Directions 2019

New Sanctuaries

Go there now with Directions, an annual magazine that looks at movements underway in art, design, food, wellness and fashion, and how they affect the way we live and travel. Featuring leading writers, photographers, illustrators, and designers, Directions explores a different theme in each issue, culling the insights of various thought leaders and industry innovators into a vividly illustrated, boundary-pushing travel and lifestyle magazine. This year’s issue explores the New Sanctuaries, spaces both physical and figurative, natural and designed, where we find renewal, shelter, communion, and expressions of the sublime. From an ambitious new series of rural retreats in eastern China, to the latest findings in sleep science, a modern-day monastery by a Belgian design master, and a think tank that looks 10,000 years into the future, explore with us the New Sanctuaries of our ever-shifting contemporary world.

Features in this year’s Directions include:

• Travel Essentials: Influential retailer Andreas Murkudis shares his 10 best-kept-secret travel essentials — extraordinary, versatile pieces by little-known brands that have gained cult followings in Berlin and beyond.

• A Journey into Rural China: China’s cities have industrialized at a pace unseen in human history, but now a new generation of architects, artisans, and entrepreneurs is returning to the countryside.

• Further Thoughts: From design guru Stefan Sagmeister to tech pioneer Ping Fu, six thought leaders reflect on the New Sanctuaries—places both physical and figurative where we find renewal, shelter, communion, and expressions of the sublime.

• The Science of Sleep: The writer Ben Crair was having trouble sleeping, so he decided to test his luck within the rapidly expanding billion-dollar market for sleep aids and checks into one of the world’s most sleep-forward hotels. Click here to read an excerpt of the article on our Culture Blog.

• The Traveler is Present: In a world defined by technological excess and automation, we will increasingly look to travel for something we once took for granted: human connection.

• Moonlighters: Many of the figures at the vanguard of hospitality today seem to have one thing in common: they never set out to be hoteliers.

• The Making of August: A former Augustinian cloister becomes a modern-day sanctuary under the guidance of legendary Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen in his first-ever hotel project.