Were only a couple of weeks away from the 2021 Golf Inc. Summit. Weve already shared whats in store for the public track, so heres what the investor track can look forward to Oct. 26-28 at the La Quinta Resort in California.

Learning from the past year: how to leverage the surge

Jonathan Last, Founder & President, Sports and Leisure Research

Larry Hirsh, President, Golf Property Analysts

Ron Stepanek, Business Dev. Executive, BrightView Golf Maintenance

Real estate strategies for private clubs

Peter Nanula, CEO and Chairman, Concert Golf Partners

Eric Mott, Board Treasurer, The Ranch Country Club

Eric Ackerson, Board Member, The Ranch Country Club

Navigating the effects of droughts

Bradley Herrema, Shareholder, Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, Schreck

Dave Loomis, Vice President, Poppy Bank

Cole Thompson, Assistant Director, Green Section Research

Buy & sell: market assessment 2021

Jeff Woolson, Exec. VP, CBRE Golf & Resort Properties

Bobby Silva, Sr. VP, Escalante Golf

Andy Crosson, Exec. VP, Arcis Equity Partners

Jimmy Han, Principal, Century Golf

Meet the top buyers

Randolph D. Addison, Partner, Addison Law

Tom Bennison, Chief Development Officer, ClubCorp

Randy Jones, COO, C-Bons Golf International

Doug Howe, COO, Century Golf Partners

An owners perspective on whats next

Don Rea, Owner/Operator, Augusta Ranch Golf Club

Tony Martinez, Board of Director, PGA

Cathy Harbin, President and CEO, On Course Operations

Ty Martinez, Associate, PGA

What innovations will define the next generation of courses?

Forrest Richardson, Principal, Richardson | Danner Golf Course Architects

Erik Peterson, President, PHX Architecture

Ken Alperstein, Golfcourse and Landscape Architect, Pinnacle Design Company

Ted Simons, Founder/Chief Developments Officer, Synergy Group Consulting

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Presenting the Investor Track for the 2021 Golf Inc Summit - Golf Inc.

"I'm Convinced that Good Architecture Creates the Good Life": In Conversation with Dorte Mandrup

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"Architecture encompassed my interest in reality and societal issues," says architect Dorte Mandrup, in an extensive conversation with Louisiana Channel, in which the founder and creative director of Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter reflects on formative years and the values of her architecture practice. Four years in the making, the film takes viewers on a journey through Dorte Mandrup's architecture, with compelling footage telling the story of designs such as the Ilulissat Icefjord Centre, Jaegersborg Water tower, or Ama'r Children's Culture House. Through the portrait film, the architect touches on numerous topics such as sustainability and climate change, the relationship of the built environment with the landscape, and as well as the profession itself and its present transformations and challenges.

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From Greenland's landscapes to the urban environment of Copenhagen and the model workshop of Dorte Mnasdrup Arktekter, Louisiana Channel's latest film is a journey through space and time building to an extensive exploration of Mandrup's work and design process. Throughout the various interviews, the architect talks about her admiration for the work of Henning Larsen, as well as the challenges of pushing for architectural quality when the profession is perceived less in terms of added social value and more as a judge of style. At the same time, Mandrup details her interest in adaptive reuse and design of children spaces while she expresses her view of architecture as a sensory experience and a means of communication.

"I think it took me a long time to realize that the knowledge you have that isn't articulated with words is as important as the written or spoken argument. There is a path to us, a form of communication that doesn't involve words. So acknowledging that there exists a different kind of knowledge and a different argument was a huge relief to me." -Dorte Mandrup

Dorte Mandrup founded the eponymous practice in 1999, and the Copenhagen-based studio is now known for creating contextually relevant spaces that foster social interaction across multiple scales and programs. Mandrup is the recipient of numerous accolades, having been named Architect of the Year at ICONIC Awards 2021, Chairwoman of Mies van der Rohe Award in 2019 and a Member of the RIBA Honours Committee in 2021.

To see more architecture videos, check ArchDaily's full coverage of Louisiana Channel's series of interviews.

News Via Louisiana Channel.

