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London’s Boundary-Pushing Ikoyi Pulls Up the Curtain on a New Home
David Thulstrup’s warm, homey interiors for Copenhagen’s groundbreaking restaurant Noma made him a household name, but Ikoyi might just be the purest expression of his design ethos yet. Rooted in Britain’s micro-seasonality and spices from sub-Saharan West Africa, the two-Michelin-starred restaurant has cemented its place on the cutting edge of London’s culinary scene thanks to chef and founder Jeremy Chan’s innovative methods. Now Ikoyi is elevating its game even higher with a sparkling new space in 180 The Strand, the landmark Brutalist building that once housed the BBC.
Balance and juxtaposition are prominent themes. British oak tables and chairs lined in velvety leather offset imposing slabs of Gris Catalan limestone and copper walls. Thulstrup compares the effect to being inside Iron Man’s glove—hard-edged materials cosseting a warm interior. The evocative dining room finds synergy with Chan’s transcendent menu crafted with sustainable line-caught fish, aged organic meats, and biodynamic vegetables.
The current winter offering features dishes such as smoked jollof rice, grilled lobster, and lobster custard; mussel and saffron crème caramel; and a clam dumpling in a fiery broth of peppercorns that takes inspiration from Nigerian steamed bean pudding, Moin Moin. “The interior needs to be in sync with the ethos of the restaurant,” Thulstrup says. “At Ikoyi, spices from sub-Saharan West Africa are the foundation of the menu but the chefs have a more global approach, so I avoided specific cultural references and aligned the interior with the intensity and boldness of the gastronomy.” —Nate Storey
Calatrava Boulevard in Düsseldorf. Renderings courtesy of Santiago Calatrava…
Santiago Calatrava unveils a complex in Düsseldorf resembling a light-filled canyon.
Santiago Calatrava has unveiled visuals of Calatrava Boulevard, a complex in Düsseldorf featuring a curved and vaulted 135-foot-tall roof and a flowing interior street, conjuring the appearance of a sculptural, light-filled canyon. Slated for completion by 2028, the building features an accentuated entry point underneath the curved roof while remaining below the typical height of buildings in the North Rhine-Westphalia state capital. Landscaped roof terraces also contain integrated solar panels to align with the city’s sustainability goals. The announcement follows Calatrava’s completion of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which replaces a building destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Two paintings worth six figures go mysteriously missing from the Kunsthaus Zürich.
Two 17th-century paintings worth a combined “medium-six-digit sum” have gone missing from the Kunsthaus Zürich, one of Switzerland’s largest museums, after the artworks were cleaned last year. The museum has filed a complaint and asked for an investigation against unknown persons, with internal searches leading the institution to suspect that the artworks may have been stolen. The two paintings, along with 700 other artworks, were restored last year after a fire at the museum. “For generations, collectors have trusted the Kunsthaus with their treasures,” director Ann Demeester told Artnet News. “The possibility that, despite great safety precautions, works are currently not to be found [has shaken us.”
The Cooper Union is postponing an exhibition about a former Russian design school.
The Cooper Union will postpone its exhibition “Vkhutemas: Laboratory of the Avant-Garde, 1920-1930” due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The exhibition, which was set to open Jan. 20, was to present student research into Vkhutemas, a Russian design school shut down by Joseph Stalin after ten years in operation. According to Hayley Eber, acting dean of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, the administration is working with “colleagues of Ukrainian descent” to ensure “accuracy and sensitivity” of the presented subject matter before making a choice on whether to move forward with the exhibition.
A proposed casino atop Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Rendering courtesy of Hudson’s Bay Company…
A new casino may be coming to the upper floors of Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
Hudson’s Bay Company plans to convert the upper floors of the flagship Saks Fifth Avenue store in Midtown Manhattan into a high-end casino. According to the plans, the casino would have its own entrance on the ninth floor of the 12-story building, spanning the top three floors, and offer a red carpet-lined entrance, lavish interiors, and a rooftop space that overlooks Rockefeller Center. The company is finalizing plans to attain a gaming license in New York State, and the conversion of the upper floors, which are currently used as swing space, is expected to attract tourists from around the world. This past April, the New York State legislature approved licenses for three new casinos in the city, which led to Caesars Entertainment and SL Green sharing a bid to build a Caesars Palace casino in Times Square.
Gensler becomes the largest architecture firm of its kind with a staff surpassing 3,000.
Gensler has broken a new record by becoming the largest firm of its kind with a total design staff of more than 3,000, according to the Building Design WA100 survey. The global architecture firm has grown by 14 percent over the past year, making it more than twice the size of its nearest rival, HDR, which has a total of 1,404 architectural staff. The company has opened offices in Berlin, Riyadh, and Nashville recently and has a total of 52 offices in six regions across the world, with a reported fee income surpassing $1 billion.
A new Edvard Munch biopic will open the International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Munch, a new film that aims to tell the story of the life of Edvard Munch, the Norwegian painter best known for his iconic work The Scream, will open at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken, the film’s director, used four different screenwriters that each focused on a different period of Munch’s life and four actors to portray Munch at different stages. The film isn’t a typical biopic, but rather an exploration of how Munch evolved throughout his life as a person and artist. “The hardest part was making sure all these parts, despite their distinctive styles, still fit together. I wanted these writers—and actors—to bring their own voice to the film,” Dahlsbakken told Variety. “Munch didn’t have this one big moment when he just ‘found himself.’ He was finding himself his entire life.”
A silk gown recovered from a 17th-century shipwreck. Photography courtesy of The Province of North-Holland, the Netherlands…
