor space, named the Flimby Garden, is located alongside the American footwear brand’s Cumbria factory, and has been designed as a place exclusively for its 300-odd employees to step away from the cacophonous production floor and spend time immersed in nature.

Step into the New Balance garden in Cumbria

This is more than just a landscape project. A significant number of scientific studies have highlighted how green spaces in the workplace can lead to a significant reduction in stress levels, a boost in creativity and productivity, and even enhanced cognitive function, and the garden is a reflection of New Balance’s longstanding belief that exceptional craftsmanship begins with keeping the people that make its products happy. As one of the few global footwear brands to maintain domestic manufacturing in both the UK and the US, New Balance continues to invest in the factories, communities and skilled makers that define its legacy, and the garden is a lasting symbol of that commitment, offering employees a dedicated restorative space for resting, reflecting and connecting.

The garden’s creator is Bleue Wickham-Burnham, founder of London-based jewellery brand Bleue Burnham. A jewellery designer may seem an unusual choice for such a project, but Wickham-Burnham had already been talking with the brand about other collaborations when a conversation unearthed that he was also an enthusiastic amateur gardener and keen to try his hand on a more professional plane. The passion had blossomed in his late teens growing up in East Sussex and is evident in his jewellery output, which is heavily influenced by horticulture and the natural world.

Echoing the surrounding landscape of the Lake District, the garden features gently undulating flower beds, pockets of water and flowering cherry trees, as well as seating areas, communal gathering points and customised multicoloured bird boxes. Taking inspiration from the bold New Perennial block plantings of designers such as Piet Oudolf and cottage garden styles such as those at Great Dixter and Sissinghurst, alongside pre-Raphaelite floral renderings and 17th-century topiary, the Flimby garden is filled with varieties that include roses, peonies, anemones, foxgloves and lilies, and is already a much loved haven for local birds, bees and other wildlife (a stoat family being regular visitors), as well as for the factory’s employees, some of whom participated in the planting.

‘It was both a privilege and an honour to have been entrusted with designing a garden for New Balance,’ says Wickham-Burnham. ‘The project gave us the opportunity to explore how our design language and philosophy could interact with garden design, creating a space that is playful in its design, while encouraging moments of pause, connection and joy throughout the working day.’

To coincide with the garden’s opening, New Balance and Bleue Burnham have also produced a documentary-style film chronicling the development of the project from concept to completion. The film includes a special appearance from renowned gardener and broadcaster Monty Don, a hero of Wickham-Burnham, who grew up glued to the BBC’s Gardeners’ World. ‘They say never meet your hero, because they often disappoint you,’ he notes. ‘But in my case, it was the opposite.’

When Olympia, originally known as the National Agricultural Hall, first opened in 1886, it welcomed a spectacle hosted by Paris Hippodrome Circus, which featured 400 performers, 300 horses, and six elephants. Since then, the Victorian event space in London’s West Kensington has hosted everything from international trade fairs to Vivienne Westwood's first runway show, and historic concerts by Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix.

Inside Olympia London

Nevertheless, in between such notable events, Olympia remained closed to the public for most of each year and had come to feel outdated compared to newer venues, such as east London's ExCeL centre.

However, this narrative has now changed. Olympia has undergone a massive £1.3 billion transformation and today features live music spaces, hotels, restaurants, and a new theatre alongside its preserved Victorian halls.

Spearheaded by Heatherwick Studio and SPPARC, the construction began in 2020 and the project has partially opened in summer 2026.

The architects decided to relocate all logistics underground and opened up 2.5 acres of accessible streets, elevated walkways and landscaped terraces. The masterplan also reimagined the 14-acre landmark to include year-round hospitality venues.

Entering via the street, visitors are welcomed to Olympia by two cascading escalators that run under the biophilic-inspired glass roofing. Reaching a mezzanine level, visitors enter the glazed ‘Canopy’.

Inspired by the design of Olympia’s original exhibition halls, by Sir Henry Edward Coe, it is formed of five curved structural steel arches. Each arch spans 22m, and together they support a transparent roof of 520 pleated glass panels. Beneath the glass canopy are various dining spots, from quiet cafes to buzzy restaurants.

Also part of the renovation are two new hotels: citizenM, a 146-room hotel inside the Grade II-listed National Hall; and Hyatt Regency London Olympia.

A new 3,800-capacity live entertainment venue, British Airways ARC, has just opened. Yet to come are a rooftop dining destination; and the 1,575-seat British Airways Theatre, the largest new permanent London theatre in almost 50 years (opening in 2027).

It’s estimated that Olympia will see annual footfall reach ten million across the whole destination and will contribute more than £600 million to the UK economy each year.

Says Thomas Heatherwick, founder and design director of Heatherwick Studio: ‘We’ve reimagined [Olympia] as part of London’s everyday life again, creating a new public street raised up in the air, sitting on top of the existing heritage halls. [This is] surrounded by London's largest theatre to open in 50 years [coming in 2027], a new performance venue, two hotels, offices, plus lots of places to sit and eat and be together. It is now a place where you can feel the city’s energy. The new Olympia reflects a quiet confidence, showing that we can take extraordinary British heritage and adapt it with care, imagination and purpose for the future.’

olympia.co.uk

This new architect's house – Draper Studio’s spectacular double-storey extension to a Victorian home in south London – maximises the drama within its classic terraced template, common around the capital. Designed for studio founder Adam Draper’s own family, the house had already been extended, setting a precedent for more involved and extensive works once the household had got used to the space and explored how best to make it work for many years to come.

Explore this south London architect’s house

‘[Because we’d been] living in the house a few years prior, knowing the location was great for schools and wanting a space for the next ten years, we discussed removing the existing lacklustre rear extension and maximising the home’s potential space at ground and first [floor levels],’ says Draper. ‘Although we got planning for a double-storey front extension, we worked out what was needed most: a full-width ground-floor rear extension to unify the three key spaces of a centrally accessed house, and a new double bedroom above.’

The major manoeuvre is a common one – taking out the rear façade and replacing it with a glazed, full-width extension for a garden-facing kitchen and family room. It’s a familiar device, especially with London houses, but Draper and his team have excelled themselves with the detail and materiality, stretching the budget wherever possible, from using spare stone bricks from other projects (‘kindly donated by my clients for use here’) to the most efficient brickwork patterns possible.

‘Recycling a repurposed material became a comforting theme during these radical changes to our home,’ says Draper. Some of the concrete foundations from the old extension structure were used as gabion walls in the rear garden, for example. The roof cladding is raw zinc, designed to patinate, while the glazing is low-key and unobtrusive anodised aluminium, and inside the walls are finished in limestone blockwork.

‘Although the CO2 saving is relevant, using [the limestone] as a textural finish that glows in the daylight from the skylight above is the true value here,’ says Draper. ‘The ground-level concrete floor was a bit of an experiment,’ he adds. ‘We cast terracotta tiles, stones, shells the kids had collected on holidays past – although I was correctly stopped from putting Lego in as a retaliation for all the times I’ve stepped on it. The floor’s finish has texture – it is deliberately not perfect, and warm underfoot.’

The primary material is the Redwood-pine timber frame, which is left visible throughout. ‘It’s everything in the space: a warm-feeling enclosure that feels linked to the main house in the winter and a pergola-like structure extending the garden when the sliding doors are cast open in the summer,’ says Draper. ‘With careful placement of rooflights, you’d hardly know there’s a double bedroom above with all the daylight flooding in.’

Much of the work was fabricated off-site to minimise disruption (and allow the family to stay put and save costs during the build). ‘Using materials that are real as opposed to finishes is also important, whether that be the concrete floor, the limestone blocks of the kitchen extension flank wall or the unpainted hemp plaster of the dining room,’ says Draper.

Using off-the-shelf lengths of timber also dictated the scale and rhythm of the frame, which in turn zones the 34 sq m extension into its different areas: kitchen, dining space and playroom.

As well as minimising off-cuts and sourcing second-hand materials where possible, the architects also salvaged elements like bathroom brassware, all in the name of lowering the environmental impact of the build. ‘It’s good to confront waste first hand,’ Draper admits. ‘Can stuff be repurposed, reused or retained, not just as an echo or a statement feature?’

The new house succeeds as both a laboratory of ideas and techniques and as a warm, inviting family home. ‘It’s a privilege to design your own home and explore ideas that I’ve been unable, to date, to convince clients to go with,’ says Draper. ‘It’s a little bit of material experiment, a narrative of what a home can be, all unified in a large, warm volume that finally links the house and enables the spaces to cohere.’

Draper.Studio

Ever since The Zetter first opened in Clerkenwell in 2004, the group has helped set the bar for London’s boutique hotel scene with its relaxed approach to luxury, characterful interiors and distinctly residential feel. Its newest opening, The Zetter Bloomsbury, continues that tradition across six interconnected Georgian townhouses neighbouring the British Museum, where check-in takes place over a glass of wine or coffee, immediately setting the tone for the rest of the stay. With interiors that have all the warmth and personality The Zetter has become known for, it’s the sort of hotel you’ll find yourself looking forward to returning to at the end of the day.

Wallpaper* checks in at The Zetter Bloomsbury, London

What’s on your doorstep?

Tucked away in Bloomsbury, The Zetter sits in one of central London’s most convenient yet often overlooked locations. The British Museum is just next door, while Russell Square, Tottenham Court Road and Holborn Underground stations are all within a short walk, making it easy to reach almost anywhere in the capital. Soho, Covent Garden, Oxford Street and the West End are all close enough to reach on foot, whether you’re heading to a gallery, catching a show or browsing the shops. Yet Bloomsbury itself is reason enough to stay put. Beyond the museums and shopping, it’s the sort of neighbourhood where it’s easy to lose track of time, whether you’re browsing an independent bookshop or settling into a café for a long lunch.

Who is behind the design?

The interiors are designed by James Thurstan Waterworth, and every shelf, cabinet and corner is layered with objects that feel as though they’ve been collected over a lifetime. European antiques sit alongside midcentury furniture, African textiles, Turkish rugs repurposed as ottomans and works by St Ives artists including Sandra Blow and Roger Hilton, while ancient Egyptian artefacts and a library of more than 600 vintage art and auction catalogues reflect the hotel’s close relationship with its neighbour, the British Museum.

It’s the craftsmanship that really sets the hotel apart. More than 500 cushions have been made from antique textiles; vintage fabrics have been reworked into upholstery, headboards and lampshades; Georgian cabinets discreetly conceal modern services, while hand-painted faux-marbled architraves, reclaimed timber floorboards, bespoke rugs and decorative pieces made by British artisans create interiors that feel deeply personal.

The room to book

Overlooking the secluded courtyard garden, the Junior Suites are well worth booking, with lofty ceilings and four-poster beds that give them all the charm of the Georgian townhouses they occupy, while marble bathrooms, richly textured fabrics, antiques and collected objects make them feel just as characterful as the public spaces downstairs. Thoughtful details continue throughout, from the well-stocked minibar tucked discreetly beneath the television to Verden amenities in the bathroom. If you’re celebrating a special occasion, however, the Terrace Suite is worth the splurge, with its wraparound terrace, claw-foot bath positioned beneath the bay window and views across the garden.

Staying for drinks and dinner?

Breakfast is served in The Orangery beneath a glass roof, where leafy plants, the morning light and views onto the courtyard garden make it one of the loveliest spots in the hotel to start the day, while an à la carte menu featuring dishes such as avocado on toast or a full English breakfast is complemented by baskets of pastries, breads and fresh juices.

Later in the day, the menu moves next door to The Parlour and its adjoining courtyard garden, where elevated British classics such as Scotch eggs and sausage rolls are joined by seasonal salads and larger plates, making it just as suited to lunch as evening drinks. On arrival, every guest is also handed a coin to exchange for a complimentary drink from the bar, from a coffee to a cocktail or even one of the more premium spirits, a small but memorable touch that perfectly captures The Zetter’s relaxed approach to hospitality.

Where to switch off

The Zetter Bloomsbury isn’t a hotel with a sprawling spa or extensive wellness facilities, but that’s part of its charm. Instead, switching off comes naturally in the hotel’s secluded courtyard garden, where a drink beneath the trees on a warm summer afternoon is the perfect escape from the bustle of central London.

The verdict

Characterful, welcoming and full of personality, The Zetter Bloomsbury is the sort of place that’s just as appealing to first-time visitors to London as it is to those who know the city well. As one of London’s newest hotels, there are still a few service inconsistencies to iron out, but once those settle, the hotel has all the ingredients to become one of the capital’s most enjoyable boutique stays.

The Zetter Bloomsbury is located at 2-7 Montague St, London WC1B 5BP, United Kingdom. Rates: from £210

This summer sees a five-year vision come to life: a Cornish eco-cabin landscape combining sustainable living with ecologically minded design. On a former airfield in North Cornwall, Koto at the Point is the latest addition to award-winning resort development The Point at Polzeath. It comprises 17 ‘eco-lodge’ cabins set within 11 of The Point’s 240 acres, a gently sloping landscape of diverse trees, meadow, and bright perennials, stitched together by over 400m of traditional slate-and-soil Cornish walling.

Explore a leafy Cornish eco-cabin landscape designed by Darren Hawkes

Sustainability-minded since taking on The Point in 2012 – transforming its golf course and health club amenities and adding environment-conscious self-catering apartments – owners Eva and Jeremy Davies wanted this next project to be yet more future-facing. 'We wanted to leave a legacy,' explains Eva, 'to be able to walk away and be proud of what we’d made.' Gearing the development around the core principles of habitat provision, biodiversity increase and climate resilience, Koto at the Point was an opportunity for the couple to steward the land. 'It’s been a bigger challenge than we ever thought it would be,' says Jeremy, 'but it’s something that we can feel incredibly proud of.'

Koto at the Point’s origins began in 2020, during the first pandemic lockdown, where, in a sense, one form of cabin fever led to another. With an idea forming to build a range of modern, sustainable, Scandinavian-style holiday cabins within a landscape rooted in its local surroundings, Eva had discovered Devon-based architecture and design studio Koto, and felt their principles aligned. 'Growing up in Norway, I spent a lot of time outside, whether in the mountains, the sea, or the woods,' she explains.

'The architects at Koto had worked in a Norwegian practice in Oslo for ten years and were very familiar with the sense of indoor-outdoor living, and the word ‘Friluftsliv’ – ‘free air living’ – which is ingrained in the Norwegian vocabulary. That’s why I fell in love with the Koto concept, and how they came to design the cabins.' Early in the project’s development, Koto co-founder Theo Dales introduced the Davies to award-winning, Cornwall-based landscape designer Darren Hawkes, with whom the practice had previously collaborated. 'When Darren presented his first plans – including the 400m of walls snaking through the site – it was a big moment. We just fell in love straightaway with everything he put on paper.'

Operating from a studio in Fowey, on the south coast of Cornwall, Hawkes' work encompasses everything from townhouse gardens and country retreats to 2026’s gold-winning Chelsea show garden and a new Maggie’s garden at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Stirlingshire. In the case of Koto at the Point, it was the opportunity to be involved from the project’s outset that first attracted him, right down to pegging out where the cabins would be sited. 'Normally an architect has already decided where a building will be placed, so to be able to really think about how people would live within and relate to the landscape was really exciting,' he says. 'Alongside the fact that Jeremy and Eva wanted to do this at such a high level, with a massive commitment to nature.'

Working collaboratively with an ecologist, Hawkes reconfigured the flat, roughly rectangular and formerly closely mown airfield into a more dynamic topography. 'I wanted to break it up as much as possible,' he explains, 'cutting and filling, and creating the sense of a little envelope around each building.' While a central swale directs rainwater runoff towards an irrigation pond at the bottom of the site, the three curving walls (known as ‘Cornish hedges’ – a protected characteristic of the Cornish countryside) add further complexity to the landscape.

Handcrafted by a local contractor and planted with wildflowers and structural shrubs, these provide exceptional habitat for invertebrates, birds and small mammals. The real masterstroke of landscape design, however, is in the avoidance of hard boundaries. 'The walls divide and split up various sections, but then we use areas of rough grass, meadow, lawn, and garden spaces as a further buffer between cabins,' Darren explains. 'Meandering paths allow people staying here to walk through the site, taking them through openings in the walls in a way that feels playful, particularly for children. Yet it becomes clear where you start to veer into private space.'

Intimately familiar with the environmental conditions particular to England’s south-west peninsula, Hawkes has found something of a natural design niche with coastal gardens. 'Most of our projects in Cornwall and Devon are adjacent to the sea, so understanding how to build and maintain gardens in these environments is something we’ve learned a lot about; we’re continually learning what survives close to the sea.' This knowledge played directly into the tree and large shrub selections Hawkes made for the site, including characterful, often multi-stemmed specimens of spindle, pine, dogwood and juniper, sourced from tree nursery New Wood Trees in Totnes.

So far, over 130 trees have gone into the site, says Jeremy, and their density will be increased year on year. 'We’re surrounded by a lot of farmland here in North Cornwall, so just to be planting trees in an area where there aren’t many is wonderful,' he adds. Ensuring their establishment, alongside that of the meadows, lawns, and elegant pocket gardens of colourful heleniums, sea hollies and soft ornamental grasses – which are set so beautifully against the black of the cabins – is head gardener Natalie Buse and The Point’s head greenkeeper, Tom Collings.

Though the life of this landscape will mature and develop over decades, its component parts are beginning to coalesce already, after only a few years, settling sympathetically into the surrounding coastal countryside. Poppies and daisies spill from the walls; architectural trees are framed through the cabin glass. Returning to monitor the site’s biodiversity, ecologist John Sproull recently recorded an encouraging wealth of wildlife, from painted lady and meadow brown butterflies to goldfinches and meadow pipits.

Koto cabin owners have delighted, too, in seeing deer pass through the site, Jeremy says. 'We feel very privileged to have been working with Darren on this project; he fully understood what we were looking to do, just as we understood what he wanted to create.' For Eva, it’s now a moment for taking stock. 'When we stop and look at what we’ve created, sitting in one of the cabins and looking out at the hedges and trees we’ve planted, it feels such a privilege to have been able to do this.'

More information at kotoatthepoint.co.uk, where a few cabins are still available to buy

darrenhawkes.com

Elizabeth Darling’s new monograph, Palace of the Ether: Broadcasting House and the Architecture of the BBC, 1922-1932, is a fascinating insight into the formation and professionalisation of the entity founded as the British Broadcasting Company in 1922 and granted a Royal Charter in 1927, becoming the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). From an ad hoc collection of offices and studios scattered around various London locations, the newly minted Corporation started a search for a site for a dedicated, purpose-built HQ later that year.

Explore the history of Broadcasting House and the BBC in this new book

This book is the story of that building, and the locations that preceded it, along with the architectural, interior and design decisions that were made to create what has been described as a ‘Palace of the Ether’. Broadcasting House, located at the meeting of Langham Place and Portland Place in central London, officially opened in May 1932.

In modernist architecture lore, Val Myer’s monumental, curved edifice, with its façade of Portland stone and evocative sculptural exhortations of the ethos and role of a national broadcaster, has always been slightly overlooked.

The structure was considered Modernism Lite, perhaps, a soft-pedalled version of the more muscular and ideologically pure approach demonstrated by contemporary structures like Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff’s De La Warr Pavilion (1935). For the diehard modernists, the Corporation’s most effective expressions of contemporary design were in the interiors.

However, as Darling chronicles, it was the interior work of Raymond McGrath, Edward Maufe, Wells Coates, and Chermayeff that really set a standard, creating contemporary studio interiors that seemed completely in sync with the BBC’s mission to educate and modernise. Chermayeff and his peers were praised for their use of modern materials and contemporary furnishing pieces.