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"I'm Convinced that Good Architecture Creates the Good Life": In Conversation with Dorte Mandrup - ArchDaily

Two years after tech giant Amazon ended its search for a second headquarters site and settled on Arlington, Virginia (after plans for a Queens offshoot fell through), more information on the second phase of its new campus, and centerpiece The Helix tower, has finally been released.

In an About Amazon blog post released earlier this morning, the company announced it had teamed with frequent collaborator NBBJ, who also designed the companys bulbous Spheres in Seattle, a greenhouse adjoined to their original headquarters, for this East Coast project. Phase one of Amazons HQ2 campus was first revealed in May of 2019 (Metropolitan Park), with a more restrained pair of buildings, totaling 2.1 million square feet, from ZGF Architects complemented by a Field Operations-designed landscape.

Phase two of the campus, which will ultimately hold up to 25,000 Amazon employees, is decidedly more ostentatious. NBBJ has unveiled a 22-story, 350-foot-tall glass spiral that decidedly references both DNA and conical mollusk shells to anchor its PenPlace site (as the press release calls out the biophilic design influence specifically), as well as two other buildings of the same height. Altogether, 2.8 million square feet of office space will be shared between three towers and Amazon expects them all to hit LEED Platinum certification.

The Helix itself will span 370,000 square feet and feature two hiking paths along its planted exterior, which Amazon claims will be planted with native flora from Virginias Blue Ridge Mountains. The trail, and The Helix itself, will be opened to the public a few weekends a month, according to the company. Besides office space and its greened exterior, The Helix will feature an interior garden, a 1,500-person meeting space, and Amazon is starting an artist-in-residence program for the tower.

SCAPE has been tapped to handle PenPlaces landscaping, which includes 2.5 acres of plazas and open space at The Helixs base, which, from the renderings, are intended to seamlessly flow into the tower and conjoin the other two buildings on site. A dog run, 250-seat public amphitheater, lawns, green spaces, hilly planted areas, and 100,000 square feet of retail space across 12 storefronts are all planned, with farmers markets, concerts, and outdoor movies screenings all proposed. Joining the plaza will be a childcare center and a 20,000-square-foot community center that Amazon expects will be used for classes and science and technology education.

The biking and pedestrian experience was also, according to Amazon, at the top of their site planning criteria, and as such a quarter-mile of new bike lanes will be added and all vehicle traffic to and from PenPlace will be underground.

Amazon is expecting to break ground on the PenPlace section of its $2.5 billion campus in 2022, with the towers expected to open in 2025. Whiting-Turner is serving as the project contractor.

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NBBJ's spiraling glass Helix will anchor Amazon's HQ2 in Arlington - The Architect's Newspaper

In 2013, Friends of The Underline founder Meg Daly had a bike accident and broke both of her arms. Unable to drive herself to physical therapy, she began taking the Miami Metrorail, an often overlooked means of transportation. But switching up her routine and taking on Miamis limited metro system wasnt the only new thing Daly encountered. Nestled under the train tracks sat a chunk of neglected land.

Mindfully designed green spaces are rare in Miami. Its a city where beach became a word almost synonymous with park for guests and residents alike. What was lacking was quite obvious to Daly, a sales and marketing veteran: an interactive green space that would provide safety, culture, technology, wellness, and lets face it, shade. What were seeing are cities everywhere looking to revitalize public space in their urban fabric, says James Corner, CEO and founder of Field Operations, the urban design and landscape architecture firm commissioned to bring Dalys vision to life. Cities are getting denser, he continues, and theres a desperate need for open space. The solution? The Underline, a 10-mile linear park connecting some of the most vibrant neighborhoods in Miami.

The Underline follows the path of an existing but seldom used light rail system in Miami.

Were all strangers to each other, Daly says of Miamis individualistic nature. The only time we get to know each other is when theres a hurricane and we need to ask our neighbors for icethen when the storm passes, we go back to being strangers. What began as a relatively simple ideaa linear neighborhood parkhas grown into a project that could transform the trajectory of Miami. From free health and wellness programs and vast trails for biking, walking or running to cultural events and an art gallery spanning the entire project, The Underline aims to enrich the day-to-day lives of Miamis residents.

