OFFICE BUILDINGS

Dear Readers,

whether textile designers occasionally get lost in the Engadine in Switzerland in search of inspiration? Who knows – but the high mountain valley in Grisons is certainly worth a visit, especially for architects, not only because of the Engadine farmhouses finished with sgraffito. In recent weeks, we AIT editors have been on the road a lot: in Pontresina (picture above), Duttweiler, Zurich (page 22), Barcelona, Olot, Pärnu (picture right), Nice, Valencia, Milan, Bologna… and we are happy to share our trouvailles – as long as they are of an interior or architectural nature – with our readers in this and the next AIT issues as well as on our Editor’s Blog on Facebook. By October at the latest, the majority of the working population has returned to the writing desks, and so is the right time for our issue on office and administration. After we have been encountering playful and colourful fun offices in our research for quite some time, where people do not only work but also eat, play and sleep, the authors Lea Hampel and Angelika Slavik answer the question of “why offices are nowadays increasingly turning into playgrounds” (page 126ff). With a certain degree of relief, we have found out that there is an increased number of architects,
interior designers and clients from Melbourne via Guangzhou to Pleidelsheim, who are approaching the topic of office environments in a technical, tidy, serious, and even luxurious way, and these are the ones we have chosen for our main project section starting on page 84. Unfortunately, only half of our readers have chosen to follow our travel tip “A Weekend in Athos” (from page 38) – which has caused considerable discussions within our predominantly female editorial staff. Only male travellers are welcome in the Orthodox monastic republic on Mount Athos. We women can only be consoled by the fact that Oliver Herwig’s article at least provides an insight into the last men’s bastion of Europe. Hopefully, the part of a car shown on the AIT cover will not be the final straw to break the camel’s back. Otherwise you have to write to me!

Best wishes
Petra Stephan, Dipl.-Ing.
Chief Editor
Architect