And yet, many of these pioneering spaces were swiftly upgraded and overhauled, either through wartime destruction or through sheer expediency – broadcast technology was moving fast, and they were quickly outdated.

As the book also shows, modern interiors often sat side by side with more old-fashioned, traditional spaces, complete with ersatz fireplaces, drapes and libraries of leather-bound books. Regardless of the interior approach, the BBC set about presenting Broadcasting House as a central part of its identity, a role it continues right up to the present day.

This is a text-heavy book, rich with research and rewarding historic anecdote. It tells a story that is still being written, albeit with the BBC’s authority and role being challenged like never before.

'Palace of the Ether: Broadcasting House and the Architecture of the BBC, 1922-1932,' Elizabeth Darling, £45, LundHumphries.com

A watch, a ring, or a fine piece of silver – these are the kind of time-honoured treasures that get passed down through generations. But what are the heirlooms of today? With her elegant collection of linens and homewares, Emilia Wickstead has an answer.

The New Zealand-born fashion designer is known for her exquisitely tailored garments, pieces whose modern silhouettes have become perennial favourites of A-Listers, including the royal family. But with Emilia Wickstead Home – which Wickstead expanded this spring with help from her mother, Angela – she’s turning her couturier’s eye to the table.

‘Beautiful Italian linens and embroideries are something we admire but don't necessarily own ourselves. I wanted to bring this to the marketplace in a design-led way under the name of a fashion house,’ she tells Wallpaper*.

Like her clothing, Wickstead’s home items are crafted from the finest materials using traditional techniques, like silver cutlery crafted in Sheffield, porcelain made by a family-run business in Limoges, and crystal glasses blown by a traditional Murano artisan. ‘If you're going to do it, you need to do it properly,’ laughs Wickstead. ‘This is for long longevity, these are the keepsake pieces.’

Equally timeless is Wickstead’s hosting style. Here is how she does it.

How we Host with Emilia Wickstead

Wallpaper*: Are you a relaxed host and pull it all together at the last minute, or is there careful planning?

Emilia Wickstead: I'm from New Zealand, which has quite a relaxed culture, but then I have the Italian influence of my grandmother, who’s always hosting and having everyone around the table. Although it was relaxed, it was also well thought out and beautifully laid. It was the same linens that came out all the time. We weren't inventing a new tablescape every time; it was just beautiful linens and different sets. I remember those throughout the years, and I want to recreate that storytelling element. There's a bit of nostalgia with that, which I love.

Can you cook?

EW: My husband is an exceptional cook. I love to cook, but he takes a lot of pleasure in feeding a table of people. Nothing feels stressed or frantic in the kitchen when he's cooking, which makes it very enjoyable. To have a home-cooked meal is very much part of our culture. I remember fondly that my mother would always have fabric napkins at the table and fabric placemats or a tablecloth. Why wait for a special occasion when it can be something as simple as breakfast? Every moment is a special occasion.

W*: What was the first dish you perfected to feed a group of friends or family?

EW: My grandmother taught me how to make Bolognese sauce, and I took that with me to university. I was very popular with that dish when I was living in London in my younger years. The secret to the recipe isn't in the ingredients, but the way in which you cook the meat. It's the timing of how dry the meat is before you put in the next ingredient. I also make a pavlova, which is a New Zealand meringue cake.

W*: Drinks on arrival – what’s on offer?

EW: I drink a lot of Champagne. That is my go-to drink; I always have a refrigerator stocked with my favourite. My husband will make cocktails, which is very old school. One thing that my husband and I have in common is that we love having people over and allowing people to eat as much as they can, drink as much as they want, and have a merry time.

W*: Go on and tempt us – what’s your go-to menu, from starters to afters, whether homemade or bought in?

EW: I don't really think there is a go-to. I think it's very much comfort food, though. It is about having people over and taking care of people, which is what we ultimately enjoy.

W*: What’s on your dinner party playlist?

EW: I'll have anything from a bit of jazz in the background like Chet Baker, to Paul Simon, Van Morrison or Eric Clapton. I might also throw Elvis or Aretha Franklin into the mix. It feels relaxing and warm. It's often what I have in the background at home, or if I'm working. It's the same playlist throughout my life of doing all the things I enjoy. I get the best out of myself.

W*: Who’s your dream dinner party guest?

EW: I honestly would love Diana Vreeland. She's someone I've always admired. She was crazy about her family, her sons and her husband. I imagine she was family-oriented but also very much a creative. From art to literature, she was so expressive with her point of view and opinions. One of my favourite things about having people around my table is when people are really expressive and have really strong opinions. Conversations are always very funny and open. She would be the perfect addition with her wit and wisdom.

W*: Dish the dirt: what should a host never do?

EW: Ask people to leave early.

W* What would be your secret to a successful evening?

EW: That people don't want to leave. The whole idea is for everyone to have a good time.

Get the look

Casual Italian may have been the big story on the capital’s restaurant scene in the past 12 months, but Londoners’ appetite for the sort of French bistro that wouldn’t disgrace the set of ’Allo ’Allo! shows no sign of waning – so much so that we’re now having to import them.

Buvette comes courtesy of New York-based restaurateur Jody Williams, whose West Village original, opened in 2011, is one of five Manhattan hotspots she co-owns with wife Rita Sodi. This is the US400 couple’s second bite at a London Buvette, after a Notting Hill outpost opened in 2020 and closed three years later.

Covent Garden, however, already feels like a better fit: squint from a pavement table under the red awning in Neal’s Yard and you could be in a French square straight out of Emily in Paris – or, perhaps, an especially photogenic enclave of Greenwich Village.

Wallpaper* dines at Buvette, London

The mood: Flea market chic

A buvette is the French word for a small bar, though Williams prefers to describe this place as a gastrothèque, her own word for a mash-up of café, bar and restaurant where one is as likely to drop in for a breakfast croissant and café au lait as a supper of cassoulet and Beaujolais.

Williams says that the New York Buvette was inspired by visits to flea markets and antique fairs, though here in London she’s been equally influenced by the building’s 400-year history and that of Neal’s Yard itself, where the British whole-food scene was kickstarted in the 1970s with the likes of Monmouth Coffee and Neal’s Yard Dairy.

Inside are exposed brick walls, warm wood finishes, a tin ceiling embossed with metallic garlands and close-set tables for two. If the dimensions feel more cramped than cosy, the best way to approach Buvette might be as an hour spent en route to somewhere else: a breakfast meeting before the office or pre-theatre ahead of the Donmar. Or pull up a solo stool at the marble counter.

The food: Small plates of bistro cooking

Williams might have a James Beard Award to her name for New York City’s Best Chef, but she taught herself to cook and spent five years in Italy and Japan before opening Buvette. All of which is to say that she is not bound by tradition. So while the menu is a love letter to traditional bourgeois cuisine – coq au vin and charcuterie, steak tartare and tarte Tatin – the presentation of the food as small plates feels bang up to date.

Not that you’ll want to split everything: a croque-monsieur, bubbled with golden-brown blisters of gooey Gruyère, is far too good to share. Carb-loading is the way to go: garlicky escargots come with slices of sourdough toast for dunking, while a tartine is spread with an artery-clogging amount of butter and draped with a salty sliver of anchovy and a tangy caper.

Not everything works quite so well when presented in miniature. A pot of moules topped with a pile of French fries makes excavating the mussels from their shells awkward, though it’s worth persevering, as the curry sauce beneath makes an excellent dipping sauce.

Even if you just stick to tap water, do take time to admire the design of the drinks list, which is beautifully illustrated as a homage to the Belle Époque and is as lovely to look at as everything else here.

Buvette is located at 2 Neal’s Yard, London WC2H 9DP, UK

Mayfair dining rooms often arrive fully dressed. Latine is better when it changes outfit. Set in Lancashire Court, the Franco-Latin restaurant by London-based interior designer Victoria Vogel moves from a bright ground-floor crudo bar to a candlelit first-floor salon, a mural-wrapped private dining room and a basement lounge in lacquer, velvet and brass.

Wallpaper* dines at Latine Mayfair

The mood: A venue of many temperatures

The ground-floor restaurant is the brightest chapter: limewashed walls, solid wood tables, bouclé seating and a marble-fronted crudo bar, all gathered around an exposed brick rotunda and central chandelier. Decorative tiling nods to the seafood-led menu, while cream, terracotta, chocolate and pale timber give the room its soft sense of warmth.

Upstairs, La Candela brings white wainscoting, twin crystal chandeliers and terracotta accents into a candlelit salon. On the second floor, El Cielo turns private dining into a scenic room, wrapped in a hand-painted mural by Melissa Wickham beneath exposed oak beams and a sculptural bronze chandelier. Downstairs space, LACAV, drops the temperature: lacquered walls, burl walnut, velvet seating and brass lighting make it the late-night room: darker, richer, and much happier after dinner.

The food: Ceviche first, Béarnaise later

The menu opens with colourful crudos: bright, sharp and built around citrus, heat and sweetness. Sea bream tiradito comes with coconut leche de tigre; red prawn ceviche with mango and yuzu. Yet, the starters are where the Franco-Latin exchange gets better: snails baked with chimichurri butter and served with brioche; Cornish mussels with Latine marinière and fries; pão de queijo filled with Camembert, with the option to add Oscietra caviar.

Mains continue the exchange: grilled hispi cabbage with Peruvian curry sauce and Comté, wild sea bass with ají amarillo beurre blanc, bouillabaisse with ají panca rouille, and chargrilled ribeye with chimichurri Béarnaise.

Latine Mayfair is located at 10-11 Lancashire Ct, London W1S 1EY, United Kingdom

There are few weeks in London’s calendar when the city feels quite as alive as it does during London Design Festival. Every September, museums, galleries and streets become the centre of conversation, where architects, designers and makers invite us to look differently at the spaces we move through every day.

The first programme announced for London Design Festival 2026, which returns from 12 to 20 September, looks at both the origins of design and its future direction. This year, both craft and artificial intelligence sit alongside one another as historic techniques are revisited through contemporary collaborations, exploring themes of migration, ecology, and cultural exchange across many confirmed projects.

London Design Festival 2026: programme announced

A bamboo pavilion with a bigger story to tell

Among the first commissions announced is The Pangolin Shield, the festival’s inaugural Landmark Project by the Anglo-Indian studio Studio Saar and structural engineers Atelier One. Installed on the Strand, the pavilion takes its cue from the pangolin, the shy, armour-plated mammal whose overlapping scales serve as the starting point for a structure made of bamboo and woven shields traditionally used by farming communities in north-eastern India.

While the pavilion could easily be appreciated for its impressive engineering, the aim is to encourage visitors to engage with it on a deeper level. It invites reflection on colonial histories, the movement of people and ideas, and the stories that materials carry as they journey across the Indian Ocean. Traditionally, the bamboo canopy serves both as shelter and as a space for contemplation, urging those on London’s busiest streets to slow down and be viewed.

Made looks back to the Barbican

Renowned for its iconic brutalist architecture, the Barbican has profoundly influenced London’s design imagination. Its impact is evident in contemporary interiors, furniture design, and even the conversations surrounding urban living.

This autumn, Made revisits that legacy with a new collection developed by designer Miriam Howitt, drawing on archival research into the estate and its original interiors. Furniture, lighting and textiles draw on the Barbican’s distinctive interiors. To accompany this, an installation at the festival explores how one of Britain’s most recognisable architectural landmarks continues to shape ideas of home decades after it first opened.

The V&A begins with an awakening

The V&A has become the spiritual home of the London Design Festival, and its annual commission often captures the mood of each edition. This year, Awakenings, curated by Carrie Chan and Kristian Volsing, looks at how design can reshape our relationship with the world around us.

Spread throughout the museum, the programme brings together designers including Aziza Kadyri, Eunjo Lee and Henry Svendsen, alongside new commissions exploring sound, identity, artificial intelligence and the natural world. There is a sense of curiosity running through the exhibition, as well as a sense that technology is no longer treated as something separate from craft. Instead, both are becoming part of the same conversation.

The Design Museum turns its attention to people behind the practice

The Design Museum’s programme spans fashion, furniture and contemporary design culture. A major ongoing retrospective celebrates NIGO, charting the Japanese designer’s influence across streetwear and luxury fashion. London-based designer, educator and cultural change-maker, Simone Brewster’s Platform installation continues her exploration of sculptural furniture and material histories, layered with references from 'palaeolithic fertility deities to African diasporic traditions'.

Away from the galleries, conversations take centre stage too. Brewster joins Jasmi Hussein, Emefa Cole and Hettie Judah for a discussion exploring design and motherhood, shifting the focus away from finished work, towards the lives and experiences that shape creative work.

Japanese craft meets contemporary design

This year, Craft x Tech Tokai Project continues its tradition of collaboration between Japanese artisans and international designers. The exhibition highlights the fusion of traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design, featuring media such as ceramics, washi paper, lacquer, textiles, and woodworking.

Featuring designers such as Bethan Laura Wood, David Caon, and Philippe Malouin, who engage with artisans whose techniques have been refined and passed down through generations, showcasing the exciting possibilities born from this rich exchange of ideas.

New conversations between Asia and London

Elsewhere, MixZ continues its exploration of cultural exchange between Asia and the UK through a pair of exhibitions taking place at the V&A and the Old Selfridges Hotel.

One of the exhibitions will highlight the ancient beauty of Dehua porcelain, while the other delves into the future with immersive technologies and artificial intelligence. Throughout both presentations, the focus is on collaboration as community, underscoring the idea that true innovation seldom occurs in a vacuum. Instead, it flourishes through the shared knowledge, materials, and ideas that flow between different cultures.

Plans have been revealed for London's BT Tower to be transformed into a hotel by London-based studio Orms Architecture. The consultation, which took place on Monday (13 July 2026), included details of the planned overhaul of the 177m-tall tower, such as the extension of the tower’s podium buildings, a swimming pool, and a public square.

The proposal also revealed the project's construction schedule – and it is sooner than you’d think. After the second consultation in July is finalised, along with planning consent granted from Camden Council in September this year, construction will begin in 2029, with the building set to open in 2033.

The future of the BT Tower in London

The American hotel chain MCR is behind the transformation of the former telecommunications tower, having acquired the building for a cool £270 million from the BT Group in 2024.

The proposal includes a restoration of the former 1930s telephone exchange, the Howland building, into hotel rooms. Plans also show the addition of a second staircase and four rooms positioned around the original concrete core of the tower, using this main body as the hotel's framework.

Additionally, the 1960s façade of the main ground-floor building will be renovated to accommodate shop fronts and other retail uses. Although there is no mention of bringing back the revolving restaurant, the public will have access to a revolving observation deck at the top of the tower.

There will also be a chance to swim at the tower, with plans for a rooftop swimming pool inspired by MCR's (and Wallpaper* Travel Guide favourite) TWA Hotel in New York. While it is available to hotel guests, the public will also be able to book a slot to use the heated, infinity-edge pool.

In consultation documents, Orms stated: ‘While maintaining the overall structure, we will remove unsightly modern additions to the 1960s exterior on the ground floor. We will then introduce retail on the ground floor and add a modest pavilion structure on the roof.’

The final part of Orms’ plan is to create a public square accessible from Howland Street and Maple Street. However, it remains uncertain what will be in store within levels 24 to 30.

Since the tower's completion in 1964, the building has undergone many iterations. Originally commissioned by the General Post Office to provide telecoms, it also housed a revolving restaurant, which closed in 1971 after a bomb exploded.

After its renaming to the British Telecom Tower in the early 1980s, the tower was closed to the public altogether from 1981. Since then, BT Tower has seen a 360-degree lighting display installed, in the early 2000s, but Orms’ plans for the tower are the most expansive to date.

You can read more about the consultation here

A Somerset retreat set within a quiet hamlet among rolling countryside, just a short drive south of Bath, this renovation project is the work of Daytrip, an interior design and architecture studio founded by Iwan Halstead and Emily Furniss Potter.

Based in Hackney, East London, the pair is known for their timeless yet distinctive projects, many of which draw on both contemporary and classic influences. For example, their Cloisters office in London blends Stuart-era features with modern designs, while a Highbury residence brings minimalist curves to a Victorian house.

Discover the leafy embrace of this Somerset retreat

For this Somerset scheme, the pair had to work with a much more recent building, Springfield Farm. Completed in the 1990s by architect Max Aitken, it is defined by its tiered form and weather-stained grey timber cladding that allowed it to recede softly into its setting.

Daytrip turned it into an idyllic 250 sq m second home by adding warmth to the interiors, which are now filled with bespoke pieces and Scandinavian classics, and by connecting the residence to a new garden and 12m-long swimming pool surrounded by wildflower meadows.

‘We are always interested in understanding what is already there and how we can build upon it rather than overwrite it,’ explains Halstead. ‘The house had a strong spatial logic and generous proportions, but it certainly felt like it had been designed by an architect in the 1990s – slightly cold and technical in places.

‘It lacked the warmth and emotional depth that we often try to bring to our interiors. Our approach was to introduce tactile layering through materials such as wide oak flooring, dark cherry timber, travertine and bronze finishes, bringing richness and softness while respecting the original architecture.'

Construction went smoothly until a fire damaged the house just before completion, and made Daytrip revisit and remake portions of their scheme. ‘In hindsight, that process reinforced the resilience of the design and gave us an opportunity to refine details even further,’ says Halstead.

Designed for entertaining, the flowing living spaces open directly onto the terraces and gardens, with large glazed doors left open in the summer. In contrast, midcentury-inspired wood veneers and deep shearling seating from Dagmar, as well as glass and brass wall lights by Max Ingrand, create a cocooning space for the long winter evenings.

Natural stone, bronze details, textured rugs and linen upholstery complete a material palette designed to bring a sense of tranquillity. ‘The challenge was less about correcting the architecture and more about deepening its relationship to the landscape – creating spaces that felt open, calm and atmospheric, with strong visual connections to their surroundings,’ says Halstead.

The living space, which opens directly onto the landscape, has ‘a wonderful quietness to it’, says the architect. ‘It transforms with the movement of sunlight throughout the day, and the views across the meadows are breathtaking. I enjoy the generosity of the room – the long timber steps lead down into the lounge, where a grand piano and sprawling sofas create a sense of ease and informality. The dark cherry timber wall panelling helps wrap the space and tie it together, while the travertine fireplace anchors the room.’

Daytrip collaborates closely with artists, designers, and makers to create spaces that feel timeless and distinctive, and this is apparent in this project too. Unique artworks dotted around the house, the majority of which are by East London artists represented by Partnership Editions, including Katarina Lalic and Mary West.

‘One of the most important aspects of the project was the layering of art, objects and collectable furniture,’ says Halstead. ‘The large sculptural bronze chandelier by Joe Armitage in the stairwell became a real focal point. At 3m in height, it represents a new direction in his design language – monumental yet delicate, with incredible presence and charm.’

Of course, the scenery framed by the large windows can also easily steal the show. The garden landscaping was designed around the swimming pool, which is placed so that it can be seen from all the key living spaces, and contrasts with the wildflower meadows.