With equality in mind, Daly and her team (funded both privately and publicly) set out to secure a representative audience of each neighborhood The Underline passes through. Currently, the corridor feels like what separates neighborhoods, says Isabel Castilla, a principal architect at Field Operations. After extensive community outreacharound 27 meetings for each zoneit became clear that each neighborhood desired different amenities, and some even craved basic features. Wi-Fi, a luxury often forgotten, will be available throughout The Underline, providing free access and a new kind of workspace for children and adults alike. Brickell will be the first neighborhood to experience everything this project promises to be. After some major construction setbacks due to COVID-19, Brickells section of the corridor is set to open within the next few months. As for the rest of the project, only time, and patience, will tell.

The newly minted public space will be used not only for exercise, but also for cultural and educational purposes.

Programming and amenities aside, The Underline will help tackle an issue at the forefront of Miamis identity: climate change. All of the planting weve selected is native to Florida, Castilla explains. We wont be using irrigationeverything is drought-tolerant. In addition to the permeability of The Underlines ground, all rainfall (a Miami staple often leading to flooding increased by fast-rising oceans) will be directed into the planting beds. And while the project has placed notable emphasis on sustainability and environmental consciousness, one can only hope that the citizens of Miami will follow suit.

The Underline has been designed so that all rainfall in the area will be directed into the new planting beds.

Built on the fundamental layers of safety, wellness, and resilience through alternative transportation, The Underline will act as a disruptor to a city where transportation has almost exclusively meant automobiles. There will be a renaissance of how we experience our county, Daly notes proudly of the project. I hope The Underline is a catalyst in that.

See the article here:
How an Unlikely Plot of Land Will Transform Miami - Architectural Digest

The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has approved a $304-million (250 million euro) plan to transform the citys famed Champs-lyses into a pedestrian-friendly public space by 2030.

The ambitious restoration project, proposed by the local community and first unveiled in 2019, will overhaul the 1.2-mile-long central street in the French capital that connects the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde into what Hidalgo refers to as an extraordinary garden in Le Journal du Dimanche.

Frustrated by the alienating effect that the luxury stores and expensive restaurants had on the locals, the Champs-lyses committee has been campaigning for the redesign since 2018 and proposed the now approved project in 2019. The scheme was designed by PCA-Stream, a French architectural firm based in Paris. PCA-Stream principal and founder Philippe Chiambaretta stated that his goal was to convert the boulevard into a space that would be ecological, desirable and inclusive.

Lately, the worlds most beautiful avenue, as its sometimes known, has fallen on hard times and hosted several consecutive crises thanks to its prominent location in the heart of the French capital: After the gilets jaunes (yellow vest) protests, strikes, and high-end retail gentrification over the last 30 years, the scheme looks to return the street to local residents. The committee, headed by Jean-Noel Reinhardt welcomed the mayors good news.

PCA-Streams scheme seeks to close half of the streets eight lanes to cars and insert pockets of greenery or planted living rooms. According to Chiabaretta, this will improve the air quality of a street that sees up to an average of 3,000 cars per hour. The revitalization will also introduce food kiosks and meeting spaces in an attempt to attract locals back into the area and return it to a space closer to its original purpose of fostering open-air comingling.

The avenue was originally conceived by Andr Le Ntre, King Louis XIVs landscape architect, in 1667 as an extension to the gardens at the Tuileries Palace to the southeast on the bank of the River Seine. In 1709, the finished boulevard took its name from the Greek Elysian Fields, an outdoor paradise for the righteous to frolic in for all eternity. The new renovation be delivered in two stages; the work at the Place de la Concorde, Pariss largest public square, will be completed before the Olympic games in 2024 with the rest following, with a completion date set for 2030.

