Need to Know
27 : 09 : 22

Amsterdam – The Valley, a geology-inspired, plant-covered high-rise development, has been named the world’s best new skyscraper by the Emporis Awards. The striking 75,000-square-meter building sits in Amsterdam’s Zuidas neighbourhood, with a blended design allowing for offices, shops, catering, cultural facilities and apartments in one development. The Valley’s green spaces are publicly accessible, created by developer MVRDV as a suitable response to a post-Covid world.

The pandemic's influence has raised awareness of the 'unhuman' design of metropolitan areas, with urban inhabitants now increasingly seeking spaces that prioritise wellbeing and nature. The building's smooth, mirrored exterior blends in with the area’s business district, while landscape architect Piet Oudolf designed it to host 13,500 young plants and shrubs, and 271 trees, as part of a matrix that considers temperature and other ecological factors, placing the natural world at the heart of the design process.

Valley represents a shift in values and a growing movement in the architecture world away from sterile, individualised spaces to collective living developments that are inclusive and adapt to the fluidity of modern life.

France – Looking at golf through a new lens, the refreshed Lacoste Ladies Open aims to elevate the golf tournament experience and to appeal to a new generation of golf fans.

To mark Lacoste’s sponsorship of the Ladies Open de France golf tournament, the brand has launched a series of activations celebrating women’s golf – but also involving art, fashion and culture. Lacoste has refreshed the tournament’s branding and called on creative agency Trajectoire Studio to create 360-degree experience merging sports and art, with a strong focus on interaction and accessibility.

When Golf Inspires comprises several art installations designed to challenge spectators and surprise them by breaking away from the traditional reputation of golf, while paying tribute to the sport’s heritage.

The Lacoste Ladies Open is a great example of how an activation can bring inclusivity, accessibility and culture to sports, which we explore in our Sports Rebranded report. In addition, the intersectional branding of the tournament is catering for new generations of female golfers.

Through tracking the refillable premium beauty market in the UK from January to July 2022, global analytics and data provider The NPD Group has identified a shift in British consumers’ purchasing habits. Over this seven-month period, the market for refillable prestige beauty products was valued at £34m ($36.6m, €38m) and performed better than non-refillable prestige beauty.

In the refillable market, the best performing sub-category has been product refills that consumers buy to use alongside previously purchased exterior packaging. Sales of these products grew the fastest, increasing by 79% in the period, hinting at growth in loyalty and repeat consumers. ‘As consumers become more conscious of the importance of sustainability and their role in promoting it, we have seen a corresponding rise in sales of refillable prestige beauty products,’ explains Emma Fishwick, account manager at NPD UK Beauty.

These figures indicate that Refined Refillables, a market we started tracking in 2019, are becoming more mainstream as consumers are warming to the refill concept applied to premium products.