Venus Williams talks wellness and community, an oversized 3D-printer will soon build a community in Mexico, and a major development on New York City’s West Side opens to the public. All that and more in this week’s Five on Friday.
SOM unveils Manhattan West
Photo by Jakob Dahlin
Decades in the making, the mixed-use behemoth Manhattan West has been completed in New York. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) designed three of the six buildings spread across the seven million-square-foot complex, which comprises retail, office, hospitality, and residential facilities. The city’s latest redevelopment effort to transform unused railway spaces, Manhattan West links several Far West Side neighborhoods through its “urban corridors,” beginning at Penn Station and running west toward the Hudson River, ArchDaily reports. In addition to the One and Two Manhattan West office towers, the project includes the 23-story Pendry Manhattan West hotel, designed by Gachot; a 62-story luxury residential volume known as Eugene; the revamped Loft Building; and Five Manhattan West—all of which are fully open. Construction on the project is slated to conclude in 2023.
DesignWell Featured Conversation: Venus Williams
Photo by Kevin Sturman
Available now to stream on demand, tennis champion and V Starr founder Venus Williams chats with HD editor in chief Stacy Shoemaker Rauen about her definition of wellness and how it informs her approach to the design of spaces like the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center in Washington, DC and the spa at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach, Florida. Register to watch the interview, presented IWBI | International WELL Building Institute, on DesignWell.
Hilton ponders the future of business travel
As many of us ease back into work travel, we’re also reassessing how we feel about it. Business publication Morning Brew polled more than 7,000 of its readers to learn more about what traveling for business means right now. The business publication paired its data with insights from Mark Weinstein, Hilton’s global head of marketing and loyalty. Findings show that 87 percent of respondents miss traveling for work, yet only 40 percent of those polled said they would opt for a job with travel components over one without the benefit. Perhaps most importantly for the hospitality sector, 48 percent agreed that they looked forward to loyalty point programs and rewards when traveling and 78 percent agreed or strongly agreed that using points and rewards was a major business travel bonus.
EU to vote on universal charger mandate
The European Commission—the executive branch of the European Union—has pushed forward proposed legislation that would mandate smartphone manufacturers and other electronics makers equip devices with a standard USB-C charging port. In addition to smartphones, tablets, cameras, headphones, portable speakers, and handheld gaming consoles would each be impacted for the legislation, according to CNBC. The proposal is part of a revised Radio Equipment Directive that will be required to pass a vote in European Parliament before becoming a law. If the law passes, manufacturers will have two years to comply with the legislation.
3D-printed houses rise in Mexico
Photo courtesy of New Story
San Francisco-based nonprofit New Story is using 3D-printing technology for good, as it is spearheading efforts to provide 500 3D-printed homes for residents outside of Nacajuca, Mexico. In partnership with Mexican social housing production company, Échale, New Story is crafting 500-square-foot units with two bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, and indoor plumbing. Each unit is composed of lavacrete, a proprietary concrete mixture, and is completed within 24 hours. According to the New York Times, some of the existing units have already withstood a 7.4-magnitude earthquake. Nacajuca may mark the birth of a new revolution. The Times also reports that the 3D printing industry is poised for a major boom. The market is forecasted to yield a value of $55.8 billion by 2027.
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