Audacious futurism - The forward-thinking work of a singular architect Zaha Hadid is a wildly controversial architect, who for many years built almost nothing, despite her designs winning prizes and critical acclaim. Some even said her work was unbuildable. Yet over the past decade she has completed numerous structures including the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, the MAXXI Museum in Rome, the Guangzhou Opera House, and the London Aquatics Center for the 2012 Olympics. Today, Hadid is firmly established among the élite of world architecture, her audacious and futuristic designs having catapulted her to international fame. Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des Arts for over 20 years. His books include TASCHEN’s Architecture Now! series, and monographs on Tadao Ando, Norman Foster, Richard Meier, Jean Nouvel, and Zaha Hadid. He is internationally renowned as one of the most popular writers on the subject of architecture.

The desk is a place of work and of action, but it also serves as a place to exhibit personal things and preferences. Thus it always characterizes in two ways a material and symbolic unity. The desk is not only very informative in itself, but also must always be studied and understood in the context of its cultural, gender-specific, and field-related surroundings. The focus of this study is a comparative analysis of the use of desks. Desks in insurance companies, banks, administrative authorities, call centers, and design studios in twelve countries on all continents were studied. This publication presents the results in the form of extensive visual material, empirical analyses, and critical essays. The study was carried out by the Koeln International School of Design (KISD) in collaboration with universities in Hong Kong; New York; Seoul; Taipei; Curitiba, Brazil; Pune, India; Auckland; Milan; and Fukuoka, Japan.

A talented artist since childhood, Karim's sketches are bursting with vitality and optimism. His drawings all exhibit a visual consistency and confidence of line that is impressive in its visual form and its communicative power. In his global design practice, Karim's sketches are the conceptual reference point for all project development work. Karim's award-winning designs include objects such as the ubiquitous Garbo waste can and Oh Chair for Umbra, and interiors such as the Morimoto restaurant in Philadelphia and the Prizeotel in Bremen. Karim has collaborated with clients to create designs for Method and Dirt Devil, furniture for Artemide and Magis, brand identities for Citibank and Hyundai, high-tech products for LaCie and Samsung, and luxury goods for Veuve Clicquot and Swarovski - all of which are featured in this book.