An Esteemed Awards Program Trains Its Gaze on Interiors, and Other News

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An Esteemed Awards Program Trains Its Gaze on Interior Design

For more than two decades, the World’s 50 Best Bars has served as one of the industry’s most coveted accolades and a guide for locals and travelers seeking the globe’s most inspired drinking dens. Now the prestigious organization expanding its scope. Starting this year, the Bareksten Best Bar Design Award will honor standout aesthetics and is open to any bar, regardless of age or location.

For design aficionados, the award offers an opportunity to discover innovative and thoughtfully designed spaces that elevate the overall hospitality experience. The award’s six key pillars—innovation, aesthetics, accessibility, ergonomics, ecological compatibility, and emotional quotient—underscore the importance of design in setting the tone and atmosphere for a memorable night out. Judged by a panel of design industry experts, including Alia Akkam, Anirudh Singhal, Bethan Ryder, Paul Semple, Scott Baird, and Shaun Clarkson, the award will be presented at The World’s 50 Best Bars ceremony in Singapore on October 17. “Each year, we try to grow The World’s 50 Best Bars ecosystem [and] this is the brand’s first foray into design,” says content director Mark Sansom. “As it is open to any bar, anywhere in the world, we hope to see some brilliantly designed bars that we’re not yet familiar with thrust into the global spotlight.” —Nate Storey

SOM unveils renderings for the net-zero New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island. 

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill will design the New York Climate Exchange, a net-zero campus on Governors Island in partnership with Stony Brook University. The Exchange will be an international center and regional hub for the green economy, integrating natural elements with mass-timber construction, solar power generation, and existing structures. The living lab will include research labs, classroom spaces, exhibition areas, and greenhouses, while aiming to achieve Tue Zero Waste certification and meet 100 percent of its non-potable water demand.

Google’s giant Downtown West mega-campus and housing complex gets put on pause.

Google’s proposed 80-acre campus, Downtown West in San Jose, is at risk of being an economic zero after the company gutted its development team for the campus and downsized its workforce. The construction project, which was supposed to break ground before the end of 2023, has been put on pause, and no plan to restart construction has been communicated to contractors. The demolition phase of the project took out a number of historic San Jose landmarks and forced the relocation of others.

Prints by op-art pioneer Bridget Riley were among a donation to Habitat for Humanity. 

Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity struck gold when a three-print set by op-art pioneer Bridget Riley was found among a large donation of wall art to its ReStore. The prints, part of a limited run of 100, were expected to sell for up to $35,000 at auction, but the final price after a bidding war reached $88,200, making it the most ever paid for the set. After auction costs, the proceeds will cover most of the cost of building a new volunteer-built home for Habitat for Humanity, demonstrating the unexpected treasures that can be found in unexpected places.

MoMA acquires the barcode-like colophon that Muriel Cooper designed for MIT Press.  

MoMA has acquired the iconic MIT Press colophon designed by Muriel Cooper, known for its barcode-like design, into its permanent collection. The hallmark of modernist design, abstracted from the letters “mitp,” has served as a symbol of MIT Press’s unique design and innovative publishing program for almost 60 years. Cooper, who was the first design director of MIT Press, also designed the covers of Bauhaus and Learning from Las Vegas during her tenure at the school. The colophon was initially offered to Paul Rand, who turned down the project with the request that it be offered to Cooper instead.

Roy Lichtenstein will receive a Whitney retrospective and a new set of postage stamps.

The Whitney Museum will hold a retrospective of Pop Art icon Roy Lichtenstein in 2026 to celebrate his 100th birthday. The announcement coincides with the release of a U.S. Postal Service stamp series that commemorates five of Lichtenstein’s works. His signature style, which imitated the Ben-Day dot printing process used in comic books, elevated mass media into fine art, becoming one of the foundations of the Pop Art movement. The stamps, which include works from both private collections and museums, come in a sheet of 20, along with a photograph of Lichtenstein posing with a model for his 1983 sculpture Brushstrokes in Flight.

The Yale School of Architecture establishes a scholarship in honor of Francis Kéré. 

The Yale School of Architecture has established a scholarship in honor of Francis Kéré, the 2022 Pritzker Prize winner, to support African students pursuing a career in architecture at the school. Kéré hopes that the scholarship will encourage more aspiring African architects to excel at the university. The scholarship will be funded by the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.

Today’s attractive distractions:

Hermès perfumer Christine Nagel owns the world’s most exclusive Birkin.

As DALL-E gains steam, here’s how you can tell if a photo is AI-generated.  

One of the Met’s nighttime guards uses his job to inform his own paintings.

Misha Kahn wants you to judge his new book by its bright, bulbous cover.