Reference Page: January 2010

Moorish Accents

The renovation of the storied La Mamounia Hotel (www.mamounia.com) is part of King Mohammed VI’s tourism-promotion plan, which aims to attract ten million visitors to Morocco this year. So far, so good: there are both W and Four Seasons hotels planned for Marrakech, and the campaign has also been a rousing success on the tabloid front. Parts of Sex and the City 2 were shot in the city last fall, and the hotel’s opening party attracted A-listers Jennifer Aniston and Gwyneth Paltrow—a true coup given that the two share a bit of unhappy history.

Cabin Upgrade

Gensler’s new shipping-container cabin for a Southern California Scouting camp joins a host of pro-bono projects from the 1%, a program that pairs architecture firms with design-starved nonprofits (www.theonepercent.org). Lord knows the Boy Scouts need some fresh design. The Eagle Scout badge, the organization’s highest honor, has been revamped more than a dozen times: it entered the world in 1912 as a red-white-and-blue ribbon sandwiched between a soaring eagle and the motto “Be Prepared” and has emerged, nearly a hundred years later … as a red-white-and-blue ribbon sandwiched between a soaring eagle and the motto “Be Prepared” (www.eaglescoutbadge.com/badges_foley.html). Nevertheless, Scouts take their paraphernalia seriously, and at Scoutstuff.org, enthusiasts can show their devotion by buying a cast-bronze eagle sculpture ($1,405), a dizzying array of Norman Rockwell prints ($63–$450), or a Future Scout wilderness gnome ($300), whose beard hides a little face meant to “honor all those who’ve supported Scouting through the century”—minus gays and atheists, of course, another part of the Boy Scouts that could use a redesign (www.scoutingforall.org).

What’s Next: Urban Planning

The local mafia in Naples, Italy, has been overseeing garbage trucks and workers for more than 25 years. As a result, the city’s waste management is so disastrous that the government recently called in the army to clean up the streets. Instead of asking soldiers to pick up their litter, Scandinavians can rely on Envac, a Swedish company that disposes garbage without trucks or dumps. Waste deposited in styl-ish street-side bins goes directly underground, thanks to an elaborate vacuum-transport system. See how it works at www.envacgroup.com.