Monocle Design Directory's Second Edition Looks Beyond Aesthetics to Design's Social Impact

The second edition of the Monocle Design Directory shifts focus from handsome products to design's broader social and economic effects. Its reporting traces Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius in Baghdad, where mid-20th-century commissions from Iraq's ruling powers pushed the capital toward a Western-style model, distinguishing it from Arab metropolises drawn to Soviet inspiration. That architecture, intended to embody a young nation, was ultimately co-opted by dictators but shaped a generation of Iraqi architects, among them Rifat Chadirji, who argued Iraq needed an architecture regional in character and then built one. Near Basel, the Fondation Beyeler's newly expanded campus adds three structures by Peter Zumthor, who told Monocle's Blake Matich, "Let's not make museums too didactic." Spare wall labels, immediate art encounters and large windows linking galleries to the landscape define the result. Saint-Étienne acts as patron and dealmaker, offering creatives affordable studio space and grants to businesses hiring designers to boost its economy, while Brussels-based Rotor revives reuse to build circular economies. Community visits span Kyoto, New York and Florence.