Thursday 16 November Will Alsop on the future of the ICA
Thursday 14 December Richard Rogers on a strategy for the ThamesAll lectures start at 7pm, Jarvis Theatre, Royal Institute of British Architects, 66 Portland Place, London W1N 4AD. The RIBA Architecture Centre/Independent programme of public lectures on architecture in service of the public realm continues this autumn. Future subjects for discussion are the relocation of the ICA from the Mall to a bridge across the River Thames and a long-term strategy for the Thames itself There will be a fresh programme of lectures next spring. Then, a touch wistfully: “I think the names Calvin Klein and John Pawson go well together.”. But when a suitable London-based store is found, his status as court architect will no doubt work in his favour. “People have said we are a very good match,” he says, sipping a cappuccino in a west London coffee shop and smiling coyly. No more photo shoots, no more weekends at the Long Island retreat, no more long conversations with one of the world’s top designers.

Time to do what? “Time for the maintenance man to become a permanent fixture. Time for the cleaners to learn how to scrub properly”.Pawson’s life has calmed down since the opening of the New York store. Already the staircase walls are scuffed and the paintwork dirtied Pawson says these are just teething problems That the shop “just needs a bit of time”. “Looking at beige and white all day can be tiring.”She should have rested her eye on some of the “homely” stains on the walls. They didn’t feel nostalgic for clutter and colour, but I did overhear a sales woman praising a customer’s luridly bright cardigan “It is so refreshing to see colour around here,” she said.

The white, too, became wearisome; to work in such an environment must require a certain act of will Sales staff were polite about the set-up. The gallery feel of the place put me off fingering the “masterpieces”. They respond physically to what is around them.”But do they buy? “Yes,” says Pawson. “Up to 1,000 people an hour walk through on a Saturday.” But do they buy? “Yes,” says Klein, “although right now this place is a bit of a novelty in New York – many of our visitors are architecture or design students.”I didn’t buy.

Here, the aesthetic of the art gallery meets that of soft jumpers and sleek suits.Klein is pleased.”I can’t see myself wanting to change anything, at least not for another 10 years.” Pawson, too, is satisfied with the outcome “I see people walk into the shop and exhale a breath. Long stretches of glass interspersed with Ionic pilasters sprouting from a floor of camel-coloured York stone create a chaste, temple-like effect This effect conspires to elevate clothes into works of art. Klein wanted customers to move easily; Pawson liked the idea of forcing them to walk through narrow gaps into big white spaces.The end result does not look like a compromise. Klein wanted furniture; Pawson to keep the shop furniture-free. I go for softer materials, shadows, blurred lines,” says Pawson. Klein got to hear (as clients inevitably do) about Pawson’s past: Eton, Oxford, his four years in Japan, two years at the Architectural Association, how his grandparents were primitive Methodists, how his parents taught him not to invest emotions in objects, how he appears regularly in the diary pages of the British Vogue.There were disagreements: “Calvin likes contrast Sharp lines Surprises.

We never got up from the table,” says Pawson.Pawson learnt to admire Klein for his endless energy, commitment and patience. It’s so easy to order by telephone.” So the new shop would be a place to “hang out”.Working for Klein was clearly a demanding experience: several months of eight o’clock starts and eight o’clock finishes “Meals would be brought to us. He understood that neutral backgrounds can make the object of envy more potent He also understood the need to pamper customers “Customers don’t have to go shopping any more. He took this with him on a flight to London and was impressed.”I wanted to create a space that would act as a canvas for my clothes It had to be gallery-like White walls Nothing else,” says Klein.Pawson knew what he meant. But lunching at the Royalton on west 44th street, the hotel’s owner, Ian Schrager, gave him a monograph on Pawson’s work. “But a neutral environment allows people to be the focus rather than the decor.