Asif khan actor

Asif khan comedian
Asif khan hyundai pavilion
Asif khan architect wikipedia

•

The life and work of Asif Khan

Asif’s latest project, Forests, feels a little like a culmination to date of all these long gestating ideas. It is there he heads next, after a brief detour via the new playground he recently designed for the Hackney school his children attend. Installed as part of London Design Festival and executed with input the horticulturalist Jin Ahn of Conservatory Archives, Forests’ themes of community, collaboration, and contemplation run throughout every aspect of its being. Spread over three sites in close proximity to Old Street, each cuboid forest is constructed from unassuming polycarbonate sheets and filled with verdant plant life courtesy of Jin. Each is designed with a different use in mind — to Connect, Create and Relax — but all with the overwhelming intention to bring communities together. As we arrive at the first forest, Asif illustrates this by gesturing around at the immediate surroundings. A promenade of permanently busy, buzzy bars stretches off in the direction of Shoreditch High Street whilst at Old Street’s roundabout looms the

•

Asif Khan's world of wonder

‘What should we do with the final 25 years of our profession?’ asks Asif Khan. For the past 15 years Khan has been building up his own practice, and things are looking good. During his part 2 at the Architectural Association he was talent spotted to follow Thomas Heatherwick in building a seaside structure at Littlehampton; in 2010 there was a Design Museum fellowship, and at the London 2012 Olympics the exploding red and white planes of the Coca-Cola Beatbox Pavilion. Then there was a slew of lively temporary projects. But now Asif Khan as a practice is competing and winning projects for cultural giants where curation and deep thought are just as much part of the design as drawing up plans and programmes.

The practice’s reworking of Smithfield Market for the Museum of London is due to complete in 2026 and it won the competition for the renewal of the Barbican Arts Centre last year. It designed the 21m-high carbon fibre gates for Dubai Expo 2020 and the 650ha of public realm that has become a new quarter. And it has a mus

•

Asif Khan

Biography

Asif Khan is a British architect and multi-disciplinary artist born in London in 1979.

Working fluidly between buildings, landscapes, installations, and objects, his interests are in profound sensory experience, cultural exchange and the merging of history with the future. He considers each project as “bridges leading to a new world, and a new self.” Based in London, Khan’s studio undertakes projects with a global reach, engaging a wide geographic and cultural range.

Khan’s works investigate universal ideas of beauty, and explores new aesthetic languages through what he calls the “reconnection of art and science”. He often engages sites with layered histories, addressing themes of post-colonialism, community empowerment, and identity.

Khan’s works have been exhibited at prominent venues including the Serpentine Gallery, V&A Dundee, MAAT Lisbon, Vitra Design Museum, Royal Academy of Arts, Milan Salone, Milan Triennale, Federation Square Melbourne, London Design Week, Design Miami, Tokyo Design Week and Sharjah Architecture Triennale, and multiple Olym