DESIGN DISPATCH

Reebok and Eames Office Drop Elephant Sneakers, and Other News

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Reebok x Eames Office

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Reebok’s latest sneaker collection reinterprets classic designs by Eames Office.

“Sportswear brand Reebok has collaborated with Eames Office to release a collection of trainers that reimagines furniture and toys designed by Charles and Ray Eames. Named Eames Office x Reebok Classic Leather, the collection reimagines three classic designs items created by the Eameses—the Eames Elephant, rosewood material and Eames Coloring Toy—as trainers. It is the second collaboration between Reebok and Eames Office that aims to celebrate the legacy of the celebrated 20th-century designers.” —[H/T Dezeen]

Harvard University GSD announces the finalists of this year’s Wheelwright Prize.

“The four finalists for the 2022 cycle of the prestigious annual Wheelwright Prize have today been announced by the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. The quartet of early-career architects [Curry J. Hackett, Summer Islam, Marina Otero, and Feifei Zhou] will vie for the $100,000 prize and a spot besides last year’s winner Germane Barnes on a list of past honorees that includes influential Cooking Sections founder Daniel Fernández Pascual and Belgian design leader Aude-Line Dulière. First established in 1935, the Wheelwright was originally meant to honor GSD alumni and has since expanded to include an international slate of emerging talent as evidenced by the 2022 cycle’s finalist crop, whose research will address a range of complex global issues including climate change, diaspora populations, and coastal erosion.” —[H/T Archinect]

The Andy Warhol Foundation is donating $350,000 for emergency relief in Ukraine.

“The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has committed $350,00 to several arts organizations at the center of the fight for Ukraine’s cultural life, amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country. The emergency funds will aid responses to both immediate concerns, like providing refuge to at-risk artists and safeguarding Ukrainian art, and more existential threats, like assaults on freedom of creative expression.” —[H/T ARTnews]

Kendrick Lamar’s latest music video tours architectural sites in Fort Worth, Texas.

“Fittingly for a Pulitzer Prize–winning rapper, Kendrick Lamar’s new music video has raised the bar for musicians everywhere. Racking up nearly 4.5 million views on YouTube since it was posted three days ago, Lamar’s nearly all black-and-white video for the song “N95” has drawn a lot of eyes to the musician’s new album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, but also, surprisingly, to Fort Worth, Texas, as the city’s local CBS News reports. Whether intentionally or not, with its inclusion of the Fort Worth Water Gardens and the Kimbell Art Museum’s Renzo Piano Pavilion, the music video makes the case for a visit to the town that’s often left in the shadows of nearby Dallas.” —[H/T Architectural Digest]

Hyatt will transform part of Downtown Miami into a massive mixed-use development.

“Another section of Downtown Miami could soon get a makeover. Hyatt Hotels and Miami-based developer Gencom unveiled plans this week to transform the waterfront site of the Miami Hyatt Regency into a massive luxury mixed-use project. The proposal, designed by Arquitectonica, features three skyscrapers. One tower will hold a Hyatt hotel, featuring 615 rooms and 264 serviced apartments. The two others will function as residential buildings, housing 1,542 rental apartments in total.  The current development, located at 400 SE Second Avenue adjacent to Brickell Avenue, was built in 1982 through a city-approved ground lease. It holds the James L. Knight Center theater and a Hyatt hotel, both of which will be demolished if the proposal is approved.” —[H/T Commercial Observer]

Bankrupt department store Century 21 will return to the World Trade Center in 2023.

“Century 21 is making a comeback, back to the very same flagship location on Cortlandt Street across from the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. The reopening of what was one of the city’s most popular and productive retail destinations will happen sometime in spring 2023. Century 21 went bankrupt and liquidated its flagship and all of its other stores in 2020. The Gindis told WWD that the revived flagship will be a streamlined version of the original, and will be running with the assistance of Legends, a company that oversees retail and hospitality operations at landmark establishments, including in New York the MLB flagship on Sixth Avenue; Yankee Stadium, and One World Observatory.” —[H/T WWD]

“ZERO NUKES” by Pedro Reyes in Times Square. Photography by Allison Dinner

Today’s attractive distractions:

Apple’s long-awaited mixed-reality headset could one day be game-changing.

Pedro Reyes’s mushroom cloud installation sheds light on nuclear disarmament.

Gen Z’s embrace of cluttercore (or “bricobracomania”) stems from the Victorians. 

An over-the-top Bel Air mansion falls humorously short of expectations at auction.



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