The architecture of happiness with Omar Gandhi, Alvar Aalto and Louis Kahn

Monocle on Design

This episode of Monocle on Design explores the profound connection between the built environment and human emotion. The hosts discuss curren

Key takeaways

• Architect Omar Gandhi uses the 'demanding landscapes' of Canada and the concept of resilience to inform his architectural language.
• Fashion trends like Y2K aesthetics, including popped collars and specific textures, often precede shifts in interior design.

Main topics

• Fashion Week trends
• Omar Gandhi's architectural practice

Notable quotes

Architecture that's sort of rooted in its place in time always... has a way of reflecting the character of the society that it's developed in.

Conclusion

The episode demonstrates that whether through fashion or monumental ar

Transcript preview

Speaker 7 (0:00) Range Rover is proud to partner with Monocle on Design on Monocle Radio. Speaker 7 (0:05) The original luxury SUV is now available to order with electric propulsion. Built in Solihull, home of Range Rover since 1970, the first ever Range Rover Electric heralds a new era of refinement with uncompromised capability. Quieter, more responsive and with more torque than any Range Rover to date, Range Rover Electric is a combination of peerless design and breathtaking modernity. Range Rover Electric. more Range Rover than ever. Speaker 8 (0:56) This is Monocle On Design, a show where we discuss everything from architecture and craft to furniture and fashion. I'm Nick Manisse. On today's program, Canadian architect Omar Gandhi on how a lifelong passion for baseball still informs his practice today. Then we take a trip to the Estonian island of Sarima to explore how Alvar Aalto and Louis Kahn designed to create happiness. Plus, design and fashion highlights from Monocle's October issue. All that coming up on Monocle On Design. Speaker 8 (1:30) Grace Charlton, Monocle's fashion editor. You're on your fashion. It's really more fashion month, isn't it? In your first official time as fashion editor. Speaker 4 (1:40) Yeah, I'm in Milan. I'm literally patching in from Linate Airport, which is the best airport in Milan, on my way to Paris. And Paris is the last stop on the month-long tour, but it's the longest. It's 10 days. And I always reach a point in Paris where I'm like, oh, this is just my life now. Every day I wake up and it's fashion week and I've got like three to 10 different things to do, as in like appointments to go to or shows to go to. And yeah, wait, you looked horrified for a second. I don't understand. Speaker 8 (2:10) I think this is the difference between fashion and design weeks. Like design weeks really are a week and then you tend to have a break and maybe there'll be something in the next month. But fashion really is go, go, go. Speaker 4 (2:22) Yeah. Also, a lot of people go back and reset between. Milan and Paris, but I actually think it's easier to just keep going. Speaker 8 (2:29) Okay, so we're just pushing through. And for listeners, the horrified look is because we are connecting over video whilst you're sitting in the airport, as you said. I mean, tell me a little bit about what you've seen in Milan over the last few days. Speaker 4 (2:41) I've seen quite a few shows. I think my favorite was definitely Prada. And the set design of that was unreal as well. It was just like this. floor that was illuminated by a series of strobe lights. It was so cool. It was very like Y2K Mark Newsome almost. Former phantasmatist Milanese Studio. They did the set design for Marnie once more. And that was really cute. They did like little blue cubes for people to sit on. Speaker 8 (3:08) What's fascinating there is it feels like Y2K has kind of had a moment in fashion? Is it still having a moment? I guess is my first question. Speaker 4 (3:16) For sure. Also, I think the big trend from this season, another one from Prada is like socks and stilettos. Wow. Speaker 8 (3:22) Which Speaker 4 (3:22) felt very Y2K, but I reckon you could rock it, Nick. Speaker 8 (3:25) Is this me coming into the office, my feet up on the OnDesign recording desk? Okay. So socks and stilettos, is this like the jeans and dress equivalent, but for feet? Speaker 4 (3:36) Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Sort of ugly, cool. Speaker 8 (3:39) Okay, this is what I wanted to ask you. You said some of the set designs have also been Y2K inspired. Do you think we're going to see that creep more and more into interiors everywhere? Are we already seeing it? Speaker 4 (3:50) Maybe. Wait, that's such a good point. Do you think fashion goes first and then it's design? Like the 70s revival? I think so, big time. Speaker 8 (3:58) I think