More here:
Paris's Champs-lyses will get a pedestrian-friendly green overhaul - The Architect's Newspaper

Sustainable architecture: innovative and inspiring building design

From amazing abodes to centres of care and hard-working offices, we chart some of the worlds best examples of sustainable architecture, buildings that not only look good but also do good

Photography: Spaceshift Studio

Elephant Worlds architecture nods to both human and elephant needs, showcasing a strong sense of social sustainability but a respect to the environment too. The Wallpaper* DesignAwards 2021Best Sanctuarywinner is a design by Thai architect Boonserm Premthada and his practice,Bangkok Project Studio. Premthada worked with local labour and materials to create a complex dedicated to the wellbeing of humans and animals, including an observation tower, a museum and a multifunctional event space. The design blends with the landscape and uses natural materials. For example, the bricks used for the museum were created on site by local workers using loam found in the area.

This ultra-sustainable workspaceis abuilding that actuallycreatesmore energy than it will consume over its entire lifespan. Architecture studioSnhetta,together with collaborators R8 Property, Skanska and Asplan Viak, has recently completed the project, Powerhouse Telemark, the fourth energy-positive building in its Powerhouse portfolio.Located in the city of Porsgrunn, the project creates much needed office space. Itfeaturessolar panels on its roof; natural shading is promoted, while plentiful insulation ensures heat is retained where possible;and heat is stored in the building elements, to be released slowly, while a geothermal well supports heating and cooling. As a result, Powerhouse Telemarkwas awarded a BREEAM Excellentcertification.

German architect Anna HeringersAnandaloy project in rural Bangladesh is asuccessful example of sustainable architecture, both in terms of social and environmental responsibility. Thecommunity centre and textile workshop in rural Bangladeshcontains a therapy hub for people with disabilities on the ground floor anda fair-trade textile manufacturing workshop for local women on the first floor. Made out of rammed earth and bamboo, the structure explores age-old local building techniques and materials in soft curves and textures that connect with its place and the regionsvernacular.The building recentlyscoopedthe prestigiousObel Award for 2020.

Photography: Nic Lehoux

USarchitect Tom Kundig, of Seattle practice Olson Kundig, is behind thissustainable teak holiday house in Costa Rica.Called the Treehouse, the private home isbuilt predominantly out of locally harvested teak, and is open to the elements. This makes sense for Kundigs clients for two reasons: as avid surfers, it gives them a chic version of a basic surfers hut; and as environmentalists, their new home ticks a number ofsustainabilityboxes. Spanning three floors, thebuilding is designed to operate passively, and slatted panels keep it open to the outdoors. Our aim was to create a home that is very leaky to the view and light and air, says architect Tom Kundig. The structure also has itsown rainwater collection system.

Egyptian architect Sarah El Battouty, head of local studioECOnsult, ledthe sustainable design of Bahareya Village, an eco-friendly compound for farm workers in the countrysWestern Desert. Created to be home to the farming community engaged by organic tea producer Royal Herbs, the complex uses gravel manufactured from recycled construction waste for the base of itsminimalist concrete structures. Cacti scattered throughout the campus offer splashes of greenery without compromising on a commitment to water efficiency.And atechnique El Battouty borrowed from desert communities raisingthe foundations of the buildings to create distance between the floor and therefore the rising heat from the land reduces indoor temperatures by eight to ten degrees.

Photography: Richard Barnes

This minimalist and highlyeco-friendly house overlooking the Hudson River Valley is the country home of New York-based Alloys principal,architect and developer Jared Della Valle. NamedCold Spring Residence, the house sits on the land as lightly as possible.Della Valle worked with passive housesustainability standards to create his retreat, including solar panels foryear-round energy, awell-insulated building envelopeand careful management of the sites water resources. The building is also partly sunken and cannot be seen from the street, aligning with its creators desire for a a degree of modesty, so that the architecture doesnt compete with the striking surrounding natural landscape.

Photography: courtesy of Amager Resource Center

The Amager Resource Center in Copenhagen, also known as Copenhill, is one of the citys latest initiatives that put climate action to the forefront. Designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the building is essentially a rubbish burner; yet its also so much more than that. The structure housesan artificial ski slope, recreational hiking area and climbing wall on top of the waste-to-energyplant. Built using aluminium blocks, this piece of infrastructureaims to treat 400,000 tonnes of waste annually. The result issupplying150,000 Danish households with district heating and 70,000 with electricity from non-recyclable waste.