‘We worked with landscape designer Pollyanna Wilkinson to develop the tiered stepping and planting that envelops the perimeter of the house, creating a natural journey down to the pool terrace and orchard,’ says Halstead. ‘A restrained planting language was chosen to flourish throughout the year, with grasses, Nepeta, Gaura and soft perennial species that feel both naturalistic and rooted in the English countryside.’

daytrip.studio

Mayfair has no shortage of polished dining rooms, but Miko Mei Fair has arrived to turn up the heat. On the ground floor of MiMi Mei Fair’s Georgian townhouse, the 50-cover Thai restaurant is the latest opening from Samyukta Nair, the restaurateur behind London hotspots Jamavar, Bombay Bustle, MiMi Mei Fair and Nipotina. Led by chef Soonthorn Apaipat of Koyn Thai, it pairs townhouse glamour with cooking rooted in fire, balance and sharing.

Wallpaper* dines at Miko Mei Fair

The mood: MiMi’s more eccentric sibling

Miko Mei Feir delivers a darker, more intimate mood than the usual Mayfair new opening: candlelight, glossy wood, patterned banquettes. The interiors keep the townhouse framework and dial up the colour: teal and timber panelling, red leather booths, brass accents and tropical wallcoverings, with gold-leaf lotus details adding a subtle Thai nod. The Peacock Room, set behind folding timber screens, adds a private dining room for eight, while hand-painted chinoiserie wallpaper ties it back to MiMi Mei Fair upstairs.

The food: Robata smoke meets Thai balance

Chef Apaipat moves across Thailand – Isaan heat, Southern coconut richness, Central Thai balance – with Koyn Thai’s robata-style grill guiding the kitchen. The headline dish is the Apple Wood Fire Peking Duck Penang Curry, adding MiMi Mei Fair’s signature duck into one of Thailand’s best-loved curries. Elsewhere, there are spring rolls with tofu and spring onion, prawns pla ra, and toasted rice beef tenderloin. Don’t miss Sabai Sabai, the signature cocktail, which mixes Mekong rum, kaffir lime, Thai basil and soda. For no-alcohol drinkers, Akoya comprises cucumber, Thai basil, lychee, lime and sparkling jasmine tea.

Miko Mei Fair is located at 55 Curzon Street, London W1J 8PG, United Kingdom

Chef and restaurateur Jackson Boxer has form when it comes to opening beloved local restaurants: Brunswick House has been going strong in Vauxhall since 2010, while in 2025, Dove replaced Boxer’s Notting Hill restaurant Orasay, on the same site, with something more approachably laid-back (not least with its off-menu cheeseburger, rationed to ten per service).

For his latest venture, the chef heads to Clerkenwell with Vesper, its name the Roman word for the planet Venus, as it appears at sunset: the time to enjoy one of the restaurant’s bracingly cold cocktails, ideally at a bistro table on the pavement as the Exmouth Market passeggiata slides by, with the promise of a Gorgonzola and dry-aged beef burger to follow.

Wallpaper* dines at Vesper, London

The mood: Built to last

Designer Jermaine Gallacher, a longtime friend of Boxer’s, approached Vesper with the simple brief of creating somewhere he would wish to be a regular himself. ‘I wanted to give Jackson a restaurant that would stand the test of time,’ he says, ‘something classic and refined.’

The result occupies a double-fronted corner space with timber-framed floor-to-ceiling windows, a bar by the entrance and a candlelit dining room beyond. Gallacher found his design cues in unlikely places – an ancient studded door spotted on a trip to Italy became the inspiration for the bar, while a photo of a pair of carved lips in an old book about 1980s New York restaurants informed the stonework.

The team of London artisans Gallacher collaborated with were closer to home: architectural stone carver Tom Pullen hand-carved the limestone panels according to Gallacher’s drawings, artist Lawrence Andrew Chalk made the studded zinc bar and curved cloakroom door, while the steel and brass sconces, candlesticks and cast-pewter door handle come courtesy of sculptor Will Jack. ‘I think what’s so magical about really good restaurants is that they are the sum of all parts,’ Gallacher says. ‘It’s not just about the food or the interior or the people that frequent them. It’s all of those things and more. Things made with love are honest, true and never date.’

The food: Comfortably ambitious

Boxer is far too canny an operator not to give his customers what they want, which here means including an edit of the Dove greatest hits: not just that beef-rib burger, but a spin on the fermented potato pizzette, here topped with stracciatella, mortadella and mostarda.

But Vesper goes beyond merely transplanting the Dove menu from Notting Hill to east London. Take the chuck-eye steak Diane with grilled maitake mushrooms and baked saffron rice, which promotes a neglected cut of beef to star billing. It’s the sort of clever update on a retro British classic that has made Boxer one of the UK’s most in-demand chefs (he’s also a consultant chef at Cowley Manor). But if you prefer your classics more straightforward, order the half-roast chicken with bread sauce to share.

And if you’re here just to drink: a bowl of homemade salt-and-vinegar crisps with trout roe and French onion smoked cream is the poshest version of chips and dips to snack on with a citrus-spritzed martini.

Vesper is located at 8-10 Exmouth Market, London EC1R 4QA, United Kingdom

Wimbledon is, of course, defined by the tennis – or is it? What fascinated me most was everything that surrounds it. Over generations, the championships have developed a visual language of their own, built through colour, ritual, uniforms, architecture and an extraordinary attention to detail.

Discover the vibrant design codes of Wimbledon

Working almost exclusively with tight frames, I focused on colour, geometry and repetition. This year's brilliant sunshine became an important part of the story, casting hard shadows across the grounds and reducing many scenes to graphic compositions of green, white and purple. The tennis itself often became secondary to the systems that support it.

Every element feels intentional. One particular standout was the London Fire Brigade, who act as stewards and security throughout the fortnight. Professional, impeccably presented and genuinely welcoming, they quietly contribute to the uniquely British character of Wimbledon, where traditions and systems have been refined over generations.

Then there are the strawberries. They are one of those enduring Wimbledon rituals that have become almost mythological, with queues for them sometimes longer than those for the courts themselves. Alongside the uniforms, scoreboards, pristine grass courts, straw hats, Pimm's and the iconic all-white dress code, they form part of a visual language that is unmistakably Wimbledon.

The Dairy, the newest development by Echlin in London, offers that covetable but extremely rare combination: it brings together a central, yet very quiet and discreet location; a highly design-led interior; and a slice of Notting Hill history, set in a reimagined 19th-century former working dairy facility. The result is not only prime real estate, but also a carefully thought-out selection of eight homes.

Explore The Dairy by Echlin in London

The project was led by developer Black Treacle, with architecture by Frost Architects. Echlin conceived the interiors, sensitively restoring and reworking the industrial building's fabric to retain its character as much as possible, and adapt it confidently and delicately to the 21st century.

Keeping that balance was important to the design studio. 'Industrial buildings have an inherent sense of theatre – the scale, the light, the layers of history. They resist formula, which is exactly what makes them so compelling to work with. At The Dairy, our team's approach was to reveal and reinterpret that heritage rather than overwrite it,' said Samuel Pye, creative director at Echlin.

The result is a gentle composition that straddles rawness and sophistication, defined by neutral colours with bold accents and a material palette of exposed brick, steel and hard edges. The period structure's existing tall ceilings and big windows add drama to the interiors and ensure each apartment is completely unique, with its own personality.

There are barrel-vaulted ceilings and Crittall-style windows, but also a peppering of warm woods (oak herringbone flooring, for instance) and curated art that soften the atmosphere and create a play between rough and smooth. Limestone and quartzite surfaces in bathrooms and kitchens add texture and coolness.

Caring for the historic building was important to the team in more ways than one, explains Pye: 'Industrial reuse is one of the most sustainable models we have. The most successful examples treat industrial living not as a style, but as a framework for longevity.'

Featuring generous proportions and carrying a sense of restrained elegance, the Dairy's eight apartments have now started going on the market.

echlinlondon.com

thedairynottinghill.com

London’s top suites have moved beyond the question of thread count. They now sell temporary ownership of the city: a roofline, a piece of a landmark, a view, an all-suite ecosystem. Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane enters that conversation with 14 newly renovated suites. Spanning Deluxe, Park and Grand Suites, alongside the Presidential Suite, the collection gives the hotel’s upper floors a further ritzy residential character.

Tour Four Seasons Park Lane’s new suite collection

Designed by London-based studio Interiors with Art, the spaces take their cues from the manicured Hyde Park and the manners of Mayfair. Sycamore panelling, brushed metal, Murano glass lighting and bespoke furniture run through the rooms; soft greens, autumnal shades and gold tones draw from the lush greenery across the road, while an art deco influence is kept to the details.

The Presidential Suite, on the fifth floor, might be the most formal of the set: three bedrooms, marble bathrooms for each, a guest powder room, rosewood panelling, Gaudi stone marble, dining for six and a private fireplace, all looking towards Hyde Park and Park Lane. The Park Suite, on the other hand, takes a softer route, with gold and burgundy tones, a fireplace in the living room and the ability to connect to a Mayfair Suite for a larger two-bedroom arrangement.

The Deluxe Suite is the city-facing option, set higher in the building, with panoramic views, a separate dining area and a layout that can also expand into two bedrooms. Meanwhile, the Garden Suite, which overlooks the hotel’s private garden, pairs 128 sq m of interiors with a sprawling 60 sq m landscaped terrace.

Suite guests can opt for butler service on request, packing and unpacking, Bentley house-car drop-offs in the local area, in-room styling and, for signature suite bookings, airport transfers. The concierge team includes seven Les Clefs d’Or members, while complimentary tickets to sold-out exhibitions across the V&A South Kensington, Young V&A and V&A East add a useful cultural key to the stay.

‘Each of these suites has been designed as a sanctuary, where every detail, material, and experience reflect the character of London and the care of Four Seasons,’ says Lynn Brutman, regional vice president and general manager at Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane. ‘Whether guests are with us for a weekend or a month, they’ll find a space that feels both elevated and effortlessly personal.’

The renovation sits neatly alongside the hotel’s stellar line-up of facilities: Pavyllon London by Yannick Alléno, the tenth-floor spa overlooking the skyline, and Bar Antoine, where the new Savoir-Boire menu turns French culinary cues into cocktails – from a Croissant Old Fashioned with croissant-infused cognac and Byrrh to a Cornichon Martini with olive oil vodka.

Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane is located at Hamilton Pl, Park Ln, London W1J 7DR, United Kingdom

If you've ever experimented with gardening but were unsure where to start, head straight to this new London greenhouse pavilion, which has just launched within the Barbican Estate. Titled The Veggery and erected, not only to inspire the public to explore seeds and plant growing, but also to mark the closure of the 2026 London Festival of Architecture, the project was created by Studio Folk Architects and Raskl, with the help and support of NLA and the Culture Mile Business Improvement District.

Explore The Veggery, a new London greenhouse pavilion

The project was awarded to the architecture practice and the design-and-build studio through a competition. The fun structure appears as part-folly, part working allotment, featuring a playful structure, which is, however, practically minded and lined with shelves that hold a variety of plant pots for seed growing.

The greenhouse pavilion sits on a hexagonal footprint. It features a vaulted polytunnel roof, water butts that double as columns, and a turnip finial at its very top. The form is meant to straddle the worlds between the traditional greenhouse typologies often found in English countryhouse farms and estates, and the Barbican's brutalist architecture forms – in particular its barrel-vaulted roof.

Patrick O'Keffee, co-founder and director of Studio Folk Architects, said, 'We’re really excited to see The Veggery installed in its new home, and become an extension of the Barbican’s iconic public realm for the summer.

'We’ve worked hard with the project team to develop a programme of activation that aims to foster a sense of shared ownership. It’s a space that does a lot – a greenhouse, an event space, a classroom and a spot for lunch – so we hope everyone can find something they enjoy in it.'

Giant paper collages produced during workshops with students from the neighbouring City of London School for Girls adorn its translucent façade elements, nodding to historic stained glass motifs. The aim is for the pavilion to become a place for community and social gatherings as much as for plant knowledge.

Dan Rose, director of Raskl, said: 'Raskl has been proud to work alongside Studio Folk, LFA and Culture Mile BID to bring The Veggery to life at St Giles. Organisations like the Culture Mile BID set ambitious goals for the public realm, and projects like this only succeed when design and delivery are worked through together from the start.

'What makes it most exciting is the site itself – a working church, a school with its own growing programme, and a community that will actually use the space long after the festival ends. We're glad to have helped turn a strong idea into something they can all make their own.'

studiofolkarchitects.com

raskl.co.uk

Formula 1 hospitality has a basic contradiction at its centre: the room is never the main event. However good the lunch, however expensive the wristband, the reason for being there is still outside, arriving at high speed. Each year, Silverstone’s premium hospitality spaces compete with that fact. The Vale, the circuit’s newest and most premium offering, was built to top them all. Its launch added another marker to the 2026 British Grand Prix, a record weekend that drew 564,000 fans across four days – the biggest Formula 1 event ever held – with Charles Leclerc taking his first Silverstone victory and five full-time British Formula 1 drivers on the grid for the first time since 1996.

Formula 1 hospitality gets an architectural upgrade at Silverstone

Set beside the paddock entrance, The Vale looks over the pit entry and the final corner sequence, the stretch of Silverstone where a lap tightens before releasing onto the start-finish straight. For Levi Jack Sibthorpe, founder and director of architecture studio Flux Nexus, the site offered two kinds of theatre. ‘At the rear, a tranquil outlook to the inner circuit lakeside; the front elevation, however, complete proximity to the race action,’ he tells Wallpaper*.

Arranged across two levels, on the ground floor sits Labombe by Trivet, the restaurant from Jonny Lake and the team behind two-Michelin-starred Trivet in London. Upstairs, a second tasting experience, a music lounge, a bar and a terrace place guests above the circuit. The brief, Sibthorpe says, was to create ‘a brand-new race experience destination’ and establish the highest tier of luxury at Silverstone. ‘For us, it’s about human touch,’ he adds. ‘Guests should feel a level of human touch in every detail, from the furniture pieces to the finest details of the graphic design of a lanyard.’

While the project took 11 months to develop, The Vale had to be built in a matter of weeks, which meant Flux Nexus had to leave behind the masonry, ceramics and heavyweight timber framing the studio would usually favour, and use an 8m-tall cross-braced aluminium space frame. The most impressive architectural feature is a 10m overhanging cantilever roof that places guests directly over the race action. Meanwhile, cabinets, art corridors and tunnels through the building’s underbelly sit alongside more than 100 individual furniture pieces, 35 art installations, and the work of furniture house Mainguilty.

Food has its own track position. Labombe by Trivet serves sea bass crudo with orange ponzu and crispy quinoa, trofie alla Liguria with Jersey Royals and summer beans, halibut ‘picchio-pacchio’ with white beans and basil, and gelato sundaes with sake, potato caramel and crispy potato. Upstairs, roaming menus run through the day: viennoiserie and Estate Dairy yoghurt at breakfast; Alpine burrata, lobster rolls with caviar, miso halibut yakitori, Colchester crab and sakura summer cake as the weekend unfolds.

Silverstone describes The Vale as an ultra-premium experience with limited capacity, VIP arrival options including chauffeur transfer and helicopter access, and after-hours music and entertainment on Saturday and Sunday. Sibthorpe says the aim was to ‘break the mould of what’s possible in the event world of temporary structures’.

silverstone.co.uk

Earlier this week, architect and IFDO co-founding director Sarah Castle returned to her latest project, Eagle House, the Hastings youth centre she has spent the past four years helping to transform, for the first time since it opened earlier in 2026.

When she last visited, the building was still a series of empty rooms, but today, it's filled with joyful signs of life: mismatched furniture, posters, coffee cups, magazines, brightly coloured cushions and a group of volunteers gathered around a table. ‘I think there probably are architects who’d think, “Oh God, it’s really covering up what we’ve done”, but honestly, I almost started crying when I walked in this morning, because it’s a totally different sort of project. The architecture is just there to facilitate the space being used properly, by the community.’

Discover Eagle House in Hastings, UK

Eagle House is one of several projects the London- and Manchester-based practice has completed with the local community-led developer Hastings Commons. Established in 2014, it brings derelict buildings into community ownership, transforming them into permanently affordable homes, workspaces and social spaces for local people.

The town has changed dramatically over the past decade, with rising property prices putting pressure on local communities. Hastings Commons was established to ensure that regeneration benefited existing residents rather than displacing them. 'Hastings Commons was set up in order to preserve some buildings before gentrification happened,' says John Brunton, the organisation's development lead and director. 'It was maybe ten years ago that a local commercial estate agent told us, "There's no demand here for office or studio space." But there is demand for affordable space from people who want to be part of a community.'

IFDO's partnership with the trust started seven years ago with the town's Observer Building – an ambitious project to transform a derelict 4,000 sq m newspaper printworks into a community co-working space, bar and residences. In 2022, the practice began work on Eagle House, a five-storey Victorian building just along the street that had fallen into disrepair.

Here, the aim was to create a free common room, affordable workspace and dedicated facilities for Hastings Youth Commons, a free youth organisation supporting local teenagers, including private counselling spaces for marginalised young people.

Rather than demolish and rebuild, IFDO chose to retain and adapt the existing structure, avoiding the substantial embodied carbon associated with new construction. The renovation was extensive and by no means straightforward. Castle explains: ‘It’s been incredibly challenging to get it to this point. Asbestos, lead, structural failure, building regulation changes – there's been a lot that's happened through this project, but [Hastings Commons] are an incredibly resilient and understanding client, and we are also pretty hard working, and so we make it happen, but it's not like a classic developer-architect relationship. There's a lot of emotional investment.’

With its lime-render façade, smooth green columns clad in green glass-reinforced concrete, green terrazzo-framed windows and mint-green tiles, Eagle House stands out against its Victorian stone neighbours. A curved tiled wall forms a welcoming threshold to the building, while deep window recesses with built-in seating overlook the bus stop outside, inviting conversations between people in the building and passers-by.

Inside, the interior is bright and welcoming with natural materials such as wood-wool wall panels and sisal flooring. Special thought has been given to providing “cosy corners” for neurodivergent members who need quiet and calm. Every design decision serves a single aim: enabling people to use the building in ways that strengthen a sense of community.

While the common room occupies the ground and lower floors, the upper floors provide flexible affordable workspace and dedicated youth facilities. Circulation between floors takes place via a new central stair that was repositioned to allow more light into the building from both sides and a refurbished, fully accessible lift.

Circularity was embedded throughout the design – old windows were repurposed within youth counselling pods while salvaged timber cladding removed from external walls has been reused on the top-floor vaulted ceiling – design decisions that celebrate the building's existing material history while reducing embodied carbon.

In one of England’s most deprived local authority areas (Hastings ranks third out of 296 local authorities in England for overall deprivation), and where many youth services have disappeared amid years of funding cuts (Local authority spending on youth services in England fell by 73 per cent between 2010 and 2023 ), the space is vital, supporting around 100 young people each week, offering sessions like languages, cooking, and games.

‘It changes lives,’ says Leah Perris, the youth club manager, reflecting on the impact of the new space. ‘We have young people that have dropped out of the school system, and they’re not getting that social interaction anywhere else – they come here for that, and it’s extremely important. It gets them off social media and into real life, which is brilliant. It’s rare that you’ll see someone sitting in the corner on their phone here – they’ll be interacting, playing games, helping us cook or having a one-to-one.‘

As the community is at the heart of this scheme, it seems only right that the community played a large role in elements of its design, including layouts, accessibility priorities, materials and atmosphere. Bright paint colours, chosen by the youth club’s members, double as a wayfinding system, delineating floors and zones throughout the building – enlivening bog-standard steelwork with canary yellow in the stairwell or highlighting a window frame with shocking pink in an office space. ‘It's to make people understand that this is their building,’ says Castle, ‘and that's really fundamental.’

