Hotel Designs Brit List HDBritList_eventGuide | Page 34
IN CONVERSATION
WITH: CHARLES LEON,
LEON BLACK INTERIOR
ARCHITECTURE
Charles Leon brings a wealth of knowledge from both sectors
- interior design and architecture - to this year’s judging panel.
Editor of Hotel Designs, Hamish Kilburn, picked
his brains ahead of the event to discuss the future of hotel design…
As an architect and the Past President of the BIID, Charles Leon has interesting ideas of where
British architecture and interior design is heading. I caught up with Leon to find out more about
what inspired him from judging this year’s architecture category of The Brit List 2018.
Hamish Kilburn: Out of the shortlisted finalists
in the architecture category from this year,
what impressed you?
Charles Leon: There is a breadth and depth of
design which focusses on very human-centred
experiences. Each company demonstrated
strong storytelling and narrative, which gave
the projects viewed distinct and unique
identities.
HK: Why is Britain a major architecture hub
within hotel design?
CL: I don’t think it is just architectural design
that thrives in Britain, I think it is all design.
Innovation and design-thinking with humour
is imbedded in English Culture and our
education. The uniqueness of “British” design-
thinking is recognised throughout the world.
This is why we must protect all the humanities
and arts subjects, alongside maths, science
and writing in the school curriculum. They
teach students how to think rather than what
to think. We must ferociously defend these
subjects so that we can encourage the next
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generation of free-thinking architects and
designers.
HK:What can architects learn from interior
designers, and vice versa?
CL: I think rather than learning, there should
be a better understanding of the value that
each discipline brings to a project.
HK: What do you think are the major
challenges for British architects at the
moment?
CL: In the short term, I think the uncertainty
of Brexit is a major challenge. I also believe
that commercial office rental prices in
London will challenge the bottom line of
architectural and design practices and they
may be forced to look elsewhere, perhaps
abroad. In the medium-to-long term it is the
education of the next generation of architects.
However, architects and designers are highly
resilient and resourceful and will always find
ways to solve objective problems.