Foster + Partners plans expansive all-electric tower in New York, hotel restaurants enlist AI to tackle waste, and meet all of this year’s HD Awards finalists. All that and more in this week’s Five on Friday.
Fashion’s hottest trend? Custom colors by Pantone
A recent article from The Wall Street Journal reports one of the latest trends in fashion iconography is not logos but custom colors. Back in 1998, Tiffany & Co. was among one of the first companies to copyright a color, trademarking its signature blue, which has become synonymous with the brand. Now, more fashion houses are looking to distinguish themselves, working with Pantone to develop custom colors. At Valentino’s recent Fall 2022 show in Milan, the collection featured the brand’s proprietary Valentino Pink PP, named after the label’s creative director Pierpaolo Piccoli. “Color can be used in a lot more ways than a logo can,” says Safian-Demers, editor at Wunderman Thompson Intelligence. “That includes the metaverse…creatives will no longer [are] inhibited by the constraints of reality when it comes to color. They could, in theory, paint the sky, the trees, and even avatars in their brand’s signature hues.”
Soon you’ll need to pre-book your trip to Venice
Long plagued by over-tourism, Venice is rolling out a pilot program to help combat the problem. A recent article from Lonely Planet reports that starting in June, tourists wanting to enter the city will have to book their visit in advance, receiving a QR code to scan at turnstiles at key entry points to the city to gain access. The new system will cap visitors at a maximum of 40,000 to 50,000 per day to encourage use of the system, which also comes with perks like museum discounts. “We don’t want to leave anyone behind or stop people from coming to Venice,” says Marco Bettini, director of Venis, the IT company that created the booking system. “We want people to book in advance, tell us where they want to go, what they want to visit, in order to provide a better quality of service.” There are exceptions for residents, children under 6, and those who plan to stay at least one night in a local hotel.
Foster + Partners unveils New York’s largest all-electric tower
Rendering courtesy of Katy Harris
Beginning in 2019, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began demolishing SOM’s Union Carbide building at 270 Park Avenue, making way for a new skyscraper to serve as its global headquarters. Foster + Partners unveiled the renderings for the new building, which will be New York’s largest all-electric tower with net-zero operational emissions. According to Dezeen, the building will be 100 percent powered by renewable energy from a New York State hydroelectric plant, and 97 percent of the building materials from the demolition were either reused or upcycled. Sitting 60 stories high, the façade of the building features rectilinear forms with diamond-shaped trusses and is designed to immerse the interiors with natural light, 30 percent more than traditional office buildings.
Hotels are using AI to reduce waste
As the realities of climate change can no longer be ignored, solutions for minimizing environmental impact continue to be a priority. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, one-third of the world’s produce, approximately 1.3 billion tons, goes uneaten every year with hotels contributing to the problem. i News reports that some hotels have turned to AI to help combat this issue. By scanning food waste and converting it into data, chefs can find out how much waste is being produced and streamline menus and reduce portion sizes. At Hilton Tokyo Bay, for example, the technology helped cut food waste by 30 percent. At Accor Hotels, the technology is being used in tandem with educating customers who dine with them about food waste and environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gases.
ICYMI: 18th annual HD Awards finalists announced
Jasper Hotel in Fargo, North Dakota; a finalist in the Midscale Hotel Public Space category
Hospitality Design (HD) magazine announced the finalists for the 18th annual HD Awards this week. From more than 1,180 submissions, the finalists in projects and products represent some of the biggest innovations and breathtaking designs in the industry. Winners will be revealed during a ceremony on June 7th at Cipriani South Street in New York. We’ll also honor Design Firm of the Year KTGY Simeone Deary Design Group and Hotelier of the Year Sharan Pasricha of Ennismore. View this year’s project and product finalists, and buy tickets to the event here.
