Cultural Union

Tag: Architecture

  • How Charles & Co transformed a historic Amsterdam canal house

    Vicky Charles, co-founder of Charles & Co, speaks to Cultural Union about her studio’s recent renovation of a historic Amsterdam canal house, which features in our book Townhouse.

  • Inside 2026’s most anticipated design-driven hotel openings

    From a landmark restoration in Cartagena to a historic estate in Saint-Tropez, there’s plenty to look forward to in 2026

  • How The Capston reinvents the apartment building with art and design at the fore

    With interiors by Bryan O’Sullivan and an elevated art scheme, The Capston – Ballymore’s legacy residential project next door to the US Embassy in Nine Elms – channels the past to reshape the future of the London apartment building.

  • Desert gem: the Arab Modernist marvel of Zayed International Airport Terminal 1

    This month’s NOMAD design fair shines a light on an unexpected side to Abu Dhabi – the Arab Modernist architectural treasure designed in the 1970s by Paul Andreu.

  • 5 unmissable design and cultural highlights at NOMAD Abu Dhabi

    The travelling design fair NOMAD frames collectible design and art with an exceptional series of culturally resonant locations. We speak to its founder and director, Nicolas Bellavance‑Lecompte, about NOMAD’s first edition in the Middle East, and we round up the essential highlights.

  • How Philippa Thorp built a global design legacy

    As the design company Thorp reaches its 40th anniversary, its founder Philippa Thorp reflects on four decades of creativity and global growth.

  • Four Seasons designer Ed Ng on creating hotels of the imagination

    With clients from Mandarin Oriental to Four Seasons and Rosewood, AB Concept is a design studio that inhabits the global first division. Its co-founder Ed Ng speaks to Cultural Union about the intuition that lies behind great spaces “It’s the sixth sense of the designer,” says Ed Ng, when asked how he anticipates the desires…

  • How Goddard Littlefair reached the global pantheon of design firms

    With a client list that includes Four Seasons, Raffles, Mandarin Oriental, Mondrian and the Berkeley Group, Goddard Littlefair are in a pantheon of true global interior design studios. Jo Littlefair sat down with Cultural Union to explain how they got there. In an era of spectacular property launches, a certain design studio’s name keeps appearing…

  • Sublime Hideaways: 5 of the most evocative remote architectural retreats

    In a hyper-connected, minutely mapped world, the desire to escape off-grid is becoming a primal urge. A book by gestalten, Sublime Hideaways, explores the phenomenon. In Fritz Lang’s 1927 masterpiece Metropolis, the megacity’s workers toil in the sulphurous underbelly of the urban monolith under the watchful eyes of the ruling elite, whose children play in secluded…

  • Åke E:son Lindman on the art of photographing interiors

    Cultural Union speaks to the legendary Swedish photographer, Åke E:son Lindman Åke E:son Lindman has spent decades as one of the most sought-after interior, architectural and landscape photographers, not just in his native Sweden but throughout the world. His work hangs in museums and is offered at auctions; it’s coveted by art galleries and advertising…

  • Design studio DE ROSEE SA on curating atmosphere from London to Lisbon

    Claire Sá and Max de Rosée speak to Cultural Union about their globally respected London and Lisbon-based architecture and design studio, DE ROSEE SA. “We curate atmosphere,” says Max de Rosée – which is as good a description as you’ll ever come across for the ineffable nature of design. It’s also highly apt: while DE…

  • 10 beautiful libraries by architectural photographer Thibaud Poirier

    Over the past few decades, French photographer Thibaud Poirier has assembled an extraordinary series of images of the world’s most beautiful libraries. He speaks to Cultural Union about capturing their power and awe. There is something almost transcendental about seeing a building through the lens of a skilled architectural photographer, as if glimpsing its soul…

  • How Vincent Fournier captured Oscar Niemeyer’s Modernist masterpiece, Brasília

    French visual artist and photographer Vincent Fournier speaks to Cultural Union about Brasília – his extraordinary body of work chronicling Oscar Niemeyer’s mid-century Brazilian capital city The beautiful, compelling and unnerving images of Vincent Fourier have been surfacing with an increasing tempo across the globe, and it’s surely because they speak so eloquently to our need to…

  • 5 Modernist icons with stunning architecture and interiors

    Mid-century Modern is the 20th century’s most enduring and engaging design legacy. With seminal projects from John Lautner, Eero Saarinen and Paulo Mendes Da Rocha, we round up 5 extraordinary examples of Modernist architecture and interiors, curated from Modernist Icons by gestalten It’s now more than 70 years since the term Mid-Century Modern first appeared…

  • Tara Bernerd has created a Baroque Modernist jewel at Rosewood Munich

    In the newly opened Rosewood Munich, the Bavarian capital now has the landmark hotel it deserves Think of Munich, and you might think of BMW, well-heeled Bavarians, the Oktoberfest, FC Bayern Munich and their colour-shifting Allianz Arena. You probably won’t think of hotels. That’s all about to change with the opening of Rosewood Munich – a…

  • 6 Modernist glass houses with incredible design and architecture

    From South America to Northern Europe, here are six extraordinary residences with pioneering use of glass by Modernist architects such as John Lautner and Philip Johnson and their contemporary successors, curated from Glass Houses by Phaidon One of the most dazzling aspects of Modernist architecture is its extensive use of glass – an innovation unlocked by…

  • How Yabu Pushelberg conquered the design world with cinematic beauty

    Legendary Canadian designers Glenn Pushelberg and George Yabu, founders of the Toronto and New York-based Yabu Pushelberg studio, speak to Cultural Union about their unmistakable aesthetic and the design philosophy that continues to drive them To understand why Yabu Pushelberg are held in such high esteem, just step into La Samaritaine in Paris, where the…

  • How creative director Jacu Strauss built a hotel empire on art and design

    Jacu Strauss, creative director of the Lore Group, speaks to Cultural Union about designing their global portfolio of hotels, searching the world for vintage gems – and tangling with the Beauty Committee. Jacu Strauss may just have the best job in the world. As creative director of the Lore Group, he oversees all things design…

  • Brutalist dreams: how visual artist Vincent Fournier photographs past visions of the future

    French visual artist and photographer Vincent Fournier speaks to Cultural Union about his work chronicling the mid-century Futurist and Brutalist structures of eastern Europe We first encountered the work of French visual artist Vincent Fournier at the Civilization exhibition in the Saatchi Gallery in London, where his photography reframed contemporary life as something unfamiliar and other, challenging us to…

  • Natalia Miyar blends glamour with comfort in her dazzling interiors

    Architect and interior designer Natalia Miyar speaks to Cultural Union about her contextual approach to creativity and her residential and hotel projects in London, Ibiza, Miami and beyond. “My job is like a conductor of sorts,” says Natalia Miyar. “I just weave together beautiful parts of things.” The designer is describing the practical aspects of…