Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Car Park House is based in Echo Park, Los Angeles (Photo: Steve King)

Los Angeles-based architecture and design studio Anonymous Architects has completed an unusual property which gives primacy to the occupant's automobile. Like the firm's Big and Small House, Car Park House is again a fine example of using a modest-sized plot to its fullest, but in this case Anonymous Architects took the step of installing a rooftop-based car port.

Measuring 130 sq m (1,405 sq ft) and located in Echo Park, Los Angeles, Car Park House differs from other car-centric properties we've covered, such as the Autofamily House or Porsche Design Tower in that its design derives from practical concerns. The local building code requires that new homes feature at least two vehicle parking spaces, and the site chosen for construction is on a steep hillside.

The single-level dwelling was built atop a concrete pile foundation, and Anonymous Architects reckons these lend the impression that the home is "floating" above the hillside. Access to Car Park House is gained via the bridge, and steps lead from the car port into the home proper. Inside, there's three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and dining area, and a lounge.

The rooftop parking area is also usable as a deck space, and the property boasts views of the nearby San Gabriel Mountains.

Car Park House was completed in August, 2013.

Source: Anonymous Architects

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A car park with a view (and a house too)

The new national stadium of Japan, by Zaha Hadid Architects, will be built for the 2020 summer Olympics in Tokyo.

In September, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the host city for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in 2020. A town with a good track record, Tokyo beat out Istanbul and Madrid and took the prize for the third time.

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

A range of existing facilities will be used for the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic games, including Rafael Violys Tokyo International Forum, a civic complex completed in 1996.

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The city was first selected for the 1940 summer games, which were canceled due to World War II. Tokyos second win was for the 1964 summer Olympics. Symbolizing the end of Japans postWorld War II reconstruction, new athletic facilities were built and infrastructure was upgraded, changing the Japanese lifestyle for good. Now many are wondering what kind of legacy the 2020 Olympics will leave.

In preparation for the 1964 Olympics, Tokyo underwent several major changes including the construction of an overhead highway system, the extension of subway lines, the widening of streets, and, just days after the opening of the games, the launch of the Shinkansen bullet train connecting Tokyo and Osaka. Our urban life, based on a network of underground trains, was a gift of the 1964 Olympics, says Professor Hiroyuki Suzuki of Aoyama Gakuin University. Most of the new athletic facilities were concentrated within central Tokyo. While a number of the original structures remain in use, Kenzo Tanges Yoyogi National Gymnasium stands out as the events iconic building. Flexing the countrys technological muscles, the building is topped by a spectacular swooping roof and, fittingly, was erected on the site of a former U.S. military base. It showed the world the power of Japans contemporary architecture culture, which has continued into the present.

This time, the main Olympic venues will be divided between two areas reasonably near the Olympic Village, in the middle of the city. To improve Tokyos already efficient public transportation network, there is talk of adding new subway lines that would facilitate movement to the citys two airports as well as to one of the venue areas, the Tokyo Bay Zone. Largely built on landfill, this area is a relatively recent addition to the city and is still considered a little out of reach. More commercial amenities catering to the 17,000 athletes who will call the Village home are also anticipated. These will make the neighborhood more enticing after the Olympics, when temporary accommodations are converted into permanent residences.

But recasting the Village isnt the only adaptive reuse planned. A whole range of existing facilities will host the new competitions. While the Tange gym will hold handball tournaments, Fumihiko Makis Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium will host table tennis. Other buildings, such as Rafael Violys Tokyo Forum and various stadiums as far afield as Sapporo and Sendai, built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, will be venues for weightlifting and soccer respectively.

One building not slated for reuse is the 1964 Olympics main stadium. In preparation for the possibility of winning the bid, the Japan Sports Council held the International Concept Design Competition for a new arena in compliance with the IOCs current requirements. In November 2012, they awarded the commission to London-based Zaha Hadid Architects, which will serve as the projects design consultant in collaboration with a team of Japanese firms captained by Nihon Sekkei, Nikken Sekkei, and Ove Arup Japan.

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Will Tokyo's Second Olympics Leave a Design Legacy?

The site of the former Hudson's department store in Detroit. SHoP Architects and Hamilton Anderson Associates have been tapped to come up with concepts for a new building there.

One of Detroits most iconic sites will be the subject of an intense design concept study in coming months, headed by New Yorks ShoP Architects.

Photo courtesy historicdetroit.org/Detroit Free Press Archives

The former Hudson's department store.

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The focus will be on the site of the old Hudsons department store, which for decades in mid-20th century reigned as Detroits most important shopping locale. The store dated to 1891 and was built in multiple stages, reaching 25 stories and 2.2 million square feet before it closed in 1983. The structure was imploded in 1998 and since then the site has housed just an underground parking garage.

