Places.

Evolving the built environment puts us at a unique intersection. We span technology, economics, local and global regulation, environmentalism, and the health and wellbeing of society. We craft the stage where lives – billions of them – play out every day.

The privilege, magnitude, complexity, and responsibility of this role can sometimes feel daunting. With every innovation, every development in how we work, and each impactful project, the need for more, better, newer seems to follow. The world feels fast, vast, and often out of control. Despite the pioneering developments they may feature, when projects take years to come to fruition, it can feel as though there’s always more that could be done.

So how do we combat that overwhelming feeling? How do we even begin to make changes that keep pace?

We explore.

With the UK having sprung a leak – a steady trickle of skilled professionals tempted abroad by better living conditions and thriving innovation ecosystems – we’re looking at the impact of the ‘brain drain’, plus the chance it presents. If talent follows opportunity-rich environments – exciting science clusters, affordable workspaces, vibrant cities conducive to experimentation – then surely building such pro-growth environments is part of the solution.

Better still: convert existing spaces into incubators, labs, creative complexes that encourage people to drop anchor. What about, with floorspace in spades, transport links, and all that local history, those big old warehouses left over from the manufacturing heyday?

Keeping to the theme of industrial icons thriving into the future, we also check out the bright lights of Bristol’s most famous bridge, complete with new technicolour lighting, and chat with the bridgemaster. He’s sure Brunel would have approved.

Elsewhere, we share thoughts around designing safe cities while keeping beauty and belonging front of mind. Then – speaking of beauty – we take a turn around Vienna’s glamorous Palais Rudolf, soaking up the soft-lit Golden Age guest experience. Enjoy.

Cover image: Heatherwick Studio’s Powerhouse Stadium design

“Our understanding of colour can only be realised through the presence of light.”

Liz West

This immersive creation by artist Liz West, who uses different materials and scales to playfully explore light, has been permanently installed at No.1 St. Michael’s, the ambitious net-zero development that we contributed our services to in West’s home city of Manchester.

Transforming No.1’s main artery into a space for discovery, Double Fizz sees thousands of vibrant triangular stripes, made from ink-injected polyester, overlaid onto mirrored aluminium to create a rich mix of reflected hues symbolising a physical and metaphorical meeting point of colour, people and space. While the lighting creates kaleidoscopic shadows on the polished concrete floor, the stripes soften into a mesmerising mass when viewed from different angles, with forms appearing to change as visitors move through the space.

Karen Francis Senior Lighting Designer, Hoare Lea, interviewed the artist on behalf of global digital platform Women In Lighting at a special inaugural event arranged for the North West

Photos: Charles Emerson

Liz (pictured) explores how sensory phenomena can invoke psychological and physical responses that tap into our deeply entrenched relationships to colour.

The £400m regeneration project on Jackson’s Row is supporting 6,000 new construction and operational jobs and will bring an estimated £300m in benefit to public sector finances.

st-michaels.com

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Exploare.

The future belongs to the curious.

Challenge accepted.

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