Photography: Edmund Sumner

Created byarchitect Martand Khosla for aDelhi-based family of four, thisweekend retreat in Indias Dharamshala isrooted in traditionalmaterials and techniques.Set between farmland and a lush forest on the Dhauladhar mountain ranges of the Himalayas, Flying Househas been built using local resources stone, stabilised mud brick, slate and pine.A lot of the earth and stone dug out from the site during the foundation excavation went back into the construction. Building site wastage was minimised and a lot was recycled, making this house quite literally of its place. The construction uses stabilised mud brick, a method localworkers were taught, usingequipment from Development Alternatives (a social enterprise for sustainable solutions in India). This way, not only would the local stonemasons be able to build this particular house, but they would be able to master the craft and continue using it in the future.

See the rest here:
Sustainable architecture: innovative and inspiring building design - Wallpaper*

Nadia Holden knows what she wants: to become a mother. For several years, the 2005 South Side High School graduate and her husband have been ready to start a family, but so far, luck has not been on their side. After three preterm losses during pregnancy, they decided to take a different route and are hoping to adopt a baby.

The decision did not come easy, but was made with a lot of consideration. Holden, 33, acknowledged that the process of adoption wont be easy and could be emotionally painful, but she has been dealing with heartache for some time. Four years ago, she lost a baby a boy when she was seven months pregnant. The pregnancy had been smooth up until that point, she said.

My water broke, and when I went to the hospital, Holden recalled, we learned he didnt have a heartbeat.

It was devastating, but the couple tried again. The second pregnancy ended after four months, and the third, last January, was lost at three months. Between the pregnancies, she said, she visited a lot of doctors and underwent numerous testing. But the third loss was too much.

It was too much on my body, she said. We decided it was time to look into other options.

The decision to adopt was made in the summer of 2020. At first, Holden said, she thought that adoption agencies were the only way to move forward. But they hired an adoption attorney, who informed them that independent private adoptions are another option. We felt that this will give us more independence, she said. Id rather invest in the process myself than just hand my money over to an agency and let them take control.

Adopting a child is a difficult process, and she said they felt that agencies put too much stress on the things that could go wrong. The independent route just feels more hopeful, she said, adding, We know there could be risks for both sides as it is an emotional process, but we have to have a little bit of blind faith.

As tough as their journey has been thus far, Holden, a science writer for the National Cancer Institute, said she believes she and her husband, Jon Holden, a 34-year-old landscape architect, have both grown from the experience.

Weve been doing a lot of grieving, a lot of healing and weve learned how to reach out for support, she said. This is setting us up to be more compassionate and understanding parents.

Furthermore, she said, it has opened them up to deeper conversations and forced them to learn more about each other. Its made us think about why we want to be parents, how we want to raise our kids and what we want for them in this world, she said. And we also know that, no matter what happens, we will be together and put each other first.

They made the announcement about their decision at the end of the year, after creating a website detailing their story which they revealed to friends and family in late December while also posting on Instagram and Facebook.

Were hoping that by sharing it, it might help us connect with someone looking to place their baby, Holden said.

The couple lives in Northport with their two dogs, in a yard with chickens and an organic garden.

We feel like we have a lot to give we have a lot of love, a lot to share, a lot of shared values, she said. We care about the environment, the Earth, and most importantly, we love and support each other.

Go to nadiajonadopt.com to learn more about their story.

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Couple creates website, hoping to adopt - liherald

Jessica Cejnar / Monday, Feb. 1 @ 3:28 p.m. / Infrastructure, Local Government, Parks Public To Weigh In On Revamped Beachfront Park In City's Pursuit Of $8.5 Million Grant

An expanded Kid Town is on a new masterplan for Beachfront Park. Photo: Andrew Goff

Crescent City will seek public input for a final time Tuesday in their quest to obtain $8.5 million in Proposition 68 dollars for Beachfront Park.

