Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Danish developers Realdania BYG and Arkitema Architects, working with the Danish Technological Institute, have designed and constructed an experimental prefabricated home that's made primarily from plywood. Despite this, the Maintenance-Free House shouldn't need any significant maintenance for at least 50 years, thanks to a glass "shield" that keeps it safe from the elements. The overall lifetime of the home is also expected to be at least 150 years.

Completed in 2013, the Maintenance-Free House is part of the same six-house experimental development on the Denmark's island of Fyn that includes the Adaptable House we reported on earlier this year. Somewhat confusingly, the development also contains another "Maintenance-Free House" that's built from brick.

The home has a total floorspace of 156 sq m (1,679 sq ft) and draws design cues from a traditional wooden Danish longhouse. It features a simple, open layout inside, with a large central space comprising a living area, and dining and kitchen area, flanked by a bathroom and technical room. Four skylights increase the already ample available natural light, and stairs lead to a mezzanine with two loft spaces. There's also a total of four bedrooms and one bathroom.

The Maintenance-Free House was prefabricated in a factory and transported by truck to Fyn. The basic structure was assembled over a couple of days using screwdrivers, with the total on-site build time being under two weeks. It comprises 18 frames of bonded high-strength prefabricated plywood, with a steel skeleton.

Since plywood won't stand up to a battering from the elements however, Arkitema Architects covered the entire envelope with a layer of toughened recycled glass sheets, fitted to provide an unbroken surface. In this way, the vulnerable plywood shell is protected from the weather.

The Maintenance-Free House is also raised off the ground by 30 cm (1 ft) on stilts, and there's a small gap between the plywood roof and its glass shield. This creates a natural chimney effect and draws in air from underneath the home, pushing it up to the gap between the plywood and glass shield, before it is expelled out at the top of the roof without any need for complicated mechanical ventilation.

We've no exact figure on its price, but are assured it's around the Danish norm for a home of its size and type. Though it's still an ongoing experiment, the Maintenance-Free House will eventually be sold once it has proven itself reliable.

Sources: Arkitema Architects, Realdania BYG via Arch Daily

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Glass-encased Maintenance-Free House is built to last

Full planning permission has been granted for the extension of The Square shopping centre in Tallaght, which will create 300 construction jobs and 400 retail jobs when it is completed.

The 40m project is being funded by Nama and will add 200,000 square feet of retail space to the centre.

The management team of Indego, which is the holding company with majority ownership of The Square, welcomed An Bord Pleanlas decision.

This very welcome decision from An Bord Pleanla is a huge boost locally to the Tallaght area, and an immense vote of confidence in the future of The Square as it continues to realise its status as a town centre, with the potential for hundreds of jobs to be created in the construction phase as well as sustainable long-term retail employment, said Indego CEO, Bernard Hamill.

The development provides for flexible large retail floor space, currently lacking, and a department store. The implementation of this proposal will see The Square town centre completely rejuvenated.

The decision follows the original decision to grant planning permission for the new development by South Dublin County Council earlier in April 2014.

Indego said in a statement that discussions had already started with a number of interested parties for the anchor and medium-space retailer users. Moreover, with planning certainty, the strategy and timeline for implementation of this important retail development can be actively advanced, it added.

The centre has been rejuvenated with the ongoing support of Nama in the past number of years; a new 13-screen cinema has opened, together with 25 new brands being added to the centres offering, enhancing significantly the tenant mix. These initiatives have been delivered under a new management team who have overseen a substantial footfall increase in the same period.

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Green light for extension to Square in Tallaght

HARTFORD A proposed $350 million development in the city's downtown north area that includes a minor league baseball stadium would create 1,000 to 1,300 permanent jobs throughout the state, most of those in Hartford County and more than a third in the city, a UConn economist told the city council Thursday.

At the peak of construction in 2018, the jobs total would reach 2,000, said Fred Carstensen, an economist hired by the city council.

The project would also raise overall personal incomes after taxes by $120 million in the peak year of 2018; the increase would fall, to about $100 million a year as construction winds down in 2020, before rising steadily for the next decade because of inflation.

