demo

82 TIMESeptember 3–10, 2018

As visually striking as the

Herzog and de Meuron–

designed concert hall is—a

glass tower perched atop a giant brick

warehouse, surrounded on three sides

by water—it’s the acoustics that steal

the show at Elphi (as the locals call it),

which opened in 2017. The central

auditorium is covered in 10,000

gypsum-iber white acoustic panels,

each with a unique series of divots that

scatter or absorb sound. No two panels

are alike, but together the undulating,

interlocking panels create an optimal

sound map across the entire auditorium.

The result is a richer, better sound

for those occupying the 2,150 seats

surrounding the stage. Acoustician

Yasuhisa Toyota is even more focused

on the response from the performers.

“The more time they spend in the hall,

the better their ensemble becomes since

they can hear themselves and each other

more.”—Kate Rockwood

Spotlighting indigenous artists

SKWACHÀYS LODGE,VANCOUVER

NEXT-GEN ACOUSTICS

ELBPHILHARMONIE,HAMBURG

Although Canada’s

indigenous population

has exploded over the

past decade, its cultural

contributions are often overlooked.

Not so at Skwachàys Lodge, a

boutique hotel—featuring 18 guest

rooms and a rooftop sweat lodge—

that provides affordable housing

to 24 First Nations artists, who

work and live on-site. The result is

a facility that immerses guests in

Native art—they can take classes on

beading, tribal art and spoken-word

poetry—and also empowers the

people who create it. Skwachàys has

already used hotel proits to launch

an in-house gallery space; soon, it will

start helping indigenous artists sell

their crafts online.—Abigail Abrams

THE ARTFUL

ESCAPE
JACKALOPE,
MERRICKS NORTH,
AUSTRALIA

REPURPOSING

THE PAST
TAI KWUN,
HONG KONG

Hong Kong’s largest-
ever restoration proj-
ect, which opened
this summer, is a
complex of 16 former
police and judicial
buildings—some of
them 150 years old
and all relics from
Hong Kong’s days
as a British crown
colony—revitalized
as a complex for
the city’s arts and
culture. Visitors can
have a drink in the
former jail or watch
a Shakespeare play
in a onetime prison
yard, among other
activities.—Casey
Quackenbush

It’s easy to luxuriate
at this boldly
remodeled 143-year-
old homestead,
located on a vineyard
in Australia’s
Mornington
Peninsula. But
the hotel’s most
memorable feature
may well be the art,
including a 10,000-
bulb chandelier
meant to evoke
the champagne-
fermentation
process, and
the namesake
sculpture—a 23-ft.
ode to the mythical
jackalope (a rabbit
with antelope horns).
—Eli Meixler

In addition

to being

a hotel,

Skwachàys

Lodge

provides

housing to

indigenous

artists

THE WORLD’S GREATEST PLACES 2018

ELBPHILHARMONIE: TODD ROSENBERG; WILDERNESS SAFARIS BISATE LODG

E: CROOKESANDJACKSON