DESIGN DISPATCH

Patricia Urquiola Transforms Michigan's Haworth Hotel, and Other News

Our daily look at the world through the lens of design.

The Haworth Hotel in Holland, Michigan, designed by Patricia Urquiola. Photography courtesy of the Haworth Hotel

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Patricia Urquiola transforms Michigan’s Haworth Hotel into a design showcase.

Raise your hand if you had Michigan’s small town of Holland on Lake Macatawa as the next destination for a Patricia Urquiola hotel. American furniture behemoth Haworth is the backer  behind the 48-room property, which will house visitors to the company’s global headquarters. Situated in a multi-level brick building within the campus of Hope College, the interiors are awash in vibrant hues and standout design. Furniture from European brands such as Cappellini, Cassina, and Poltrona Frau are intermixed with pieces from Haworth, including a modular sofa system designed by Urquiola herself. 

Paris City Council approves a verdant new landscape plan for the Eiffel Tower site. 

In anticipation of the 2024 Olympic Games, Paris will improve the pedestrian experience throughout the city. A crucial component of these plans involves rethinking the green space surrounding the Eiffel Tower. After a series of deliberations, Paris City Council has approved Gustafson Porter + Bowman’s landscape design, which increases green space by 35 percent with new lawn terraces, adds more than 200 new trees, and pedestrianizes the Iena Bridge.  

“Healing” by Aminta Paiz, part of “Patriarchy RIP” curated by Nadya Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot. Image courtesy of the artist

Pussy Riot is curating billboards across the U.S. to shed light on the gender pay gap.

Billboards across the U.S. will soon showcase works by female and LGBTQ+ artists in order to raise awareness about the gender pay gap. SaveArtSpace and Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova are curating the artworks by Michele Pred, Aminta Paid, and Fatima Zohra Serri, which address the systemic devaluation of women’s labor and the harrowing statistic that American women earn 84 percent of what men do. The works will remain on display through April 3; a map of where they’re installed can be seen on the exhibition’s website

A blighted Detroit factory will soon be transformed into a major residential complex.

Fisher Body Plant 21 has become infamous as one of Detroit’s most prominent eyesores, the crumbling former factory visible from a nearby interchange. A team of developers will soon transform the derelict site into an ambitious $134 million residential development that will bring more than 400 mixed-income apartments, a co-working space, and retail storefronts to the Medbury Park neighborhood. Jackson Asset Management and Honey Development tapped McIntosh Paris Associates to reimagine the six-story landmark; current plans include a two-acre rooftop, fitness center, and a trio of three-story atriums inserted within the structure to break up its sprawling floor plates. The revamp is currently slated for completion in 2025. 

New Yorkers with marijuana convictions will receive the state’s first retail licenses.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is unveiling a plan to reserve the first 100 cannabis retail licenses for people who have been convicted of marijuana-related offenses. The policy is meant as a gesture to begin making amends for the decades-long war on drugs by giving those harmed by it a chance to get first crack at an industry projected to generate more than a billion dollars.  

Palm Heights Grand Cayman x Marrakshi Life

Today’s attractive distractions:

Ernest Shackleton’s ship gets discovered a century after it sank near Antarctica.

Yves Saint Laurent’s new high-tech cosmetic prints up to 4,000 shades of lipstick

Studies suggest that ants are far more effective than dogs at sniffing out cancer.

Palm Heights Grand Cayman hotel launches a beach-ready capsule collection.

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