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A Sensorial Piano Bar Channels Old-World Glamour in New York
Drawing inspiration from iconic European drinking dens such as Bar Hemingway at the Ritz Paris and Dukes Bar at Dukes London, The Nines is a sultry new addition to downtown Manhattan’s nightlife scene. Situated above the mainstay subterranean club Acme, the piano bar is festooned in sumptuous details: House of Hackney’s “Wild Card” Carpet, red corduroy settees, gilded accents, and vintage Murano glass chandeliers hand-selected by owner and restaurateur Jon Neidich, who collaborated with local firm Springs Collective on the design.
The menu mirrors the ones found in those grand hotel dining rooms, too, with caviar, tartares, smoked salmon blini, and club sandwiches. Renditions of classic cocktails—sherry-spiked Martinis, daiquiris blended with a mix of rums and lemon—anchor the beverage program. A rotating cast of New York piano players, including Sam Behr, Yosef Munro and Darnell White, will cover everything from Chaka Khan to the Rolling Stones.
Taoxichuan Hotel. Photography by Wenstudio…
David Chipperfield Architects and AIM Architecture designs a ceramic-inspired hotel in China’s porcelain capital.
The just-opened Taoxichuan Hotel is an ode to its location in China’s porcelain capital, Jingdezhen. David Chipperfield Architects and Aim Architecture are behind the concept, which is designed to mirror the process of porcelain production: origin (lobby), creation (lounge), discovery (ballroom), fascination (restaurant), appreciation (spa and pool), and return (guestrooms). Playing off Chipperfield’s contemporary brick exterior, Aim “extended the architecture” into the interiors with brick accents. Throughout the property, ceramic textures reflect different porcelain techniques: the lobby’s green celadon glazing, cobalt blue in the restaurant and spa, and earthy clay hues in the 196 guest rooms.
Pace Gallery is merging with Kayne Griffin to expand its footprint on the West Coast.
As Frieze Los Angeles nears, Pace has announced it will merge with Kayne Griffin to open a new flagship gallery in the city. Kayne Griffin partners Bill Griffin and Maggie Kayne will become managing partners of the new flagship, which will open this April. “Los Angeles has always been a magnet for artists, and its position as a center for world-class contemporary art has been growing stronger,” Pace president and CEO Marc Glimcher said in a statement. The news seems to confirm a larger trend of major galleries expanding to Los Angeles—David Zwirner, Gagosian, and Hauser & Wirth have all recently increased their footprint in the city.
NASA will “de-orbit” the International Space Station by dunking it in the Pacific Ocean.
The International Space Station (ISS), which has hosted astronauts almost continuously since its launch in 1998, will come to a watery demise in 2030. NASA has announced plans to “de-orbit” the spacecraft, which will make a dramatic splash-landing into a remote part of the Pacific Ocean called Point Nemo that has become known as a cemetery for decommissioned satellites and other space debris. NASA plans to transition from a dedicated space station to renting commercial space ventures, a move they estimate will save $1.3 billion in 2013 alone.
Japan’s ephemeral igloo restaurant, which features 20 snow huts, opens in Nagano.
The annual igloo restaurant Kamakura has popped-up in the village of Nagano, serving up the centuries-old specialty, noroshi nabe, in 20 private snow huts. Patrons come for the hot pot dish, made from locally grown vegetables, mushrooms, and miyuki pork, after a day of sledding; at night, the igloos are set aglow by lanterns.
Twitter quickly figures out that Gwyneth Paltrow’s Ruth Asawa sculpture is a knockoff.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s sumptuous Montecito home made the internet rounds after being featured in Architectural Digest, but a very specific art-loving slice of Twitter was questioning whether a woven wire sculpture hanging near the actress and lifestyle connoisseur’s sofa was actually by Ruth Asawa. The magazine soon clarified that the artwork, which resembles a sculpture by the late Japanese American artist, was actually not by Asawa. It’s actually by D’Lisa Creager, who learned Asawa’s wire looping technique at a workshop taught by one of her daughters.
A “powerful anti-union campaign” derails unionization efforts at SHoP Architects.
The bargaining unit aiming to unionize at SHoP Architects haspulled its petition from the National Labor Relation Board. The group of employees, known as the Architectural Workers United, blamed a “powerful anti-union campaign” on the decision. “At this time, after internal meetings and messaging from leadership, a number of SHoP employees have expressed a preference for an alternative way to address the issues that have been brought to light,” the statement read. “We do not yet know what that will look like, and we do regret that pulling the petition removes the opportunity to vote democratically, but we feel compelled to honor all voices and the current majority opinion.”
Kaleidoscope by STUFISH Entertainment Architects. Image courtesy LEAP…
Today’s attractive distractions:
Supply chain woes have now come for McDonald’s French fries in Indonesia.
MIT researchers are hard at work developing insect-size flying microrobots.
