I get a lot of questions on plant pests in late summer. The signs of insect feeding and symptoms of diseases are often not very visible until late summer so they go unnoticed as the pests develop. Gardeners are usually seeking a remedy and oftentimes apply pesticides that have no effect on the pest because they are just treating the symptoms and not the developing pest.

Most plant pests in our region start their development in early spring and complete their life cycle by the fall. These pests are also most vulnerable to treatment early in their development prior to when they have done significant damage to plants. In fact, control practices for most diseases and some insects need to be applied prior to when they start their life cycle.

Despite it being too late to control many problems, this is a good time to of year to identify pests and to determine their severity. Most pests will reoccur to varying degrees every year as long as their host plant is present. Identifying the common problems in your landscape will allow you to plan preventative measures for next season, if appropriate. Most plant pests only cause aesthetic damage and do not require control; however, some can be more serious.

There are a few pests for which fall treatment is appropriate. I will touch on a few lawn tips here and cover other timely pests as fall progresses.

Now is a great time to focus on lawn weeds or other problem areas in your grass. Most perennial weeds are best controlled in early fall. This is also a time when your lawn grass is producing new plants that will displace weeds that are controlled. It is also a good time of year to plant new grass seed in thin areas. Problem crabgrass areas can be lightly tilled to dislodge crabgrass and new grass seed can be put down to displace it.

Fertilizing your lawn in early fall will promote vigorous vegetative propagation without excessive leaf growth that is experienced with spring fertilizer. This allows your grass to fill in thin areas and to store up carbohydrate reserves for next spring's new growth.

Fall is also a good time to aerate lawns. Aerating is most important on high-fertility lawns that have thatch built up. Aerating brings soil to the surface, allowing it to filter back into the thatch. This helps decompose excess thatch and transforms it into new topsoil. Aerating is also useful when over-seeding thin areas to loosen soil and create a good seedbed.

Fall is also a good time to dethatch. Lawns that have excessive thatch will feel spongy if you walk on them when they are wet. The moisture that is held by a thick thatch layer creates good conditions for lawns disease, so addressing thatch problems in fall can reduce disease pressure the next year.

Dethatching is only a benefit under conditions of excessive thatch. Otherwise it just removes valuable organic matter.

Late August through September is a great time to focus energy on lawns. Effort now will really impact the quality of your grass for next season.

Doug Courneya is owner of Courneya Horticulture Services. Doug has bachelor's and master's degrees in horticulture and is a certified arborist with more than 25 years of experience. Send plant and garden questions to life@postbulletin.com or email Doug directly at dcourneya@charter.net.

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Let it Grow: Now is a good time to prep your lawn for next spring - Post-Bulletin

Believe it or not, late summer and early fall are the best time of year to give your lawn a little TLC.

Personally, caring for turf grass is not my favorite gardening activity by far. I'd much rather work on my flower or vegetable gardens. But we have some problem areas this year that are beginning to bother even me. So that says a lot.

The grasses typically seen in yards in our area are cool season grasses, like Kentucky bluegrasses, perennial ryegrasses, and fescues. These grasses prefer cool spring and fall temperatures, and turn brown and go dormant during the heat of the summer if not watered.

Sometimes you see lawns planted in warm season grasses, like Zoysia. These grasses do their best growing in the heat of the summer and are brown and dormant in the spring and fall.

When a friend moved to St. Louis a few years ago, she frantically texted me pictures of her lawn that spring, worried something was wrong since it was brown and looked dead as a door nail. It was just Zoysia grass, sitting dormant in the cool spring weather as it was supposed to do. Once the summer heat set in, her Zoysia grass came back to life.

Most lawns in Central Illinois are planted in cool season grasses. Late summer and early fall are the best times to start a new lawn in our area because not only do the cooler fall temperatures encourage grass growth; the soil is thoroughly warmed up.

While we all look forward to the green blades of grass that signal spring is here, the spring air warms a lot quicker than the soil. Even if the temperature outside is perfect for grass seed to germinate, grass seed planted in the cold soil will just sit there. The longer that seed lies in the cold, and often wet, soil, it is more likely to rot than germinate. But in fall, soil and air temperatures are perfect for seed germination.

