Articles by James Wormald

Representing 32% of the global population, Generation Z (those born between 1995 – 2010) accounts for a healthy chunk of the workforce (27% by 2025 and rising every year). These are the fresh young minds employers are fighting to attract. With prospective employers’ impact on society (93%) and a healthy work/life balance (77%) the two biggest motivators in deciding where Gen Z’ers want to work, a large part of any new office building’s design brief is green space.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of mass production, the ownership and use of simple products and services like flush toilets with running water, electricity, heating, and cooling are seen as human rights in many areas of the world. With the majority of homes and residential projects being individually designed and built to order – therefore without the speed and cost advantages of mass production – an underperforming housing construction sector means many people – even in the world’s richest countries – are being denied one of the most basic human rights, having somewhere to call home.

As humans, we’re under the comforting illusion that we’re masters of our own destiny, strong-willed and unaffected by influence. However, the crucial role played by interior design in the success of commercial spaces proves this not to be the case. Every aspect of these environments is carefully crafted to encourage customers to part with their cash—and be happy to do so—from the lighting and temperature to the acoustic and, perhaps most significantly, the visual landscape.

Sloped terrain offers a tantalizing prospect for developers. With breathtaking views over either natural or urban landscapes, often without the realistic possibility of being overlooked by future development, a parcel of land on a slope provides a high reward. However, whether it’s the extra excavation involved to cut and fill or cantilever out on a flat surface, the complications of water drainage, or the loss of light and difficulty of access at the front of the property, building on sloped terrains is not without its difficulties.

When a brief to design a new office space asks for something fresh, energetic, and modern – a space where employees enjoy being and, crucially, enjoy working in, which helps them to focus on individual tasks but also to relax, collaborate, and create – there are few better places to begin than a color wheel. As the world of work and the varied environments it takes place in become less formal and restricted in their design, architects, designers, and, more importantly, their clients are handing the boring, monotone office its redundancy papers and looking outside the establishment at more expressive colorful options.

After becoming used to the comfort and autonomy of remote work, experts predict that workplace culture will never completely return to the way things were. Companies can maximize the productivity of their workforce by blending the flexibility of remote with the creative collaboration of in-person work in a hybrid system; but while spare rooms and kitchen tables have been sacrificed to carve out comfortable workspaces at home, the office space—originally designed around a 100% in-person system—needs to accept change too.

As one of the smallest spaces in the home, shower rooms often find it difficult to get enough light. While bedrooms are given priority to choose the most favored spots alongside exterior walls – giving them access to the fresh air, natural light, and better views provided by windows – sanitary spaces are often left to feed from the scraps in the aftermath, afforded only a sliver of external wall, if any.

As a highly transparent material that stands up to all but the most extreme of weather conditions, is easily formed into any size or shape, and, once formed, will last for thousands of years, glass is still one of the most innovative and crucial materials used in architecture. Although contemporary building practices allow us to form huge, glittering skyscrapers of glass that rise hundreds of meters into the air, the ancient material’s original purpose – to welcome light into weathertight and secure interiors – remains its most important more than a thousand years on.

Set deep within some of the most isolated desert landscapes across the Middle East and further afield, these desert camp hotels offer a way to connect with their surroundings through the solitary experience of open and expansive scenery.

Natural light, fresh air, and a constant, comfortable temperature. These are three of the most basic components we need in our interior spaces. By expanding and increasing the use of glass in contemporary building facades, we can increase natural light. However, to combine these wall-to-wall glazed surfaces with ventilation and temperature control, high-powered technical solutions are often required.