Staff will present residents with cost estimates for amenities included in a masterplan based on more than a year of surveys, meetings and focus groups. This will give people a chance to choose where grant dollars should go if the city is lucky enough to receive them, according to Recreation Director Holly Wendt.

Weve done a lot of community input sessions, she said. We know certain key amenities showed up as top priorities. Its important to engage the community at every level, showing them the (cost) would be really important to move forward. Just so people know how much certain things cost.

The public, and Crescent City Council, got their first glimpse of the new Beachfront Park masterplan in December.

Consultant Cathy Garrett, of Bay Area landscape architect firm PGADesign, said she wanted to capture a park that reflects the local cultural and natural beauty of the area. This includes memorials and monuments, a traditional Tolowa slab house and dance platform as well as an expanded KidTown with climbing features for older kids.

Other proposed amenities include a labyrinth, an amphitheater, a bike park with a pump track and dirt jumps as well as a community-size picnic structure with updated bathrooms.

The city presented the new Beachfront Park masterplan to the Tolowa Dee-ni Nation and Elk Valley Rancheria.

Following Tuesdays public Zoom meeting, which will include ways to offer an opinion on the parks development via Menti and Google Forms, Wendt said. The public can look at the amenities and their costs and click on the ones that are important to them, she said.

The Proposition 68 application for the $8.5 million will go before the City Council on Feb. 16 before staff submit it to the state in March.

We want to get as close as we can to the full amount, Wendt aid. Its a competitive grant. As the community knows, were trying to do our due diligence as a government entity, really vetting what the community wants. That makes us competitive, were hoping to go forward as much as possible.

The state will inform the city if it received that grant in November.Crescent City may be eligible for other Proposition 68 grants. This includes a $3 million grant focused on recreation and tourism.

In 2019, before the novel coronavirus pandemic began, Crescent City had been holding in-person town hall meetings to seek input on Beachfront Park projects to focus a third, non-competitive, Proposition 68 grant on.

Because of the pandemic, that grant application process was postponed, Wendt said. Now, the per-capita grant, $177,952, is due in December, she said.

Thats where each city and county gets an allotment of funds they can use, she said. Now the larger grant is due before the per capita grant, so we can see what happens with that and if we want to improve a different park area we have other parks in the city theres other projects we can do with it.

The Beachfront Park meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. To participate via Zoom, click here.

Documents

Beachfront Park Masterplan

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Public To Weigh In On Revamped Beachfront Park In City's Pursuit Of $8.5 Million Grant - Lost Coast Outpost

During a Monday morning community meeting centered around the continued development of downtown Albemarle, Albemarle Economic Director Keith Tunnell presented an update on arguably the biggest project taking place in the city: the Albemarle Business Center.

Having been in the works for the past several years, the ABC is a287-acre business park at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 52 and N.C. Highway 24-27 that can hold up to 2.5 million square feet of industrial and warehouse space.

Initially designed by previous economic director Mark Donham, who retired last summer, the business park is modeled after the Monroe Corporate Center, which Donham helped create during his time as economic development director for the city.

During the city councils Dec. 21 meeting, the council approved a phased buildout of the ABC which included construction on only the front section of the industrial park, partial road build and provided infrastructure to the property. The estimated cost of this was around $8 million.

In the presentation, Tunnell explained that the construction of the Center is set to begin in the third quarter of 2021 with completion projected to occur by third quarter of 2022.

The industrial park is estimated to create 2,800 manufacturing jobs and generate under $1 billion in total new investment. Revenues from the new industry could be earmarked to support future downtown development.

Tunnell presented a long list of several initiatives he and his economic development team will be focused on this year. They include: establishing free public WiFi throughout downtown Albemarle; creating a standalone Economic Development/Main Street website; improving marketing and promotion of both city and ADDC events; working to assist women, youth and minorities seeking to open a business; developing an Albemarle Downtown app; and launching City of Albemarle Small Business Revolving Loan Fund.

Upcoming downtown projects

Assistant City Manager Nyki Hardy presented two downtown projects that are in the pipeline. She is a member of the Downtown Vitality Project Team, which is working to implement the projects to help revitalize the area.

