Good afternoon and welcome to another end-of-the-week roundup. As we roll into the weekend, there’s plenty of news and longer reads to keep you occupied even on the dark, cold fall days.

Here’s what’s going on:

M+ finally opened to the public in Hong Kong today

It’s been a long, winding road for M+, the contemporary visual arts and culture museum in Hong Kong with a global focus. The political climate in China and the world over is incredibly different than when the institution was first proposed in 1996, and a bevvy of new censorship laws enacted just weeks ago may already be challenging curators’ desires. Still, whether the museum’s content will change out of legal necessity over the next few months or years remains to be seen; what is certain is that the museum’s Herzog & de Meuron-designed is now open to the public. (AN will follow this up with a more in-depth review down the line.)

M+ will kick off the grand opening with three weekends of programming and six exhibitions:

• Hong Kong: Here and Beyond(G/F, Main Hall Gallery
• M+ Sigg Collection: From Revolution to Globalisation(level 2, Sigg Galleries)
• Things, Spaces, Interactions (level 2, East Galleries)
• Individuals, Networks, Expressions (level 2, South Galleries)
• Antony Gormley: Asian Field (level 2, West Gallery)
• The Dream of the Museum (level 2, Courtyard Galleries)

Roman and Williams opens a singular design gallery in Manhattan

Architecture and design firm Roman and Williams is particularly well-known for its lush, ornate interiors and attention to details, so it’s not a leap by any stretch for the studio to open a gallery celebrating singular design objects. To that end, opening today just down the street from Roman and Williams Guild, its storefront, is Roman and Williams Guild Gallery on Canal Street in Manhattan. Conceptualized during the COVID-19 lockdowns, the Guild Gallery gives large, heavy pieces their due in a setting that often neglects larger work out of space concerns. Hoping to host six to eight shows a year, the gallery has opened with a survey of Japanese ceramicist Akiko Hirai’s large vases and jars—and everything is also for sale.

H/t to Architectural Digest

A compromise is reached for signage atop a John Portman-designed Atlanta skyscraper

Plans to top the second-tallest tower in Atlanta with new signage have been finalized after residents and online readers complained. Bank holding company Truist had been installing its name and logo on the crown of the 60-story, John Portman-designed SunTrust Plaza building before work was halted by the city—although the exact reason for the stop-work order is still unknown. The installation has since resumed but on a smaller scale. Now, the company’s logo will only face east and west, and the Truist name will face north and south, rather than having both facing all four cardinal directions.

H/t to Urbanize Atlanta

AECOM lobbies the Buffalo Bills to build a new stadium, not renovate its current home

NFL team the Buffalo Bills are currently headquartered in the nearly-50-year-old Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, and a new report from engineering and architecture multinational AECOM is urging the team to build a wholly new home stadium rather than renovate the existing one. The team’s lease expires in 2023 and management needs to decide whether to spend $862 million renovating Highmark Stadium, building a $1.35 billion replacement, or constructing a new stadium in downtown Buffalo for $2.1 billion. Although the team has settled on building a new 60,000-seat stadium according to plans submitted to the city, which site it will ultimately choose is still up in the air.

H/t to Construction Dive

The Cold War museum in Culver City will expand and add affordable housing

Culver City, California’s Cold War-focused Wende Museum will be expanding, but to include a variety of new uses for the site. The first phase would see the addition of a 7,000-square-foot, three-story community center added to them museum’s campus complete with meeting spaces, a garden, and artifact storage. The second phase, initiated by the city according to The Real Deal, would add six small permanently affordable residences, each around 325 square feet, specifically for homeless and low-income artists. Westlake-based AUX Architecture has been tapped for both phases and the plan is currently undergoing review with the city.

H/t to The Real Deal Los Angeles

The world’s first floating hotel is marked for demolition in North Korea

What was the world’s first floating hotel, the five-star Four Seasons Barrier Reef Resort that originated in Australia over the Great Barrier Reef, has found its way to North Korea and is on track for demolition. However, despite the structure’s novelty, the floating hotel (it really is just a hotel stuck on a barge) was highly susceptible to bad weather and would often leave guests stranded. In 1989 the hotel was moved to Vietnam and began a second act as the Saigon Hotel until running out of money, after which it was sold to North Korea in 1998. It shuttered for good to the public in 2008 after a North Korean guard shot a South Korean tourist to death, and the boat has been rusting ever since.

H/t to CNN