Clay Chandler here, filling in for Diane.
I’ve just landed back in Hong Kong following an event-filled week in New York City that kicked off with the fantastic 2024 Fortune Global Forum, where I joined conversations with a host of insightful speakers, including former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, International Monetary Fund first deputy managing director Gita Gopinath, and a panel of distinguished global China experts.
A highlight of my experience at this year’s Forum was my conversation with Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, one of the world’s most sought-after designers. New Yorkers know Bjarke as the genius behind VIA 57 West, nicknamed the “courtscraper” (because it combines the density and verticality of a skyscraper with the communal space of a courtyard building), and The Spiral, the extraordinary 66-floor skyscraper in Hudson Yard that is home to Pfizer, HSBC, and TPG.
Bjarke’s firm, Bjarke Ingels Group (aka “BIG”), has also been a key player in the fraught, long-running debate about how to redevelop New York’s financial district in the wake of terrorist attacks that destroyed the iconic Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. That’s a neighborhood we care about at Fortune because our headquarters are just blocks away on Fulton Street. In 2015, developer Silverstein Properties commissioned BIG to propose a structure for 2 World Trade Center, one of a handful of sites near “ground zero” of the 9/11 attacks, taking over from Foster + Partners.
BIG’s vision was widely praised. But when the site’s proposed anchor tenants, 21st Century Fox and News Corp., dropped out, Silverstein dumped BIG and re-engaged Foster. The site has yet to land replacement anchors; construction dates remain in limbo.
Bjarke also spoke about how BIG is collaborating with NASA and 3-D printed building company ICON to erect structures on the surface of the moon. That venture will use solar-powered lasers to melt lunar obsidian into what Bjarke called the equivalent of “dragon glass.” BIG aims to use that material to create structures for human habitation on the moon by 2032, earlier than the opening of several of its earthly buildings. “We have projects on the moon with schedules tighter than our terrestrial projects,” Bjarke said. And BIG’s “moonshots” are yielding technical breakthroughs with practical benefits here on earth.
Fortune will explore the many ways in which designers like Bjarke can spark innovation and add measurable business value at our Brainstorm Design conference, which will convene on Dec. 5 at the spectacular MGM Cotai resort in Macau. Our theme this year is “Experiments in Experience.” Confirmed speakers include Gensler co-CEO Elizabeth Brink, Ammunition founder Robert Brunner, Universal senior director Bob Dennis, Rockwell Group design leader Andrew Lazarow, SOM cities and climate lead Peter Kindel, and many more. Brainstorm Design, now in its sixth year, is one of Fortune’s most innovative conferences. It’s by invitation only, but if you’d like to attend, please drop me a note.
More news below.
Clay Chandler
Executive Editor, Asia
FORTUNE
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Amazon struggling with AI 'latency'
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Perplexity AI’s shopping shift
In an exclusive interview with Fortune on Monday, Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas explained that the company doesn’t actually know how its AI search engine ranks products over others when making recommendations to users. The interview came as Perplexity AI announced new subscriber-only tools that allow users to make purchases directly in the search engine.
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