Rock Ventures, the umbrella entity for billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert, founder and chair of Quicken Loans, announced Monday that it had hired ShoP to work jointly with Detroit-based Hamilton Anderson Associates (HAA) to conduct an intensive study of concepts for a new signature building on the site (most likely mixed-use commercial and residential). Given central downtown location in the heart of Woodward Avenue, the project promises to produce what could be a new postcard image for the Motor City. These two firms, known as premier urban catalysts, were chosen for their innovation and creativity, as well as their track record of committing to community engagement. We believe SHoP and Hamilton Anderson will join a long list of distinguished architects, including Yamasaki, Burnham, and Kahn, who have created landmark buildings in Detroit that stand the test of time, said Jeff Cohen, founder of Rock Companies, LLC, a member of the Rock Ventures family of companies.

SHoP has designed dozens of signature projects, including the Barclays Center at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, New York, where the worlds tallest modular housing towersalso designed by SHoPare currently under construction. Hamilton Anderson has worked on numerous Detroit projects including the Tech One Building at the TechTown Research and Technology Park at Wayne State University. "In visiting Detroit, we've experienced the zeal and sense of entrepreneurship that underpins a vibrant urban environment. Through our inclusive design process and engagement with academia, we look forward to becoming part of the local culture and conducting a dialogue about the future of downtown," says William Sharples, SHoP principal.

In the coming month, SHoP and HAA will meet with local stakeholders to discuss programming and design concepts. In early 2014, the two firms will host a lecture series for the community to learn more about the architects, the Hudsons site, and what it will take to get a project of this magnitude underway. Designing a signature architectural project from the ground up in downtown Detroitor any great cityis an opportunity of a lifetime, and we are committed to getting it right, says Gilbert. Our goal is that this project will become not only a symbol of Detroits past and present, but more importantly, highlight the high-tech potential, creative future of opportunities for Detroiters and visitors from around the world.

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SHoP to Work on Major Detroit Project

Shopping center vacancies in Dallas-Fort Worth have dropped to the lowest level in almost 10 years, thanks to a combination of strong leasing and only modest retail construction last year.

Our occupancy rate is now 90 percent. This has been a goal for our marketplace, said Bob Young, managing director of Dallas retail real estate firm Weitzman Group. We are backfilling existing retail space at a good clip.

This is a good turnaround from 2010, when we faced hundreds of thousands of square feet of vacant space from defunct retail concepts, Young said Wednesday at Weitzman Groups annual retail market update. We cut our supply of vacant boxes almost in half in the last two years.

The number of large vacant retail spaces in the D-FW area went from about 140 in 2011 to fewer than 70 last year.

Every well-located space is seeing activity or offers, Young said.

Net retail leasing in the D-FW area added up to about 2.7 million square feet in 2013.

In the last four years, shopping center and retail building vacancies in North Texas have fallen by about 4 million square feet.

At the same time, a modest amount of new shopping space has been added to the market.

In 2013, developers and retailers opened less than 2 million square feet of new store space in D-FW.

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D-FW shopping center vacancy drops to near decade low as ...

KATHY PORTIE/Big Bear Grizzly

Construction at the corner of Pine Knot Avenue and Village Drive is going strong. New retail space is being built at the location that will include an outdoor patio.

Posted: Wednesday, January 8, 2014 5:00 am

Construction on the corner

For years the building at the corner of Pine Knot Avenue and Village Drive has been a shell of its former self. The building suffered extensive damage following winter rain storms and forced tenant Richard Millener to seek new digs for his photography business.

Now, with a revitalized Village shopping district, the building is getting a

face lift in time for the summer season ahead.

According to Jim Miller, director of building and planning for the city of Big Bear Lake, the owner is remodeling the location to create new retail space. Its going to be nice retail shop with an outdoor patio, I believe, Miller said. The building will feature a gambrel-style roof, he said.

Miller said he hopes the building will be ready for occupancy by the summer.

Kathy Portie

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Construction on the corner

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.Plans are moving forward for a $45 million mixed-use development project to bring more office, retail and living space to Downtown Grand Rapids.

The Downtown Development Authority approved the project, headed by Orion Construction. Its grown to 11 stories and 60 thousand square feet; larger than the original $28 million, five-story project presented last August.

This is a tough enterprise to do, John Wheeler with Orion Construction said last August.

Tough to get financed. Theres not a lot of comparable. We`re filling a need, we`re not creating a want. There are people who want to live down town. They want to park in the basement, take the elevator to the top floor. They want an experience to stay in their building, get out walk around, do the local shopping downtown instead of going to the suburbs. We`re going to provide those opportunities.

Much of the expansion is due in part to a new tenant, The Miller Johnson Law Firm, who is moving from the Calder Building on Monroe.

The project will now have space for 300 office employees, more than 100 residential units and ground level retail and restaurant space. Because the DDA expanded their tax increment financing by about a half million dollars Wednesday morning, Orion Construction plans to break ground this Spring.

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Arena Place Plans Move Forward

The Canadian owners of the historic Golden Apple Dinner Theatre have pumped more than $600,000 into a renovation that will transform the old theater into three storefronts.

