“This is what I want to do,” says Niko Japaridze of Georgian practice Architects of Invention, whipping out his phone to show me. “A building between the earth and the moon – a vertical city.” For an architect who’s just completed his first new building, Japaridze certainly thinks big. But while the space project – a competition proposal – is surely fantasy, his clutch of new Georgian office buildings, all for the country’s Ministry of Justice, are very much a…

Perhaps the fresh-faced twentysomethings who set up tech start-ups need a comforting reminder of their university days to ease their transition from higher education to their working lives. That might explain the choice of Campus as the name for a cavernous, seven-storey, 2,300sq m office building in Tech City – the area surrounding Old Street colloquially known as the Silicon Roundabout owing to its concentration of web-based companies. Then again, the name’s informal, studenty connotations also references the fact that,…

When Hillcrest Housing Association first floated the idea of a new company HQ, its aspirations were by no means run-of-the-mill. Indeed, the brief that they presented to Broughty Ferry-based architects Nicoll Russell Studios, sought the creation of a building “at the forefront of sustainable design”. And in a canny conflation of client ambition and architectural vision, what finally emerged in 2011, in a leafy location on the edge of the city, was a low carbon and BREEAM Excellent-rated timber frame…

The idea of working with your husband or wife may not appeal to everyone, but it suits Francisco Javier Casas Cobo and Beatriz Villanueva Cajide. Joint partners in Brijuni Arquitectos in Madrid, Spain, the pair met while studying architecture at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. ‘We hated each other at first’, admits Villanueva Cajide, laughing. She thought he was arrogant, while he found her rather brusque. However, it didn’t take long for them to better understand each other, fall in love…

FIRA has launched a free online guide to help anyone specifying, developing or reviewing tenders for non-domestic and contract furniture. FIRA Specifier Services was devised as a response to industry comments that the regular updating of contract furniture standards was making specifying contract and non-domestic furniture tenders difficult. The guide aims to provide clear, concise and accurate information how to specify furniture, also highlighting the aspects that need to be considered to ensure that furniture suits its intended purpose.  www.specifierservices.co.uk

An NLA morning conference hosted by the Canary Wharf Group on Friday 29 June will bring together key policy makers, economists, local authorities, developers and occupiers to examine the future for workplace provision in the capital. As the government and the Mayor look to the rebalancing of the economy, reducing London's dependence on the financial sector, how will the workplace change? What impact will the growth and decline of key economic and industrial sectors have on the geography of the…

Clerkenwell Design Week's third year was a triumph by all accounts and onoffice were delighted to be taking part in the action. The sunshine came out for the festival and visitors also came down in full force, within excess of 30,000 registered attendees to the show. If you weren't lucky enough to get down to the festival and experience it for yourself, here's a round-up of what we got up to as well as a video to whet your appetite…