While grant funding makes projects like Eagle House possible, their long-term sustainability depends on rental income from workspaces, restaurants, cafés and bars across the trust’s portfolio. Keeping running costs low, therefore, became a crucial part of the brief. For the first time in the building's 158-year history, the space is thermally comfortable year-round, without punishing energy bills.

Important though those achievements are, the success of Eagle House won’t ultimately be measured in square metres restored or carbon saved, but in the young people who keep walking through its doors.

ifdo.co.uk

hastingscommons.com

Every London village needs its butcher, baker and, if not a candlestick maker, then a fishmonger. All are to be found on Chelsea’s Pavilion Road, which over the past decade has established itself as one of London’s smartest foodie thoroughfares. Now, after seven years of success, the street’s resident fishmonger, The Sea, The Sea, has moved over the street into bigger new digs, where the original fresh fish counter-cum-chef’s table concept has been expanded and joined by a 40-cover bistro upstairs and a terrace for 28 out front.

Wallpaper* dines at The Sea, The Sea

The mood: Restaurant and retail

Designer Benjamin Wilkins worked on the first iteration of The Sea, The Sea and says he ‘borrowed from the brand DNA, which I broke down into three core elements: the hard-working utilitarianism of the seafood industry, the natural beauty of the food offering, and the comfort of the guest.’

Weathered timber and textured plaster contrast with stainless steel and bright lighting in the downstairs seafood shop to evoke the energy of a fish market in Cornwall or Scotland, where much of the produce for sale on the central ice-display table is sourced from small boats. Come the evening, the table transforms into a seafood bar for 10 diners, surrounded by dry-ageing cabinets displaying house-aged fish.

As The Sea, The Sea founder Alex Hunter explains: ‘First and foremost, this is an operationally practical design. We’re effectively running two businesses – restaurant and retail – in one building, so that operational efficiency is paramount, but we do it in a way that feels clean, un-muddled and elegant, much like the plating of our food.’

Upstairs in the bistro, Wilkins says that ‘the existing pitched ceiling evokes the hull of a fishing boat and lends itself to the narrative of the space.’ Which is to say an airy and unpretentious room where art from Patrick Caulfield and Alexander Massouras lines the walls. Fans of the original The Sea, The Sea will find it comfortingly familiar; for newcomers, it’s convivial and relaxed.

The food: Quite the catch

Hunter numbers some of London’s best restaurants among his clients – two-Michelin-starred Ikoyi and one-star Kol buy their fish from him – so rest assured that the quality is top-notch. Head chef Nick Marsden has the likes of Dovetale, Pitt Cue and The Laughing Heart on his CV, so is a dab hand at putting together plates that offer sophisticated simplicity: pickled Fowey mussels with sunsweet melon and lovage from the raw bar, perhaps, ahead of grilled half Cornish lobster with vin jaune sabayon.

Small plates include cuttlefish ragu with salsify and green almond, while larger plates to share take in whole fish such as plaice with wild garlic, capers and pickled dulse (the shop has its own seaweed counter). And of course there are oysters everywhere, presented with cucumber and apple vinaigrette on the side and the option to add the restaurant’s in-house caviar per oyster.

In a hurry? There are freshly prepared lunch boxes to take away, whether ready-to-eat sashimi sets and shellfish rolls or a miso black cod or Singapore chilli crab to put in the oven. After all, what else would you expect to find in Chelsea than London’s poshest ready meals?

The Sea, The Sea is located at 243 Pavilion Road, London, SW1X 0BP, United Kingdom

Behind every successful designer, artist or creative entrepreneur is a great lawyer. Or at least there should be. For decades, Hugh 'Don’t sign it!' Devlin was that person for many of Britain's leading creative luminaries. Now a new foundation established in his memory aims to ensure the next generation has access to the same kind of expert support.

Hugh Devlin: the creatives' protector

A partner at international law firm Withers before founding his own consultancy, Delightful, Devlin became one of the creative industries' most trusted advisers. His client list stretched from independent designers and artists to creative directors at global luxury houses, perfumers and beauty entrepreneurs, journalists, product designers and CEOs, but his reputation grew from something much more vital than legal expertise alone. He was generous with his time, fiercely protective of creative talent and renowned for stepping in – often pro bono – at pivotal moments, whether rescuing a young designer from a disastrous contract or quietly introducing the right people to solve a problem.

When Devlin died suddenly in 2023, the sense of loss across fashion, art and design was profound. His wife, Sarah Polden Devlin, has since helped establish the Hugh Devlin Foundation to continue the work he so instinctively did alone, and the outpouring of support has been remarkable. Founding partners include Anya Hindmarch, Charlotte Tilbury, Christopher and Tammy Kane, Sam McKnight, Sarah Mower, Edward Barber, Jake Chapman and many others who credit Devlin with helping shape their careers, alongside a growing network of lawyers, accountants and commercial advisers volunteering their expertise.

The Hugh Devlin Foundation

'Hugh was a problem solver, whatever form it took or scale it presented at,' says Polden. 'His love and respect for creativity saw this expressed through his willingness to step in wherever he could. He also had a remarkable ability to connect people with exactly the expertise they needed. We want to replicate that willingness and efficiency – in an inevitably more structured way – as compared to a single person acting spontaneously.'

In an era when designers and artists are under increasing threat from copycats, generative AI and exploitative contracts, the timing is significant. The creative industries remain one of the Britain’s greatest economic and cultural assets, yet the realities of building a business are more complex and demanding than ever. The rising cost of genuine professional advice – although always prohibitive – sees many fall back on generic, often inaccurate (also AI) sources instead.

The Hugh Devlin Foundation focuses on exactly this gap: giving creative people access to the expertise that can help them make better decisions at defining moments in their careers.

For Hindmarch, who worked closely with Devlin throughout her career, the foundation is about preserving something the creative industries have lost. 'Hugh was the person you could go to, who would protect and fight for creatives,' she says. 'The creative industries are less protected without Hugh's presence. I know that he would be rooting for the work this Foundation will do in his memory. I am sure its work will support, protect and even save some of the creativity and brands of the future. What a legacy that will be.'

The foundation's model is deliberately practical, explains director Jade Mitchell. Emerging creatives, freelancers and small businesses can apply for pro bono legal, financial or commercial advice, with applicants matched to professionals accordingly. 'We're really looking to make sure we offer the right intervention at the right moment,' says Mitchell. 'This means we're focused on situations where timely expert advice can prevent a problem from becoming something much bigger.'

The emphasis on prevention over cure is central to the Foundation's philosophy. Mitchell is also keen to stress that support doesn't begin and end with one-to-one advice. A major priority is building the Foundation's website into a practical resource, bringing together guidance from its founding partners and organisations including the British Fashion Council, the Sarabande Foundation and ACID, while working with universities and colleges to strengthen commercial education for creative students.

'Many graduates leave university with incredible creative talent but very little understanding of contracts, intellectual property, finance or running a business,' she says. 'If we can help someone avoid signing a damaging contract or understand the value of their intellectual property before they're in difficulty, that's every bit as valuable as helping them resolve a crisis afterwards.'

New challenges for the creative industries

As artificial intelligence reshapes the creative landscape that mission feels both relevant and urgent. In the creative industries AI has intensified debates around copyright, licensing and ownership, leaving many designers and artists uncertain about how their work can be protected.

'AI is creating enormous opportunities, but it's also raising complex questions,' Mitchell agrees. 'We're not here to take sides in every debate around AI, but we can help to ensure creatives aren't navigating those changes alone.'

The foundation's multidisciplinary structure is designed to reflect the collaborative and cross-disciplinary reality of creative practice today. Fashion designers collaborate with artists, beauty founders become entrepreneurs and product designers build global brands. The legal, financial and commercial challenges they face rarely exist in isolation, making access to specialist advice increasingly valuable.

'It's absolutely fundamental,' Mitchell says of the foundation's cross-disciplinary network. 'At one time or another, creative individuals and businesses will need legal advice, financial guidance, commercial mentoring and industry insight all at the same time. Plans are already underway to expand its network to include mentoring and coaching alongside legal and financial support.'

The foundation’s success will ultimately be measured by the strength of the community it builds. The ambition is to create a network of professionals who understand the unique realities of creative careers and are willing to share their expertise at moments when it can have the greatest impact. All of the professionals who’ve signed up to volunteer have done so because, like Devlin, they believe in nurturing young creative people and their ideas, preventing the horror stories so many in the industry have grown familiar with.

Designer Tracy Mulligan first met Hugh in 1997 and found his help invaluable on numerous occasions over the years. 'He helped me deal with a huge licencing disaster that I got involved with, and then he also helped us at PeopleTree when I was there to negotiate with designers. He was a true star. Hugh wasn't just a lawyer, he was a shoulder to lean on. As a designer, having your own brand, he gave you that confidence to speak up for yourself, and he would speak up for you too. Also he was a friend, and I ended up designing his wife's wedding dress and the uniforms for Withers as well, at some point.'

That sense of community was central to Devlin's work. As well as offering legal counsel, he was renowned for connecting people with exactly the right adviser, mentor or collaborator when they needed it most. Beyond his legal expertise, he encouraged creatives to recognise the true value of their work. And, as Mitchell puts it, 'their worth into the future.'

‘This is a monumental type of exhibition, because it's an intimidating subject matter, and there is the heaviness of the history and the memory – Manchester deserves a show like this,’ says Ai Weiwei, on the opening of ‘Ai Weiwei: Button Up!’ at Manchester’s vast Aviva Studios. Weiwei is presenting his largest site-specific work to date in the hanger-like space – a big space for the big issues addressed, from industrialisation to globalisation and the consequences of British imperialism.

It is a natural move for Beijing-born Ai, who has dedicated his life’s work to human rights and censorship, through large-scale work that encourages a public response. This exhibition unites two new commissions with work shown in the UK for the first time. It is named in reference to Eight – Nation Alliance Flags, a work comprising eight large-scale flags carefully sewn with four million buttons that the artist bought from A Brown & Co Buttons factory in Croydon, when it closed down in 2019. The work is epic in size, and viewers should get close to appreciate the hand-crafted artistry.

Manchester is a natural home for this tribute to craftsmanship on a vast scale. Ai’s delve into historical Chinese and British relations plays out in this northern birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, a springboard for the artist from which to reflect on the consequences of British territorial expansion.

And the results really are big, from the 49m-long inflatable migrant boat, Law of the Journey (2017) to History of Bombs (2019), a 25m-wide installation depicting different varieties of bombs in 3.5 million toy bricks.

It is all set to the sounds of the work Nian Nian, recorded by 300 volunteers. It is the artist's tribute to the 69,000 people who were killed on 12 May 2008, in an earthquake in Sichuan. Parents demanded a full enquiry but were ignored. Meanwhile, local corruption that had led to poor construction was soon exposed. Ai was prevented from testifying in the trial of human rights activist Tan Zuoren, who had exposed the corruption; the artist received a blow that led to him being hospitalised for a brain haemorrhage.

Nian Nian, which names 5,197 schoolchildren who died in the earthquake, runs for 39 full days without stopping. It is one of Ai’s most moving works.

As part of the exhibition, Ai will present a 24-hour performance piece, Sewing a Button, which recreates the 81 days the artist was detained by public security in China in 2011. To mark the 15th anniversary, audiences will watch the artist eat, sleep and be interrogated by actors on screens around Aviva Studios.

Ai Weiwei on ‘Sewing a button’

Wallpaper*: Sewing a Button restages your 2011 detention in real time. What motivated you to embody that experience again physically, and how has your understanding of that period changed over the past 15 years?

Ai Weiwei: Fifteen years is not a short time for a person, yet I think neither my own circumstances nor the changes in the world have improved the reality of that detention. For someone who experienced it, re-enacting that reality carries two layered meanings. One is to help myself rethink what happened at that time. The other is to remind the audience that, through power or even violence, harm can be inflicted on individuals and even entire countries – a phenomenon that can be seen everywhere today. In other words, true power is the kind that is entirely unrestrained, and the truly weak are those whom no one defends or remembers. This is why I believe the re-enactment of this memory is necessary. At the same time, I feel that today’s situation is no better than it was then.

W*: What responsibility do you think the audience carries in witnessing this work?

AW: Everyone should observe what happened, how it happened, and the details of how power was exercised over people with differing opinions and viewpoints. Audiences should consider the effects of these measures and reflect on them, putting themselves in the place of those affected.

W*: In today’s hyper-connected world, how do you see the relationship between surveillance, power, and self-expression evolving?

AW: Today’s internet has already completely transformed previous dynamics. Regardless of the appearance of AI or other forms of surveillance, developments across politics, economics, and even the military have reduced personal privacy and rights. In this context, individual characteristics risk disappearing, while power grows stronger than ever. This is a new challenge: when individuality and personality vanish, what will human society become?

W*: How do you approach connecting these vast historical forces with personal, human experiences, both your own and those represented in your work?

AW: No matter the scale of historical power, it cannot be separated from individual experience. There is no grand historical phenomenon that exists independently of the people living through it. Therefore, grounding art in one’s own experiences is not merely a matter of creative choice – it is a fundamental responsibility as a human being.

‘Ai Weiwei: Button Up!’ from 2 July – 6 September 2026 at Aviva Studios, Water Street, Manchester, M3 4JQ

The Museum of Architecture's newest activity, a bonsai treehouse exhibition set in a leafy central London park, has something for everyone. There is delightful miniature architecture, reminiscent of a fun, adventurous dollhouse; green spaces to elevate the soul and provide some cool shade; and workshops for visitors of all ages, to both explore architectural model making and concepts, and bonsai tree growing. Opening this weekend (4 July – 31 August 2026), the show is the perfect antidote to the UK capital's current hot summer spell.

Tour this bonsai treehouse exhibition in a central London park

The display is arranged at the heart of a small park, a green square in a quiet corner off Connaught Village. The mini treehouses and their plant pairings are set on plinths, offering a breath of fun and fresh air to the lovely, traditionally laid out residents' patch.

It all started with an idea the Museum of Architecture was working on a few years back, centred on a giant treehouse. The idea soon evolved into a miniature version, and indeed, not one but many, the institution's director Melissa Woolford explains.

'The range of practices joining “Bonsai Treehouses” this summer is really exciting – from some of the most established names in architecture to brilliant younger studios, every one of them has embraced our brief. Each bonsai in the collection is unique, and we asked every architect to respond to that individuality: to design for the specific tree in front of them, not for a treehouse in the abstract. The results are surprising, thought-provoking, and genuinely fun to discover.'

Architectural participants include larger and established studios such as Foster + Partners, Haptic Architects and White Arkitekter as well as boutique and more emerging ones – among them EcoLogic Studio, McCloy + Muchemwa and Macro Micro Architects.

The variety in approaches to the treehouse designs is also wide and entertaining. Each practice was given a bonsai tree to work with, and Foster + Partners, for example, found inspiration in mycorrhizal fungi – 'the buried networks through which trees quietly sustain one another across a forest floor', they explain.

Nothing could have materialised, however, without the help of Peter Warren, founder of Saruyama Bonsai, who collaborated with Woolford and the architects and brought his valuable expertise in bonsai-growing to the table.

He said: 'I have brought trees from my own collection to this exhibition – each one shaped over many years, and every one with its own character. I was very curious to see which trees would be chosen, and how each architect would respond to the particular form in front of them. I hope visitors will be delighted by the pairing of tree and miniature built structure.'

The exhibition will be complemented by a programme of creative workshops for all ages. Offerings will include treehouse making, treehouse gardening, and a bonsai masterclass with Peter Warren himself.

Bonsai Treehouses Exhibition is on 4 July to 31 August, 9am-6pm, Oxford Square, a short walk from Connaught Village at Connaught Street and Albion Street.

Advanced booking strongly recommended

museumofarchitecture.org

A cooling evening breeze is much appreciated after stepping out of the Tube exit at Notting Hill Gate. What is even more of a relief in the summer heat is that Kinz, a new Lebanese brasserie in the district, is only a few steps away.

Locals in the area may recognise the building from a previous incarnation. Designed by Sir Edward Maufe, it was a branch of Lloyds Bank. With tall ceilings and exposed brick walls, it has the restrained and almost clinical elegance that Maufe was known for. Yet, once you’re inside Kinz, his 1930s architectural severity is balanced with a warm and inviting atmosphere.

If you think the interior is reminiscent of Palestinian restaurant Akub, you are not mistaken. Founded by Rasha Khouri Bruzzo, co-owner of Akub, alongside brothers Jad and Karim Lahoud, Kinz blends authenticity and modernity in both its aesthetic and its food, highlighting the multifaceted flavours of Lebanese cooking.

‘The project is rooted in the food and traditions I grew up with – the small details, rituals and flavours that are passed down at home rather than written down. Kinz takes its name from the Arabic word for “treasure” and is our tribute to those treasures: cherished recipes, generous cooking, and the spirit of Lebanese food as it’s meant to be shared today,’ says Khouri Bruzzo. ‘It’s a place designed to feel as natural for everyday visits as it does for long, lingering meals.’

Wallpaper* dines at Kinz, London

The mood: a trove of authenticity and modernity

The interiors were spearheaded by London-based Fare Inc. Working with the pre-existing architecture, they implemented pockets of warmth by injecting colour. This is seen with the bright teal in the entrance deli space, which is broken up with a neutral tone in the central area. The ochre-hued bar and mezzanine glow from the far end. ‘Refined zones are needed in such a large space to create a more inviting atmosphere, yet we still wanted to highlight the original architecture of the space with pared-back tones that complement it throughout the main room,’ explains founder Annabel Harrison.

Above the heart of the dining area is a wine-red, oversized lantern that acts as a modern ‘sun’ for what feels like a courtyard-style space, albeit indoors. ‘The lantern [helps create the feel of] an elegant terrace, accentuated further by striped banquette seating and iron dining chairs,’ says the designer. ‘The red was chosen to add vibrancy to the otherwise delicately finished ceiling and original metal braces of the bank.’

The bank vault is converted into a wine room. A space that was built for security has been softened to allow for intimacy. ‘Lighting has been really important here, so there is pretty much no overhead lighting, only very low-lit wall lights and soft LED highlighting the wines. The walls and ceilings are drenched in Roman Plaster paint, which has softened the swathes of concrete and the steel beams, and we have a single, glass-grape pendant over the sharing table, for a playful nod to its purpose,’ says the designer.

The urban charm of Lebanon informed the practice’s design choices. Taking inspiration from Beirut’s metalwork, the studio designed iron screens to divide the retail and entrance area from the restaurant space, and continued this up the staircase and along the mezzanine edge to create a street-balcony feel. Harrison explains that they wove in squares of colourful seeded glass that glow in the sunshine and add a vibrancy to the space.

The food: a menu designed to be shared

The menu offers an array of flavourful morsels that showcase the best of the country’s flavours. Plates come out at similar times, creating a beautiful spread. To begin, we recommend the hummus, meat kibbeh (bulgar shells stuffed with spiced lamb and beef, with pine nuts and onions), and the spinach patayer, which are filled triangular pastries.

There are three salads, which add a refreshing zestiness to the savoury dishes. We suggest the fattoush, which is scattered with gem-like pomegranate seeds and fresh mint. A menu highlight is the warak enab – tender lamb cutlets resting on a bed of vine leaves and courgettes stuffed with fragrant rice and spiced lamb. But leave room for the flourless chocolate cake. It’s decadently delicious; you can’t go without.

The constant bringing and clearing of plates adds a sense of buzz to the atmosphere, giving Kinz the feeling of a welcoming local restaurant. It is easy to find comfort in the design’s small cultural details and the consideration of the menu, making you feel right at home.

