Dubais breakneck development over the last three decades has been a race toward the superlative. The worlds tallest building, the largest indoor ski slope, the worlds largest mall. As it has become one of the wealthiest cities in the world, Dubai has been a playground for many things, not least of all for architecture, much of which was made possible by ground-breaking engineering and design achievements. The citys first Architecture Festival is exploring what the crop of young and emerging architects in the region are concerning themselves within that context.

The Royal Institute of British Architects Gulf Chapter mounted the festival in partnership with its landlords, the Dubai Design District or d3, a commercial development and creative hub that has drawn some of the most important design and architecture firms in the region. Dubai Design Week is also hosted by d3, at the edge of which this year lies the inaugural Architecture Festival until the annual event gains enough momentum to spin off on its own, said a d3 spokesperson.

Architects have the skills to craft beautiful spaces that can be sustainable and innovative as Gulf countries look forward to how the future could be, said RIBA Gulf Chapter Chair Andy Shaw.

If the future could be a reflection of the regions residents, it will need to have a lot of different looks, particularly in Dubai, where more than 80 percent of residents are expats. Indeed, the festival is working under the theme Identity, Context and Placemaking in the Gulf. While these conversations have never been more a part of the discourse in creative fields, watching them take place in a metropolis known for redrawing the borders of excess is engrossing.

On the heels of the Sharjah Architecture Triennial earlier this year in the eponymous neighboring Emirate, Dubai will have, for the first time, a formalized platform to communicate what we may be able to expect from emerging architects in the region.

Juan Roldan, associate professor in the College of Architecture, Art & Design at the American University of Sharjah and the festivals curator, sees a shift away from the iconic buildings the region is known for: The festival depicts a very interesting ecosystem of medium, and even very small-scale buildings that are dealing in a very sensitive manner with the heritage and also with the landscape of the region. Which is something that has been neglected just to benefit this vision of the urban as a vision for the future.

Over the last ten years, he said, a new architectural moment has emerged in the region. High-quality work with a deeper understanding of the Gulfs historical context has become part of the regions cultural and social fabric. Out of the 150 entries received for the festivals open call, the jury of eight practitioners narrowed the final show list to 40 emerging architects, established firms, and students whose work is in some cases completed, in others theoretical.

We wanted to really vindicate this new system of elements we are seeing and examine how schools of architecture look critically at what has happened in the past, in terms of heritage and new architecture, in terms of built environment in general, and appreciation of the landscape, Roldan told me in a Zoom meeting. There is a clear intention in this exhibition, he added, to analyze who the stakeholders are and the conditions that have supported its emergence. I think we are witnessing a shift in the approach to architectural design that has to do with the maturity of a generation of local architects in their 30s and 40s who have been trained here in the UAE, and in foreign architects who I believe have a deeper understanding and sensitivity to the heritage and the culture and the landscape.

Some of these projects react to the desert or to certain heritage areas using a much smaller scale than has been typical of the region. Some of them deal with very basic questions of sustainability using thicker walls, less glass, a smaller carbon footprint.

OMAs Concrete, a multidisciplinary art space, is featured for its minimal approach with a volumetric presence thats completely in tune with the boxy structures that make up the rest of Alserkal Avenues warehouse-cum-arts-district. Similarly, the Sharjah Art Foundation complex reinterprets Sharjahs urban tissue, injecting art spaces into the old neglected courtyard houses that are icons of the emirate. With an awareness of the land itself, Wasit Wetland Center by X-architects harmonizes unconditionally with the surrounding landscape, becoming an amalgam of animal and human habitat.

Mariama M.M. Kah, a student at the American University of Sharjah, submitted an urban mosque concept. A simple open peaked structure, big enough for one person to comfortably worship in is replicated in several series, recalling the minarets of classical Islamic architecture and creating a larger space by grouping smaller spaces together, giving physical form to the doctrine of religious observance as both a personal and communal act. Al Faya Lodge Desert Retreat and Spa by Anarchitect, completed earlier this year north of Dubai, repurposes a clinic and grocery store into a contemporary boutique lodge and spa. The site-responsive project considers desert conditions and exposure to the elements with locally sourced stone and concrete, a heavy thermal mass to mitigate extreme temperature fluctuations, and contextual materials like Corten steel referencing the historical presence of iron in the region.