Whether you are starting a new lawn or over-seeding an existing lawn to fill in some thin or bare spots, it is critical that the grass seed has good soil contact. A common misconception is that you just need to scatter seed and call it good. If youre scattering your seed on top of existing lawn, its highly likely that the seed will just sit on top of the grass or thatch without touching the actual soil. Without soil contact, the seed will not germinate. At least use a garden rake to scratch the seed into the soil to about a -inch depth after broadcasting seed.

Besides soil contact, grass seed needs consistent moisture to germinate. You may need to water a seeded area multiple times a day depending on the weather. Keep the top two inches of soil moist but not muddy after seeding to encourage rapid germination.

Consider renting a slit seeder, especially if you are planting grass seed over a large area, whether a new or overseeded lawn. This machine makes little cuts in the soil and drops grass seed directly into these slits. After several failed attempts to broadcast seed to establish part of our lawn, my husband finally rented a slit seeder. It was a night and day difference. We finally had grass growing in that part of the yard! Good soil contact makes all the difference.

Something we do every fall is lawn aeration. Aerating, or circulating air through your lawn loosens up compacted soil, and is an effective way to break down thatch. Compaction is one of those lawn problems that creeps upit tends to get worse slowly over time. If the high-traffic areas of your lawn tend to grow nothing but flat, ground-hugging weeds like spurge, you may have issues with compaction. We have a high-traffic area in our yard that is compacted and wearing thin. We need to aerate and reseed it before weeds move in worse than they have already.

Please ignore the aerating devices out there that are just spikes that stick into the ground. They don't help and may make compaction a little worse since they are compacting the soil around each spike as they penetrate the soil.

The best way to aerate your lawn is by using the specialized machine that removes plugs of turf and soil from the lawn and deposits them on the surface. Actual removal of a plug is crucial for breaking down thatch.

Thatch includes all the dead stems, roots and nodes of turf grass that do not break down readily. Bringing some soil to the surface by way of aeration plugs exposes the thatch to microbes in the soil that help decompose the thatch.

A common homeowner myth is that leaving grass clippings on your lawn will cause thatch. This is simply not true. Clippings are 75 to 85 percent water and decompose readily.

You dont need to declare war on all thatch though. Its beneficial to have a small layer of thatch less than -inch thick. A thin layer of mulch protects your lawn from rapid changes in temperature and moisture. It also gives your lawn a bit of cushion and springiness for sports and other recreation.

The major cause of excessive thatch in most cases is over-fertilizing. Encouraging too much top growth of turf creates a situation where the plant cannot support all that green growth, and it dies. Then the homeowner puts on more fertilizer because they think the lawn is not as plush and green as it should be, and the cycle begins again. The dead plant parts create thatch.

Thatch can be a serious problem because it may get thick enough to keep the lawns roots from reaching the soil. If your lawns roots arent in good contact with soil, your lawn will tend to dry out very quickly since it cannot access deeper soil moisture and will be very weak as a result.

Applying a fall fertilizer formula as one of the last lawn projects of the year in November or so is one of the best things you can do for your lawn. It helps the turf recover from a stressful summer, and a stress-free plant is less likely to succumb to disease and winter weather. Fall fertilization encourages turf root growth; turf with a well-developed root system will be well-equipped to survive the summer heat and drought in the next growing season.

Jennifer Schultz Nelson shares practical ideas and information to bring out the gardener in everyone in her blog at http://www.groundedandgrowing.co.

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Jennifer Schultz Nelson: Lawns need TLC in early fall - Herald & Review

Allen Wilson is a Vancouver gardening specialist. Email Allen Wilson at allenw98663@yahoo.com.

I have decided to replant my back lawn. Is this a good time to plant? Would you recommend sod or seed?

This is actually the very best time of year to plant a lawn. It fits the natural cycle of grass growth. Where grass is not mowed it matures seed about this time of year. The seed falls on the ground and sprouts.

Whether seeded or sodded, the cooling temperatures are ideal for grass growth as it multiplies quickly and forms a strong root system. The soil is still warm so seed sprouts quickly and develops rapidly.

This time of year you can have a full thick lawn in 6 weeks from seeding. If you can water frequently and keep the kids and dogs off of it for that long. The cost is considerably cheaper than sodding often a third or less.

If you need quicker results, then sodding is immediate. Even a sodded lawn should be babied for a couple of weeks until the grass is well rooted.