Kinz is located at 50 Notting Hill Gate, London W11 3JD, United Kingdom

Utilitarian and unassuming from the street front, All Projects, a new gallery spearheaded by architecture studio EBBA, has recently opened its doors in Hoxton, east London. The project, housed in an old brick-clad warehouse, sits adjacent to the practice's own workspace – yet it is more than simply a showcase for its work. This flexible space has been conceived as a platform for multidisciplinary collaboration and creative cross-pollination across the fields of art, architecture, design, fashion and music.

Tour All Projects, a new gallery by EBBA

Working beyond the strict remit of building architecture has long been part of EBBA founder Benni Allan's thinking. The architect has been approaching his profession in broad and inclusive terms since the inception of his dynamic studio in 2017, and when we first met him in 2021 – as part of our profile series on London's exciting emerging architecture studios – he told us: 'We are not afraid of trying different things and use the process of making to help generate something that is least expected.'

Allan remains true to his word, and All Projects is an extension of his ambition. When the ground-floor space next to his studio became available, he snapped it up, spruced it up and launched it as a hub for creative expression – expressly beyond architecture.

All Projects' motto is that culture does not operate in a silo. The gallery aims to build upon 'EBBA’s record of collaborating with key cultural protagonists, including the listening bar Space Talk and music festival Houghton’, Allan explains.

The main space has been cleaned up and painted white in order to accommodate a variety of activities and exhibits. Film programmes can also be offered, projected against the crisp white walls.

That said, the gallery maintains its character and historic patina, with various existing surfaces refurbished and beautifully juxtaposed against contemporary additions – EBBA's own designs for anything from furniture to sinks and storage. Sleek metal designs meet with all-timber constructions that showcase the practice's feel and material palette.

All Projects launched with events by independent institutions such as bookstore Tenderbooks and the Architecture Foundation.

All Projects, Unit 3 Mill Row, Whitmore Estate, London N1 5RL

eb-ba.co

Bridging that gap between traditional London townhouse and the metropolis's rich offering of purely contemporary homes, Vabel Townhouse is the newest development created by Vabel – the design and development studio founded in 2009 by Daniel Baliti and Jeremy Spencer. The business has been making its mark on the capital with its design-led, architecturally rich projects, and the latest, set on the south end of Queensway, a stone's throw from Hyde Park, follows this creative approach to the T.

Discover Vabel Townhouse in London's Queensway

Inspired by the timeless nature of Victorian townhouses and terraces and following the rhythm of the street's massing and facade grids, Vabel Townhouse scales up the single-family home property into a boutique, just 28-home new build structure clad in elegant light brick.

Upon stepping inside, the visitor is greeted by a calming, block-surface and richly minimalist lobby. Warm, dark timbers balance out the vibrant, immersive pink and green stone on the floors and walls. It is all symmetrically placed in a manner that draws on the art deco grandeur of interiors such as Eltham Palace, around a contemporary fireplace, with a discreet reception desk to one side.

Upstairs, units range from one- to three-bedroom ones, including apartments and maisonettes. Two penthouses crown the top. Green spaces, from the rear garden (accessible to all, and leading to the residents' gym) to the planted roof at the front, where the building is set back, enrich the living experience, adding private outdoor areas which complement the nearby, public, leafy expanses of Hyde Park.

The Vabel creative team designed all interiors and crafted different iterations and moods with the first five of nine fully furnished apartments that Vabel Townhouse will offer. The high level of bespoke attention ensures every interior is brimming with personality - with not only joinery and built-in furniture and elements such as kitchens, but a lot of the furniture, too, being tailored to the specific project, or sourced especially.

'From the beginning, our ambition was to create homes that are differentiated and offer an elevated living experience. Every element of the design has been carefully curated to create a sanctuary of calm, but also to energise and inspire, from the architectural language of the building through to the bespoke joinery, natural stone, landscaping and interior finishes within each residence,' says Spencer, who is also the creative director at Vabel.

'What makes this project particularly special is the extraordinary level of attention to detail that has gone into every decision. As a fully integrated design and development studio, we have been able to oversee every aspect of the process, ensuring that the original vision has been nurtured through to completion without compromise. The result is a collection of homes defined by exceptional craftsmanship, beautiful materials and cutting-edge design – enriching the human experience.'

The scheme also features work by award-winning design consultancy Greenspace, which has completed a comprehensive brand and strategy programme for Vabel, refreshing its corporate masterbrand identity.

The project follows Vabel Lawrence in Seven Sisters, and is only one of the two projects Vabel has in Queensway. Further up the road, a second Vabel residential development is currently in the works.

vabel.co.uk

Nick Molyviatis spent his career in some of London’s most respected kitchens, including Kiln and Oma, before becoming co-owner of Singburi. For Zylia, he has teamed up with restaurateur Barry Karacostas, whose Cypriot heritage and two decades in hospitality informs the menu alongside Molyviatis’s Athenian upbringing. The result is a contemporary Greek-Cypriot taverna shaped by childhood memory, family recipes and professional experience – and a shared obsession with charcoal grills.

Wallpaper* dines at Zylia, London

The mood: Built on contrast

The idea for Zylia’s interiors took shape over several Cypriot beers in Nicosia. Architect and Red Deer co-founder Lionel Real de Azúa was being shown around Cyprus by Karacostas when the pair began talking about the contrast between sleek modern design and the pieces Karacostas had grown up surrounded by. ‘We wanted to bring together the confidence and elegance of the London hospitality scene with the warmth, generosity and familiarity of your giagiá’s dining table or local taverna,’ Real de Azúa says.

Delicate Lefkara lace sits against stainless steel tables and shelving, handwoven wicker bread baskets sourced from Limassol rest against stripped-back London brick, and a service counter is built from stone quarried at Gerolakkos. ‘Nothing is intended to feel nostalgic,’ Real de Azúa says, ‘but everything carries a sense of memory and patina.’ His reference point throughout was Diporto, the 139-year-old taverna in a basement near Athens Central Market. ‘The materials are simple, the proportions are right, and the beauty comes from authenticity.’

The other reference point came from the menu itself, with Molyviatis’s sheftalia – small, rustic, packing a punch – becoming a kind of metaphor for the design brief. ‘There’s a directness to both the food and the interior,’ Real de Azúa says of details such as traditional Cypriot tiles and green leather booths. ‘Warmth comes from texture, craftsmanship and use rather than embellishment.’

The food: Dip and mix

Those sheftalia appear as four chubby caul fat-wrapped pork parcels resting on sliced onion, parsley and sumac – but before that, order some bread, which arrives as a basket of oregano-flecked warm pitta to dredge through creamy-and-crunchy taramasalata with cracked carob rusk or smashed feta and yoghurt adorned with a roasted chilli pepper to mash up for heat.

Then it’s a case of pick-and-mixing your way through a selection of small plates such as Metsovone cheese balls slicked with honey, or a contemporary spin on spanakopita presented as a pastry stack of crispy hand-stretched filo, before hitting up the charcoal grill for a heap of chops (pork, beef or lamb), or the house special of milk-fed lamb shoulder kleftiko, a blanket of slow-cooked comfort food. Either way, a bowl of hand-cut chips is non-negotiable.

Wines are Greek, beers Cypriot and the cocktails a blend of cutting-edge mixology and Mediterranean ingredients: as creative a blend of heritage and here-and-now as the rest of this place.

Zylia is located at 6 Bedford Street, London, WC2E 9HZ, United Kingdom

London’s Spanish restaurant scene has never been more varied or more vital. The city’s love affair with Iberian food stretches back decades – from the early champions who first put Manchego cheese on the map, to the tapas bars of the Noughties that made small-plate dining a way of life – but what is happening now goes well beyond chorizo and calamares.

Today’s Spanish London spans Basque grills, no-bookings tapas counters and neighbourhood gems devoted to regional cuisines, all underpinned by a shared reverence for quality ingredients and the pleasure of eating well without spending a fortune. That, at least, is the idea, although the final size of the bill is likely to depend on the amount of Spanish wine consumed. Here are the eight best places in London to sort your jámon from your jerez.

The best Spanish restaurants in London

Alta

This elemental-looking two-floor restaurant (a sibling to Japanese Moi on the other side of Soho) brings the live-fire cooking traditions of northern Spain’s Navarre region to Carnaby Street. Upstairs, beautifully presented plates of artfully sauced dishes excel with vegetarian options – try the oyster mushroom with shiitake and pine nuts – though there’s also 35-day aged sirloin to share. From mid-June, downstairs has become the more informal Bar Alta for pinxtos and vermouth.

Alta is located at 9 Kingly Court, Carnaby Street, London W1B 5PW, United Kingdom

Arros QD

Quique Dacosta holds three Michelin stars for his eponymous restaurant down the coast from Valencia and the chef brings the same serious approach to bear on Spanish rice cookery at this Fitzrovia dining room. The paella valenciana – chicken, rabbit, garrofón beans, artichokes, veal and herb stock – is a revelation for anyone who think paella is just prawns, and if the 10 other rice dishes don’t appeal, there’s Atlantic octopus cooked on the six-metre wood-fired stove.

Arros QD is located at 64 Eastcastle Street, London W1W 8NQ, United Kingdom

Barrafina Dean Street

Cal Pep in Barcelona inspired this now five-strong group of tapas bars, but the no-reservations Soho branch is the most fun and closest to the spirit of Spain. Arrive before 6pm to avoid a long wait, but even if you do have to queue, there are few more pleasant ways to stand in line that with a glass of rosé cava in one hand and a plate of ham croquetas in the other. The straightforward cooking is based on quality ingredients: crinkly pimientos de Padrón, runny-yolked chorizo tortillas, or a fleshy-pink plate of gambas rojas.

Barrafina Dean Street is located at 26-27 Dean Street, London W1D 3LL, United Kingdom

Ibai

A Basque-accented steakhouse near Smithfield Market, Ibai specialises in Galician Blond beef from cows raised on grass pastures until the ripe old age of 16, by which point the meat has developed a rich pungency. Grilled over charcoal, it is the beefiest beef imaginable. Elsewhere are Cantabrian anchovies with arbequina olive oil and pâté Basque with truffle honey and grilled bread. The meat-importer owner’s smaller tapas bar Donostia and charcoal grill Lurra occupy opposite sides of Seymour Place in Marylebone.

Ibai is located at 90 Bartholomew Close, London EC1A 7BN, United Kingdom

Morito

This tiny offshoot of Sam and Sam Clark’s Moro grafts that restaurant’s North African sensibilities onto Spanish small plates. A handful of tables line the corridor-like space, but the counter is the place to sit – or at an outside table on vibey Exmouth Market when the sun is shining. Order the crispy chickpeas with chopped salad and tahini yoghurt.

Morito is located at 32 Exmouth Market, London EC1R 4QE, United Kingdom

Pizarro

Extremadura native José Pizarro has established himself as Spain’s unofficial food ambassador to Britain and Bermondsey Street is his embassy. For breakfast there’s his all-day dining spot Lolo’s and tapas at his no-bookings José; Pizarro is the chef’s full-scale restaurant that moves from small plates to more substantial main courses including a signature presa Ibérica of acorn-fed pork shoulder. The room, with its L-shaped marble counter, open kitchen and Spanish tiling, manages to feel both neighbourhood and destination.

Pizarro is located at 194 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3TQ, United Kingdom

Sabor

At Sabor, Bilbao-born chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho distils her years of London experience into something more expansive than the standard tapas formula: a ground-floor counter where the classics are executed with contemporary flair, and a first-floor ‘asador’ devoted to regional cooking such as the showstopping Segovian suckling pig. The chef’s follow-up restaurant, Legado in Shoreditch, was awarded a Michelin star six months after opening in August 2025.

Sabor is located at 35-37 Heddon Street, London W1B 4BR, United Kingdom

Tranga

This long-running neighbourhood gem serves a daily-changing menu in which quality produce is given elegant treatment. Expect piquillo peppers stuffed with prawn bechamel and shellfish fumet, or a paella of Ibérico pork tenderloin, alongside a carefully chosen list of sherries and Catalan natural wines. The candle- and chandelier-lit interiors, strewn with vintage finds, are as attractive as the cooking.

Tranga is located at 61 Newington Green, London N16 9PX, United Kingdom

It’s a scorching day at Lacock Abbey, in the village of Lacock in Wiltshire, and, beneath the screeching of low-flying swifts, Martin Parr’s widow is in the National Trust property’s Manger Barn, discussing her husband’s final work. And his legacy.

‘This project, it really did resonate with him,’ Susie Parr says of ‘Lacock’, a series of portraits of English community and tradition, a year in the taking and curating, which the great photographer-documentarian completed shortly before his death at 73 on 6 December 2025. ‘He was also aware that he was not well. He kept saying, “I'm in the departure lounge." And this was a manageable, doable piece of work.

‘Very different from his fashion work,' Susie adds with a smile of these typical Parr portraits – vivid but unadorned – of shopkeepers and schoolchildren and scarecrows; of VE Day 80th anniversary parties and the Garden and Allotment Association Annual Flower Show; of prize-winning potatoes and best-in-class raspberries and a stout vicar bedecked in Union flags. ‘Martin was the most unlikely fashion photographer – he really hated fashion, actually! He really wasn't at all interested! But it did bring in money for the [charitable Martin Parr] Foundation.’

Across 2025, Parr travelled from the couple’s home in nearby Bristol to shoot in and around the abbey and the adjoining picture-perfect village. Susie and Dr Andy Cochrane – curator of ‘Lacock’ and of the abbey’s Fox Talbot Museum that’s hosting the year-long exhibition – think he must have visited around 30 times.

Parr was a photographer with an anthropologist’s eye, and Cochrane says that all his career-long themes ‘permeate through the work at Lacock: material culture; the daily life of people; and the conviviality, how people engage and get on with each other. That's all embedded in this photography.’

In multiple ways, the series is a carefully considered bookend to an extraordinary career. Parr had shot (briefly) in Lacock in 1988. As the one-time residence of scientist and photography pioneer Henry Fox Talbot (1800-77), Lacock Abbey is widely viewed as the home of photography, hence the National Trust’s on-site Fox Talbot Museum. And the new project became a perfect distillation of Parr’s perennial interest in what his wife calls 'the middle ground. He was drawn to the ordinary, day-to-day life of people, rather than the extremes of how people are behaving'.

Susie Parr and Dr Andy Cochrane tell Wallpaper* more.

W*: Susie, that 1988 visit to Lacock – how did that come about?

Susie Parr: We had been living in Wallasey in the early 1980s, and Martin did his [1983-85] work in [Merseyside seaside resort] New Brighton, The Last Resort, which was the work that shot him to fame. But he also got a lot of criticism for being a middle-class photographer photographing working-class communities.

So, he was thinking: ‘I need to photograph my own tribe.’ And we were thinking: ‘Where can we live to enable you to do this?’ I was the breadwinner at the time, and I got a job in Bristol. So we moved down here and he started that work. It was supper parties, cricket matches, private schools. Very different from the New Brighton work.

Visiting Lacock was part of that. He loved a summer fête and he came and photographed plant stalls, things like that, for a [1989, Thatcher-era] project about the middle classes called The Cost of Living. Those photos, some of which are in this exhibition, were for that project.

W*: So it was a kind of visual anthropology.

SP: Absolutely. He wasn't articulate about it. He just thought in images. He wouldn't be able to analyse his work in an intellectual way. He just had an anthropological approach to ordinary life.

Andy Cochrane: In one of the first meetings that we had at the foundation, Martin brought out an anthropological book that was written in the 1940s, with colour-saturated photography by John Hinde. It was about understanding a National Trust village, Luccombe in Somerset, as part of a Mass Observation project.

I think Martin always wanted to go there and photograph it, and then went instead to Chew Stoke [in Somerset for 1992 project A Year in the Life of Chew Stoke Village]. So there had [long been] a sense of trying to document a National Trust village.

W*: Did the villagers require much persuasion to let him into their homes?

AC: At first, a lot of people, if they're not into art or photography, were unaware of who Martin Parr is… But with Simon [Dunn], the vicar, we did a free screening of [2025 biographical documentary] I Am Martin Parr in St Cyriac's church and invited the village.

And, of course, as people were getting themselves photographed, and the foundation was printing them immediately and handing them back out to the village, it created a critical mass [of interest].

He was also keen to engage with community groups, the clubs, the church, the school. So he was going to all these events in the evening. He was in the yoga club and the photography club and the art club. And the pace that he worked was really impressive to see. He was moving at a pace that was a young man's game!

SP: He was so disciplined and hardworking.

W* And, apparently, disarming. As one of his clearly smitten subjects, Azar Watling of local business John Watling Bespoke Jewellery, says in the accompanying video showing in the museum, ‘he was a little bit cheeky’.

SP: His natural communication style was a bit to the point, blunt, no messing about, no small talk. But when he wanted to engage with people, he could be very funny and charming, with a little bit of banter. He could do that, but it wasn't his natural style.

W*: The village’s VE Day 80th anniversary celebrations in May 2025 must have been catnip for Martin, given everything it represents and the associated, flag-waving iconography.

SP: He did like a Union Flag, but he wasn't very happy about the way they'd been used recently, and all the St George's flags everywhere. He was always wary of the Brexit-y, Reform-y-type thing. But he was never politically critical of any group.

But flags were definitely an important iconography for him – there are so many photos of fetes with Union Jacks and bunting and everything like that. At his funeral, we recreated a country fête for the reception. We had lots of the kind of [food] from his photographs: sad cupcakes, rainbow-coloured cakes, lots of sandwiches wrapped in clingfilm.

W*: Did he like a cake to eat as well?

SP: He loved a cake! Favourite cake? Lemon drizzle, I’d say. Mine? I’m not a cake person, but... a nice fruitcake sometimes. He loved his cup of tea and a cake at 3.30pm. And the final picture in the [‘Lacock’ exhibition] book is his cup of tea and his plate with cake crumbs on it. For me, it’s a poignant full stop to the project.

W*: From a Lacock Abbey point of view – being the home of the beginning of photography – showcasing the final major commission from one of our greatest ever documentarians must feel particularly providential for the property and the National Trust.

AC: It's pretty neat and it’s pretty helpful. The [Fox Talbot] museum was set up in 1975. The National Trust didn't have the money for a museum then – doesn't now! – but they were helped by another internationally famous British photographer, Cecil Beaton. So last year was the 50th anniversary, and Martin was here at that time doing this project. And now with Martin, who’s bigger than Cecil, he’s set it up for the next 50 years.

It is so generous, for the village, the National Trust, and it's a gift to everyone to be able to see this work.

W*: How good a summation is this exhibition, in this place, of Martin’s interests, his eye, his instinct, his emotional feelings for Britain and its people?

SP: I was surprised when I saw it. It's actually very kind. And very different from [his other work]. Because he could have come in and done a number on the hordes of tourists who come to the Fox Talbot Museum. But he didn't. It’s a return to the much earlier, more elegiac way of working. More connection, more gentleness. So I think it's the perfect way to end for him.

W*: Do you mind if I ask, Susie, how emotional is it for you seeing this work displayed here? We're not that many months on from your husband's passing.

SP: I must say, I did get a bit choked when I was looking at the images to write my little introduction [in the book]. But I think I'm OK now. I'm sort of used to it.

I'm finding it really interesting to think about it, that he actually went beneath the façade of the model village to look at real people and real communities. So again, it's another thing to be very proud of about Martin, that he finished off in this way… This, for me, is a perfect rounding of the circle.