Creating a festival to celebrate the diversity of architecture in the region, a spokesman for the Dubai Architecture Festival said, is important if we want to steer the industry towards a more sustainable future. A conversation series as part of the festival will invite architects and the public, but also clients I wanted to be sure to have clients who can tell us their story about why they are choosing a young architect or an emerging practice to do these buildings here, said Roldan. We want to make connections with entities, both public and private, who are really believing in and pushing for architecture that adds value for the economy, society, and the built environment.

He attributed this new sensitivity in younger generations to place and identity in the emerging architecture scene to younger clients who want to see that become part of contemporary architecture, and to the 2008 financial crisis, which got people thinking about how to do more with less, and to do it with imagination. The market is saturated with these older models responsible for our iconic buildings. The examples in the festival are a good look at how architecture is working in the region.

Though its run is only three days, the Architecture Festival suggests an ambition. It can sometimes be difficult to get people to talk about architecture and design, but Roldan seems to believe public perception is changing, and the impact design can have on our urban experience is becoming more appreciated. The exhibition shows a greater awareness of how people live in cities and that government entities may be more willing to adapt construction practices and the urban landscape to make it more specific to users.

I think people will be able to see a trend in these last few years and how it will be moving into the future, and I think we are able to give a good example of how that care for the details can spread throughout the urban realm.

The Dubai Architecture Festival runs November 11 through 13 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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The first Dubai Architecture Festival reflects on emerging dialogues in the region - The Architect's Newspaper

Two Houses on the Mont Vully / jomini & zimmermann architects

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Text description provided by the architects. As a contribution to the climate debate, the two houses on the Mont Vully were built with the natural and low-emission materials timber and loam. The client and the architects wanted to create rooms with a good atmosphere and a good indoor climate.

All the interior walls are made of adobe bricks, the pillars and ceilings are in massive timber, the floor is of loam and casein. Instead of plaster only loam rendering with earth colors and without color pigments were used.

We think architects and planners should break new ground, time is ready for a Terrestric Architecture: Terrestric Architecture engenders spaces, buildings, settlements, and cities that fulfill the physiological, social, and cultural needs of its users and considers the needs of the fellow human beings and the environment and the long-term habitability of the Earth.

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Two Houses on the Mont Vully / jomini & zimmermann architects - ArchDaily

One of the greatest gifts an architect can be given is a blank canvas. But imagine that beneath the clean slate lies deep roots that were planted by former slaves who settled in the neighborhood after the Civil War, historic walls touched by visionaries like automobile pioneer Henry Ford and cotton gin manufacturer Robert S. Munger, and a soul intertwined with iconic musicians and artists. That was the opportunity the Dallas studio of global architecture firm Perkins and Will was given when it was tapped to design The Epic, a mixed-use development from Westdale Real Estate and KDC in historic Deep Ellum.

Considered a game-changer for the neighborhood on the eastern edge of downtown Dallas, the project has already secured a huge office lease from Ubernot bad for an area that had been predominantly known for its quirky shops and active nightlife.

The Epic consists of a 251,000-square-foot office building (Epic I) and The Pittman Hotel, both of which were designed by Perkins and Will, and a 26-story apartment tower, developed by Westdale and Streetlights Residential and designed by LRK. Perkins and Will also designed the Epic II, which will house Uber. The company is subleasing out some of its temporary space as it battles through the pandemic but still plans to occupy the 25-story Epic II and two floors in Epic I.

The Richards GroupWhen Stan Richards approached the firm to design his advertising agencys global headquarters, he made it clear that his goal was to preserve and enhance the companys egalitarian culture. It was achieved with a transparent, open office. Elevators were shifted to the side, allowing a soaring atrium to be at the buildings heart.

Hope LodgeDesigned to be a home away from home for cancer patients and an office for the American Cancer Society, Perkins and Will used natural and healthy materials to create a warm, inviting, and non-toxic environment.

Baylor Scott & White HealthThe 300,000-square-foot, $70 million administrative office is being built by KDC on the eastern edge of Deep Ellum. The design incorporates light monitors and light wells within the roof to bring natural light into the buildings core areas.

Ron Stelmarski, design director at Perkins and Will, says the process began by asking: How do you pose this much square footage onto a space without undermining the integrity of whats already there?