SARASOTA - The building that for decades housed the Golden Apple Dinner Theatre will soon hit the market as a new retail and restaurant complex.

The Canadian owners of the historic downtown structure have pumped more than $600,000 into a renovation that will transform the old theater into three storefronts.

Leaving touches of its 1940s roots, the new 11,783-square-foot retail collection will become one of the most notable commercial spaces available for lease in Sarasota when its doors open in six months, building representatives say.

It has been a massive undertaking, said John Harshman, president of commercial real estate brokerage Harshman & Co. Inc., who is listing the property.

This will bring it back to its shell keeping the historic qualities, while adding modernization.

The building at 25 N. Pineapple Ave. was constructed in 1948, and was home for years to Morrison's Cafeteria, which Elvis Presley was believed to frequent.

The Golden Apple opened there in the early 1970s after the downtown site changed hands for $115,000, court records show.

Theater founder Robert Turoff sold the property in February 2011 for $1.75 million to help pay debts. He had signed a multi-year lease with the new owner, but the theater was evicted in September 2012 after falling behind on its rent.

An attempt to reopen the theater last year was unsuccessful.

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Renovation is precursor to Golden Apple building's next act

The West End production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has transferred to a new London home after the reopening of the Apollo Theatre was delayed following the collapse of the venue's ceiling.

Almost 80 members of the audience were injured when a huge section of the historic building's roof gave way last month during a performance of the stage adaptation of Mark Haddon's novel.

The venue's owners had hoped to re-open the Apollo's doors by Monday, but decided to hold off as restoration work continues.

Producers of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time have now decided to move the play to the nearby Gielgud Theatre, with the run resuming on 24 June.

Nick Starr, executive director of the National Theatre, which first produced the play, says, "We are grateful to (Gielgud's owners) Delfont Mackintosh Theatres for providing us with another home on Shaftesbury Avenue for the show.... sadly the closure of the (Apollo's) gallery to enable its restoration means that the show no longer works economically there."

WENN.com

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Play finds new home following theatre collapse

New Dorp Beach, NY (PRWEB) January 08, 2014

Nick Randazzo, a resident of New Dorp Beach on the south shore of Staten Island, is finally getting his home back on track with the help of 911 Restoration after a year of receiving inadequate funds and insurance money. Randazzo's home was severely flooded during Hurricane Sandy when the windows and doors could no longer keep the rising water outside at bay. By the time the storm had passed, Randazzo had nine feet of water in his basement. Even with some federal funds and insurance money, Randazzo still fell significantly short of the total repair cost necessary to restore the significant damage sustained to his home. The just released private funds came to the rescue, filling the financial gap so that restoration could finally get underway. The funding for the program comes from a variety of charities and foundations that have made large contributions to help New York residents still in need.

911 Restoration's expert flood damage technicians are currently in the New Dorp Beach home carefully assessing the damage and taking the necessary steps to get construction underway. From thoroughly removing all traces of remaining moisture to carefully separating and storing any undamaged items, 911 Restoration is dedicated to getting Mr. Randazzo's home back in shape. Mold can be an especially troubling problem when flooded areas are not completely dried in a timely manner. The company's mold removal experts are conducting thorough inspections to ensure that any mold that has formed in the basement in the past year is removed safely.

As more funding continues to be disseminated among those still in need, 911 Restoration will be leading the way in New York providing essential water restoration services to more and more homes in the area. With Hurricane Sandy striking over a year ago, the situation presents a unique challenge given the length of time many homes have been left unattended. In addition to mold inspections, 911 Restoration crews are paying special attention to any structural damage that long-term exposure to moisture may have caused in the interim so that these homes are completely safe and fully restored to their pre-storm conditions.

Hurricane Sandy's path of destruction affected countless homes in New York, and while it is unfortunate that so many people have been unable to secure adequate insurance money and have been left waiting, 911 Restoration is honored to be a part of the ongoing recovery process. With crews working 24/7 throughout the state, many will be getting their new year off to a great start with the help of new private funding and 911 Restoration.

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911 Restoration Repairs New York Homes Damaged by Hurricane Sandy with New Funding

LYNCHBURG, Va. -

Emergency repairs are almost finished at a Lynchburg retirement home.

Several water pipes burst at Bentley Commons senior living home Tuesday afternoon, soaking parts of the building and forcing all 122 residents to evacuate.

Most stayed with their families Tuesday night, but 23 were taken to a shelter at Blue Ridge Community Church in Forest.

Lynchburg firefighters and paramedics worked with the nursing home staff to make sure everyone got out safely.

"The residents were wonderful," said Debra Beamer, administrator of Bentley Commons. "They handled the situation very well, even though it was a very difficult time for them."

The damaged pipes have been replaced and a restoration service is cleaning the building. Beamer said additional work will be needed to replace sections of dry wall.

Residents returned to the home Wednesday afternoon.

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Residents return to Lynchburg retirement home Wednesday, following pipe damage