Danei Cesario: Manchester, White Teeth, and Bryant Park

City: Manchester. An industrial past university city with a vibrant nightlife and canals! It’s also my hometown.

Building: La Sagrada Familia. When I saw it for the first time, I cried.

Book: “White Teeth” by Zadie Smith. White Teeth was the first book I read that accurately captured the complexity of identity, culture, race, immigration, and familial histories. Also anything by Margaret Atwood - she has a massive body of work and has mastered the skill of giving voice to a vast range of complex female protagonists; as time goes on her dystopian works seem less bizarre.

Finally, Jonathon Coe’s The Rotter’s Club— it so artfully covers the evolutions of space and time for a group of friends growing up in Birmingham. I got into architecture because spaces act as a time capsule for many people. This book echoes that sentiment.

Film: El Secreto de sus Ojos. The skin I live in. I like foreign films and films with great plot twists that make me say “No way” aloud to the screen. I don’t watch a lot of stuff, but entertainment with that effect makes it so worth it to me.

Public Space: Bryant Park - an ever-vibrant mixed bag of all sorts with a sordid past.

Architect (that is also a woman): Zaha Hadid. She really pushed the envelope with her innovative approach to space-making. I am very fortunate to have so many close fantastic female friends who are also architects! They make me laugh, share my passion and life events, we cheer each other on in the group text messages and totally understand when its necessary to stop mid-conversation and take a photo of a truly intricate architectural detail.

Restaurant: Besides my mum’s house, Boulevard 572 - the food is magnificent and it’s the site of many family celebrations. Also this restaurant in Plouha where Mario and I saw the sunset after 9pm and had the best meal of our lives into the wee hours of the morning. It’s one of my favorite memories.

Artist: Basquiat, Van Gogh, Shantell Martin, and Zara/Cos for artistry in clothing.

Memory: When my eldest met her sister for the first time. Love and wonder in its purest form.

Object: My wedding set. It symbolizes how my husband and I started and where we are going. It’s been lost or stolen twice and found its way back to me each time. Symbolic?