In most urban centers, developers will take a prime piece of real estate and build right in the center of it, he explains. Those behind The Epic wanted to create density around the edges to preserve the neighborhoods center.

But I see this project as a real fulcrum, Stelmarksi says. It is showing that you can do both. Its a hinge between connecting to the broader sense of the city. Many master-planned developments become all about the edges, and [developers] like people to walk around it but not through it. This one is very permeable, and I think thats something that hopefully can be learned from.

Ron Stelmarski, design director at Perkins and Will

Stelmarski, who moved to Dallas in 2001 after spending about a decade at Perkins and Wills Chicago office, says being somewhat of an outsider allowed him to look at Deep Ellum with fresh eyes.

He immediately latched onto the idea that The Epic could mend back together what had been bisected in the neighborhood over the years.

We used this almost scientific understanding that place keeps things woven together, he says.

For example, 80-foot-wide cuts were made through Epic I to allow for sightlines from the DART line through the development to Elm Street, where the historic Knights of Pythias Temple was recently redeveloped into The Pittman Hotel, which carries a Kimpton flag.

The structure was seen as a jewel, says Kristin Winters, senior architect at Perkins and Will.

It offered us the opportunity to not have to tear down any of the existing fabric, she says. We were able to preserve whats great about Deep Ellum and build around the edges.

Originally designed in 1916 by prominent Black architect and son-in-law of Booker T. Washington, William S. Pittman, the hotel serves as a hinge point that links the older one- and two-story buildings along Elm Street and the 16-story glass Epic I.

Standing Tall The 16-story Epic I serves as a gateway to Deep Ellum from downtown Dallas.

Courtesy of Perkins and Will

Although most structures in Deep Ellum were built of load-bearing masonry, the Pythias Temple is supported by steel, with wood construction as a backupjust like Epic I.

Kristin Winters, senior architect at Perkins and Will.

Its part of the lineage of taking advantage of whats been there, which was always a sense of straightforwardness, and that was the beauty of it, Stelmarski says.

Perkins and Will highlighted Epic I by lining the building blocks undersides with lights, using softer colors on the towers fins to evoke depth and movement and low-reflective glass to keep it transparent.

Epic II, which is still under construction, will continue the districts evolution and blend in more with buildings in the central business district.

At Epic I, it was shifting and moving to create a scale relationship between Deep Ellum and downtown, Stelmarski says. Epic II, because it is much taller, is carved and shaped so that when youre standing down by the hotel and looking through the slot between the residential and Epic I, youll still see the downtown skyline. We always wanted you to get a sense that you were in the city.

Although Stelmarski couldnt reveal specifics about whats next, he did hint at potential plans. We have this really interesting map we made. If you take the [DART] Green Line from our office, which is the beautiful Dallas High School on Bryan Street, right next door is Bryan Tower, which will be workforce housing. If you keep taking the train, you will arrive at The Epic, pass Hope Lodge, go by the Baylor Administration Center, and then arrive at Fair Park. For us, were seeing a whole range of project types that are influencing this part of town.

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Meet The Dallas Architects Behind A Reimagined Deep Ellum - D Magazine

The National Native American Veterans Memorial was officially unveiled to the public today on the grounds of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington, D.C. It is the first national landmark in the United States capital to pay tribute to the countless American Indians, Alaska Natives, and native Hawaiians who have served in the U.S. military throughout the decades.

Unlike the museum itself, which reopened on September 25 and is admitting guests via a timed-entry pass system during the coronavirus pandemic, the National Mall-adjacent memorial, which was commissioned by Congress to give all Americans the opportunity to learn of the proud and courageous tradition of service of Native Americans in the Armed Forces of the United States, is publicly accessible 24 hours a day with no advance ticketing required.

Taking the form of a large stainless-steel circle atop a low-slung carved stone drum, the memorial was designed by Harvey Pratt, a multimedia artist, Marine Corps Vietnam veteran, and member of the Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribes of Oklahoma. Based in Oklahoma, Pratt is also a nationally renowned retired forensic artist whose expertise has been tapped for a number of headline-grabbing murder cases (and Bigfoot research).

