World Design

New American Design

Identity: Eight rooms, nine lives
Personal identity is a matter of ever-present controversy and negotiation. This exhibition looks at identity through eight figurehead personalities, including Francis Galton, the actor Fiona Shaw, and diarist Samuel Pepys. read more

New embassies in Berlin reveal nationalism in all its stripes
Christopher Wren reckoned public architecture the ornament of a country. By that token, a country’s embassies abroad must surely be the architectural equivalent of those almost useless but somehow typical offerings we take with us to give to foreign hosts. For we British it might be gift packs of tea and marmalade or a bottle of Scotch whisky, or, if we are more frivolous, a plastic policeman’s helmet or Union Jack knickers. read more

Why Britain should let more foreign architects build
During the construction of Lord Foster’s wobbly millennium bridge there was a moment that spoke volumes for British attitudes to the foreign. Foster received Jacques Herzog, the Swiss architect of the Tate Modern, in his office in order to resolve the way his bridge would touch down in the landscaped grounds of the new gallery. Foster spoke clearly, explained patiently, listened little, never doubting he was in the right and in possession of the absolute authority of a colonial governor. read more

Patriot games
The celebrated Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas has responded to a commission from the European Union by creating a new European flag. Inadvertently, perhaps, it signals the reversal of the European project. The design takes the stripes of the 15 EU nations’ flags in all their various colours and widths, and jams them together in one eye-aching technicolor barcode. In the shorthand familiar to European citizens, it is clearly the banner of a “Europe of nation-states”, not a “united states of Europe.” read more