Erich Mendelsohn refers to it as "charm", Peter Zumthor as "spiritual quality" when architecture creates an atmosphere that appeals to all the senses, when rooms jingle, light dances, and materials and colors are carefully combined.

After Russia, the Ukraine is the biggest country in Europe in terms of area. While the capital Kiev is characterised by monumental edifices from the Stalin era, in the provincial town of Kharkiv one finds masterpieces of Russian constructivism from the 1920s, in total contrast to the town of Lemberg in the Western Ukraine, where time seems to have stood still since the era of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

A young guy is waiting at the traffic lights next to us wearing a machine gun. While wandering along looking in shop windows, we come across a black and white poster with German text referring to the new paper bag by Munich-based designer Saskia Diez. We are in Tel Aviv, on the trail of the largest conjoined ensemble of buildings in the early international style.

In design, interculturality is currently the big hit. Elements from different cultures are being combined in ever more sophisticated ways. However, the reality in cities like Rio de Janeiro provides a very different picture. Soon the favela could become a model of uncontrolled urban growth in Germany too.

Inspired by colourful leaves the architects Tham & Videgård Hansson create a bold composition of colours and patterns, which flow between the rooms of a large 10-room apartment in central Stockholm.

While it was quite by chance that Haruki Murakami came upon the 100% perfect girl one morning, finding the perfect café in Frankfurt will soon be a reality. This is because very shortly, the café at the Schirn Kunsthalle will shine out in new splendour - and boast a completely new hospitality concept.

The latest issue of Berker Blueprint is dedicated to the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam, a former prison which the Dutch architecture studio MVRDV and numerous designers and artists converted into a design-oriented concept hotel.