The city is working to establish a placemaking project for people to enjoy at the King alleyway behind Off The Square restaurant. Placemaking projects are created to bring people together in a public space and can range from the small (installing adult-size board games in a park) to the very large (the Cloud Gate structure located at Chicagos Millennium Park).

Hardy mentioned that the city wants to create numerous placemaking projects in downtown to help attract more people to the area.

For the King alleyway project, the team is working with an electrical engineer to install decorative poles for hanging string lights, banners and flags and is working with a landscape architect to flesh out a specific design plan. Elements of the plan that have been discussed include seating for dining/relaxing, areas for vegetation, board games, murals and a performance stage.

A pencil sketch of possible design elements that could be implemented to revitalize the King alleyway.

Hardy said the city expects the draft design plan to be ready in a few weeks and the decorative poles to be delivered by late spring. The design plan will be vetted by downtown stakeholders and city council before its finalized.

The goal is for the alley project to be completed by the end of the year.

Were really excited about that and we hope the community is as well, Hardy said.

The DVPT is also working on a wayfinding project to better help people navigate the downtown area. Wayfinding refers toinformation systems that guide people through a physical environment.

The city is working to create wayfinding signs that will help point people to destinations and attractions (restaurants, shops, historic locations).

It helps to prompt vehicular traffic and pedestrian traffic to the things that you want them to focus on and to areas that you want them to be, Hardy said.

Examples of some wayfinding signs for the city.

The team has been working with a consultant for the past year and is currently finalizing a draft plan. The goal is to present the wayfinding plan to council before the end of the fiscal year in June. They hope to implement the plan by the end of the calendar year.

Chris Miller has been with the SNAP since January 2019. He is a graduate of NC State and received his Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously wrote for the Capital News Service in Annapolis, where many of his stories on immigration and culture were published in national papers via the AP wire.

Original post:
City staff give updates on Albemarle Business Center, downtown projects - The Stanly News & Press | The Stanly News & Press - Stanly News...

Some time during the 1920s, poet Hayim Nahman Bialik took an unauthorized shortcut through the grounds of Jacob Gluskas construction factory. Gluskas brother caught Bialik on the property and rebuked him. Bialik, an arrogant Tel-Avivian who was also Israels national poet, did not appreciate the remark, and they came to blows.

In 2009, almost a hundred years after the slap that stopped Bialik from taking any more factory shortcuts, Bialiks home was restored to its former grandeur and opened to visitors as a museum and cultural center. Gluskas son was the one who recreating its original patterned tiles.

In the early 20th century, Tel Aviv had a distinguished industry of beautiful decorated tiles, which can still be seen in some private homes, apartments, stairwells, and public buildings. After peaking in the 1920s, the tiles have become more and more scarce over the decades. Now, theres a renewed appreciation for them.

German Christians of the Temple Society sect, who immigrated to Palestine late in the 19th century, were the first to bring the painted tiles to Tel Aviv. But [d]uring World War II, the British army deported the Templar families to Australia, and that was the end of their involvement in the local tile industry, says Avi Levi, a landscape architect and hunter of derelict buildings and decorated tiles.

Between 1921 and 1925, Tel Avivs population went from 2,000 to 34,000. The new citys architects were European Jews who trained in art schools in Eastern and Western Europe. Their building style came to be known as Eclectic. Architect Professor Nitza Szmuk, the guru of historical building conservation in Israel, says Eclectic architecture represented the attempt to create a synthesis between East and West, thereby generating a local notional style. The architects perception of Palestine and the Near East remained Orientalist, even when walking in the Tel Aviv sunshine or buying a tomato at the local grocer. The tiles in their buildings were part of this European Oriental fantasy. In the words of Architect Yossi Klein in a Domus magazine article, the contrast between the Oriental style and the European building technique allowed Zionists to return to a sterile Orient, while maintaining European modes of living.

The European tile workshops developed a wide variety of patterns with floral and geometric motifs, influenced by renaissance, art nouveau and art deco styles, ancient Egyptian art and ancient Greek pottery. The Tel Aviv tile industry mimicked these motifs, but not all of them. Jews and Muslims in Palestine skipped the Christian motifs that were common in the European industry, such as the cross or the lily. Some of the local tile factories, mostly those owned by Muslims, were also influenced by the Moroccan tile industry, characterized by its vivid colors.