‘Lacock’ by Martin Parr, 27 June 2026 – 27 June 2027, Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire

nationaltrust.org.uk/lacock

As trends in workspace and retail keep shifting, Cubitts, the British spectacle maker, unveils today (25 June 2026) its new headquarters – a home for the brand's entire operation. Set near King's Cross, on the edge of north London, the new HQ is titled The Yard, and brings together frame and lens making, creative, repair, consultation, exhibition and training under one roof, in a subtly spectacular space that blends from design, production and client-facing services and events.

Tour the new Cubitts headquarters in London

When he came across their current base, Cubitts' founder, Tom Broughton, had been mulling over the idea of a permanent home for his business for a while. The makers' previous studio and office were located in the area (Cubitts was founded in Kings Cross in 2013), but had far outgrown the available space – and given the brand's attention to detail and design-led aesthetic, it made absolute sense for them to have a bespoke home.

'We were constrained by the [old] space rather than enabled,’ says Broughton. ‘And here, I'm hopeful we will be enabled by [the new one]. We want it to be a space where you can be really proud to bring passers-by, neighbours, customers... It can be a place where people can spend time with each other.'

The new building occupies a former Victorian stables that once served the nearby Crosse & Blackwell vinegar brewery – the biggest in the capital. It had gone through different lives and uses since then and, when Cubitts came into the picture, it was in need of a refresh.

Keeping the original architecture's utilitarian, brick materiality, and warehouse-like character felt intuitive. It also aligned well with the sense of honesty, efficiency and calculated rawness that can also be detected in the spectacle brand's product.

Now, the project, on which Cubitts worked closely with studio 51 Architecture, is a mix of exposed period surfaces, refreshed historic details, colour pops, and carefully selected, tactile furniture – which makes the whole at once full of personality, comfortable and of its time.

Beyond style, however, Broughton's vision is indeed one of community, as he sees the new company's home as more than just a production facility or a set of desks. 'When we took on this [project], it was always like, how do we design it so it doesn't feel like an office? Which was why the office bit is a footprint of probably about 15 per cent of the building... The rest of it can be everything else that we want the [brand] to represent. Put the product at the middle. Have production under one roof.'

Enabling human potential through spaces that people want to inhabit in a meaningful way, fostering relationships and collaboration, was also a key driver: 'Our biggest cost by far is people. If you can create an environment where those people can flourish and work more effectively, it will pay for itself 100 times over. I don't think this is indulgent. I think it's necessary.'

In that spirit, everything is arranged around a central, double-height space – a kind of indoor 'plaza' – where a frame-making workshop operates: the business's heart. Also on the ground floor, around this area, are the company's production facilities and optical laboratory, which mix handmade elements and cutting-edge five-axis CNC machines.

A sequence of smaller, more cocooning areas offers space for private consultations, meetings and also room for the large Cubitts archive. Deskspace is upstairs, alongside a generous central kitchen and entertaining area – a fluid space Broughton hopes to use for the Cubitts community, from clients to creatives and locals. More rooms on the top level might develop into apartments for guests and residencies.

Beyond the architects, Cubitts collaborated with more designers, artists and makers from its broad universe, who were involved in different parts of the building, helping to craft a home that feels a collaborative effort – but also a true representation of the brand's ethos as a whole.

'[The paint specialist] chose the [yellow] colour [throughout the interior] to match the yellow from a dress worn by Brigitte Bardot from the late 1960s,' Broughton explains, elaborating on his discussions with paint maker Simon March. Meanwhile, artist David Shrigley created a large mural – a brightly coloured cockerel – on the building's side, marking its creative nature and public-facing intentions.

The mural, the open-door policy and the series of events Cubitts is planning for the next few months all indicate the brand's vision to not only set strong roots in its new home but also be an active part of the neighbourhood.

'There's a little bench built into the front. And we found out from the neighbours that locally, it has been called “the seat of wisdom”. And people just stop there and have a think,' Broughton says. It's an element, and a spirit, he intends not only to maintain, but to build on – fostering creativity and community, hand by hand, in Cubitts' new London home.

cubitts.com

A joint project between artist Rana Begum and Steve Webb of engineering firm Webb Yates sees a pink, fenced sculpture erected in the heart of London. Fabricated in collaboration with open-access workshop BLOQs, with materials lent by Albion Stone, No.1616 Fence (2026) is a timely response to the 2026 London Festival of Architecture's theme, 'Belonging'. The sculpture is reflected and refracted by the wide windows of the central London brutalist architecture landmark Space House, offering a moment of quiet contemplation on what it means to belong, and indeed to not belong.

Explore Rana Begum and Webb Yates' installation for LFA 2026

The piece is the latest in a series of collaborations for Begum and Webb. As with their previous installation in Verbier, No. 1387 Fence, the pair set themselves the challenge of erecting their sculpture with minimal environmental impact, by using a base of materials native to the site. In Verbier, these were logs; in London, Portland stone.

Webb explains: 'So much art has a big lump of concrete under the ground… Here, the context is the City of London and Portland stone. We have a good relationship with Albion Stone, so they lent us a block. The reason [the sculpture is] clamped [to the plinth] is so the block isn't cut or broken [...] there's no welding or cutting, everything can be taken to bits.' He continues, 'We’re trying to do something that brings a lot of joy, but actually isn't wasteful or impactful.'

On the origins of this body of work, Begum explains: 'I think for me, when I'm making (the work), it wasn't about identity, it wasn't about culture, it wasn't about religion. I realised one of the things I've been really driven by is this idea of the infinite. Like, how tall Steve can get this to go, but I love that you can play with the idea of the infinite. You can push the boundaries of some of the limits of engineering as well as this visual splendour that you have with material and sculpture and spaces.'

Begum and Webb are quick to highlight that the making of this sculpture goes beyond just the hands of an artist and an engineer, with many other actors involved; namely, Arnauld Nichols, director of BLOQs (the UK’s largest open-access factory) and Sam Kennedy of Commissioned by You, a studio that operates from the facility. Says Nichols: 'We've been around for 14 years. We call ourselves a pay-as-you-go factory, and we're there to provide anyone access to really good manufacturing equipment and workspace.'

With more than 1,000 small and medium businesses, BLOQs boasts a network of users working at all types of scales. 'Our whole mission is, don't tie people down to creativity, let them do [manufacturing] when they need it. [We offer] machines that are normally unaffordable to small, medium, or even large businesses; you put amazing modern tech together with new or existing talent, and then that brings great stuff.’

This way of working couldn’t have been a better fit for Begum and Webb’s site-specific, temporary installation. 'It's a combination of vision and sign-off and delivery, when no one's doubting each other,' affirms Begum.

With uncharacteristically hot and stormy weather expected for the month of June, when LFA runs, Webb Yates had to conduct climate-related stress tests and even consider the possibility of people climbing on the piece – a totemic-like sculpture that commands a moment of pause, pushing the gaze upwards to see how it contrasts with the giant skyscrapers that enclose it.

On the theme 'Belonging', Webb says: 'Belonging had a slightly sinister edge to me. And I think with the vision, the fencing, our collaboration is [about not belonging]. You know, we're working together across fields and across fences and barriers, and we're going where we don't belong.'

ranabegum.com

webbyates.com

London workspace One Triton Square has just been given a refresh by the architecture studio Piercy&Company, bringing the nine-storey 1990s office building into the 21st century through smart internal arrangements and a considered, timber-led materiality. The project is part of the Regents' Place campus and was developed by British Land and Royal London Asset Management (Arup is leading the building's overall reconfiguration). Within this context, Piercy&Company spearheaded the communal areas' transformation, crafting an interior that is not only fit for contemporary purpose, but also exudes a soft, organic minimalism and a welcome balance.

Discover Piercy&Company’s One Triton Square interior

Piercy&Company worked on the full range of common areas within the tower – from the ground-floor entrance lobby to event, collaboration and breakout spaces throughout. Meeting rooms and shared amenity spaces at Levels 1 and 2 and flexible offices and the Triton Lounge and its adjacent terrace at Level 6 were also included.

The vision was for all these areas to adhere to a single vision – one that prioritises innovation and accessibility within a cohesive 'ecosystem of adaptable spaces', the architects explain.

Fiona Neil, director & head of interiors at the London-based practice, explains: ‘Unrecognisable from its previous life as a trading floor, the shared Level 1 now exudes calm and sophistication, becoming an interconnected sequence of spaces that flow in and out of one another, creating pockets of activity alongside places to rest. We took our lead from the rigour of the original building’s design, as well as from scientific work, and juxtaposed this with more playful and softer moments.'

Throughout the building, crisp, clean geometries have been juxtaposed with soft, organic or engineered, tactile materials. Sensory warmth and richness have been at the forefront of the team's surface selection, in order to craft an interior that encourages both concentration and collaboration.

The material strategy is supported by carefully controlled lighting and careful acoustic treatments everywhere. The project features clear wayfinding designed by Frost Collective.

For its efforts, the building has been rated BREEAM Outstanding for its sustainable architecture approach, while art curation by New Public further enhances the interior's layering. Featured pieces include works by artists such as Anicka Yi, Majeda Clarke, Eleanor Lakelin, Richard McVetis, Blast Studios and makers from Cockpit Studios.

Tim Downes, development director at British Land, said: 'Piercy has really delivered on the brief to humanise the interior of a big, intensely engineered building. Many of the occupiers who will take space at One Triton will spend hours performing highly concentrated periods of deep work, and the ability for them to step away from their screens or lab benches into a place of calm tranquillity to recharge and recalibrate has been a big draw. The ambience of the space hits you the moment you walk in.'

piercyandco.com

Nick Jones, founder of the Soho House group, has spent more than three decades shaping how a certain generation wants to eat, drink, work, linger and belong. At St. Clement, his anticipated new hotel in London, that instinct has been turned inward. Here, everything he finds annoying about hotels has been removed, softened or rethought: No fussy check-in, no paid-for minibar snacks, no laundry forms, no promise of a river view unless there is actually a river view. And certainly, no performative luxury.

At St Clement, Nick Jones rewrites the rules of the London hotel

St. Clement sits at 180 The Thames, part of the wider 180 Quarter being developed by British entrepreneur Mark Wadhwa, whose work around 180 The Strand has already pulled this once-overlooked pocket of the city into a cultural mecca for the groovy and cool: residences, restaurants, galleries, libraries, studios, and a new London square all stitched into one address. Jones knows the weight of the site and its privileged vista: ‘This is where London started,’ he says during a walk-through with Wallpaper*, looking out across the city.

The interiors, by London-based Eagle + Hodges – the studio founded by Alex Eagle with Sophie Hodges in 2016 – avoid the over-dressed mood of many new luxury hotels. It is polished and sleek, but it does not want to vaunt. In Jones’ own words: ‘This is our take on what a grand dame hotel like The Savoy would be if it were built today. Not bowler hats, stiff suits and high heels, but something a bit more relaxed, closer to cashmere and trainers.’ Indeed, the lobby has the ease of a laid-back, gallery-like private living room, with vintage furniture by George Nakashima and Jean Royère, blossom-heavy tables, and Richard Horwood’s 1799 plan of the City of London anchoring the walls.

All 90 rooms follow in spirit. The 450 sq ft entry-level rooms would pass as suites elsewhere. Jones calls one ‘bog-standard’ during the tour, then immediately points out the details that make it anything but: complimentary non-alcoholic minibar snacks, free laundry and steaming, proper luggage storage, and games boxes. ‘I hate paying for the minibar,’ he says. ‘I hate being charged for a Kit Kat.’

In the bathroom, a mirrored cabinet opens like a beauty apothecary, stocked with a Discovery Kit by beauty brand YLW (You’re Looking Well), Daba sunscreen, Laro dental care, Arlington shaving cream and Pleasing nail polish, among other essentials.

Standout details throughout include generous Eagle & Hodges-designed Rutland sofas and matching armchairs, glowing Brian Clarke glass screens, and bespoke Perfumer H amenities. Meanwhile, the 4,000 sq ft, two-storey penthouse – with its vast river-facing living spaces, fully equipped chef’s kitchen, library anchored by a vintage Bernar Venet sofa from 1993, and wraparound terrace – has the feel of a cinematic collector’s apartment. Rather than oversell the experience, Jones prefers to underplay the promise and let the hotel exceed expectations.

Food and drink venues are positioned as their own destination. Café Clement, the all-day restaurant and bar from chef Danny Bohan, reads like a London brasserie with French and Italian instincts: cheese soufflé with Gruyère and nutmeg; Sea bass carpaccio with citrus and herbs; an open Scottish lobster omelette with crème fraîche and tarragon served at breakfast, lunch and dinner; Roast duck for two with dripping potatoes and St Clement sauce.

Bobbi’s Bar takes the mood later. Open until 3 am and featuring a sound system by Devon Turnbull, it sits in a darker register: wood panelling, warm lamps, glowing bottles and the faint danger of staying one drink too long. A daybed running alongside the bar stools makes it an ideal spot for a final nightcap before bed. The cocktail to order is the Clementini – a mix of ‘Oranges and Lemons’ vodka, Champagne, Oyster Vermouth and olive oil. Add a pickle to make it dirty.

More is still to come. Lunette, chef Florence Knight’s first solo restaurant after Sessions Arts Club, will open on the top floor in September. A private screening room is also in the works, alongside a series of event spaces for dinners and parties of up to 100 guests. Then there is the Health Club & Spa. Set to open later this year for both hotel guests and members, it spans three levels and centres around a 25m pool running alongside the Thames. Around it: weight training, cardio, banya, steam room, hammam, sauna and ice baths.

As our tour with Jones comes to an end, it becomes clear that St Clement is not selling a one-night fantasy of London, but the promise of return. Jones wants the property to be used regularly, not simply visited once for the novelty of a new opening. That distinction matters. ‘We want people to decide to change this to be their new London address,’ he says, before the conversation turns to his plans to host a ‘cabbies’ breakfast.

St. Clement is located at 180, the Thames, 12 Temple Pl, Temple, London WC2R 2NF, United Kingdom

Japanese hand rolls are, ahem, on a roll in London – this year we’ve already welcomed Kumori and Maki Nori to Soho, with Saltwater and Miokuru due later this summer. They all have Temaki to thank for their popularity – the Brixton sensation which earned a devoted following in south London and beyond for owner AM Dupee’s Californian approach to Japanese cuisine. Now, after four years south of the river, Dupee has upped sticks from Brixton to Mayfair to a new and significantly larger home, with an expanded menu to match.

Wallpaper* dines at Temaki Mayfair

The mood: Counter culture

Thessaloniki-based architecture and interior-design studio Adamidis designed the space to feel ‘modern, relaxed and a little bit Japanese-inspired’, says Dupee, who wanted minimalism without coldness in much the same way that the food marries Japanese precision to Californian mellowness. ‘We used artwork and texture to bring some warmth and personality into the restaurant,’ Dupee says, ‘with neutral colour and clean lines to let the produce really stand out.’

Upstairs is a stripped-back wooden chef’s counter for 14 diners, with handrolls passed directly over the oak. Downstairs is more restaurant-in-feel, with a softer, listening-bar vibe, seating gathered around a central counter and a dry-ager displaying the raw materials that end up on the plate.

The food: Roll with it

The restaurant takes its name from te (hand) and maki (roll), the no-chopsticks-required version of sushi believed to have been invented in the 1920s and inspired by American ice-cream cones.

Like all the best ideas, temaki is blissfully simple: pristine fish, vinegared rice and crisp nori, rolled to order and best enjoyed straight from the chef’s hand. The signature Temaki combines akami, otoro and caviar, while fillings such as prawn tempura, baked scallop and barbecued eel demonstrate the breadth of the format. The set menus that built the restaurant’s loyal Brixton following remain a cornerstone of the experience, providing an ideal introduction to Temaki’s Californian-inflected take on Japanese dining.

Also order a couple of rounds of Japanese small plates designed for sharing: some yellowtail sashimi here, some grilled aubergine with sesame sauce there, with some crispy rice topped with spicy trout for carbs, a gyoza of the day if you’re still peckish and, if you really insist on eating with your fingers, an A4 Wagyu slider. After all, who needs chopsticks?

Temaki Mayfair is located at 11 Maddox St, London W1S 2QF, United Kingdom

Belonging. The more I have sat with this year's London Festival of Architecture theme, the more I have realised that much of my life and work over the last decade has been shaped by precisely that search – for something I, at times, feel, and something I am continually looking for.

Architecture has given me the opportunity to work across many places, but London remains home. While much of what I share now is rooted here, projects, conversations and experiences come from beyond, from Venice, New York, the Caribbean and elsewhere. Places that have shaped my understanding of culture, exchange, memory and belonging.

These thoughts are also a reflection on London as a global city, a springboard and a place of encounter – a place where people, ideas, traditions and ambitions from around the world meet, overlap and evolve. A place that has provided the foundation for a practice that now works internationally, supported by studios here and in New York, and by collaborators, clients and communities across multiple continents. They are, in many ways, an expanded reflection on that search – on the qualities that make belonging possible.

Jayden Ali discusses the idea of belonging

I will start with a story from this year's Venice Art Biennale, where I found myself taking in Lubaina Himid's contribution to this year's British Pavilion. For those unfamiliar with the exhibition, Himid's presentation centred on painting. Large-scale works that reflected on memory, identity, movement and making, and which continued her decades-long exploration of Black life.

There was a strength to the ensemble of paintings born from the relatively solitary pursuit of mining a lifetime's vulnerability, resistance, experience, and observation to churn them into images of resilience on a vast scale. Multiple, high-saturation paintings, some 8m wide, offered a meditation on what curator and writer, and now Studio Museum in Harlem director, Thelma Golden, encourages us to focus on: ‘the way in which people make work’.

Despite the obvious skill needed to work at such a large scale, the work’s potency comes from inserting into the white void of Venice a vision not only of what could be, but of what is – a complexity embodied in the shifting of a predominant Euro-centric lens to bring into frame the obvious, but that which is often overlooked, that Black people make and have always made.

For me, this engagement with Lubaina's work frames a broader conversation about my own and an examination of some of the qualities that I think are critical to belonging – both for myself and for others:

• Reciprocal dialogues across time
• Multiple ways of making
• The reframing of ‘the centre’

In other words:

• Antiphony
• Polyphony
• Polycentrism

Antiphony

Recently, we [at JA Projects, founded by Jayden Ali] established a studio in New York, which currently covers North America and the Caribbean. The latter geography is a place where I am currently artistic director for an upcoming major theatrical performance.

It is a commission that has brought me into dialogue with the work of Kamau Brathwaite, Barbados' cultural north star, credited with helping give the island and its people a distinctly Caribbean voice rooted in a Black Atlantic sonic tradition – one where cadence, rhythm and performance are deployed in challenge to inherited power structures and imposed ways of speaking, writing and being.

Much of Brathwaite's writing is concerned with questions of arrival, becoming and belonging – questions shaped by a Caribbean history of displacement, migration and survival. And in his work The Arrivants, he has written about those who have come before us.

In my own Venice [Architecture Biennale] moment in 2023, I found myself actively tuning in to the presence of those who had occupied the British Pavilion before me. In addressing the neo-colonial building sitting within the Giardini – representing a nation whose wealth and influence were profoundly shaped by empire – I wanted to build upon how Black and Brown people had occupied space before.

In particular, my work Thunder and Simsek – the steel-pan sculptures that stood within the portico and were fabricated with Jamps and HS Design Studio – was inspired, in part, by Chris Ofili's intervention for the British Pavilion 20 years earlier, in which three flagpoles flew an artwork entitled Union Black. Both mine and Ofili's work were in dialogue and joined their mission to challenge institutions of power. My resonance to, and inspiration from, Ofili's work was an exercise in antiphony – call and response – which the scholar Paul Gilroy defined in his seminal work The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness as a principal formal feature of Black musical traditions.

