Johannesburg calls for architects #39; visions
December 6 - Johannesburg #39;s population is increasing by 10000 people a month. And the city is calling on urban designers and architects to help shape their ...
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Johannesburg calls for architects' visions - Video
2013 Boston Society of Landscape Architects ACE Legacy Project video
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2013 Boston Society of Landscape Architects ACE Legacy Project video - Video
Photographer: Grant Turner/Bloomberg
The Australian dollar surged almost 50 percent against the greenback from 2009 to 2012,... Read More
The Australian dollar surged almost 50 percent against the greenback from 2009 to 2012, making exports less competitive and boosting the appeal of imports. Close
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The Australian dollar surged almost 50 percent against the greenback from 2009 to 2012, making exports less competitive and boosting the appeal of imports.
Architects of the float of Australias dollar, trading at a similar level to when exchange controls were lifted 30 years ago, say the currency must devalue and economic reform be renewed to avert a recession.
Peter Jonson, who advised the central bank chief of the time, and Ross Garnaut, who counseled then-Prime Minister Bob Hawke, say the resource investment boom has rendered Australia uncompetitive. General Motors Co. this week cited an elevated exchange rate in deciding to stop making iconic Holden cars in the nation, as did Qantas Airways Ltd. on Dec. 5, when it flagged a record first-half loss and 1,000 job cuts -- announcements that echoed the economys early 1980s malaise.
There are some quite strong parallels, said Jonson, a former head of the Reserve Bank of Australias research department who has observed the nations economy for more than 40 years. When you look at Qantas, look at the vehicle industry, look at manufacturing generally, look at education, look at tourism, its a tough time.
The Aussie is trading at about 90 U.S. cents, around the level in 1983 when Hawkes government removed exchange controls and embarked on an economic overhaul that freed up the finance industry, cut tax rates and slashed tariffs. Garnaut and Jonson now call for the government to moderate spending, lawmakers to scrap taxes they say deter investment and employers to keep wage gains at less than the pace of inflation.
The Aussies strength has made everything uncompetitive in Australia except pulling iron ore and coal out, said Garnaut. A big adjustment in the exchange rate has to be part of the improvement in competitiveness.
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Aussie Float Architects Urge Devaluing 30 Years After Peg
Daria Onokhova / Moscowidea.ru
A computer rendition of a proposal to transform the citys currently grey Novy Arbat into a multi-level green zone.
Muscovites were asked toimagine what would make Moscow an"awesome" place tolive andhad their dreams visualized in84 sketches byprofessional architects as part ofthe "What Moscow Wants" exhibit, which was ondisplay atthe Moscow Urban Forum last week.
As much as getting people's voices heard, this project was about giving young professionals theopportunity toshowcase their talent ararity ina city where thearchitectural market is dominated bya few strong firms.
Moscow residents had tocomplete three simple statements: "It would be awesome if ," "this way people will be able to ," and"this way thecity can become ." All three ofthese were used toset anoptimistic tone andprevent people fromusing theplatform tocomplain about their neighbors or other mundane problems, said theproject's director Olga Polishyuk.
"This is astory about ideas. Not about problems or about complaints," she said.
More than 2,000 people left their ideas onthe website Moscowidea.ru fromJuly 10 toSept. 22, andarchitects voluntarily responded tospecific pitches with 84 sketches.
Proposals ranged fromambitious plans tobuild new bridges andtheme markets, tosimple adjustments like creating aroof shield forthe people waiting inlines outside thePushkin Museum, tothe offbeat idea ofthree-story heated homes forstray cats.
Theproject provided arare platform forthe country's young architects todisplay their work, Polishyuk said. These architects often shy away fromcompetitions either because they do not think they can win against thefew prominent firms that dominate theindustry or because they are afraid oflosing ownership oftheir ideas.
Thecity's chief architect Sergei Kuznetsov told TheMoscow Times onFriday that he has not seen the"What Moscow Wants" exhibit yet, but noted its value forthe capital.
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Young Architects Visualize an 'Awesome' Moscow
Lisa Armstrong meets the fashion designers taking inspiration from Istanbul for the V&A's Jameel Prize
BY Lisa Armstrong | 11 December 2013
Architecture and clothes - one way or another, they're both dressing the human body, the former on a grand scale, the latter far more intimately.