Oklahoma City-based Butzer Architects and Urbanism served as design partner alongside Pratt on the project, which has been in the works since 2015 following the establishment of a memorial advisory committee formed by the museum alongside the National Congress of American Indians and other Native organizations. Following 35 input-seeking community consultation sessions held across the country, an international design competition was hosted by the museum in 2017. Pratts memorial proposal, Warriors Circle of Honor, was ultimately selected from a shortlist of six concepts the following year by the competition jury.

Encircled by benches for a contemplative congregation and quiet respite, Pratts design also incorporates a water element that flows continuously from the drum for ceremonial purposes. Small fires can also be lit at the base of the circle for ceremonies. The memorial is approachable from four different directions via a walkway dubbed the Path of Harmony, which itself is accessible via a larger walkway, the Path of Life, that curves around a tranquil, tree-studded landscape just east of the museum building. The circular site also features a quartet of spears where family members, fellow veterans, and tribal leaders can affix prayer ties. An audio component with a loop of thirteen Native American veteran songs from the Ojibwe, Menominee, Blackfeet, Ho-Chunk, Kiowa, and Lakota Nations can be heard playing at the memorial.

The memorials opening was marked by a virtual message shared on the NMAI website and Youtube channel honoring the sacrifice of Native American veterans and their families. An in-person dedication ceremony as well as a veterans procession will be held at a later date.

The National Native American Veterans Memorial will serve as a reminder to the nation and the world of the service and sacrifice of Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian veterans, said Kevin Gover, director of the NMAI, in a statement shared by the Smithsonian. Native Americans have always answered the call to serve, and this memorial is a fitting tribute to their patriotism and deep commitment to this country.

Coinciding with the opening of the memorial, the NMAI has published Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces. The 240-page tome explores the Native American communitys long and rich history of service. Designed by Seattle-based Jones & Jones Architects and Landscape Architects along with SmithGroup, Polshek Partnership Architects, Lou Weller (Caddo), the Native American Design Collaborative, and a number of Native American design consultants, the NMAI opened in 2004 in a five-story curvilinear building resembling a wind-worn rock formation.

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National Native American Veterans Memorial opens on the National Mall - The Architect's Newspaper

Bayou Blue Retreat House, ThibodeauxCATEGORY: Residential

The owners primary desire for this retreat house was to have a secondary residence where the family could withdraw from their everyday life in an informal, relaxed setting with the potential to downsize from their current primary residence during their retirement years.

The project site is within a very rural area of bayou country, deep into south Louisiana. Lushly grown tree canopies and natural waterways are commonplace. The climate is hot and humid for most of the year.

The owners also live a very private lifestyle. As such, the design challenge was to take advantage of the beautiful natural setting while maintaining a high level of privacy. Additionally, several passive and active strategies were deployed to mitigate and manage the difficulties of the south Louisiana climate with a goal of achieving net-zero.

This retreat house is located on an approximately 3.75-acre site adjacent to a waterway that ties into nearby Bayou Blue in south Louisianas Bayou Country.The landscaped entry courtyard serves as a quiet buffer from the outside world. A simple pallet of landscape and ground textures surrounded by a 6-foot-high western red cedar enclosure creates a microclimate that is different from the exterior approach just off the highway.

The house is divided into two programmatic pods that contain the private and public functions of the house. The two are connected by a central foyer and screened-in porch that aligns with an axial view to the rear of the property. The public pod is comprised of one large open space that contains the kitchen, dining, and living areas. The private pod contains the bedrooms and other private support spaces for the home. The garage anchors it.

The aesthetic of the house is one of modern, clean, and simple design. The limited material palette on the exterior, comprised of fiber cement siding and panels, western red cedar, and standing seam metal panels, along with the roof forms, creates a contemporary look while responding to the regional south Louisiana vernacular and climate.The interior of the home continues the modern aesthetic through a minimal palette of finishes that is contrasted and enhanced by the wood tones of the contemporary millwork and furniture.

Read about the rest of the 2020 AIABR Rose Award winners.

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Rose Award: Holly and Smith Architects - Greater Baton Rouge Business Report

Northshore Technical Community CollegeCATEGORY: Architecture

Northshore Technical Community College established the first community college presence in Livingston Parish. The strategic blueprint fosters space efficiency control, and the state-of-the-art design promotes innovation, inclusivity, and collaboration. This facility plays an integral part in mapping present and future higher education, workforce training, and economic development throughout Livingston Parish.

