Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Seven years ago on a cold January night, landscape architect Charles Birnbaum urged local leaders to restore Mellon Square, the modernist jewel of a park that opened in 1955 in Downtown Pittsburgh.

As president and founder of The Cultural Landscape Foundation in Washington, D.C., Mr. Birnbaum championed the project because he knew of other significant landscapes that had already disappeared from cities and parks.

Six months later, in June 2007, Meg Cheever, president and chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, took Susan Rademacher on a tour of the citys historic parks Frick, Schenley, Riverview and Highland plus the Hill District.

It was not my first visit to Pittsburgh, said Ms. Rademacher, who had visited as a consultant to the parks conservancy. But until then, I didnt have a sense of the rich landscape, history and opportunities.

On Thursday night at Carnegie Museum of Art, Mr. Birnbaum spoke about the creation and recent $10 million renovation of the park. Ms. Rademacher then signed copies of her book, Mellon Square: Discovering a Modern Masterpiece.An initiative of Mr. Birnbaums foundation, the book was published by Princeton Architectural Press.

Key players in the projects history were financier Richard King Mellon and Mayor David Lawrence, who seized the chance to remake smoky Downtown Pittsburgh after World War II by spending $4 million to buildMellon Square on top of a parking garage. The architects were James Mitchell and Dahlen Ritchey; the landscape architects were John Ormsbee Simonds and his brother, Philip.

Mr. Mellons sister, Sarah Mellon Scaife, played an unexpected role in the parks final design. Shehad just returned from Italy when she saw preliminary design documents for the square.

She questioned the paving pattern. It was a rectilinear concrete pavement, Ms. Rademacher said.She thought it was boring, and she had just been dazzled in Venice in St. Marks Square, which has a very elaborate pavement pattern. She challenged them.

John [Simonds] rose to the challenge and developed the amazing harlequin pattern, which his partner, Phil, detailed, Ms. Rademacher said.

Phil Simonds created paving made from unpolished marble chips, calling itrustic Venetian terrazzo. Narrow bronze strips between the pavment form interlocking triangles.

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Restoration of Mellon Square inspires book about the modernist landmark

Landscape architect John Tikotsky

Hermosa Beach cut the ribbon on a new Community Center garden last week, just a few days after a city backhoe removed a privately maintained garden across the street on the city Greenbelt.

The Community Center garden replaces 2,000 square feet of the block long lawn that covers the north and east grounds of the former junior high school.

Celebrating the completion of the Hermosa Beach Community Centers new native plant garden last Wednesday are Surfriders Craig Cadwalder, councilman Hany Fangary, West Basins Ron Wildermuth, California Water Services Rob Olsen and Susan Cordone, Surfriders Beth Crosse, West Basin trustee Carol Kwan, mayor Pete Tucker and landscape architect John Tikotsky . Photo by Kevin Cody

The garden the city removed was planted with city permission 13 years ago by Karen Bruns, who lives in the Marine Mobile Home Park, across from the Greenbelt.

All of the Community Centers new plants are drought tolerant, California natives. Rainwater collected from the Community Center roof and gray water from the citys purple water main provide the irrigation.

Hermosa Beach Mayor Pete Tucker and West Basin Water District board member Carol Kwan.

The garden is a model for residents and represents Hermosas leadership in environmental sustainability, Mayor Pete Tucker said at last Wednesdays ribbon cutting.

The $30,000 garden was largely funded by the West Basin Water District, whose board member Michelle Kwan noted that she has reduced her water bill to $35 a month by replacing the lawns at her Manhattan Beach home with California native plants.

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Greenbelt garden removed

Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, Azerbaijan, designed by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher with Saffet Kaya Bekiroglu.

I hate to stereotype, says architect Fiona Scott. Male architects are often quite sensitive, artistic people and any suggestion that buildings designed by women are more curvy, tactile or colourful is wrong. But I dont think there are many women who think, Oh, my ideal project would be a massive tower.

Scott, one half of the award-winning practice Gort Scott, is currently on maternity leave but has agreed to meet me in an east London cafe to talk about whether gender influences her work. She describes a generational divide between female architects working now and those who have retired or are close to it, some of whom rightly feel hard done by. Last year a petition tried and failed to get Denise Scott Brown made retrospective joint winner, with her husband and business partner Robert Venturi, of the 1991 Pritzker prize, which was awarded to him alone.

I would go to networking events that were full of guys who had a way of talking I found exhausting

Scott says it is not uncommon to learn of women who have not been properly credited, but these days there are advantages to being female: Ive always thought there was a benefit to being a woman [in this field], because you dont have to do so much to get noticed, and if your ideas are any good then people want to hear what youve got to say.

Its a mistake to think women arent capable of having grand ideas, she adds even if such ideas are often associated with big egos. She mentions Lina Bo Bardi, whose centenary is celebrated this year in Brazil and Italy, and multiple-prize-winner Shelley McNamara.

But for all her positivity, Scott admits that earlier in her career she struggled. I would go to networking events that were full of guys who had a way of talking I found exhausting, she says. Quite bullish, lots about sport. You find yourself feeling you have nothing to say. Its a vicious circle where your confidence gets diminished if people dont listen to you. I really wanted a female mentor, I knew I needed to sort it out and I spent a couple of years thinking about that a lot.

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The first thing to observe when discussing how cities would differ if women built them (or at least had more of a say in how they are built or rebuilt) is that surprise! at the moment and across and the world, and even in countries where women hold powerful positions, the biggest decisions about urban development are mainly made by men. There are and have been inspirational women architects, planners and city politicians, and Jane Jacobs book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) is perhaps the most famous single piece of writing about urban design. But all over the world, the built-environment professions and particular their uppermost echelons - remain heavily male-dominated, more so than other spheres such as education or health.

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If women built cities, what would our urban landscape look like?

VOL. 7 | NO. 50 | Saturday, December 06, 2014

Its hard to decide whats less fun, mowing the lawn or raking leaves. If you loathe both in equal measure, however, help may be just a few clicks away.

Mowz, an app-based service offering a mobile way to book multiple landscaping services, has made its way to Nashville. Its the latest offshoot from Plowz, which began as a snowplowing-assistance app in upstate New York last winter and has since migrated to more than 20 cities.

With Mowz, the service now offers non-winter landscaping services such as mowing, leaf raking and removal, says William Mahoney, who co-founded Plowz with Andrew Englander.

Plowing [snow] made sense, given the area where we started, but soon we had a lot of other cities on our radar, and they didnt have the winter snows and needs that the Northeast does, Mahoney says. So we began to think about other services we could offer during the rest of the year, and began reaching out to other providers.

Local landscaping companies in a targeted market either contact Mowz or are contacted by the Mowz team via social media, and once a vetting process has occurred, are signed up as vendors. Then, when a user requests services via the app, he or she is matched with the closest and best-qualified provider to do the work.

Its not like were connecting you with some guy off the street with a lawnmower, Mahoney explains. All the providers are landscaping companies, and have at least $500,000 in general liability insurance.

Our providers have an average of seven years in business; this is their living, and this is what they do.

Plowz grew by strong word of mouth and positive social-media reviews, Mahoney says, and he expects Mowz to the same thing. Nashville got onto his radar thanks to his sisters relocation here, and her difficulty in finding a good landscaping provider.

We had it on our list of cities, but that helped identify it as a good market to enter with the new service, he says. Its an up and coming city in a lot of ways, and the kind of connection our app makes do well in that environment.

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Yard Work Waiting? Hit Mowz App and Take a Nap

David Murray, chair of the Financial System Inquiry. Photo: Dominic Lorrimer

What you need to know about theMurrayinquiry

If history is any guide, David Murray's financial system inquiry will shape the landscape of banking, superannuation and insurance for years to come.

Its final report, to be published on Sunday, follows in the footsteps of inquiries that have had profound legacies for consumers, businesses and the entire economy.

The 1981 Campbell inquiry paved the way for a wave of deregulation, and the 1997 Wallis inquiry recommended Australia's modern system of market and banking regulation.

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There have been seismic shifts in finance since Wallis: a six-fold rise in the $1.9 trillion superannuation pool, a sharp increase in the share of bank loans going to housing, and a shift towards greater concentration in banking.

Depending on what the government decides to do with Murray's recommendations, it has the potential to affect just about everyone in Australia.

But as we learnt during the global financial crisis, finance can be so complex that even many bankers do not truly understand it. With that in mind, here's our guide to the topics that matter most.

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Murray to shape our financial world

Published December 05, 2014

In this April 15, 2014 photo, inmates harvest turnips at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La. Inmates at the penitentiary are getting state licenses in landscaping and horticulture. The goal is a better shot at employment after release and to use their skills on prison grounds, which are about the size of Manhattan Island. So even inmates not in the program are put to work. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)(The Associated Press)

In this April 15, 2014 photo, inmates harvest turnips at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La. Inmates at the penitentiary are getting state licenses in landscaping and horticulture. The goal is a better shot at employment after release and to use their skills on prison grounds, which are about the size of Manhattan Island. So even inmates not in the program are put to work. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)(The Associated Press)

In this April 15, 2014 photo, inmates harvest turnips at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La. Inmates at the penitentiary are getting state licenses in landscaping and horticulture. The goal is a better shot at employment after release and to use their skills on prison grounds, which are about the size of Manhattan Island. So even inmates not in the program are put to work. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)(The Associated Press)

In this April 15, 2014 photo, inmate Isaac Smith drives mules carrying freshly harvested turnips at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La. Inmates at the penitentiary are getting state licenses in landscaping and horticulture. The goal is a better shot at employment after release and to use their skills on prison grounds, which are about the size of Manhattan Island. So even inmates not in the program are put to work. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)(The Associated Press)

In this April 15, 2014 photo, inmates walk past blooms planted by other inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La. Inmates at the penitentiary are getting state licenses in landscaping and horticulture. The goal is a better shot at employment after release and to use their skills on prison grounds, which are about the size of Manhattan Island. So even inmates not in the program are put to work. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)(The Associated Press)

ANGOLA, La. Men who may never get out of the Louisiana State Prison are getting state licenses as landscape contractors and pesticide applicators.

Some also are teaching other long-term inmates and short-timers who are serving their time in the maximum-security prison so they can get that training.

Forty-seven-year-old Michael Costello added four licenses to the landscaping license he had when he went to prison. He's now working for a pool and spa company owner who's starting a landscaping business.

Costello says he must check in weekly with the court and meet twice weekly with other former inmates and counselors.

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Louisiana short-timers and lifers earn state horticulture licenses in state prison program

Shailaja Munshi, a Malabar Hill resident, cannot remember the last time she gave someone a gift that wasn't a plant. Her love for gardening blossomed after her marriage; over the years she has tended to a beautiful balcony garden in her home.

Then one night, a chance meeting with her friend Preeti Reshamia got her introduced to the art and beauty of terrariums. Reshamia, who conducts classes and takes orders for flower arrangements, did not like muddying her hands with soil so she sought Munshi's help in adding a touch of green to her home.

"There is a complete dearth of greenery in people's homes in Mumbai," says Munshi, which is why she and Reshamia decided to add to the green movement in the city, leading to the birth of Earth Bowl.

Earth Bowl is nearly one year old now but has only just made its online debut on facebook and Instagram where delicate, transparent terrariums are catching everyone's eye. The terrariums come in different shapes and sizes: pear-shaped, apple-shaped, wine glasses, bowls and our favourite, the hanging bulbs. Terrariums are layered with a mixture of soil, pretty indoor plants like peperomia, spider plant and button syngonium, along with accessories like shells and tiny clay animals. While some landscapes have just one plant, others include two-three plants. "It's an ecosystem in itself and therein lies its beauty. Terrariums are easy to maintain and can brighten up any corner," says Munshi.

