Tall buildings are not news in Tokyo – see this one, above, that is popping up in Shibuya. Tokyu Corporation and Tokyu Department Store (together, Tokyu Group) and L Catterton Real Estate (LCRE, namely LVMH owners, the Arnault family) are developing the above as TOKYO HOUSE for Swire’s The House Collective brand. Scheduled to open 2027, it will be the first outside China for The House Collective.
Neither are tall buildings new to the brand. In Hong Kong, THE UPPER HOUSE, which opened 2009, is on floors 38-49 of the MARRIOTT that soars up from Central’s Pacific Place. Like all House Collectives, The Upper House has lots going on this Summer, a Bimbo Concepts holiday camp for kids and a mooncake festival for their elders.
All House Collectives are part of The Set Collection, pairing them with London’s CAFE ROYAL HOTEL – where GM Guillaume Marly is on the shortlist for Virtuoso’s Hotelier of the Year, in Las Vegas in two week’s time – and Jerusalem’s MAMILLA and LUTETIA in Paris and, in Amsterdam, THE CONSERVATORIUM, where Girlahead will be three days from now. In Beijing, Swire’s OPPOSITE HOUSE, one of this total-seven luxury property network, has a pop-up technical display of LVMH’s Rimowa cases running through to this coming Sunday, 7th August.
Another ultimate and must-see pop-up was Hermès’ recent ‘Once Upon A Bag’ at Doha’s outstanding National Museum of Qatar. The display explained the brand’s iconic history and explored the birth of the Birkin bag and its siblings. That show is over but for those lucky enough to be staying at the splendid MANDARIN ORIENTAL DOHA, pop-along to see what pop-ups are on at the Museum – designed by Jean Nouvel as homage to Qatar’s desert rose crystal.
Let’s listen to Mandarin Oriental’s COO. here: