From her north London home, architect Amanda Levete discusses Design Awards winners Lisbon, Jasper Morrison and more...
‘After London, Lisbon is my favourite city in the world,’ says British architect Amanda Levete. She has played a big part in ensuring Lisbon is crowned this year’s Best City. In October, her Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology opened on the banks of the Tagus river, an elegantly curvaceous 38,000 sq m addition to the city’s waterfront.
Look closely and there’s a bit of Lisbon in her living room, with subtle details such as a fireplace that appears like a slit along one wall. It’s a reference to the artist Lucio Fontana, but it’s hard not to see how its curvy form is echoed in her latest building.
‘Bankside’ seating range, by Designer of the Year winner Jasper Morrison, for B&B Italia
For Designer of the Year, Levete selected Jasper Morrison. ‘His work is about celebrating the everyday, not grandiose gestures. Every move, every connection, is so thoughtful,’ she says. ‘Everything he designs functions beautifully… Jasper doesn’t know the meaning of “overdesign”.’
This year will see the realisation of one of Levete’s dream projects: a new entrance, courtyard and underground gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. ‘I’ve dreamt of working on a major public and cultural project ever since I started as an architect, and it doesn’t get much better than this,’ she says.
As originally featured in the February 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*215)
Levete in her home, with Jasper Morrison’s ‘Bankside’ sofa, left, and ‘Pon’ tables.
INFORMATION
See the shortlist and the winners of Design Awards 2017 in full here, including our extra-special Judges’ Awards
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Wallpaper* Power 200: the world’s top design names and influencersIt’s back with a double helping of provocation and praise. We have plumped up this year’s Power List to a meaty two-ton’s worth of carefully measured rankings, an upscaled calibration of design achievement. As we strongly suspected, last year’s Power 100 caused a considerable stir and provoked strong words. And, as last month’s editor’s letter made clear, even alarming threats of revenge and recrimination. So this year, unchastened, we thought we would do it all again, but double the dose. To mark our 200th issue, the power 100 has become 200. Or rather 100+100 (normal disservice will be resumed next year). And, in a self-congratulatory nod to our keen eye for talent and perhaps the propulsive effect we have had on nascent design careers, we have trawled the Wallpaper* archives, retraced our expert truffling and recovered the debut appearances of future Power Listers. (Look out for long-lost hair, unlined faces and eyes undimmed).