The facilitys entryway shines like a beacon for the small-town community. Interlocking folded planes sculpt the massing of the main entrance and breezeway.The new facility was designed to accommodate specialized training for nursing, welding, advanced manufacturing, information technology, and electrical systems. Also included are administrative, faculty, and support spaces.

The design parti separates the building into two distinct areas with a covered breezeway commons. This allows less clean areas, like welding and advanced manufacturing, to be separated from cleaner spaces, such as administration, IT and nursing classrooms. All of these spaces are envisioned to support the colleges workforce training center mission.

The clinically clean teaching spaces include large seminar rooms and computer labs, as well as high fidelity and low fidelity nursing simulation spaces. Welding shops embrace the industrial aesthetic with epoxy coated floors, painted exposed structure, and stainless-steel ventilation ducts. The shop has access to an exterior, covered work area for cutting and grinding. The advanced manufacturing space, adjacent to welding, is a flexible maker-space containing numerous power drops on retractable hose reels for maximum flexibility.

The site is adjacent to a neighboring universitys Literacy and Technology Center and operates in conjunction with this institution by sharing classrooms for general education space. The design is inspired by the administrations desire for a contemporary image representing the forward-thinking of the college.

Read about the rest of the 2020 AIABR Rose Award winners.

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Silver Rose Award: Holly and Smith Architects - Greater Baton Rouge Business Report

Source: Gibney Communications

DUBLIN PORT HAS appointed architects to design a cycleway and pedestrian path between the Port and the city centre.

Grafton Architects will design the Liffey-Tolka project, which Dublin Port called the most important port-city integration project to date.

The 1.4km dedicated cycle and pedestrian route will link the River Liffey with the Tolka Estuary, and will go through Dublin Port lands on the east side of East Wall Road and along Bond Road.

The design for the route includes a bridge for cyclists and pedestrians to safely cross over the busy Promenade Road, which links Dublin Port to the Dublin Port Tunnel and is one of the most heavily trafficked roads in the country.

The new linear space ranges from twelve metres to nine metres wide.

The Liffey-Tolka Project will link to a second port-city integration project, the Tolka Estuary Greenway a 3.2km route along the northern perimeter of Dublin Port overlooking the Tolka Estuary.

Dublin Port said it would apply to Dublin City Council for planning permission for the Liffey-Tolka Project by April 2021. The target is to begin construction by September 2021 and to finish the project by the third quarter of 2022.

On Monday, the government announced over 63 million would be allocated to improving and expanding on greenways around Ireland in 2021.

Source: Gibney Communications

Commenting on Grafton Architects appointment, founder of Grafton Architects Shelley McNamara said: The Liffey-Tolka Project to connect the River Liffey to the Tolka Estuary, along East Wall Road and Bond Road is not so small but, at the scale of the City it might be considered to be. However, its transformative effect will be immense.

The currently hostile East Wall Road will become a linear Civic Space. This will form a new sense of entry to the City when travelling from the North and from the Dublin Port Tunnel.

McNanara and her colleague Yvonne Farrell won the Pritzker Prize this year architectures highest award.

She continued: The drama, scale and animation of the Port will be revealed, joining up with the life of the City. The visual barrier which currently separates these two interdependent worlds will disappear.

The pavement area will increase from a two metre width to twelve metres, offering a safe pleasurable landscaped space for people to walk or cycle. This new ribbon of space, bridging over Promenade Road, will connect the East Coast Trail and Dublin Ports Tolka Estuary Greenway to the Liffey, terminating in a sunny public space on the waters edge. This will be a new Urban Amenity for day to day use and for enjoyment in times of leisure.

We developed a deep appreciation and understanding of Dublin Port from our work on The Flour Mill Masterplan and we are very excited now to have been appointed to bring a project as important to the City as the Liffey-Tolka Project to the consenting phase and, hopefully, to construction next year.

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Eamonn OReilly Chief Executive of Dublin Port said: Delivering Masterplan 2040 is very complex and our focus to date has been on projects which deliver additional freight capacity. However, an equally important, albeit smaller part, of our Masterplan is integrating Dublin Port with Dublin City.