This was the golden age of the painted tile, says Avi Levi, a landscape architect and hunter of derelict buildings and decorated tiles. They became a local fixture and the connection to the European origins was forgotten. The decorated tiles prevailed during the early 20th century in houses in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. They were found in luxurious villas and humble apartments. However, after three decades, people started to think of the tiles as old-fashioned, expensive and excessive. Ultimately, this style flourished only for a short time, Klein writes, and as the conflict with the Arab community escalated, Modernist tendencies prevailed. The romantic, Eclectic style gave way to the clean, modernist Bauhaus. Decorated tiles were abandoned in favor of simple, cheap, industrial tiles. As a result, most of the factories have closed. But at the end of Herzl Street, a street of woodworkers and craftsmen in southern Tel Aviv, the small tile factory of the Gluska family is operating to this day.

Avner Gluska, 82, started working in his familys Tel Aviv tile factory as a child, with his father Jacob Gluska. Today, he toils there with two workers, using materials and equipment developed 150 years ago. The tiles are handmade, and each worker at the small factory is capable of producing up to three square meters (30 square feet) of tiles a day.

My grandfather had two wives back in Yemen, recounts Avner Gluska. When one of them died, he embarked for Israel with his second wife and his eight children. The family settled in the Yemenite Neve Tzedek neighborhood in Tel Aviv. My father Jacob, who was eight years old, went to work in construction, carrying buckets of clay. Jacob Gluska worked odd jobs until he opened a factory. In 1936, he teamed up with Abu Khalil Shindy, a Palestinian Arab living in Jaffa, and the pair specialized in tiles. The Jewish and Arab workers didnt get along, Gluska recalls, so they divided the factory and worked in two locations. My father and his Arab partner were as close as brothers, and we, their children, grew up as one family.

Some Palestinians were expelled by force in 1948. Many others believed that the Arab armies would retake their towns and villages. They abandoned their homes and left for other countries to wait for victory. The wait became permanent. Abu Shindy made the biggest mistake of his life: He left everything and fled to Amman, says Gluska. This was the moment that destroyed the camaraderie between him and my father. One was furious that the other was leaving him to the mercy of the Arab armies, and the other never forgave the Israeli armies. After the Six-Day War they met again once, for the last time, in Gaza.

Avner Gluska replaced Abu Shindy at his fathers side, while also studying art. During that time, the factory was manufacturing terrazzo tiles, which became the most common tiles in Israel up until the early 1990s. The demand for painted tiles declined. The large orders I get today are from house conservation projects, says Gluska. Over the last two decades, Tel Aviv skyscrapers with doormen in the lobby have lost their popularity in favor of a new status symbol: Historical buildings, restored and renovated at great expense.

Meanwhile, Avi Levi wanders the city, exposing the original tiles. My love for painted tiles started about 20 years ago, he says. My work as a landscape architect brings me to the alleys of Tel Aviv. My love for photography, along with a great fetish for old and deserted buildings, join my love of the first Hebrew city and related nostalgia. So I created a large collection of photographed materials, including tile photos.

Before Tel Aviv-Jaffas 100th year celebrations in 2009, City Hall decided to create a huge carpet of flowers that would represent the city definitively. According to Levi, The brilliant idea came from veteran landscape architect David Skali: Building a huge flower tile, with decorations inspired by tiles and wall paintings from the homes of the founders of Tel Aviv. Levi, who participated in the project, was sent in 2008 along with his colleagues to a flower carpet laying event in Brussels, to learn how it was done. About a year later, on the morning of September 16, 2009, trucks unloaded 500,000 begonias, tuberoses and dahlias in Rabin Square, and an hour later, a colorful carpet stretched over 1,250 square meters, says Levi. After years of hunting old tiles, it was a mystical moment of closure.

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Secrets From Tel Avivs Eclectic Era Are Hiding All Over the City - Atlas Obscura