Frame

staycations to stay

The multi-billion-euro question that has gripped the hospitality industry for months now is: Will we be able to travel like never before this summer? And even though most of the developed nations will have finished their vaccination programme by then, it seems unlikely. China, for example, will only allow foreign travellers to enter who have been vaccinated with a Chinese vaccine. Other countries are considering exclusive access for those with a vaccination passport. And then it turns out that even the vaccinated aren’t safe: research shows that half of the elderly can be infected with the coronavirus a second time. In short: forget going back to ‘normal’ this year. And that’s only from the perspective of Covid-19. A lot of people don’t actually even want to travel like they used to,…

qu ito

To be local or global – is this choice possible? To what degree can globalized architecture belong to a local culture, landscape and architectural traditions? Designing for such a specific geographical context as the middle of the world (zero degrees latitude), in the middle of the Andes and reaching almost 3,000 m above sea level is a great challenge – even more so when that place was the first city declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (1978). As time passes and the Ecuadorian territory is transformed, urban planners and architects must consider how their designs interpret the past, present and future of the city of Quito. They need to respond to the changes looming on the horizon with thoughtful and appropriate proposals to meet complex requirements. Time has left marks…

hanoi

Looking at Hanoi’s aspirations for the future is like examining the mistakes of its counterparts in the present. Rather than forge a new cityscape and avoid the mishaps of Bangkok and Manila, Hanoi seems set to emulate these traffic-clogged, glass-obsessed and heat-choked dystopias. But some local architects reject a future dominated by concrete and glass. Keen to design more energy-efficient buildings and craft a native urban aesthetic, they are revisiting a method that was popular half a century ago: mashrabiya façades. Modern mashrabiya façades, named after the perforated exterior walls used in the Islamic world, shelter buildings from the sun and rain while inviting in the breeze and natural light. These façades are especially effective when combined with a generous buffer zone between them and the building proper. Hanoi experiences intense…

1 should you invest in virtual furniture?

How much would you pay for a virtual easy chair? ‘Hold up,’ you’ll say back, ‘why would I want to pay anything for a virtual chair?’ It’s perhaps easiest to explain by referencing another class of digital asset that’s gained much industry attention over the last couple of years: fashion. The rise of virtual garments as a product category for which consumers are willing to pay hard cash started in gaming and spread to various social media platforms. Now you can dress your League of Legends avatar in Louis Vuitton, or adorn (an image of) yourself in flaming CGI versions of Buffalo London’s signature high-rise sneakers and share it on Instagram. Those sartorial experiences can be had for tens of dollars, and your purchase has no real exchange value. But they’re…

2 will remote working ensure co-living’s continued success?

Earlier this year, co-living brand Common announced the five finalists in what was, by all accounts, an oversubscribed competition to pick the first locations for its Remote Work Hub initiative. A direct response to the ‘new economic reality’ created by the pandemic, the Remote Work Hub is an evolution of the co-living model designed to give newly distributed workforces the ‘tools and space they need to succeed’. While most operators have long included some work facilities in their amenity mix, Common’s example suggests that adapting the co-living offer to engage new work patterns could be an essential differentiator moving forward. As founder and CEO Brad Hargreaves argues: ‘It has become over whelmingly clear over the past nine months that traditional corporate life is no longer the way things will get…

3 how long until you can download a ducasse?

Back in January, while surveying this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), we suggested that 2020 had renewed momentum behind the consumer robotics industry. Last year, with its emphasis on hygiene and hands off service, saw robots emerging into many aspects of public life, from patrolling parks to disinfecting transport terminals. In that context, CES’s perennial parade of autonomous helpers suddenly didn’t look as far-fetched as at previous fairs. About a month later, a Pew Research survey on what the ‘new normal’ might look like by the middle of the decade reconfirmed this hunch. Authorities from the likes of IBM and Carnegie Mellon University predicted that we would see a rise in domestic robots. Paul Jones, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina, was more specific, arguing that the robot revolution…