Onoffice editor James McLachlan will chair a panel discussion between Lady Frances Sorrell of the Sorrell Foundation, Ab Rogers, designer and head of interior design at the RCA, Richard Green, CEO of DATA (the Design and Technology Association) and John Miller of furniture brand MARK during Clerkenwell Design Week, called The Future of Design in Education.   Since education secretary Michael Gove threatened the exclusion of design and art from the…

Like the man himself, Werner Aisslinger’s studio appears a little off the beaten track. Located just north of the Tiergarten, the area captures that peculiarly Berlin condition where small clusters of galleries, record labels and design studios are buried among the lorry parks and used car lots. In London it would be unthinkable for somewhere like this to exist so close to a city centre train station without catching a…

“I can remember when you couldn’t buy a British Rail sandwich without wondering if this was your last act before a long period on a life-support machine,” wrote Bill Bryson in Notes from a Small Island. Anyone travelling on the old nationalised rail service will probably chuckle at this reminiscence. This sometimes stale, other times soggy foodstuff captured post-industrial Britain’s failings in between two (always) triangular slices of bread. When…

Once a down-and-out industrial ghost town, the Hayden Tract in Culver City, Los Angeles, has been in a state of perpetual transformation since 1988, at the behest of big-thinking developers and one radical architectural visionary. The area was originally built in the 1930s to service nearby railway sidings, creating a local landscape of single-storey warehouses, which were mostly abandoned. Then came Frederick and Laurie Samitaur-Smith, who worked with architect Eric…

As designers become better known, they grow more accustomed to talking about themselves. Some let it go to their heads (we’re not naming any names), but most don’t, understanding that self-analysis and self-promotion is a necessary evil. Here at onoffice we’re used to meeting those famous sorts, so meeting Lucy Abbott is as refreshing as it is surprising. Having only recently set up her own practice after years of being…

In 1999 a new kind of workplace was introduced to Australia. It was flexible, progressive, and aimed at improving communication, sharing knowledge, and encouraging teamwork. The workplace was Campus MLC – the refurbishment of an iconic office building in North Sydney by BVN Architecture for wealth management organisation, MLC (since renamed MLC & NAB Wealth). Fast-forward 13 years and the fit out was once again in need of rejuvenation. Rather…

In Italy – the land of fashion, glamour and general stylish living – the processing of durum wheat might not seem the most auspicious of starting points. But food is the Italian passion above all others, and it’s the reason these offices were built. Casillo, the client here, is one of the big players in producing carbs, and it needed a new headquarters. The result, which sits in the shadow…

Office Next Moscow, Russia’s only dedicated office design show, continues to grow with a new German pavilion launching at this year’s event. A group of 10 brands will exhibit under the Made in Germany umbrella, including Interstuhl, Walter Knoll, Büromöbel and Assmann. They will be alongside other leading brands in the main show, such as Bene, Bisley, Dauphin, Herman Miller, Interface, Kusch + Co, Steelcase, Walter Knoll and Wilkhahn, as…

Making Designers exhibition will show the school work of well-known design stars, to inspire tomorrow’s generation of industry leaders.  Before they were stars of their industry, top designers like Jay Osgerby, Michael Marriott, Linda Morey-Smith and Matthew Hilton were curious school students exploring the DT workshops. The foundations of their careers were made there, among the dusty band saws, and the models they knocked up have come to represent their…

The 188m-tall Vattanac Capital Tower in Phnom Penh by Farrells architects will be the tallest building in Cambodia when completed. It is currently under construction and expected to finish late 2013, but has already won the Best Commercial Development prize at the South East Asia Property Awards. The design is inspired by the shape of a dragon’s back, and comprises one six-floor floating office tower and one 39-floor tower with…