Therese Virserius Design recently unveiled Xie-Xie, a new restaurant brand from chef Angelo Sosa. Xie-Xie (pronounced shay-shay), which means “thank you” in Mandarin, brings us affordable Asian street food fare in a high-end setting.

Some thoughts from Therese Virserius on her design concept after the jump. Read more…

Architecture buffs who missed the opportunity to spend a night in the Guggenheim last fall may soon get a second chance—well, sort of. The winning design for Abu Dhabi’s five-star Helix Hotel, by Leeser Architecture, includes a spiraling floor plate that looks like a cousin of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous snail-shell structure. But, of course, the Helix—which is the centerpiece of a new waterfront development adjacent to Zaha Hadid’s dune-like Sheikh Zayed Bridge—boasts a legion of luxury amenities, standout among them a rooftop deck with glass-bottom swimming pool (so you can admire your fellow guests’ bikini bods from eight stories below). Leeser is also working with Atelier Ten on sustainable features like an interior-cooling waterfall and GROW cladding on the outside surface. If this all sounds a tad bit too ambitious for the current recessionary climate, fear not: even with neighboring Dubai’s economy in free fall, Abu Dhabi is forging ahead with several high-profile building projects, including its very own, for-real branch of the Guggenheim, by the loose-lipped Frank Gehry.

Check out additional images of the Helix Hotel after the jump. For more on Leeser Architecture, read Metropolis’s stories on the World Mammoth and Permafrost Museum and the 3LD Art & Technology Center. Read more…

Nobu Dubai’s main dining room is festooned with woven-abaca panels. Photos by Eric Laignel.

David Rockwell’s joining the architecture party in Dubai: on Sunday, Rockwell Group’s first Middle East office opened in the Jumeirah Lakes Towers district—just down the road from where the new Nobu Dubai, which Rockwell designed, started feeding sushi lovers at Atlantis, The Palm resort earlier this month.

According to a press release, the new restaurant’s design represents an evolution of the concepts developed for the flagship Nobu 57, continuing its emphasis on craftsmanship, natural materials, and storytelling. More photos after the jump. Read more…

A graphic at Toto’s booth at this year’s HD Expo

The annual HD Expo, in Las Vegas, is the country’s largest exhibition of hospitality-design products, from meat-and-potatoes wares like carpets and wallcoverings to more recherche fare like smart minibar systems and flat-screen TVs disguised as abstract paintings. Think of it as a sort of networking and speccing Mecca for interior designers, hoteliers, and restaurateurs. And, like the rest of the industry, hospitality design is going green—sort of. Read more…