A Sauna With a View in the Italian Dolomites, and Other News

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A Sauna With a View in the Italian Dolomites

Network of Architecture (NOA) is the master of views in South Tyrol. Over the past couple of years alone the Italian studio has perched a Corten steel viewing platform, Ötzi Peak 3251m, on a rocky ridge overlooking the Schnals Valley Glacier, fashioned a café and swimming hut on the banks of the idyllic Völser Weiher lake, and erected ten treehouse suites on stilts at Parc Hotel Florian, in the Alpine village of Siusi allo Sciliar. Now, revisiting a 2016 project, Hotel Hubertus, notable for its cantilevered glass-bottom pool, the firm is quite literally raising the bar with the addition of a gravity-defying wellness center.

Called the Hub of Huts, the skyward village of inverted micro-structures is accessed by a suspended walkway that leads to three pools, two saunas, and showers with panoramic mountain vistas. The bi-level construction is arranged so guests descend from the cooler waters on the top platform into the hotter, wooden environs of the saunas below. The effect is meant to evoke a journey into the center of the earth even as you’re suspended high in the air among the snow-capped Italian Dolomites. —Nate Storey

Martine Syms’s debut feature film satirizes the trappings of a whitewashed art world.

“Martine Syms’s delicious art-world satire The African Desperate begins with a scenario that will be triggering for many: the rolling out of cheese cubes, orange wine, and black olives for an all-white MFA review board. Palace, the fictional 30-year-old artist making these preparations, appears tense. She knows what’s coming. She expects the barrage of references to theorists like Édouard Glissant and Fred Moten, the microaggressions, the intellectual swaggering that she will have to endure. The African Desperate, which releases theatrically this week, is a parody of how MFA programs try to fashion budding artists into preconceived notions of how the powers that be think these young artists and their work should function. It’s also an uproariously funny film about how, whether knowingly or not, young artists are performing—or failing to perform—those ready-made roles.” [H/T ARTnews]

Christie’s teams with Galerie Myrtis to auction work by six contemporary Black artists.

“At a time when galleries and museums are focusing on diversity in the artists they show, Christie’s auction house this month will collaborate with the Black-owned Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore to sell a selection of work by six contemporary Black artists. The paintings, to be featured in Christie’s “Post-War to Present” sale on Sept. 29, were all chosen by Myrtis Bedolla, the founder of the gallery. Among the artists whose work is featured are Monica Ikegwu, who focuses on Black portraiture; Morel Doucet, a Miami-based multidisciplinary artist; and Larry Cook, a Washington-based photographer.” [H/T The New York Times]

Sou Fujimoto’s new Hungarian House of Music blends in with its leafy surroundings.

“For the senses, the House of Music unites the sight of the forest with the joy of listening. This exceptional work stands amid the trees of Budapest’s central City Park and was composed by Sou Fujimoto. Though based in Tokyo, the architect grew up in rural Hokkaido—he knows his way around the woods. Keen to echo the space sheltered by a canopy of trees, Fujimoto enclosed the building in glass walls and a perforated roof that exposes patches of blue sky and allows rays of light to filter down as if between leafy boughs.” [H/T Architectural Record]

The city of Milwaukee officially declares September 16 to be Santiago Calatrava Day.

The city of Milwaukee has dedicated Sept. 16 to Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava to commemorate the Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The announcement came during a visit to the museum by the 71-year-old architect to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the building’s opening in Oct. 2021. Milwaukee’s mayor Cavalier Johnson presented Calatrava with a plaque commemorating the occasion and thanked the architect for jumpstarting ‘Milwaukee’s renaissance.’ The mayor read a proclamation that referred to the pavilion as an ‘icon for the city of Milwaukee and a touchstone of civic pride.’” [H/T Dezeen]

Les Architectes FABG will design a pavilion dedicated to Jean-Paul Riopelle in Quebec. 

“The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Québec City is planning a $32.6 million blowout to mark the 100th birthday of the province’s most famous modern artist, Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923-2002). Ahead of the renowned abstract painter and Refus Global manifesto co-author’s centennial next year, the museum has picked Montreal-based architecture firm Les Architectes FABG to design a luminous, terraced new pavilion to display its trove of Riopelle works, the largest public collection in the world. The Espace Riopelle pavilion is expected to open to the public in late 2025 or early 2026.” [H/T The Art Newspaper]

Gabriela Hearst, Peter Do, and Emily Bode are nominated for this year’s CFDA Awards.

“The CFDA announced its nominees and honourees for the annual CFDA Awards, including Catherine Holstein for Khaite, Christopher John Rogers, Gabriela Hearst, LaQuan Smith and Peter Do for the American Womenswear Designer of the Year. Christopher John Rogers took the title last year. This year’s winners will be announced at the organization’s Nov. 7 event, which will also mark the CFDA’s 60th anniversary. Emerging Designer of the Year nominees are Bach Mai, Carly Mark for Puppets and Puppets, Colm Dillane for KidSuper, Elena Velez and Lauren Harwell Godfrey for Harwell Godfrey. Nominees for American Menswear Designer of the year are incumbent Emily Bode Aujla for Bode, Jeremy Lorenzo for Fear of God, Mike Amiri for Amiri, Thom Browne for Thom Browne New York, and Willy Chavarria. The CFDA’s nominees for Accessory Designer of the Year are Brother Vellies and 15 Percent Pledge founder Aurora James, Luar’s Raul Lopez, Brandon Blackwood, Coach creative director Stuart Vevers, and Telfar designer Telfar Clemens.” [H/T Business of Fashion]

WhatsApp’s first-ever film commission features NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo. 

“WhatsApp, the popular messaging app owned by tech giant Meta, is releasing its first original entertainment project this month—a short film featuring NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo. Born in Greece to Nigerian parents, Antetokounmpo was named the 2021 NBA All-Star MVP and led the Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA Finals title that year. In the 12-minute film, titled Naija Odyssey, the pro basketballer ‘tells his origin story of many origins as he reconciles his roots, birthplace, and sense of belonging between cross-cultural worlds.’ The athlete inked an endorsement deal with WhatsApp in February of this year.” [H/T NBC]

Today’s attractive distractions:

Crabs could soon emerge as an unlikely hero for the battery industry.

Wolfgang Tillmans curates a danceable playlist for his MoMA exhibition.

Are savvy shitposts and dick-joke discourse the future of design criticism?

New research into cannabis debunks the hackneyed “lazy stoner” trope.