it's... Speaker 8 (4:01) fashion can be a bit more nimble. Their turnaround times, their production times are much quicker than obviously furniture interiors. Even if we go to the scale of architecture, often the things we see built that are in trend have been designed three to five years ago. So it's a much slower kind of churn and appetite. Do Speaker 4 (4:20) you think we're going to see the return of a lava lamp? Speaker 8 (4:23) Oh, big time, big time. I already tried to bring that back like five years ago. Like if you get an orange one, it's Speaker 4 (4:28) a Speaker 8 (4:28) really nice glow at night time. And it kind of made me nostalgic for my childhood, which was already nostalgic, strangely, for my parents' childhood. It's funny how these things go in cycles, like my mum and dad talking about having a lava lamp and then me as a kid also wanting a lava lamp and then bringing it back as an adult. I wrote a column a little while ago on back rooms, and we might have even talked about it on this show, but it had very much this kind of like 90s. aesthetic that I found incredibly nostalgic in terms of the interiors, like big kind of puffy couches, really kind of like muted color palettes, kind of Laura Ashley textile energy. And I don't know what I feel like I can see myself being pulled back towards that. You Speaker 4 (5:08) know what I want to see come back? Inflatable plastic furniture. Big Speaker 8 (5:12) time. Big time. I was Speaker 4 (5:14) desperate for like a bright pink inflatable armchair when I was a kid and my parents were like. No. Speaker 8 (5:20) I actually think my mum did buy one for my sister and it was like, I feel like it was quite a hit. That and beanbags. Are we going to see beanbags come back? Speaker 4 (5:29) Oh my God, that'd be amazing. A fat boy? Oh, huge. Speaker 8 (5:32) A fat boy on a fat boy. To be clear, that's a really nice Dutch brand that does make beanbags. But tell us, the new Monocle magazine is out now as well. It's a style issue. Again, your first time in the helm as fashion editor. Tell us a little bit about the issue. What are some of the stories that you got excited by? Speaker 4 (5:51) So you said the annual style issue, but through the lens of Monocle, what that means is that we put together like our regular top 25 of different brands and like pieces that we really like for the new season. Because this is Monocle, a lot of it needs to be very wearable. But I think the best part of the style directory is the sort of niche little finds in there that you wouldn't see in other magazines. you know, Japanese brands. There's also South Korean brands in there, stuff from Italy. And then, you know, a good Uniqlo blues on for the season that our editorial director, Tyler Brule himself picked out. So, you know, it's, and then there's obviously, there's like a bit of luxury, there's Speaker 8 (6:34) a Speaker 4 (6:34) watch special, there are big interviews. I Speaker 8 (6:38) want to go back to like the wearability side of things. I mean, that's kind of key to our coverage. How do you... kind of reconcile what you're seeing on the runways now versus what might end up in our wardrobe in six to 12 months? I Speaker 4 (6:51) think you always have to keep the runway with what ends up on the racks like really separate in your mind. Some brands do this more than others, but like often on a runway, it's the presentation of an idea or like a universe. And then those designs will be adapted when they hit the shelves, you know, six months down the line. Speaker 8 (7:11) So then I want to know, I guess I'm curious what you've seen that you're going to maybe bring into your own wardrobe. Like you mentioned socks and stilettos earlier, but are we seeing bigger collars at a conceptual stage that we might see then landing on racks? Speaker 4 (7:27) You know what the biggest trend I noticed? It's another Y2K thing, popped collars. Nick, it's time to pop that collar. Gucci style. Oh, wow, wow, wow. Speaker 8 (7:37) I've done it. I've done it over video, Ling. I don't know, but this again brings me back to primary school. Speaker 4 (7:43) It's just so much attitude. It's so good. Demna at Gucci, I think every single look had a popped collar. It was a bit much. And it's sort of those little styling tricks that I look for on the runway more than anything else, like any particular item of clothing. A really good example is Celine. The styling in that is incredible. Like it's the way you tuck a tie or like roll up a sleeve or pop a collar, much like you right now. When Speaker 8 (8:08) I was playing cricket as a kid, you used to pop your collar to protect your neck from sun. So now not only am I being sun smart, but I'm also being very fashionable. I mean,