Design Notes from Abroad

During a recent visit to UNESCO World Heritage-listed Melaka, Malaysia, I found myself looking beyond the beauty of its historic streets and asking a different question: what can these buildings teach us about designing better for the tropics?  As an interior architect based in Darwin, I am constantly considering our climate.  Heat. Humidity. Monsoonal rain.

Every year, the world’s design industry descends on Milan for Salone del Mobile, the largest and most influential furniture and interior design exhibition in the world.  Walking through the exhibition halls, it would be easy to become distracted by the latest colours, furniture launches and emerging trends. But that is not why I go.  I travel to Milan