If you have a heavy clay soil which has not been amended with organic matter, I would recommend tilling in several inches of organic matter such as bark dust or peat moss. This will insure better long term performance of your lawn.

If you kill the existing grass and weeds, you can rototill in the dead grass with a large rototiller. It will take several passes to get the grass chopped up finely.

The grass itself is a good organic amendment but I would still add some bark dust.

I have had good success using a short cut method. Spray the existing lawn and weeds to kill them. Then scalp mow the remaining top growth to a 1/2 inch height. About one week later apply a top dressing of soil mix from a nursery or bulk soil and bark supplier. It takes about 1 1/2 yards per 1000 square feet of lawn area. This can be raked to smooth any bumps or dips in the lawn.

Fertilize and lay sod or broadcast seed directly on this soil mix. The old grass will gradually decompose. Roots grow well into it. Seed should be raked so that about ?/3 of the seed is covered.

A newly sodded lawn requires daily irrigation or rainfall to keep the top inch moist for about 2 weeks. A newly seeded lawn requires irrigation at least 3 times a day to keep the top of the soil constantly moist for about 3 weeks. Then irrigation can be reduced to once a day.

If you have the time and energy, you can plant your own lawn using one of these methods. If you would like more information on lawn planting send me an email.

Allen Wilson is a Vancouver gardening specialist. Email Allen Wilson at allenw98663@yahoo.com.

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Now is right time to replant, sod lawn - The Columbian

My colleague Dr Helen Sheridan expands further on these swards elsewhere in this week's edition, but perennial ryegrass continues to dominate grass seed sales in this country.

There are many very good reasons for this, not least the potential of ryegrass to produce high quantities of high quality feed. It is also highly tolerant to grazing but it must be managed appropriately.

Ireland's geo-climatic conditions make it ideally suited to growing grass.

For some, reseeding is a central part of their grassland management protocols.

For others, reseeding is seen as the beginning of a journey to improve grassland management. Unfortunately, this is where some lose the value of reseeding.

Reseeding is an expensive procedure, costing up to 300 per acre (750 per ha) depending on the method employed. So we must ensure we get value for this investment.

The main objective with a perennial ryegrass reseed should be to grow and utilise more grass, but many factors need to come together to achieve this.

Soil fertility and lime

Soil fertility particularly soil pH and phosphorus and potassium status must be correct, or corrected at reseeding.

This gives the newly established sward the optimum chance of performing. Soil pH is lower than optimum on the majority of Irish farms, and can be corrected through lime application. Lime application has declined dramatically since the 1980s though there has been an increase in recent years. Lime is often referred to as the cheapest fertiliser available. Perhaps this is part of the problem - do we confuse low cost with low value?

Applying lime will raise soil pH which will increase the availability of many of the key nutrients in the soil to support plant growth.

As with any biological system, and the soil is not different, things are not black and white. There are different lime types and different soil types and these must be matched to achieve the desired outcome.

Nitrogen

Perennial ryegrass has a high nitrogen requirement, and this nitrogen must be supplied through bag fertiliser or nitrogen fixation from associated clover inclusion in the sward. If the reseeded sward is not fertilised appropriately then non-sown species can enter the sward and take over under certain circumstances. Once again this means we lose the value of the reseeding.

Sward type

We need to consider what type of sward we want. Is it a grazing only sward? One cut of silage and grazing? Or a more intensive silage sward? The correct varieties must be selected to meet these objectives. Recently monoculture swards have gained some traction, but more commonly three or four varieties will be included in the reseeding mixture. The pasture for profit index (PPI) ranks ryegrass varieties on their potential to influence farm profitability, and should be consulted in deciding what varieties are to be used.

Weed spray

Post emergence weed spray is a must in my opinion. The one area where I've seen farmers 'get away' without using one, but even here it is questionable, is following three or more years of tillage, where much of the weed control has taken place.

When reseeding permanent pasture the existing seed back contains plenty of weed seeds, and the newly reseeded ground is designed to support seed germination.

A surprising number of reseeds do not receive a post emergence spray and the results are obvious to see. Any decisions on herbicide product used must be cognisant of whether or not clover is present and what the weed challenge is.

Grazing infrastructure

Now that we have established the new grass, the farm must be set up to utilise it. Grazing infrastructure is critical here. Paddock fencing is one of the best investments that can be made on a livestock farm. Costs of establishing paddocks are very different on a dairy compared to a sheep farm, with each metre of fencing being significantly more expensive on a sheep farm.

Even a relatively simple five-paddock rotation system as practiced at Lyons and Teagasc Athenry will greatly enhance the capacity to utilise the grass. Additional actions like grass measuring and budgeting will further increase the potential to utilise grass.

The comments above relate to reseeding in general, not just sheep farms. There are many other points to consider like when to reseed, the method of reseeding to use, seeding rates etc.

Benefits of reseeding include: swards which are more responsive to fertiliser, higher annual DM yield especially in spring and autumn, higher sward quality, increased grass utilisation and increased stock carrying capacity.

Assoc Prof Tommy Boland is a lecturer in Sheep Production at Lyons Farm, University College Dublin @Pallastb tommy.boland@ucd.ie

Indo Farming

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5 benefits of grass reseeding - Independent.ie

Architects Lorcan OHerlihy Architects (LOHA) and owner National Construction have released renderings for a new 30-unit condominium complex in West Hollywood that features cantilevered corners, faceted facades, and perforated metal panel and wood cladding.

The project features faceted facades with overhanging corners and various levels of porosity. (Courtesy Lorcan OHerlihy Architects)

The four-story complex at 1030 N. Kings Road is located in the same neighborhood as the firms much-heralded Habitat 825 complex.

1030 N. Kings Road is designed to break down in scale as it rises and features a series of geometric cut-outs along its facades. The cut-outs establish viewsheds for individual units while also allowing for natural daylight to flood into the buildings common areas, which include a shared gym and communal seating spaces. The cut-outs also contain screened outdoor balconies and terraces accessible to building units. The developments two large amenity spaces are located along the buildings most prominent facades, which are wrapped in the various cladding types.

The condominium complex corridors feature naturally-lit corridors illuminated by skylights and courtyard cutouts. (Courtesy Lorcan OHerlihy Architects)

Renderings for the project depict a faceted housing block with large windows, a double-height entry lobby, and well-lit corridors.

Lorcan OHerlihy Architects has released renderings for a new 30-unit condominium complex in Los Angeles. (Courtesy Lorcan OHerlihy Architects)

The 41,500-square-foot project comes as LOHA expands its footprint in the L.As bustling multifamily housing sector. The firm recently completed work on a starburst-shaped apartment complex in Los Angeles.

In addition to moving forward on the 1030 N. Kings Road project, Lorcan OHerlihy will also be presenting at ANs Facades+ conference in Los Angeles this October. See the Facades+websitefor more information.

The project is currently under construction and is expected to be completed in mid- to late-2018.

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Renderings revealed for LOHA's faceted 30-unit condominium complex in West Hollywood - The Architect's Newspaper

This is the third column of Practice Values, abi-monthly series by architect andtechnologistPhil Bernstein. The columnfocuses on the evolving role of thearchitect at the intersection of design and construction, including subjects such as alternative delivery systems and value generation. Bernstein was formerly vice president at Autodesk and now teaches at theYale School of Architecture.

Disabling (Professional) Expertise

In 1977, social critic Ivan Illich argued that the mid-20th century should be named The Age of Disabling Professions, asking whether if this age, when needs were shaped by professional design, will be remembered with a smile or with a curse. Illichs skepticism about the importance and role of doctors, lawyers, and architects was an inflection point in the ascendance of the professional class that began with the industrialization of America. What followed for architectswho, at just about the same time as Illichs query, were subjected to the emergence of alternative forms of project delivery (like design-build), new incumbents treading on our turf (like construction managers), and influence from extrinsic forces (like lawyers and insurance companies)was several decades of existential angst with which we are all familiar.

Forty years later, there are more architects, and more work for us, than everyet the existential angst remains: If recessions, construction managers, and liability insurance underwriters didnt manage to dismantle the profession, now what? Answering that question comes the Oxford duo of Richard and Daniel Susskind and their 2015 tome The Future of the Professions, an exhaustive examination of how the broad influences of digital technology may be the end-of-times challenge to the professional class so desired by Illich. The Susskinds argue that it will not be a loss of faith in architects, lawyers, and accountants, but rather the broad democratization of expertise through big data and data sharing, expert systems, and automation that will transform the work of human experts. As knowledge work begins the same transfiguration in the world of computation that manufacturing experienced with machine automation, the bespoke relationships curated by architects with clients will be circumvented by widely accessible knowledge systems, architects will no longer be the anointed gatekeepers of professional knowledge or judgment, and the increasing complexity of building problems will face economic pressures demanding that architects provide even more service for less money. Large swaths of professional services will be routinized by computers, further decomposing those services into discrete automated tasks. New systems of design and construction delivery will reconstitute from traditional professional scopes disintermediated by algorithms and big data.

But if the essential value of architects is our ability to designsee the world creatively, synthesize disparate information, generate new and innovative ideasarent we safe from this digital onslaught? Not so fast, according to the Susskinds, who ask, To what problem is judgment the solution? They cite the 60 million disputes on eBay resolved with automated mediation (and no lawyers), medical advice dispensed by WebMD on smart phones around the world, or the online tax-preparation software used by millions of taxpayers each year; many of these folks would have never dreamt of hiring a lawyer or an accountant. And this is the core of their argument: Technology will democratize expertise, making it available to many more recipients than could ever by curated by 1:1 professional relationships.

Since society created the professional class to codify and distribute professional expertise, shouldnt this trend to democratization be embraced? And since architects design a small percentage of the built environment, isnt this trend, in theory, all for the good? Should architects cede our authority to algorithms, its likely well lose all control and influence over the forces that often reduce great design aspirations to mediocre results. It is difficult to argue, however, that the changes that automation and the resulting process innovation that the Susskinds predict will put great pressure on the role of our profession while simultaneously eliminating the need for broad swaths of production work like working drawings.

How to respond? As far back as Illichs original provocation, architects have decried our diminishing influence while embracing new technologies and their opportunities with at best mild enthusiasm and at worst outright hostility. This wave of automation-innovation will be much more profound than CAD or even BIM. Perhaps it offers a chance to deeply examine the value proposition of architecture and architects, and, using our skills, to design our roles in the future supported and accelerated by new technology rather than, once again, threatened by it.

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Thanks to big data, all architects will face a major professional crossroads bigger than CAD or BIM - The Architect's Newspaper

Dennis Drabelle, a former contributing editor of Book World, writes frequently on environmental issues.

As Ken Burns put it in the subtitle of his 2009 documentary on the national parks, they are Americas best idea. In Wonderlandscape, an energetic and insightful new book on Yellowstone, journalist John Clayton shows that, at least as applied to Americas first national park, the best idea has been an evolving one.

Several men claimed to have hatched the notion of designating federal land in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho as a national park. The semiofficial credit the nod given by Yellowstones influential superintendent Horace Albright at the parks 50th birthday party in 1922 went to attorney Cornelius Hedges. In 1870, Hedges took part in a fireside conversation in which several other well-heeled sightseers discussed filing legal claims to the canyons and geysers they had been exploring. As reported by a witness, Hedges argued that there ought to be no private ownership of any portion of that region, but that the whole of it ought to be set apart as a great National Park. He may have had in mind the counterexample of Niagara Falls, its environs already reduced to an international eyesore by commercial greed.

[National Park Service turns 100, and some sites are showing their age]

Clayton calls this anecdote the national parks creation myth. Today many historians believe that Hedges was merely articulating a commonly held view, a previously expressed impulse, to somehow honor this magical land. Two years after Hedgess recommendation, at any rate, Yellowstone National Park was up and running.

Advancing his insight that the story of Yellowstone is the story of what America wants from Yellowstone, Clayton identifies boosting the national ego as a powerful early desire. Scenic marvels such as Yellowstone set the United States apart from gently picturesque Europe. America is special, the reasoning went, because of its wondrous landscapes.

Artists and architects gravitated to Yellowstone with something more personal in mind: challenges and fame. A year before the parks establishment, a painter named Thomas Moran had come into his own there. His watercolors, shipped back to Washington and enlisted in the cause, gave lawmakers a sense of the incomparable scenery they were being asked to save from spoliation by private enterprise. (Morans eventual masterpiece in oil, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, graces the Wonderlandscape cover.)

In a bravura chapter on the parks architecture, Clayton focuses on Old Faithful Inn, designed by Robert Reamer. Although multistory lobbies are quite common today, the author observes, the inns was a huge innovation in 1903: a space so tall and airy that it seemed to be both indoors and outdoors at the same time. So admired was Reamers design that it fathered a new style, known as National Park Service Rustic.

Seven decades after Morans visit, during World War II, another visual artist, the photographer Ansel Adams, arrived with a commission from the federal government and a private agenda. Yellowstone, Adams believed, was being sold to the public as a pleasure ground, whereas to him it was more like a church. Leaving humans out of his shots, he believed that the spiritual validity of wild, beautiful places arose in part from our simplicity of experience in them. That usually meant sacrificing comforts and undergoing difficulties. If this sounds elitist, the pendulum swung the other way a generation later, with the broadcast of the 1960s animated TV series The Yogi Bear Show. Fans of the program flocked to Yellowstone to see the inspiration for Yogis Jellystone. The cartoon bruin, Clayton writes, secured [Yellowstone] for the masses.

By then the masses tended to live in suburbia; accordingly, the Park Service had embarked on Mission 66, a system-wide infrastructure upgrade to make its holdings more car-friendly. At Yellowstone, this entailed the razing of an old hotel and its replacement by motel-style accommodations in an uninspiring location about a mile away. The change, Clayton dryly notes, was poorly received.

Old Faithful and other thermal features are the parks signature attractions, but Clayton fails to do them justice. After reminding us that the park contains nearly one-quarter of all the geysers in the world, he says little about what spawned them. Geologists, too, have wanted something from Yellowstone scientific understanding and Clayton would have done well to tag along with one of them as he investigated the parks innards.

[We must recommit to national parks, Americas cathedrals]

On the other hand, I like the authors frankness. Yellowstone, he admits, is not an illimitable cornucopia of wild splendor. Although [the park] unfolds vast quantities of empty backcountry, much of it is monotonous lodgepole-pine forest. If youre looking for a steady stream of awe-inspiring solitude, he adds, you might try Glacier National Park instead.

Clayton closes his book with a discussion of what might eventually happen to Yellowstone: an eruption of the supervolcano beneath it, a blowup that might conceivably unleash 8,000 times the fury of Mount St. Helens in 1980. The growing concern about such a cataclysm, the author suggests, reflects todays zombie apocalypse mentality. In fairness to the zombies, it should be noted that, in June, tremors felt in Montana suggested that the supervolcano might be waking up from its long nap. In any event, supervolcanic fears nicely round out Claytons thesis that throughout its history, Yellowstone has long been both a showcase of natural extravagance and a cultural construct.

Wonderlandscape

Yellowstone National Park and the Evolution of an American Cultural Icon

By John Clayton

Pegasus. 285 pp. $27.95

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Yellowstone as a magical land and backdrop for artists and architects - Washington Post

COOKFOX, Olson Kundig, Gensler, Kohn Pederson Fox Associates (KPF), and Morris Adjmi Architects, have all been named as some of the nine architects spearheading Water Street Tampa, the$3 billion project that will give the Florida city a skyline.

Spread over nearly50 acres, 18 buildings comprise the scheme which is being backed by Strategic Property Partnersa consortium between Jeff Vinik, who owns NHLs Tampa Bay Lightning, and Bill Gatess Cascade Investment. Though first announced in early July this year, more details, such as the architects involved, have been released.

Heres the $3 billion project that will give Tampa a skyline. Pictured here: A rendering of Water Street Tampa shows what the city will look like in less than 10 years. (Courtesy Strategic Property Partners)

Four New York firms are in on the act.COOKFOX will be designing two buildings: an office and a residential block which will sit atop some retail. KPF has been commissioned for a series of apartments and condominiums which will reside above some retail and a grocery store.Morris Adjmi Architects has scooped arguably the largest commission: a157-key five-star hotel, a range of luxury condos, more apartments, and retail.Gensler, meanwhile, will be behind twooffice over retail projects.

Seattle firmOlson Kundig is also doing a similar project andBaker Barrios, from Orlando, are to design a central cooling facility.Greenery is coming via Tampa-based Alfonso Architects, who are fronting the redevelopment vision for the citys Channelside with a new public park, waterfront shops, and living units. Another Flordian firm, Nichols Brosch Wurst Wolfe & Associates from Coral Gables, are designing a 500-key hotel. Finally, New Haven, Connecticut practice Pickard Chilton are behind three projects that will office and residential over retail.

When finished, Water Street Tampa will boast more than two million square feet of offices. In doing so, the scheme will bring the first new office towers Downtown Tampa has seen in almost 25 years. Located on theGarrison Channel and Hillsborough Bay, the project, according to a press release, intends to bridge the citys cultural landmarks, including the Tampa Convention Center, Amalie Arena (where the Tampa Bay Lightning play), Tampa Bay History Center, and Florida Aquarium. This will be achieved via an array of public parks and spaces that lead to the waterfront where the Tampa Riverwalk, and five-mile-long Bayshore path, can be found.

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COOKFOX, Olson Kundig, Morris Adjmi, and KPF are among the firms reshaping Tampa's Downtown - The Architect's Newspaper

the daebong-dong commercial project has been carried out on a side road of the old quarter of daegu city, south korea.in 2010, as the korean singer kim gwangseoks streets were being built around, the area became a popular neighborhood where many young people would visit on the weekends. a new cafe street was being formed as the cafes voluntarily entered around the daebong-dong community service center. this trend resembles when, in the mid 2000s, street atmosphere changed as cafes started entering in hapjeong-dong and sangsu-dong, while the business area in hongdae expanded with cafes as well.

the daebong-dong commercial project has been carried out on a side road of the old quarter of daegu city

the legal floor area ratio is 220 %, meaningkorean based 2m2 architects could design a building up to 550 m2on a 4-story scale. however, the project team wanted a building with a floor area of about 200 m2, which is a little different from other building owners. the client, whose purpose is not to pursue rental profit, plans to run a bakery and cafe directly. so, the architects designed a building that does not stand out too much compared to the neighboring buildings, but has its distinct features and can be combined with the neighborhood atmosphere with 1/3 of the legal maximum possible size.

the project team wanted a floor area of about 200 m2, which is a little different from other buildings

usually, a franchise company would have a large floor area, but in a neighborhood that has its own distinct characteristics, 2m2 architects believed that was not the case. so, a large floor was divided into several small spaces. for this purpose, the architects set the basic direction as a skip floor, and it is a two-story building, but it actually became a space of four floors up to the outside deck on the roof. on the same floor, a concrete wall was exposed in the middle and divided it into two parts again. the floor and ceiling finish produces contrasting effects. the first floor was constructed with a wooden herringbone pattern, and the concrete slab and beam are exposed for the ceiling finish. the design team polished the concrete slab on the 2nd floor finishing, allowing the concrete to have its own texture, and the ceiling was finished with a wood loose louver to contrast it. in addition, by installing a skylight, natural light enters the room during the daytime.

the concrete slab is polished on the 2nd floor and the ceiling is finished with a wood loose louver to contrast it

there are many unique cities in korea, which are comparable with other famous cities in the world. there are also many historical towns. over the last few decades, the cities have experienced rapid development and change. as a young architect, lee junghee, founder of 2m2 architects, thinks that there are many roles to bring vitality to each alley in the neighborhood. rather than just designing a building to maximize lease revenue with the logic of capital simply in the understanding and support of the owner, he has designed and supervised in hopes of making a place to be loved by many people who are visiting daebong-dong.

by installing a skylight, natural light enters the room during the daytime

lee junghee, founder of 2m2, thinks that there are many roles to bring vitality to each alley in the neighborhood

the first floor was constructed with a wooden herringbone pattern

on the first floor, a concrete wall was exposed in the middle and divided it into two parts

the wooden louver contrasts with the buildings concrete walls

the architects designed a building that does not stand out too much compared to the neighboring buildings

the client, whose purpose is not to pursue rental profit, plans to run a bakery and cafe directly

2m2 architects has designed in hopes of making a place to be loved by people who are visiting daebong-dong

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: apostolos costarangos | designboom

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2m2 architects designs korean caf with a skip floor layout and contrasting materials - Designboom

Drawing on the 2014 Case Study House, a new modern showpiece adapts for another partners family.

WHEN YOU BUILD a Case Study home, you pretty much are obligated to study it. (Otherwise, you know, youd just call it a home.)

Youre not obligated to live there, of course, but the architectural partners of BUILD LLC have discovered that design is best studied from the inside. Kevin Eckert and his family lived in BUILDs 2014 Case Study House, a light and bright living laboratory in Seattles Roosevelt neighborhood, and now its Andrew van Leeuwens turn.

His familys 2016 Case Study House is, again, a deliberately, distinctly modern home in an established neighborhood (Tangletown this time).

Established neighbors might have noticed.

The house was a little polarizing, van Leeuwen says. But everybodys been kind and honest. One couple walked by, and you could tell what was coming. They asked me first: What do you think? I said, Its coming along. Dare I ask what you think? They said: We hear youre very nice people. I appreciate the honesty. As a modern architect, Im fully aware its not for everybody.

Along with serving as a showcase for clients, this particular modern home is designed to work for this particular modern family: van Leeuwen lives here with his wife, Angela Nelson; their 6-year-old son, Parker; daughter Kennedy, 4; and Nelsons mother, Helen. She lives in a fully independent, but beautifully integrated, accessory dwelling unit (ADU) on the lower level.

The primary motivations for the home were to bring three generations of family together and provide sensible density to the city, van Leeuwen says. Seattle is so expensive; solutions are more and more important. The fact that we put an apartment in this house for minimal additional construction costs is a huge deal. Its been a paradigm shift for my little family, and its been pretty awesome to see daily interaction between grandchildren and grandparent.

New element number one, then: sweet success from the get-go. Elsewhere, design decisions informed by the 2014 home continue to evolve:

Please enjoy our stairs: While the open-tread staircase served as an interior focal point in the 2014 home, We wanted to take this design element a step further and share it with the neighborhood, van Leeuwen says. A striking geometry is created when viewed in elevation, and the CSH2016 allows the passer-by to view the entire stair column illuminated at night via wall-mounted tread lights.

Speaking of lights: The 2014 home designated space in the common area for a desk, but van Leeuwens devotes an entire room to a fully enclosed office and art studio. We took an honest look at our lifestyle and, for better or worse, concluded that we work most evenings, he says (Nelson works for Microsoft). Its a space we enjoy close enough to keep an eye on our kids, plus a connection with the neighborhood: The office is perched above the entry and acts as a beacon with its illuminated floor-to-ceiling glass walls. Its a bit of an aquarium, a glowing corner at night.

Way more wood: Cedar was an element, but not a huge element, in 2014. Here, though, We wanted to think of the cedar as a volume; it wraps the entry and office beacon above, van Leeuwen says. Because the cedar siding defines these volumes, it extends inside, flanking the stairway and enclosing the office. The glowing cedar becomes a design feature both inside and out.

Back to the drawing board: Eckerts 2014 kitchen welcomed natural limestone countertops lots of personality, van Leeuwen says, but also lots of weathering and staining. Kevins kids are older, he says. They dont have magic-marker parties anymore. We needed something bulletproof. To the rescue: polished Cascade White PentalQuartz.

Not a lot of lot: The 2014 site had room for a backyard artist studio, but van Leeuwens oddly shaped lot, at just 4,300 square feet, was considerably more challenging. Fitting this house on this site was like squeezing a square peg into a rhombus hole, he says. The footprint created slivers, so landscape architect Shaney Clemmons shaped one into an outdoor room of hardscapes and garden spaces, with a vertical green wall. Specific plants and arrangements were chosen to encourage interaction between our children and their grandmother: picking strawberries on the vertical garden, harvesting blueberries at the retaining wall and growing food in the edible garden, van Leeuwen says.

Sometimes, as with the inverted floor plan, the clearest lesson was: Lets do that again. The 2014 and 2016 Case Study homes both have awesome hatch-accessed rooftop decks, slatted cabinetry in the living areas, interior glass sliding doors, grasscrete driveways, and plane- and quarter-sawn oak hardwood floors.

Its validating, van Leeuwen says. There is an answer to how we design. If you take all the considerations of both houses, were getting very close to the solution.

The experiment continues in Ballard with BUILDs newest living laboratory, Case Study House 2017: It will have a detached ADU with its own garage.

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BUILD architects live and learn - Seattle Times