From the Architectural Association to a tower in Islington: Ben van Berkel

Before he founded anything, Ben van Berkel studied in London, at the Architectural Association, after the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. London has since received some of his studio's most residential thinking. The Canaletto tower in Islington, 31 storeys on the water, groups its floors into clusters he calls vertical communities, with a residents' lounge and terrace on the 24th floor and a facade whose detailing was inspired by furniture design. Lewisham Gateway and Westfield White City are London projects of his studio as well. The practice behind them began in 1988 with Caroline Bos and became UNS in 1999, the network still widely known as UNStudio.

That instinct for shared space turned into furniture in 2021, when he designed Node+ for LaCividina: an island sofa that can carry partition panels for privacy, padded acoustic screens and built-in desks. In British offices and residential lobbies, where a lounge must also work as a place to take a call, La Mercanti specifies panels and desks together with the sofa.