Polyphony

At the studio, we are interested in collective living – in how people come together to build, maintain and continually remake our shared constructed world, which we understand to be constituted through both immaterial and material components: stories, rituals, performances, agreements and social contracts, as much as buildings, objects, infrastructures and landscapes. These domains are not separate, but mutually reinforcing.

If antiphony concerns itself with a dialogue across time, then it is the idea of polyphony that concerns itself with a dialogue across difference. Much of our work is about listening, seeing and feeling those expressions of difference with a view to understanding how architecture might create conditions in which they can continue to coexist, collide and occasionally find resonance with one another.

Within this, we are particularly interested in moments of cultural confluence. Much of that interest can be traced back to east London, where I grew up, and where, before I was an architect, I was a playworker. For a number of years, I worked at Cherry Trees School in east London, supporting children with complex behavioural needs through the construction of novel play environments – those powered by stories, sound and smoke, as much as by physical props like costumes.

My job was, in many ways, to challenge the power dynamics imposed upon these young people from an early age by the forces of society and the city. It required creative responses to entrenched ideas of exclusion, permission and access, but importantly it taught me to pay attention, acknowledge the contribution of others, be responsive and ‘build’ in the round. When I later studied at the Cass [the School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University], in the Free Unit under Robert Mull, Catrina Beevor and Peter Carl, I found a similar spirit. The premise of the unit was that students could define their own interests and develop their own methodologies. Architecture was not presented as a fixed discipline. It remains the basis of how I practice and, also, how I teach.

Many of us creatives and those involved in architecture and planning know the excitement that comes with seeing an idea move from imagination into reality. My hope is that by embracing and designing for the full suite of spatial conditions, value can also be found in the exchange of knowledge and the building of collective confidence. That making becomes something expansive and empowering, challenging inherited assumptions about who gets to participate.

Polycentrism

More recently, two things coalesced at around the same time. The first was attending a conversation by J Kameron Carter at the Swiss Institute in New York as part of a public programme connected to Nolan Oswald Dennis' exhibition ‘overturns’.

The discussion reflected upon the distinction between a circle and an ellipse. The circle, with its single centre, became a way of thinking about systems organised around singular authority. The ellipse offered something different, a geometry structured through multiple points of focus.

Around the same time, I first encountered the text The Theater of Refusal: Black Art and Mainstream Criticism, in which Golden reflected upon the relationship between margin and centre. She wrote: 'Even though I feel that the whole margin/centre debate has been adequately theorised by cultural critics from bell hooks to a whole slate of poststructuralists, I think the salient debate, as we enter the 1990s, is going to be the debate of the centre of the margin… Nobody has adequately talked about the way in which the margin itself has become a hugely conflicted site.'

While reflecting on a different period in time, Golden's observation has stayed with me. Taken together, these two reflections prompted me to think differently about where our work sits in relation to power, authority and influence, and I enjoy it most when it challenges those distinctions.

In our studio, we are inspired by artists, architects and world builders who have acted in that spirit, opened up dialogue and brought collective reading in how we understand the world. It is an influence that has resulted in us overtly considering gathering as a type of infrastructure – ie, that the way the city can support the movement of knowledge and offer care, opportunity, solidarity and belonging is as important as the way more conventional infrastructures support the movement of people, water, energy and goods.

Much of my work and mission is driven by a desire to afford these softer forms of city-making the same seriousness that architecture has traditionally reserved for physical infrastructure. The quality of ‘belonging’ itself can be understood through this lens – as something that must be built, maintained and cared for over time, supported by a network of relationships, rituals, institutions and spaces that allow people to recognise themselves within a wider collective.

These conditions have always been relevant to architecture, yet this remains a disruptive proposition to systems that assume authority resides within established centres and flows outwards. Instead, it suggests something closer to polycentrism. That the centre depends upon your lens, and perhaps this is where antiphony (listening across time) and polyphony (listening across difference) ultimately lead.

Polycentrism asks us to recognise that neither history nor the present is organised around a single point of view. Cities are richer than that; London is richer than that. And belonging, I think, emerges through our capacity to recognise multiple centres of value, knowledge, meaning and influence existing simultaneously alongside one another.

The text is an edited version of Jayden Ali's Murray Lecture, kicking off the London Festival of Architecture 2026 through an exploration of the 2026 theme of 'Belonging', and delivered on 1 June 2026 at the London Centre

'I am not sure I exist,' says Es Devlin, dramatically. 'Actually, I am the sum total of every book I've ever read, every one I've ever loved, every mountain I've ever walked over.'

The artist and designer is quoting Jorge Luis Borges because, she insists: 'That's genuinely my feeling.' And it’s a relatable one at that.

For Devlin, books are the architecture of a life, with every author leaving an imprint. 'Every time you read anything,' she says, 'the architecture of one's brain is changed. Every time you have a new thought you change.'

It’s this belief that inspired her newest work, Library of the Four Winds. Sponsored by Penhaligon's, the poetic installation at Castle Howard – Britain's best-known country house, recognised globally as the setting for Brideshead Revisited and, more recently, Bridgerton – in North Yorkshire, the installation has been conceived to mark the tricentenary of Sir John Vanbrugh's death. The work transforms the architect's folly, the Temple of the Four Winds, into a rotating library composed of more than 250 books drawn from Devlin's personal collection.

Es Devlin's books illuminate Castle Howard's Temple of the Four Winds

The books are arranged into a luminous revolving sculpture and accompanied by recordings of the artist reading selected passages aloud. 'I've made a revolving library,' she explains. 'It's very personal to me. It's a library of all the books that make me who I am.'

The commission finds an unexpectedly sympathetic historical counterpart in Vanbrugh himself. Although best known today as the architect of Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace, Vanbrugh's career defied easy categorisation. He was a playwright, political activist, soldier, theatre manager and sometime prisoner, as well as an architect. Devlin was less interested in responding directly to his buildings than to the restless, expansive, charismatic character of 'Van the man'.

Sir John Vanbrugh’s legacy

'I would respond more to the texture of the man's being, the texture of the man's choices,' she says. 'There he is, at once a man of letters and the theatre, designing the Haymarket at the same time he's building Blenheim Palace.' Particularly of note was Vanbrugh's fascination with systems – literary, political and architectural. 'I think he was interested in systems. I think he cared about geometry,' says Devlin. 'That's what I see as the common denominator between the work in literature, the work in architecture, the work in politics. It's a fascination that underpins a courage and a desire to make change.'

His relentless curiosity resonates strongly with Devlin's own practice, which has moved effortlessly between theatre, opera, public art, architecture and performance (as mapped in her 2023 monograph). Looking back at Vanbrugh and his contemporaries, she sees a period before knowledge had been divided into separate disciplines. 'These were men who were making architecture. They were also, as they made their architecture, creating scientific experiments,' she says, pointing to the intellectual culture that produced figures such as Vanbrugh, Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke. 'This was a period where knowledge was understood to be something holistic. If you were a man of letters, of course you'd be a man of architecture as well.'

The setting of the Temple of the Four Winds amplifies those ideas. Perched on a promontory overlooking the Castle Howard estate, it is at once pavilion, viewpoint and retreat. A place for refreshment and reading alike. 'What I love about that building is there is no specifically designed, defined purpose for it,' says Devlin.

Beyond the revolving library itself, four curved tables circle the temple, inviting visitors to sit together, talk and/or browse books from Devlin's shelves. The project arrives during the UK's National Year of Reading, which for Devlin is about more than the promotion of literacy. She sees reading instead as a social act – a way of encountering other minds.

'We really hope this is going to encourage people to come, to sit, to meet each other through texts,' she says.

The books on display are hers, and are not only well leafed, but covered in annotations accumulated over years of reading. 'I tend to only read with a pencil in my hand,' she says. 'I either underline things or I get in a rage with them and go, “No!” next to them.'

The passages visitors hear throughout the installation are taken from those markings: sentences that most challenged, delighted or changed the artist. Among the titles Devlin references are The Gift by Lewis Hyde; The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin; and Are We Human? by Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley. Quotations from Jorge Luis Borges and Audre Lorde also form part of the installation's intellectual framework.

'Most books I read change me,' she says, 'but these are the ones without which I probably wouldn't have the worldview that I do.'

Library of the Four Winds is on view until 27 September 2026
castlehoward.co.uk

A stone's throw from buzzy London, the Coworth Park spa and hotel offer a welcome antidote - a serene rural experience, set in the leafy depths of the Ascot countryside in Berkshire. The hotel, a modern country house venue that is part of the Dorchester Collection, occupies some 240 acres of land, complete with a blissful wildflower meadow, tennis court, polo fields, ponds and country walks surrounded by local wildlife and gentle greenery. In this picturesque setting, The Spa at Coworth Park has recently been refreshed, elevating its offering through quiet luxury and contemporary wellness offerings.

Checking in at the Coworth Park spa

Making the most of its green context, the Coworth Park spa building is set a mere few minutes' walk from the hotel's main, historic building. Here, nestled into a landscape of rolling hills and a naturalistic landscape, the small, green-roofed wellness hub is placed in a way that its round form 'hugs' its centrepiece - a generous swimming pool with a glazed façade that looks out to a decked terrace and fields.

Inside, the top level is dedicated to spa offerings and relaxation, wrapped in natural light, neutral colours and soft textures. Partnerships with ishga, Wildsmith and Made for Life Organics offer a range of indulgent treatments - we tried the Ishga Renewing Facial and its seawater and seaweed-based products with impressive results (instant smooth, bright skin with no blemishes and a subtle glow).

The experience was enhanced by an initial 360-degree consultation process and a personalised soundscape, while the premises' dedicated post-treatment area with its meditative vibro-acoustic beds ensures instant tranquillity that lasts.

Downstairs, the swimming pool is flanked by the sun deck on one side and additional wellness spaces on the other - including a timber Finnish sauna, a citrine-lined steam room and a snow shower. A gym equipped with the UK’s first Technogym Luxury Artis line sits next to these spaces, to work up a sweat before heading out for a hot-and-cold sequence relaxation ritual.

Additionally, for a limited time only, Natura Bissé treatments are currently on offer throughout the summer. A new partnership at Coworth Park brought a pop-up treatment pod on site, the Natura Bissé Oxygen Bubble. Here, guests can breathe 99.99% pure air before completing their spa experience at the in-house café, where healthy salads, bowls, juices or teas are created by Coworth Park’s executive chef Adam Smith.

Meanwhile, if you're after something more traditional, the main Coworth Park building's drawing room next door offers the classic afternoon tea experience (with bubbles or without). Here, the customary sandwiches, mini cakes, scones and other treats can be enjoyed while looking out towards the campus's flowering meadow.

Book at stay.

Birmingham native Aktar Islam is the chef-owner of the city’s Opheem, one of only two Indian restaurants in Britain to hold two Michelin stars (Gymkhana is the other). His original plan, however, was to open Opheem in London – an ambition now realised with the launch of Oudh 1722. The restaurant takes its name from the year Awadh (Oudh), the Mughal province of northern India, was established as an independent province. It marked the birth of a food culture that would thrive for more than a century in the royal city of Lucknow, and now in a three-storey listed Victorian building near Borough Market.

Wallpaper* dines at Oudh 1722

The mood: The texture of time

Islam worked with designer Polina Sychova on interiors inspired by the architectural language of Lucknow – ‘not in an obvious or decorative way,’ Sychova says, ‘but in its atmosphere. The softness of lime-plastered walls, the slightly faded tones, the way arches frame movement through space. There’s a quiet confidence to those interiors that I wanted to hold onto.’

Limewash surfaces create a sense of lived-in depth and texture across the two dining rooms and are paired with walnut joinery and mustard velvets; the effect is intended to envelop diners in a mood of soft intimacy. Green elements such as tiled surfaces and glass details introduce contrast without disrupting the calm. ‘They lift the space,’ Sychova says, ‘in the same way acidity or herbs lift a dish.’

Screened banquettes and smaller rooms, meanwhile, create what she describes as ‘a kind of pacing, similar to how a meal unfolds, with moments of openness giving way to moments of enclosure.’

The food: Courtly cooking

Lucknow was recognised by UNESCO in 2025 as a Creative City of Gastronomy and Islam has channelled that legacy by showcasing the precision and nuance of Awadhi cuisine. So while there is a tasting menu at Oudh, the à la carte is the best way to get the most from the kitchen, especially if you want to share.

Kick off with papads accompanied by notably fresh-tasting chutneys ahead of snacky plates of vibrantly coloured chaat and a headily spiced Herdwick lamb kebab. Larger plates include the slow-cooked dum dishes for which Lucknow is renowned; try the oxtail biryani, steamed to melting tenderness under its pastry lid. Curries include tandoori chicken with smoked tomato cream, which tastes like a rich take on butter chicken, best mopped up with coriander naan.

Ask the clued-up sommelier for advice on Oudh’s 300-strong wine list; the Muses Estate Mouhtaro, a rarely seen red Greek grape grown on the foot of Mount Helicon near Thebes, was a revelation with Indian cooking, like a mouthful of red cherries.

Oudh 1722 is located at 66 Union St, London SE1 1TD, United Kingdom

The next chapter in The Dorchester’s most ambitious transformation in over three decades has arrived in the form of a new Royal Suite by Pierre-Yves Rochon. The residence follows the renovation of all guestrooms and suites, as well as The Promenade, Vesper Bar, Artists’ Bar, The Grill and China Tang. While plans for a private members’ club on the rooftop are still to come, Rochon’s latest intervention continues the evolution of the Park Lane grand dame, whose guest list has spanned royalty, Hollywood stars and political leaders since opening in 1931.

Occupying a prominent corner position on the eighth floor, The Royal Suite looks out across Hyde Park’s treetops, the Serpentine and the wider London skyline, from the quartet of chimneys atop Battersea Power Station to the distinctive dome of the Royal Albert Hall. It is also among the largest hotel suites in the city, spanning up to 4,660 sq ft when configured with four interconnected rooms.

For the interiors, the French designer, who recently oversaw a three-year renovation of all 243 rooms and suites at Four Seasons Paris, turned to the legacy of theatre designer Oliver Messel, whose work for The Dorchester remains one of the defining references for the hotel’s exuberant character. Rochon describes the scheme as ‘a mix of traditional British elements, a palette of pastel tones, floral inspirations and details drawn from the 1950s’.

Tour The Dorchester’s Royal Suite

The experience begins through a gallery-like corridor washed in pale pink before entering an oval lobby anchored by a sculptural Bardiglio marble vase from Atelier Prométhée and a collection of historical paintings from the original suite, staged by art consultancy Visto.

The expansive living room is among the suite’s most breathtaking spaces. Celadon and blush tones soften an otherwise formal room, where a decorative ceiling inspired by 18th-century Scottish architect Robert Adam sits above a mirrored fireplace. Here, Rochon layers English and French influences with a collector’s eye: white lacquer and gold-patina ottomans by Henryot & Cie sit alongside armchairs upholstered in English garden-inspired fabrics by GP & J Baker, while a floral Tai Ping rug based on a design by André Arbus anchors the room.

Nearby, a study conceived as ‘a small dark-green box’ offers a moodier counterpoint. A varnished mahogany bookcase, Tisserant sconces, a Chinese-inspired red lacquer desk and a cane armchair lend the room the character of a private library. The shelves are lined with everything from the novels of Jane Austen to volumes on maximalism, automotive design and the English garden.

Meanwhile, the dining room, described by Rochon as having a ‘surprisingly garden-inspired decor’, is wrapped entirely in trellis-pattern wallpaper by Adam Ellis and crowned by a mirrored ceiling with a crystal chandelier by Delisle. A Chinese console and mirror, together with an Aubusson-style rug in shades of celadon and pale pink, subtly echo the aesthetic language established downstairs in The Promenade. A private, fully-equipped kitchen allows The Dorchester’s culinary team, led by director Martyn Nail, to host intimate in-suite dinners for up to ten guests.

The bedroom adopts a lighter tone. A four-poster bed dressed in pale blue silk anchors the space, while a sitting area upholstered in ivory faux leather with diamond-tipped stitching is layered with fabrics in soft shades of pink, blue and green. A polished timber dressing table and upholstered stool reinforce the room’s residential feel, while a figurative painting depicting a napping woman above the seating area adds a touch of theatrical drama. Beyond, a generous dressing room leads into a marble-clad bathroom with a double shower and a freestanding bathtub taking in views across the rooftops of Mayfair and glimpses of Hyde Park beyond.

As expected, the service offering has been thought out to match the scale of the residence. A dedicated butler oversees every stay, while privileges range from complimentary airport transfers and access to a chauffeur-driven car to personalised wellness experiences at The Dorchester Spa. In a nod to its setting, the hotel has also partnered with The Royal Parks charity, with a portion of proceeds from Royal Suite bookings supporting the conservation of London’s historic green spaces.

The Dorchester is located at 53 Park Lane, London W1K 1QA, UK. Rates for the Royal Suite start from £30,000 per night

London’s swankier nightlife has often mistaken more for better. One thinks of the faux patina, acres of backlit onyx, the over-upholstered banquettes, the interiors that reek of moodboards. Dive, which has quietly opened in a basement off Chiltern Street in Marylebone, is a riposte against all of it.

Velvet underground: Dive, London

Its owner, Antoine Le Dirat-Giacometti, is a French DJ whose decades behind the decks have made him, in architect Ariel André’s words, ‘a vibe setter – someone who provides mood, rhythm and tone’. Dive is the spatial extension of that persona and was cannily designed by André’s Paris studio, Golem. On the face of it, the bar is an unlikely commission for an architect whose current projects include a building for the Diriyah Biennale Foundation in Saudi Arabia and curatorial architecture for the Bukhara Biennial in Uzbekistan, but the brief was more about atmosphere as architecture than scale.

For what the owner and architect inherited was, by carrying ‘the feeling of having been abandoned after something abrupt and bad happened’. A perfect canvas, it transpires, for creating a soigné bar from scratch.

The creative brief crystallised early – ‘a concrete block in a velvet glove’, says André – and that tension is evident in every surface, precisely because the architect kept so much of it raw: an engineered rough cocoon wrapped in a tactile interior.

The bar reveals itself in warm, buttery light, glossy and reflective, convex mirrors catching your movement, bending the room back at you as you enter. Upholstery, padded walls and floor-to-ceiling carpet, developed and made in France, add a particular softness. The glossy surfaces are designed to take scratches from glasses and jewellery; the velvety walls to retain the imprint of bodies.

The shift between bar and lounge is made physical by a bespoke acoustic threshold – a one-of-a-kind sound shower developed by Berlin-based specialist Basil Martion – that condenses the atmosphere on crossing before releasing into the bass-driven lounge. Overhead, the concrete vaulted arches are bare – water from the 2025 fire at the neighbouring Chiltern Firehouse damaged the basement mid-construction, exposing the raw shell. André kept it.

The bespoke quart-de-lune tables embed their own social logic: their quarter-circle geometry seats couples side by side rather than face to face, dissolving what André calls ‘the interviewer-interviewee dynamic’ in favour of something more complicit. Each arch in the lounge has a distinct configuration; one becomes a ‘fun room’, a velvet-saturated chamber that migrates from daybed to dancefloor across the night. The non-gendered bathroom, meanwhile, gives over its central floor space to a banquette rather than basins, with a one-way mirror looking into the fun room – its conceit, André notes, borrowed from club backstages.