We have been delivering projects such as the Diving Bell in 2015 and the Opening of Port Centre in 2017 as isolated stepping stones to integrate the Port with the City but, with todays appointment of Grafton Architects to design the scheme to link the Liffey with the Tolka, we have cut the Gordian knot of the complex challenge to open up Dublin Port to Dubliners.

Dublin Port is not going anywhere, and we are committed to developing nationally important port infrastructure in accordance with the principles of proper planning and sustainable development.

This requires us not only to cater for the needs of cargo and commerce; we must also create real gain for the citizens of Dublin.

Doing this in a small but extremely busy port requires great design and we are delighted to be working with Grafton Architects as we take on a unique challenge to integrate Dublin Port with Dublin City.

We have been working with Grafton Architects for the past year to prepare the Flour Mill Masterplan as the blueprint for the redevelopment of the former Odlums Flour Mill on Alexandra Road.

This development is an integral part of our plans to deliver the 1.6 billion of port infrastructure projects required to bring Dublin Port to its ultimate capacity by 2040.

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Dublin Port appoints architects to build cycleway and pathway to city centre - TheJournal.ie

The need to build a bigger, more accommodating space to shelter children and their families undergoing expensive medical treatment at Baltimore-based hospitals has been more than seven years in the making.

Last year, the new $34 million Ronald McDonald House Charities Maryland in the Jonestown neighborhood of Baltimore finally opened its doors after about two years of construction. The facility was designed and built by Beatty Harvey Coco Architects and The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company.

Since 1982, the facility has sheltered more than 40,000 families. The new six-story, 60,000-square-foot facility is more than three times larger than the old building on West Lexington Street near the University of Maryland Medical Center. It more than doubles the Ronald McDonald Houses capacity to accommodate 1,000 more families per year.

The new Ronald McDonald House is loaded with resources for families to ease their burdens as their children go through difficult treatments. These include 54 guestrooms and nine suites for bone marrow and transplant patients, a game room for children and play room for younger kids, a large main kitchen and a smaller kitchen for children with weakened immune systems.

The walls from the lobby to the top floor are adorned with stones containing get well messages from former residents whove stayed at the shelter.

Theres also a rooftop terrace, a meditation room, a classroom space, a family business center and an outdoor playground with an adjacent picnic and dining area.

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Beatty Harvey Coco Architects, The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company - Maryland Daily Record

While we have seen many projects with green infrastructure embraced in Sydneys urban centres since early exemplars such as the iconic One Central Park (Ateliers Jean Nouvel design architect with PTW Architects local collaborating architect) - a leading international example for the City of Sydneys Green Roofs and Walls Policy Implementation Plan - its uptake in more suburban areas, where there is already an abundance of green space and leisure areas, has been much more gradual.

Council initiatives are paving the way for this suburban transformation, with Sydneys The Hills Shire Councils Environment Strategy (October 2019), encouraging new and diverse habitat types, such as green roofs and walls which can complement natural areas and help grow the urban forest.

Trees can help reduce the impact of heat waves and extreme heat. (The Hills Council Environment Strategy 2019, p34).

An exemplar project for Castle Hill, designed by international architects PTW, Chateau at 16 Middleton Avenue takes sustainable principles of green infrastructure design from its city precedents (One Central Park, The Alexander at Barangaroo) and adapts them to an appropriate response for this area which is undergoing significant growth and revitalisation.

The current urban scale of the area consists of low-rise free standing dwellings, however, this urban character is likely to change in areas with close proximity to the Showground Metro Station.

Our clients wanted a high-end but quintessentially vernacular, sustainable response to apartment and townhouse living for this project in the picturesque Hills Shire.

An area known for its natural Australian bush setting and agricultural roots, the site is well-located just south of Castle Hill Showgrounds and future local centre, said Simon Parsons, PTW Managing Director, Asia Pacific.

Green roofs, integrated gardens throughout and significant areas of deep soil planting for large trees were the perfect solution for the desired aspects of leafy neighbourhood living, mixed with lifestyle, connection to community and sustainable outcomes.

Green roofs bring the benefits of an expansive backyard to apartment living, with numerous sustainable advantages, sophisticated resort-style amenities and naturally cool buildings, substantially lowering demand for air conditioning, says Parsons.

On the ground level, nestled between the four towers (comprising 296 dwellings, including one, two and three bedroom luxury apartments, town houses and penthouses) sits a Zen adventure Garden and through-site link giving residents connection and access to the future Showground train station and bus link.

The network of open space and improved connections will also encourage pedestrian and cyclist activity throughout the precinct.

As well as extensive community gardens, grassed and vegetated areas, the roof tops offer unique spaces and amenities such as a resort-style wet-edge pool, gym, barbecue areas and breakout meeting spaces.

This project on one hand brings the benefits of urban living to what was a traditionally suburban area; and on the other the spirit of the landscape and leafy character of Castle Hill to this large apartment project.

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PTW Architects spearheads Castle Hill's 'green roof growth' - Architecture and Design

In one of the most contentious discussions to date, months of work on drafting short-term rental regulations abruptly halted last Thursday, when Councilor Paula Schnepp of Marstons Mills chose to withdraw both a general and zoning ordinance, effectively ending consideration of any new rules. For now.

"I don't know if I'm completely surprised, given how hard it was to even get it to our meeting on the 5th," Schnepp said by phone Tuesday. "What happens next will depend on if leadership wants to bring it forward again."

Council President Paul Hebert supported delaying the votes at least until Nik Atsalis, who was elected last week to fill Britt Beedenbender's Precinct 4/Centerville council term, is sworn in. But the council annually elects new leadership in December.

"The one thing that is abundantly clear is there are a myriad of issues that have yet to be addressed," said Councilor David Bogan of Osterville. "The issue is not the ability to rent property but the ability to engage in short-term rentals."

At the council's Nov. 5 meeting, Bogan moved to table STR discussions until mid-January, and he recommended that the draft regulations undergo further subcommittee or task force study.

"We want to protect our neighborhoods, ability to rent periodically and keep out non-owner occupied renters," he said. "Let's take a little more time."

If the ordinances go back to the same committee, whats going to change? asked Councilor Jen Cullum of Hyannis, who served on the STR subcommittee that Schnepp chaired.

Schnepp and Cullum, who worked closely with town staff to draft the STR ordinances, sought to move forward with a vote.

"We put a ton of time into this 88 hours of meetings and endless public comment," Cullum said. "Weve done the work. I think we should vote on it and move onto sewers. Its becoming a crisis to me that were not dealing with a billion-dollar sewer project."

Schnepp agreed. "We have gone through a rigorous process," she said. "I believe we have arrived at a very reasonable regulatory framework. To pass this along is not fulfilling our obligations as elected officials."

An hour and a half into the meeting, even Councilor Eric Steinhilber became exasperated.

"This issue has been talked about for 18 months. This didnt just drop out of the sky," Steinhilber said. "We are failing people. We are not getting our business done. Call it a failure of leadership.

"If you have objections, come prepared with amendments," he said. "Come to a working consensus, and vote on it. Im sorry. Its just embarrassing."

In his own defense, Hebert said, "my job was to allow the councilors to discuss. Some councilors chose to not discuss. Look at yourself in the mirror before you criticize the leadership. We seem to have lost our ability to be civil."

Schnepp said she sensed there would be no consensus.

"The motion to table was a split vote (6:6), an early indication we were not going to get the support we needed for the zoning," she said. "The general (ordinance) without the zoning (ordinance) is not a good path forward."

For now, the town still has Board of Health regulations and inspections in place that govern owner-occupied rentals, she noted. "It is my understanding that town staff will be moving forward with reaching out to properties that have registered with the Department of Revenue and telling them that they also have to register with the Barnstable Board of Health."

In addition, Schnepp said town staff is looking into entering into a contract with a company that monitors STR advertising.

"That will be a mechanism to identify those properties that haven't come forward yet and the service offers a 24-hr complaint hotline," she said. "I feel confident that there will still be ways in which we identify and monitor short-term rentals in town even without these ordinances."

Nevertheless, "it's been a long year of accomplishing absolutely nothing," Cullum said in hindsight. "It's been very frustrating...the worst year in my nine years of serving Precinct 13. We have done nothing in one year. There's no leadership."

The council's next meeting is Thursday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. on Ch. 18 and ZOOM.

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Chief architect of short-term rental regulations withdraws drafts from Town Council - Barnstable Patriot