The terrariums are packaged in special corrugated boxes and come with a spray bottle for watering and a leaflet, which includes information about caring for the plant. The plants can be kept in air-conditioned rooms but not in direct sunlight. The Earth Bowl team also creates micro landscapes in ceramic trays, pots and shells.

Many of Earth Bowl's customers are novices, who don't have much idea about how to look after the plants. Munshi and Reshamia mention receiving WhatsApp messages and pictures from terrarium owners to check on every little thing that happens to their plants.

"Many people have bought terrariums from Earth Bowl to give away as gifts for birthday parties, Diwali, baby showers and even as return gifts for a kid's birthday," says Reshamia. Children, surprisingly, are big fans of their work.

At a recent flea market in Bandra, many children showed interest in the terrariums, urging their parents to buy some for them.

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Making the city green, one micro landscape at a time

THIS is a true Interior Designer. She #39;s almost 90 now! Coolio.
via YouTube Capture.

By: Pierina Interior Design

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THIS is a true Interior Designer. She's almost 90 now! Coolio. - Video

Gerard Butler has moved in with his interior designer girlfriend Morgan Brown after they started dating earlier this year.

Gerard Butler has moved in with Morgan Brown.

The 45-year-old actor, who started dating the interior designer earlier this year, is reportedly completely smitten with the brunette beauty and is planning to propose after just three months of dating.

A source said: ''Gerard is a one-woman man now. They just moved in together. And now they're talking marriage.''

The '300' star - who sought treatment in rehab in 2012 after becoming addicted to painkillers after sustaining an injury while shooting the movie 'Shattered' in 2007 - has adopted a much healthier approach in recent months in a bid to keep up with former model Morgan, 38.

The insider added to Life & Style magazine: ''He says Morgan also put him on a regime of green juices, and since then, he's lost weight and he's feeling healthier.''

The couple went public with their romance last month, but were first spotted kissing on a beach in California in September.

Earlier this year, Gerard complained that he was struggling to find the right woman.

During an interview in March, he said: ''I have not met the one princess yet.

''That doesn't mean I have not met a lot of princesses along the way, but not the one and only yet.

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Gerard Butler moves in with Morgan Brown

MINNEAPOLIS A.J. Paron-Wildes home, a walk-out rambler in suburban Oak Park Heights, Minn., is a study in calm all clean, uncluttered spaces and earthy, neutral hues that echo the autumn leaves framing the view of the St. Croix River. On an autumn afternoon, daughter Eva, 6, is having an after-school snack, while son Devin, 19, sketches intently, seated at the studio desk in his orderly bedroom.

This peaceful environment is entirely by design. When you have child who has autism, calm is a precious commodity and Paron-Wildes has become an expert at creating it, starting in her own home.

That journey started 16 years ago when Devin was diagnosed with autism at age 3. It was very traumatic, Paron-Wildes recalled.

At that time, Devin didnt speak but was prone to explosive tantrums when he was upset or confused. Hed drop to the floor and start screaming, she said.

She and her husband stopped bringing Devin to the grocery store or on other errands because they never knew what might trigger an eruption. Wed have to drop everything and leave.

At the time of Devins diagnosis, Paron-Wildes was a very young interior designer, only recently graduated from the University of Minnesota.

I thought, Theres got to be some great research about designing spaces for children who have autism, but she was wrong. There was nothing, she recalled. Everything was done in the 70s, when kids were institutionalized.

Determined to keep Devin at home, Paron-Wildes committed herself to creating an environment where he could learn and thrive. So she started educating herself by working backward.

She read books about autism, and pored over studies about the neurological workings of the brain, becoming fascinated by the different ways autistic people perceive colors, patterns and lighting. She tried to determine what design elements would likely trigger difficult behavior and then did the opposite, learning through trial and error.

You cant really get the information by asking, Is this too bright for you? Does this make you dizzy? You have to watch for cues, she said.

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Interior designer creates peaceful home environments for autistic kids