HD unveils website redesign, Kentucky’s Speed Art Museum commemorates Breonna Taylor in new exhibition, and a former IKEA store could be transformed into an arts center. All that and more in this week’s Five on Friday.
HD launches brand-new website
Hello, reader! Welcome to the new and improved Hospitality Design website. More streamlined and more intuitive, the domain you know and love now features a cleaner format accented by image-driven content that we hope will continue to serve as a font for inspiration and information. “This website is a year in the making, part of an overall refresh of the magazine as well HD Expo + Conference,” says Stacy Shoemaker Rauen, Hospitality Design editor in chief and senior vice president of the Design Group at Emerald. “We felt we needed to match the site with the amazing projects and products we cover every day. It’s a reflection of the ever-evolving direction of the magazine and the industry as a whole.”
Speed Art Museum to hold exhibition honoring Breonna Taylor
Photo courtesy of Flickr
The Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky will commemorate the life of Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her home by Louisville police in March 2020, in a new exhibition. Taylor’s mother selected the forthcoming show’s title: Promise, Witness, Remembrance. Although details on the content of the exhibit have not yet been made public, artnet reports that museum will dedicate five galleries to the exhibit. Curated by Allison Glenn, Promise, Witness, Remembrance will open to the public on April 7th. Admission will be free thanks to a grant from the Ford Foundation.
Essential workers reflect on 2020—and look ahead
The Rockwell Group-designed outdoor dining concept at Buddakan in New York
A year working from home has felt surreal and monotonous for many, but it has also been largely safe. However, 22 million food and agriculture workers, deemed essential, continued to show up and serve on the frontlines of a pandemic in which uncertainty was as pervasive as illness. Bon Appetit recently highlighted a handful of workers—from grocery cashiers in Washington State, to cafeteria managers in Alabama, to DoorDash drivers in New York—who discuss their experiences in the service industry during the last year. Some workers like Pedro Albarran, a pork shoulder deboner and farmer in Vernon, California, also look ahead, eager for a sea change in the industry. “Essential workers across all industries need to be recognized,” he says. “We want these companies to tell us that we are essential, pay us what we’re worth, and provide us with the working conditions that we deserve.”
Empire State Building owner announces wind power deal
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
Did you know that the Empire State Building has been offsetting its energy use through investments in renewable energy sources for more than a decade? Now the New York landmark’s owner, Empire State Realty Trust, plans to expand green offsets across its entire real estate portfolio. According to My Modern Met, ownership announced the purchase of renewable power from Green Mountain Energy to impact its buildings in New York State. A contract with Direct Energy will implement similar sustainability measures for Empire State Realty Trust’s Connecticut properties as well. The agreement entails the purchase of 300 million kilowatt-hours worth of wind energy used across a range of locations—not necessarily within its own buildings. The offsets will ultimately prevent the production of 450 million pounds of carbon dioxide
Former IKEA slated to become arts center
Photo by Zenon Texeira/Flickr
A former IKEA store in Coventry, UK could be reborn as a new cultural destination. Pending an upcoming vote from the Coventry City Council, the shuttered, seven-floor retail space, which closed in March 2020, may soon be home to an esteemed trove of both national and local artwork and collections, BBC News reports. The transformation would establish a key attraction as part of Coventry’s designation as the UK’s 2021 City of Culture. The vote is expected to take place next week.
