Farshid Moussavi photographed in her Belgravia offices - the same office where Thomas Cubitt drew up plans for the area.photograph via Luxury/Telegraph

Architect and Royal Academician Farshid Moussavi was nominated by Caroline Roux for her unique ability to provide the unexpected.

"I had to leave Iran in 1979, when I was 14, and that experience makes you adaptable and fearless. I feel the same about architecture, approaching every new project from a fresh perspective. Architecture is also full of uncertainties and the unseen – it’s not just about design: the economy can collapse; the local mayor can change. I don’t mind dealing with those kind of outcomes." This pragmatism is combined with a love of fashion from Comme des Garçons, Maison Margiela, Hussein Chalayan, and very high heels.''

The Iranian-born, UK and US-educated architect and newly elected Royal Academician, 49, received her first big commission aged just 30 – a ferry terminal in Yokohama, which went on to accumulate prize after prize – as part of Foreign Office Architects. She set up on her own in 2011 and now her 20-strong team works from the very same building where Thomas Cubitt, the architect of Belgravia’s surrounding creamy streets, practised his craft......Continue Reading

> via telegraph.co.uk