Even so, it's a brave designer who bases a line of clothes around famous national landmarks. But Ece (pronounced Eecchay) and Ayse (Eyesha) Ege (Edgay), the two Turkish sisters behind Dice (Deechay) Kayek, have done just that with their Istanbul Contrast Collection. The results are spectacular, not least because they couldn't be further from those half-hearted attempts to incorporate some decorative drawings of buildings into dress fabrics that some labels pass off as "architectural".
Preview to the V&A's Glamour of Italian Fashion exhibition
On the contrary, this is a full-blown deployment of some of Turkey's most stunning structures. There's the ravishing white organdy cocktail dress composed of diagonal folds that replicates Istanbul's famous Blue Mosque, for instance, and the weighs-a-ton, but exquisite, angel-winged evening coat, hand embroidered with antique blown glass beads and clearly inspired by Istanbul's Hagia Sophia Mosque.
Impressive, they're probably not primarily intended for wearing, since they're part of the sisters' victorious submission for the Jameel Prize, an international award presented bi-annually to an artist or designer inspired by Islamic tradition.
This year's judging panel includes Zaha Hadid, Thomas Heatherwick (designer of the new Routemaster bus and the Olympic cauldron) and Martin Roth, director of the V&A. The Ege sisters, who were named as winners last night, are the first fashion designers ever to be nominated.
In some ways this is a natural evolution for them. When I visited their labyrinthine studio in Paris in October, I saw at first hand how sculptural the clothes for their Dice Kayek label are - full of sumptuous A-line silhouettes in beautiful duchesse satins and silks. Matchka, a less expensive label they design and sell only in Turkey, is more of an everyday collection, with floaty, fluid pieces in lovely fabrics. I wish it were sold here.
White on: the dress inspired by the Dolmabahe Palace PHOTO: DICE KAYEK
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Dice Kayek: Architects of Style
The developer behind a controversial plan to build approximately 61 townhouses on 2.5 acres in Queen Anne has released a first look at the plan ahead of an initial design-review meeting.
Camwest, a part of national home builder Toll Brothers, would put the homes on the block bounded by Ninth and 10th Avenues West, West McGraw Street to the north and mostly single-family houses to the south. The site has been home to the Seattle Children's Home since the orphanage's founding in 1905. Most of the current buildings date to the 1960s.
The site is zoned for townhouses, as is abutting land to the south and across the street to the west and east. But the area to the north is zoned for single-family houses on 5,000-square-foot lots.
Opponents of the plan have organized, creating the group "Future Queen Anne." That group's next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday inQueen Anne Lutheran Church,2400 Eighth Ave W.
Click through the gallery above to see details on the site and several options for the development that Camwest andNicholson Kovalchick Architects prepared.The first design-review meeting is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Dec. 18 in Room One of Queen Anne Community Center, 1901 First Ave. W.
Read more real estate news. Visit seattlepi.com's home page for more Seattle news.
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Developer releases first look at plans for Queen Anne Children's Home site
Construction is slated to start in April on One Seaport Square, a $600 million pair of 22-story towers with 832 apartments above 260,000 square feet of retail space in South Bostons Seaport District.
Bostons Berkshire Group, a multifamily-housing investor and manager, spent $72 million to buy three acres along Seaport Boulevard from Seaport Square master developers Boston Global Investors and Morgan Stanley.
The luxury apartment project will include some smaller, less expensive innovation apartments that share common areas.
Its a fantastic location in what we believe is the best part of the Seaport, which we believe is the most exciting part of Boston development right now, Berkshire Group senior partner Steve Wood said.
Seaport Square will encompass 6.3 million square feet of mixed-use projects on 23 acres. Boston Global Investors will be a limited partner in One Seaport Squares residential component. Its a big deal for us, CEO John B. Hynes III said. (One Seaport Square is) the biggest project in the Seaport Square portfolio at 1.1 million square feet.
Chestnut Hills WS Development, whose retail centers include Dedhams Legacy Place and Hinghams Derby Street Shoppes, has an option to buy One Seaport Squares retail component three stories in each of the two towers which it will manage. Its among Seaport Squares 1.3 million square feet of total retail space, which will rival that of the best shopping destinations in the metro-Boston area, according to WS Development senior vice president Michael McNaughton.
