Frame is a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to the design of interiors and products. It offers a stunning, global selection of shops, hospitality venues, workplaces, exhibitions and residences on more than 224 pages. Well-written articles accompanied by a wealth of high-quality photographs, sketches and drawings make the magazine an indispensable source of inspiration for designers as well as for all those involved in other creative disciplines.
Frame
INVERTING THE CITY
SINGAPORE • Justin Zhuang asks Singapore architects to bridge the divide with the migrant workforce that constructs their designs, making the city more liveable for all.
NEWYORK • Emmanuel Oni has something to say: an unsolicited letter to the mainstream architecture and spatial design industries and academia.
business of design
1 What does Sidewalk Labs’ setback mean for the smart city?
2 How livestreaming will impact the design of luxury retail spaces
3 Why the car may soon become a key consumer channel
4 How the gap between the virtual and live fan experience is disappearing
5 Why, post-pandemic, the office will be distributed – not dead
in practice
INFLUENCER • Buenos Aires-born 3D artist and art director SANTI ZORAIDEZ talks about the unlimited possibilities of computer-generated imagery, why it’s important to find a balance between the real and the surreal, and how digital channels can transform product presentation.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED • BJARKE INGELS talks about how he was destined to be a graphic novelist, designing his own curriculum, get-rich-quick schemes, the importance of partnerships and why 150 is a magic number.
INTRODUCING • The foursome behind MLKK discuss balancing commercial aspirations with social responsibilities, resurrecting elements from their Hong Kong heritage, and what it means to be designers in today’s crisis-plagued climate.
THE CLIENT • CEO of international coffee brand % Arabica, KENNETH SHOJI explains how to go hyper-local and global, why he collaborates on the design of every store and what his team is doing to prepare for coffee’s next pandemic-induced wave.
WASTE NOT • Our flush-and-forget relationship with human waste is causing serious environmental issues. Laufen’s innovative urine-diverting toilet takes care of the problem – and users won’t even notice the difference.
spaces
MONASTIC MODERN • In each issue we identify a key aesthetic trend evident in our archive of recent projects and challenge semiotics agency Axis Mundi to unpack its design codes. Here, we look at how a typology of spaces offer clarity and sanctuary from the heated distortions of the world outside.
CONCEAL/REVEAL • Bricks are more commonly associated with solidity than transparency. Any windows in a brick building’s façade are usually framed by the blocks, not within them. In Iran, Hooba Design Group took the material in a completely new direction for Kohan Ceram’s headquarters, turning the building into a billboard for the brick manufacturing company’s expertise.
NONBINARY BY DESIGN • A new wave of brands is rising to meet the increasing demand for gender-neutral beauty products. But what about spaces dedicated to the cause? For a salon in Kiev, Balbek Bureau takes a leaf out of the nonbinary-brand marketing manual, opting for more inclusive messaging by breaking away from gender distinctions.
READY FOR ACTION • While many venues have had to dilute their designs in order to reopen after lockdown, MAAT’s makeover by SO-IL was able to live up to the architects’ original intention. Not only that, but at a time when the fate of certain typologies remains uncertain, the intervention was conceived as a ‘polyfunctional civic arena’ where the public can play a role in prototyping the future...
