HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hong Kong
There’s never really
a sleepy year to visit Hong Kong, but 2019 is particularly ripe for
visitors. Spearheaded by the dynamic entrepreneur Adrian Cheng of K11
and New World Development, the rejuvenation of Tsim Sha Tsui
harbourfront is just the starting point. The city’s iconic harbourside
walkway, Avenue of Stars, has just received a much-awaited
makeover that’s the brainchild of Cheng and visually conceived by James
Corner, the landscape architect responsible for the High Line in New
York. It sees the addition of design-driven rest areas, kiosks featuring
homegrown brands, hand prints from Asian film stars and interactive
digital elements. Featuring Hong Kong’s first wave energy demonstrator
that produces electricity for the Avenue, the place is turned into one
of the most sustainable promenades in Hong Kong. This is just one part
of Cheng and his company’s grander urban revitalisation plan, Victoria
Dockside, a new art and design district which will fully open in the
third quarter of this year that has been transformed from a go-down
terminal, and will include the flagship museum-cum-retail complex K11
MUSEA, luxury residences K11 ARTUS and the already
functioning K11 ATELIER modern workplace, as well as the most
hotly anticipated global hotel opening of the year, the Rosewood Hong
Kong. This urban bolthole will feature a mix of short-stay rooms and
suites and long-stay residences, alongside eight F&B outlets and a
wellness offering. A little further afield, the long-awaited Herzog & de
Meuron-designed M+ building in West Kowloon Cultural District is set to
open its doors, and visitors will finally be able to set foot in one of
the world’s best museums for modern and contemporary art.
Copenhagen
The Danish capital
has become a mecca for foodies, but there’s lots happening in Copenhagen
this year that isn’t related to gastronomy (unless you have a taste for
bamboo). The Copenhagen Zoo will this year welcome a duo of pandas to
its custom-built Panda House, a yin-yang shaped enclosure that’s being
designed by starchitect Bjarke Ingels, who worked on the newly reopened
Noma. He’s also involved in another big-ticket opening across town, an
ambitious green project called Copenhill that will be a sustainable
waste-to-energy plant, but also include a rooftop artificial ski slope
and the world’s tallest climbing wall. Reinvention is truly the name of
the game in Copenhagen, where Enigma, a “museum of communication”, will
be fully unveiled since its move into a shared post-office space.
Originally an archive featuring artefacts like old telephones, it’s now
an institution that explores the meaning of digital communication
through formats ranging from intellectual debates to robot rentals for
kids. Of course, don’t forget to put Noma 2.0 on your list, too.
Sharjah
The emirate just 20
minutes from Dubai is hosting the inaugural Sharjah Architecture
Triennial come November through February of 2020, with claims to be
“first major platform for architecture and urbanism in the Middle East,
North and East Africa, and South and Southeast Asia”. If you can’t wait
that long, from 7 March till 10 June the Sharjah Biennial is exploring
the theme of producing art in an era of fake news. This month, Sharjah
is hosting the IWAS World Games, one of the most important qualifier
events in the run-up to the Paralympics. The hospitality scene is also
ramping up – recent launches include the stunning luxury conservation
project Al Bait and the safari-style eco-lodge Kingfisher Lodge, with
two more major new builds set for completion this year: Al Badayer
Oasis, situated some 40 minutes from the city centre, is described as a
luxury desert adventure, while Fossil Rock Lodge is set in an
archaeologically significant area for adventure and exploration.
Berlin
The city is celebrating
the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall on November 9, and
there will be a plethora of events in the run-up to that date, from
historical exhibitions to artistic interpretations and of course,
parties that celebrate nothing more than the spirit of freedom since the
symbolic structure fell. While the opening Bauhaus Festival was last
month, there are plenty of other happenings throughout the year that
will celebrate the German university that had such an enduring global
influence on art and architecture. The Humboldt Forum is also opening in
the reconstructed Berlin Palace right in the heart of the city, and will
house the Ethnological Museum of Berlin and the Museum of Asian Art.
Touted as the German equivalent of the British Museum, it will be an
important addition to Berlin’s already thriving cultural scene, and will
focus on showcasing Berlin’s role in the world arena.
Los Angeles
The museum on the
tip of everyone’s lips this year in L.A will be the Academy Museum of
Motion Pictures, paying homage to the industry this city is best known
for: filmmaking. Pritzker Prize winner Renzo Piano has the honour of
designing the structure, which will be unveiled in late 2019, and debut
exhibitions will include a retrospective of the work of Hayao Miyazaki,
the Japanese filmmaker behind Totoro and Spirited Away.
The hotel scene is also hot – the Park Hyatt is landing in DTLA, while
Palihotel opened a hotel in Culver City last month and will add a
boutique property in hipster Silverlake later this spring. On the food
front, mod-Mex maestro and Final Table judge Enrique Olvera, whose
restaurant Pujol is number 20 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list,
is introducing his first West coast restaurant this summer in the Arts
District.
Writer: Christina Ko
Hong Kong-based writer and editor Christina has covered the luxury scene for over a decade. She writes on topics ranging from beauty and wellness to arts and culture. Formerly the editorial director of Prestige Hong Kong, she now contributes to various publications including Hong Kong Tatler, SCMP, Discovery and Silverkris, as well as working with clients such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Estee Lauder and Lane Crawford.