Time Sep

(Jeff_L) #1

REGAL REMODEL
HÔTEL DE CRILLON
PARIS


SMALL-TOWN


WONDER
THE LOST KITCHEN
FREEDOM MAINE


Few hotels have a
history as rich as
Hôtel de Crillon which
was commissioned
as a palace by
King Louis XV and
once hosted Marie
Antoinette’s piano
lessons. Last July
the residence—now
owned by Rosewood
Hotels & Resorts—
re-opened after a
four-year renovation
that brought modern
amenities like central
air-conditioning
while preserving its
iconic 18th century
inishings including
gold ceilings grand
staircases and
marble walls.
—Abigail Abrams


It’s no easy task to
turn a small Maine
town into a foodie
destination and yet
that’s exactly what chef
Erin French did with the
Lost Kitchen a 45-seat
restaurant housed in
an old mill. Earlier this
year demand for her
seven-course prix ixe
“farmhouse” dinners
(starting at $110) got
so intense—almost
20000 requests over
an 11-day span—
that French started
accepting reservations
only via postcard. (The
Lost Kitchen is now
full through 2018.) “As
things get bigger I’m
trying to be simpler”
she says.
—Ashley Hoffman


Anybody who laments
the decline of the public
library should look to
Tianjin China where a gleaming
new ziggurat has attracted more
than 1.8 million visitors since it
opened in October 2017. It helps
that the nearly 363000-sq.-ft.
facility designed by Dutch irm
MVRDV looks like something out
of a sci-i movie replete with stark
white interiors and terraced shelves
that cascade from loor to ceiling.
All told it has the capacity to hold
more than 1.35 million books—
although some feature embossed
aluminum plates that mimic
actual tomes prompting criticism
that the stunning space is as one
headline put it “more iction than
books.” Nonetheless Binhai Library
remains one of China’s buzziest
new attractions which could help
reduce the country’s already low
adult literacy rate. It’s a “social
space that also promotes reading
and inspiration” says Winy Maas
a director at MVRDV.
—Casey Quackenbush

A HAVEN FOR


BOOK LOVERS
TIANJIN BINHAI LIBRARYTIANJIN CHINA

THE WORLD’S GREATEST PLACES 2018

Free download pdf