HOSPITALITY DESIGN INSIGHTS

The Victorian glasshouse, from orangeries and the Wardian case to Chatsworth, Kew's Palm House and Temperate House, and Singapore's cooled conservatories.

The Japanese tea house, or chashitsu, from Murata Juko's four-and-a-half-mat room to Sen no Rikyu's two-mat Taian, its nijiriguchi and roji path.

The Aesthetic Movement explained: Gautier and Pater, the Grosvenor Gallery, Godwin's furniture, Liberty & Co, blue-and-white china and Wilde's 1882 tour.

How the Tuscan farmhouse, or casa colonica, worked under mezzadria sharecropping, from the Val d'Orcia landscape to ribollita and Chianti.

Limewash and whitewash history, from Andalusia's white towns and lime kilns to conservation advice on painting old brick and New York's 1904 subway tile.

The Roman Theatre of Amman, built in 2nd-century Philadelphia under Antoninus Pius, read through Vitruvius and compared with Jerash and Bosra.

How linen is made from flax, from 30,000-year-old fibres in Georgia and Egyptian royal linen to Flemish retting, Belfast mills and Europe's flax belt.

Spanish wrought iron explained: the Catalan forge, the rejeros and the cathedral rejas of Seville, Granada and Valladolid, through to Gaudí's Casa Vicens.

Amman limestone explained: the Cretaceous and Eocene stone quarried from Ma'an to Ajlun, its tubzeh and musamsam finishes and the rules behind its façades.

Yakusha-e kabuki actor prints, from Torii school theatre signboards and Edo playbills to Sharaku, Kunisada, Osaka kamigata-e and the 20th-century poster.

Post-and-beam framing explained: medieval crucks and box frames, half-timbering, Horyu-ji, New England houses, balloon framing and mass timber.

Mason jar history, from Nicolas Appert and John Landis Mason's 1858 patent to Ball, Kerr, USDA canning guidance and the jar's use as a drinking glass.

A history of the market hall, from Leadenhall and Les Halles to La Boqueria and Markthalle Neun, and how covered markets became today's food halls.

Biophilic design explained: E.O. Wilson's biophilia hypothesis, what research shows about plants, views and wellbeing, and why hotels bring nature indoors.

The history of the hotel buffet: the French word, the Swedish smörgåsbord and julbord, the 1939 New York World's Fair and the first Las Vegas buffet.

The history of the chef's table, from Edo sushi stalls and Osaka kappo counters to the open kitchen, L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon and Michelin-starred counters.

Hotel event space design from the Gilded Age ballroom and the Waldorf-Astoria to divisible halls, lounges, rooftops and a US$1.3 trillion events industry.

How Cantonese fine dining evolved in Hong Kong, from late Qing Guangzhou and post-1949 chefs to banquet restaurants, hotel dining rooms and MICHELIN stars.

Jakarta's Golden Triangle grew from the 1962 Asian Games avenues of Sudirman and Thamrin into a business district of towers, interchanges and MRT stations.

Gassho-zukuri farmhouses of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama: how their steep thatched roofs were built, rethatched by yui and used for silk and saltpetre.

The seven hills of Amman explained: Rabbath Ammon, Roman Philadelphia, the Umayyad Citadel, the 1878 refounding and a limestone city across its jabals.

Times Square history from Longacre Square's carriage trade to the 1904 renaming, the theatre building boom and Broadway's 1920s peak in New York.

Petronas Twin Towers history: César Pelli's eight-pointed plan, the 1998 completion, the skybridge and the 1996 height dispute with Chicago.

Dubai pearl diving and Jumeirah history, from the Abbasid trading site and Lorimer's 1908 survey to the summer dive and the 1930s collapse of the pearl trade.