Irresistible Godiva chocolate store in Dubai| Themed roof-top gardens for France’s tallest timber tower| Basement highlighted into upbeat fitness haunt| and more...

Chocolates are irresistible, period! And their packaging is something that instantaneously has the adrenaline pumping and the mouth drooling. It’s as if all that one has sight for is just that chocolate and may be more in the vicinity, but nothing else!! The Godiva flagship store that we feature in this issue has its design epitomising this emotion...literally. Its packaging palette directly influences the design schema of the store, grabbing eyeballs and winning hearts... a perfect recipe for the exercise of design meets marketing. Design meets several other disciplines as well – cohesively and interactively, influencing and perpetrating social change. Our story of the themed rooftop gardens proposed by Laisné Roussel and Sou Fujimoto Architects speaks about a global pertinent need – fighting climate change. Cubbism Architects & Interiors’ facade design for a home in Tirupur and Spacefiction Studio’s home in Hyderabad, are both strong architectural corollaries to opening up the interiors to natural light and ventilation and effecting a seamless indoor-outdoor connect despite the conventional four-walls plan. I leave you to discover the rest and bask in the aesthetic and balmy luxury of this issue. Wishing you all a very Happy & Colourful Holi! Warmly, Savitha Hira Editor