We are entertaining all retail, dining and entertainment options, he said.
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Land in hand, Berkshire Group sets course for One Seaport Square
Wednesday, December 11, 2013, 11:41am
Rockland Trust has provided $5.8 million in financing to Coggeshall LLC and Riverside LLC for two construction projects at Riverside Landing in New Bedford.
Rockland Trust provided a $2.5 million construction loan to Riverside LLC for an 11,806-square-foot retail building at Riverside Landing, a 17-acre retail and mixed-use development. The retail space will house Great Clips Salon, Dr. Dental, Little Caesars, Verizon Wireless and Capriotti's Sandwich Shop.
The bank also provided $3.3 million in financing to Coggeshall LLC for St. Anne's Hospital's Urgent Care Center, which recently broke ground on the same site. The new 10,000-square-foot ambulatory care facility is scheduled to open in the fall of 2014. It will provide walk-in outpatient treatment for non-life-threatening illness or injuries when a patient's primary care physician is not available or emergency room care is not required.
The financing is funded through the bank's New Markets Tax Credit program, which promotes job creation and economic redevelopment in economically challenged communities throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The projects are a joint venture between Mark Dickinson of Quincy-based Dickinson Development Corp. and Mark White of Acushnet-based D.W. Construction Inc.
Riverside Landing is the site of the former Fairhaven Mills in New Bedford, which operated from the early 1900s into the 1980s, and was abandoned for nearly three decades. A Market Basket Supermarket and a Taco Bell that opened earlier this year are currently located at the site.
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Rockland Trust Finances Construction Of Retail, Medical Space In New Bedford
Thursday, December 12, 2013, 11:21am
By James Cronin
Banker & Tradesman Staff Writer
A joint venture led by Boston-based Berkshire Group plans to start construction on two 22-story towers with apartments and retail space in Boston's Seaport District in April.
The multifamily investor and developer paid $72 million to Seaport Square master developers Morgan Stanley and Boston Global Investors (BGI) for the Seaport Boulevard parcel.
The $600 million towers called One Seaport Square will include 832 luxury apartments above 260,000 square feet of retail space.
The new ownership group led by Berkshire includes BGI, the master developer of Seaport Square, which will own and develop the residential component of the project. WS Development will develop, own and manage the retail component of One Seaport Square.
The Boston Redevelopment Authority board of directors recently gave final approvals for the project. The project is slated to be completed in 2016.
"One Seaport Square will be our largest project in Boston and it is the keystone project for the Innovation District," John Hynes, BGI CEO and managing partner, said in a statement.
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22-Story Residential Towers Slated For Seaport Boston
By Matt Rocheleau, Boston.com Staff
Officials plan to break ground this week on a $150 million mixed-used development in Allston.
The 350,000 square-foot project calls for 325 apartments, up to 45,000 square feet of retail space, a parking garage with space for up to 225 cars, residential amenities, and outdoor space to be built at the intersection of Western Avenue and North Harvard Street.
Parts of the development will stand between six and nine stories tall. The company leading the project, Samuels and Associates, expects to finish construction by fall 2015.
A groundbreaking ceremony Friday afternoon will bring together development and leaders from the city of Boston and Harvard University, which owns the property abutting its business school campus and is planning a series of projects for the neighborhood over the next 10 years.
The development, Barrys Corner Retail and Residential Commons, has been named after the intersection where it will be built.
Meanwhile, a group of residents recently launched a public campaign to have the intersections name changed from Barrys Corner to Allston Square.
Through an online neighborhood discussion forum, leaders of a group, called the Allston Square Association, sent messages recently proposing the name change and announced they are trying to gather signatures on a petition supporting their effort.
We would very much like to have you sign the petition to name this new retail and residential commons Allston Square after the great painter Washington Allston, who gave our community its name instead of Barrys Corner named after no one, the group said in an online message.
However, to honor the good folks who lost their homes 45 years ago when the BRA and the City bulldozed their little community and built the Charlesview Apartments, we would like to name the Grove, which stands on the very spot where their homes once stood, Barrys Corner Memorial Grove, in their memory, the message added.
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Developer to break ground on $150m mixed-use development in Allston