Music, too, is structural in a way that goes beyond playlist curation. Le Dirat-Giacometti assembled tracks alongside the blueprints, each assigned to a specific space – a song for the staircase, another for the pillows. The hydraulic DJ booth adjusts for seated or standing performance, or reconfigures for a live band; a record collection built over 20 years by Le Dirat- Giacometti is shelved within reach of the turntable.

At the bar, the 10:58 – a lethal reworking of the Old Fashioned and named for the running time of Prince’s song Purple Music – is reason enough to start up a tab. The Dive Hydrator, built from coconut water, lemongrass, ginger and Celtic salt, was originally conceived for marathon runners, but has since found currency with those who want a long night without alcohol. The bar snacks skew simply with the croque-monsieurs, sourced entirely from producers across France, already becoming, in André’s words, ‘the most addictive substance in the room’.

The bar’s moniker, Dive, actually came last. It only became evident to Le Dirat-Giacometti as the space began to take shape – the architecture generated its own word. You descend. The surface falls away.

Dive is located at 50-54 Blandford St, London W1U 7HX, United Kingdom

In deepest Maida Hill, Studio Weave has provided a public toilet block encased in reclaimed stone. The project represents the final phase of Maida Hill Market improvement works – funded by Westminster City Council, with help from the Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund - and involved replacing outmoded underground toilets with three fully accessible cubicles, one wheelchair friendly, brought conveniently to grade.

Explore this reclaimed stone public toilet by Studio Weave

On paper, the project is unimpeachable. It responds to, and serves to highlight, an all too familiar problem in the city. One that the architecture practice's director, Eddie Blake (Studio Weave is co-led by Blake, founding director Je Ahn, and director JJ Cliff), is on a mission to redress. According to the British Toilet Association, nearly 40% of public toilets have closed in the last decade. This has been put down to poor accessibility and high maintenance costs. Plus the absence of viable, replicable, low-cost alternatives. Enter the Maida Hill lavatories.

Like all good work, the project answers its brief in a way that poses interesting questions about how we might elaborate on a similar commission next time. Chiefly, here, it tackles material and procurement. The stone was sourced from the dismantling of a former corporate headquarters in Broadgate. Large-format slabs of pink Finnish granite and plain Norwegian larvikite were split, recut, and reassembled in their new location. Transplanted from the heart of the financial district to the site of the original, grassroots economic activity of a neighbourhood market square.

This ‘trickle-down’ trajectory of the material, from private to public, is telling. The stone is of an exceptionally high quality, far exceeding the spec of what would ordinarily be committed to this kind of project. It’s all about ‘cost-efficient public luxury,’ say the architects, in what sounds like several contradictions in terms. But it works.

Once supported on a steel frame, the slabs are now stacked like a heavy house of cards. To this end, the architects benefited from a close collaboration with The Stonemasonry Company and Webb Yates, who were the structural engineers on the project (both parties are serial collaborators with Amin Taha’s Groupwork, a pioneer in building with stone in the capital, so have experience in working with the material).

The ‘architecture’ is independent of its contents, which, like a mollusc, may be extracted, leaving the shell intact. Once shucked, the ‘automated public conveniences’ within, a high-spec ‘total toilet solution’ by Swedish company Danfro, may be upgraded and replaced. The stone is detailed so as to be demountable also. The building is built to last, but needn’t.

Perhaps the most notable, noticeable thing about the building is its refusal simply to fit in. London is awash with buildings born of facade studies, and concessions to type. But this project is refreshingly blunt in its approach. It is not so much a patchwork as a skin graft. It takes the flayed facades of other buildings to make a mask for its own.

The standards of so-called civilised society may be judged by the state of its public provisions – the availability of toilets, bins, and benches – and the durability of a culture by its ability to accommodate unusual and not straightforwardly appealing things. On both counts, this is an eminently interesting little building.

studioweave.com

London’s third-space landscape expands with the arrival of Stück in Dalston. Housed within a former industrial building just off Kingsland High Street, the venue is the result of a collaboration between club-turned-design-studio Playbody and Klub Verboten, one of London’s longest-running consent-led nightlife communities. For the latter, it marks a first permanent home; for the former, a place to further its research into body-centred architecture and social space.

Stück brings a new architectural typology to London’s queer nightlife

The venue arrives at a moment when many of the communities shaped by London’s queer nightlife scene are seeking forms of permanence beyond the temporality of events and club nights. Conceived as a space between the home, workplace and club, Stück combines social, cultural and co-working functions.

Set across two floors, the interior takes cues from Roman bathhouse typologies. At its centre sits a multi-level concrete conversation pit designed to encourage horizontal forms of gathering. Throughout the space, architecture and furniture are treated as a continuous system: custom aluminium and concrete structures sit alongside rubber-cast seating, spinning saddle stools, soft leather and latex finishes, modular daybeds and a 12-metre stainless-steel bench.

Stück will operate through an application-based membership model, offering access to members’ spaces, a café, co-working facilities, workshops and artist-led programming. A communal sauna and cold-plunge suite are planned for a later phase.

Stück is located at 32-36 Tottenham Rd, London N1 4DW, United Kingdom

One London is not simply another tower in the City of London. Upon completion, come 2033, this high-rise, formerly known as 1 Undershaft, is set to rival the Shard, becoming the UK capital's joint tallest building, its developers, Aroland Holdings and Stanhope, emphasise. This is no small feat – and the ambitious scheme's architect, Eric Parry, also highlights his design's provision for extensive publicly accessible green spaces, carefully planned environmental performance and amenities, including the highest bar in London and an 11th-floor public garden.

One London – the capital’s newest high rise

Construction is planned to start in 2028, and the numbers are impressive. The tower reaches 309.6m high and spans 74 storeys (the London Museum will operate education spaces on the top two, for school children and young people to learn, experiencing London from on high). The project's creators are also exploring BREEAM and NABERS UK rating frameworks for its sustainability credentials, and underline that its landscape strategy 'delivers a 960 per cent Biodiversity Net Gain'. But what does this mean for the capital? We spoke to Parry about what is aiming to be the future tallest building in the City of London.

Eric Parry on One London

Wallpaper*: Let's start with the basics – what is One London?

Eric Parry: Well, first of all, it has to be said that the building is the centre of the Eastern City Cluster. That's an interesting concept, because it's a very English one, this sense of a cluster of buildings that relate to a landscape idea, placed as sort of foothills, as if one's looking at an image of landscape. It is completely different to the way in which tall buildings are conceived in Canary Wharf or Frankfurt, or Paris at La Defense. They're closely bound. One London will be at the cluster's heart and that has been part of the ethos of this building, having a certain dignity, carrying with it a lot of responsibility for being in its position.

W*: So you speak about clusters, tall buildings. We're in the City; is the building office space, or mixed-use?

EP: The majority is commercial workplace, and that's incredibly important for the 7,000 to 10,000 people that will be working in the building. But at the same time, I think there's a spirit of generosity in it, which is really important. So, from the outset, I had a vision for the top of the building to be civic rather than commercial.

W*: That is very important, and it also sets it apart from similar tall and super tall buildings. Would you like to tell us a little bit about the brief? How did you balance commercial needs and architectural and urbanistic vision?

EP: This is the 11th year of working on this project for us. It was a competition, and it had a pre-Covid life as a proposal that was much more a plaza with a tall building. After the pandemic and the City of London Plan for 2040 [approved in 2024], there was a realisation that there's a massive problem with supply [of office space in the City]. There was a need for space, but also for breathing space, for access to air and the environment, to get away from the sealed box, which gave rise to this idea of a building that works on multiple horizons in a way that really is beneficial to the wellness of the occupant.

W*: It sounds like there were different iterations and the design evolved a bit over time. Was it always meant to be this tall?

EP: Oh, yeah, it was always up at the centre of the cluster.

W*: Did the height itself attract you; was it a challenge, an opportunity? I know your studio, and you, often undertake large-scale projects, but not necessarily super-tall.

EP: There was no sense of muscular desire in the height, particularly. But I think there's a real interest in the complexity that height brings. And then, of course, there is the thing about the sky. In lower buildings, architecture is about the urban block, about streets, about squares. A tall building is about the skyline; you address the clouds, the weather. There is something incredibly important about the way a building develops from the ground and reaches to the sky.

W*: Agreed. And there are different ways a building is experienced from afar and from up close. How did the very famous buildings around the site factor into your design development?

EP: You know, this iteration is very similar in height and in various aspects to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Towards the bottom, the Eiffel Tower has this deck above the great arches and the deck here, which is public at the 11th floor – an amazing set for the public, an amazing set of new views of that very precious surrounding. I didn't want to do another sloping glass surface.

W*: Tell me more about the public spaces and the special place for the London Museum and the education spaces at the top.

EP: We made a deal with them. From a personal point of view, I took my own child's class up the Heron, when it was completed but not occupied, to look down on the city they dwelt in. And that was amazing. They all remembered it, you know, and I thought when we were dealing with this, let's do this here. So every school kid should get the opportunity to go up to the top of the building and see the view.

W*: There is something to be said about the democratisation of that space, because traditionally, you would have the tallest point of a tower, and it would signal maybe corporate wealth or power. But now it's open to everyone who wants to use it.

EP: That has also been reflected at the ground, of course, because the ground has two sides, actually. There is the 11th floor, the public garden. And the eastern side has this great reception space, the celebration of entry, I would say. It's incredibly levitational. The proposal has an expression of structure. The pillars I like to call the 'giant redwoods'. They are huge, made of weathering steel and slim like a beautiful tree. They branch to support the garden, but they also continue to support the 300m up. So this huge building comes to the ground in an incredibly light way.

W*: Your work, for me, is associated with craft and attention to material and detail, and everything on that ground level speaks to that. There is also an elegant restraint overall; it's not flashy.

EP: Thank you. I didn't want to make another building all in glass with a closed cavity system with blinds that come down. We wanted it to be passive, with shading. It is very high performing, and I wanted it to be white, not glass. This also has to do with longevity.

W*: Let's talk about that too, and about sustainability at One London.

EP: There are very few buildings over 200m that are ever pulled down, so there's a responsibility. This is going to be there, perhaps, as long as the Tower of London. I've got a bit of an obsession about biodiversity and planting, so we like to practise what we preach. With One London, there's a 1,000 per cent increase in terms of biodiversity from the existing site to this. Urban greening is very important, and we have shaded, hanging gardens. There's a great mix in the building that allows it to rise with great confidence from a beautiful ground plane. I have seen from past projects the joy a beautiful garden can bring.

ericparryarchitects.co.uk

Seen after a summer storm, the Serpentine Pavilion 2026's tactile brick body looks fresh, orange and inviting. Some of Serpentine Galleries’ past commissions in London's Kensington Gardens may have sought to convey a sense of enclosure – either as discrete structures with traditional walls and windows, or objects that discussed shelter or a meditative space. This year, the design by Mexican studio Lanza Atelier looks open, fluid – and yet smartly delineated by simple forms: a bench, a wiggly wall, a light, translucent flat-roof structure. It is clear, legible, yet somehow deconstructed – and we can't wait to step inside.

Explore the Serpentine Pavilion 2026 by Lanza Atelier

When the fast-emerging practice, founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo (their past works include Mexican retreat Casa Jajalpa, featured in the December 2020 edition of Wallpaper*), was announced as the Serpentine Pavilion 2026 designer in January this year, its directors spoke of a curvilinear wall snaking across the site. Their pavilion was fittingly named a serpentine and nods to the crinkle-crankle wall, an outdoor, typically brick structure found lining site borders, often enclosing a garden. The duo talked at the time about creating moments that frame 'movement and pause', 'gentle geometries' and 'permeability'. The real thing, opening its doors this week, does not disappoint.

The Lanza pair explain that the pavilion's core idea was there from the very beginning, and once they started researching their project's setting, place and history and linking it up to their own fascinations about materiality (and specifically brick, which they have often used in their past works), it all made sense and came together cohesively quite organically. Arienzo recalls: 'Initially, we tried making a patio, and a lot of things, but the crinkle-crankle wall appeared and it was perfect because it's like a serpent.'

The structure sits slightly offset from the site's centre, its curvy wall gently echoing the orientation of the path that leads from the street to the Serpentine South Gallery's entrance. It subtly divides the north and south parts of the site – true to the historical positioning of the crinkle-crankle, the architects explain, which often looks south. 'We also wanted to have something in the perimeter,' Abascal explains. 'We didn't want it right at the centre, and we put a bench on the south side of it.'

This way, they stress, the pavilion embraces the entire plot. The aim is to encourage visitors also to use the lawn between the bench and the wall and make full use of the gallery's outdoor areas. One cannot help but think that their pavilion makes a beautiful floorplan drawing, and they seem rightly proud of it too.

The pavilion has a strict budget, so architects always need to get inventive with their designs. Being smart and frugal with restrictions, materials and finances came naturally to the team, too. 'It relates to our way of building in Mexico,' Abascal says. 'You have to be very clever in what elements you need in the structure. We always try to build less. And we also try [to get the] different elements to perform more and work hard. I mean, maybe a wall carries a roof, and also divides, but what else?'

Using brick - and a focus on beautifully crafted materiality - in clever and unexpected ways naturally resonated with the duo, and they worked with blocks neatly tied together through metal fastenings and rods that go through each element's holes. It's a universal material with a strong history in the UK's built environment (and the brick they used comes from the region), but it gave them a challenge, and in turn, they gave it a twist.

Arienzo says: 'The challenge was creating a disassemblable pavilion out of brick. A brick wall is typically solid; it's opaque, it's permanent. Usually, the brick's features are almost invisible, but here we are flipping them. So it's just brick, but with a twist, you know? Meanwhile, the roof is softer, lighter.' The floor is ceramic and follows the brick walls' colouring, producing a pleasingly unified effect. The pair also used their designs for the chairs within.

Adding to the delights of having a brand-new park folly to play with, Serpentine Galleries is also celebrating its pavilion project's 25th anniversary – a landmark moment and a bonus to the popular public piece of architecture that pops up in Kensington Gardens each year. And appropriately, since it all started with a Zaha Hadid-designed pavilion in 2000, this year's iteration includes a collaboration with the Zaha Hadid Foundation. It takes the form of a dedicated programme of panel discussions and talks, set to take place inside the Lanza-designed construction throughout the summer.

Bringing together festivity and texture, the British garden and the idea of a folly, the Serpentine Pavilion 2026 will no doubt find itself comfortably at home in one of central London’s biggest green expanses – orange brick, curvy walls, and all. And don't forget, feel free to sit on the lawn.

Sponsored by Goldman Sachs, the Serpentine Pavilion 2026 by Lanza atelier will be on show at Serpentine South 6 June – 26 October 2026

Since opening in 2019, The Newt in Somerset has exemplified the notion of a perfect ‘weekend getaway’ to the country that is as luxurious as it is bucolic. Owned by South African businessman Koos Bekker and his wife Karen Roos, the bolthole, located at 18th-century Hadspen House (a West Country estate), is best known for its Patrice Taravella-designed gardens and a 2,000-acre working farm, where the majority of produce for the hotel’s various rooms and restaurants is sourced.

The Newt introduces Yarlington Lodge

Now, the fairytale-worthy estate and spa is starting a new chapter with Yarlington Lodge, a revitalised Regency rectory within the grounds (just one mile away). In Tudor times, the estate was gifted by Henry VIII, at different moments, to two of his queens. Drawing from its fascinating history, Roos, in collaboration with Richard Parr Associates, carried out a multi-year restoration project, which also included the reimagining of the surrounding cottages, walled garden, formal lawns and historic woodland. Myriad influences inform the ‘Regency meets Empire’ interior design, including British, French, Dutch, Italian and South African nods. This stratified creative narrative strikes the perfect balance between heritage and contemporary design.

Yarlington Lodge accommodates up to 32 guests across a main house and two cottages, which share the historic walled garden, extensive grounds, indoor-outdoor pool and Palm House for entertaining. Playful references to the Gothic Revival and Napoleonic era are seen throughout, from fabric walls and canopy-tented ceilings to tented beds.

Each of the eight bedrooms in the main Lodge – which features a library, drawing room and formal dining room, private cinema and a speakeasy overlooking the croquet lawn – is named after a literary character of the time, from Natalya Rostova to Jane Bennet; the corresponding novel can be found on the bedside table. Green marble bathrooms, pale pink walls, vintage Fendi chairs and Hay furniture make up for a confidently eclectic setting.

The Coach House, meanwhile, has four rustic bedrooms that reference its equestrian past through exposed stone, intricately carved wooden furniture and panelled walls, anchored by a modern fully-flexed metal kitchen. Cottage in The Wall, formerly a gardener’s cottage, also acts as a four-bedroom hideaway, incorporating deep-coloured velvet seating, warm neutrals, woven furnishings, arched windows framing the view and walls adorned with floral art.

Yarlington Lodge, which can be booked in its entirety or as individual bedrooms, is part of The Newt, Hadspen, A359, Bruton BA7 7NG, United Kingdom

Green Lodge sits in the London suburb of Roehampton on the edge of Putney Heath. Once a small village, the contemporary streetscape includes detached houses, some Georgian, many Edwardian, traditional terraces and large modernist council estates. Into this varied mix, Stylus Architects have found a slot of land behind a detached Victorian house on which to create a new build family home.

Step inside Green Lodge, a new-build home in South London

The new structure replaces outbuildings and wasteland and was built for a contractor with a long working relationship with Stylus. Aside from the programme, their only requirement was that Stylus, led by Matthew Withers, could ‘do whatever you want, but it has to be quick.’ Partly to maximise the environmental performance but also to help the project through planning, Stylus dug down and set much of the accommodation below street level, allowing the façade to remain single-storey.

As a result, the new house inverts the conventional layout and places the living room, dining area and kitchen on the ground floor, with three bedrooms on the lower ground floor. From the street, an angular, wood clad façade hints at something very interesting behind, with its seamless, faceted roof and flush roof-lights, but all is not revealed until you step through the gate.

While the living areas are flooded with light, the lower ground floor is illuminated by twin south-facing sunken courtyards that lead directly into the surrounding garden via external staircases, as well as a roof-light directly above the staircase.

The lightwells are cleverly placed to bring daylight into all three bedrooms, one of which is ensuite. The other two share a bathroom containing a free-standing tub from Lusso Stone, who also supplied the sinks and toilets. Illuminated roof panels are set above a wooden lattice ceiling, which neatly obscures the absence of daylight.

All bedrooms feature integral joinery and storage that has been carefully designed to abut the house’s exposed concrete structure. The result is a feeling of consistency and precision that maximises the available dimensions in every direction and creates a unified aesthetic throughout the house. In the children’s bedrooms, the wardrobes contain integral workspaces, while upstairs there’s a storage wall that includes a fireplace.

This clever use of single materials to expand the sense of space is especially obvious on the ground floor, where the ceiling heights rise into the pitch of the roof, with single pane roof-lights appearing to float above the openings in the slope.

Engineered wood floors pair with the cabinetry, with a bespoke oak and steel staircase, complete with angle balustrades, adding a clearly defined pathway to the lower floor. The exterior is clad completely in larch, maintaining a sense of unity and solidity.

At 175 sqm, the house is relatively modest in scale. A combination of photovoltaic panels and air source heat pump – complete with bespoke cooling grille design by Withers – make this a very low energy house indeed, thanks in part to the inherent thermal stability of the underground bedrooms.

According to the architects, ‘Green Lodge reads as a singular sculptural form that will weather and soften over time, embedding itself further into the wooded landscape of the heath. The result is a restrained and confident piece of architecture that is both highly resolved and deeply connected to its place.’

StylusArchitects.co.uk