Carstensen noted that the projections are for the equivalent of full-time jobs positions that are direct, indirect and induced.

The project would also generate $30 million to $40 million a year in added income tax revenue between 2018 and 2030.

The figures from the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis, which Carstensen directs, are not simply an attempt to add up the direct jobs created by the project itself, of people employed in construction and other activities at the Hartford development. Rather, the study looks at both the direct employment such as 80 stadium jobs combined with the effects of the flow of $350 million through the region's economy.

The council hired Carstensen after he criticized the work of a previous city consultant hired to advise Mayor Pedro Segarra on the effects of the project and the baseball team in Hartford.

Carstensen was paid $7,500 for his consulting work, council President Shawn Wooden said Thursday.

Carstensen's job projections are strong for the city, reaching a peak of 592 to 676 added positions in 2018, in large part because the developer has promised to hire 35 percent of workers from within the city limits. He projects 380 to 439 permanent jobs for Hartford residents.

"The additional economic activity attracts migration into Hartford or at least stems emigration," Carstensen wrote in a report to the council. "The core point is that population is higher with the development than without it. The development attracts population that would not otherwise have moved into Hartford.

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Economist: Downtown North Project To Create 1,000 Jobs

A recent mugging in Forest Park, a new residential home in the area and restoration of a collapsed building on Jamaica Avenue were among the top issues on the table as the Woodhaven Residents Block Association held its monthly meeting on Sept. 18 at American Legion Post 118 in Woodhaven.

Deputy Inspector Hank Sautner, commanding officer of the 102nd Precinct, announced that the neighborhood experienced a pretty good summer, then addressed an incident that occurred around 6 p.m. in Forest Park on Sept. 16.

A jogger was accosted from behind, he said, adding that the woman gave a very good description of her attacker.

According to police, a woman was running near one of the horse trails nor far from the Buddy Monument at Myrtle Avenue and Park Lane South, when was grabbed from behind by a male. The victim reacted quickly and pulled away, but not until he forcibly removedherear buds, which were attached to her phone. She did not sustain any physical injuries.

He said the victim was able to pick out a photo of the suspect, picked up by one of the parks cameras. A wanted poster is imminent, he said.

The perpetrator is described as a white male in his early 40s, balding with grayish blonde hair. 5 feet, 8 inches tall and around 200 pounds. He was wearing a long sleeve gray shirt and baggy blue jeans.

I am pretty confident we have some decent leads. Hopefully, well get an arrest, he said.

The park has been the site of a series of six sexual assaults over the past two years, Sautner noted, but the latest incident was not of that kind, and he suggested there is nothing that indicates that the same perpetrator was involved in it.

In response to a question from the audience, the commander said noise complaints are our biggest quality-of-life issue. To combat the problem, the precinct tries to find the chronic locations, one of which is off Jamaica Avenue, a commercial hub.

Sautner also introduced a new member of the Community Affairs Unit, Police Officer Eddie Martinez.

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Forest Park attack tops WRBA meeting agenda

Thursday, September 25, 2014 | 8:03 p.m. CDT; updated 8:26 p.m. CDT, Thursday, September 25, 2014

WASHINGTON Eric Holder, America's first black attorney general and an unflinching champion of civil rights in enforcing the nation's laws, announced his resignation Thursday after leading the Justice Department since the first days of President Barack Obama's term. He is the fourth-longest-serving attorney general in U.S. history.

Holder, the administration's point man on the civil rights investigation into the police shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, won't leave until a replacement is confirmed, which means he could remain in office for months.

Senate Republicans signaled they were preparing for a confirmation fight after years of battles with Holder. Said Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell: "I will be scrutinizing the president's replacement nominee to ensure the Justice Department finally returns to prioritizing law enforcement over partisan concerns."

In an emotional ceremony at the White House, Obama called Holder "the people's lawyer" and credited him with driving down both the nation's crime and incarceration rate the first time they have declined together in more than 40 years.

"Through it all, he's shown a deep and abiding fidelity to one of our most cherished ideals as a people, and that is equal justice under the law," Obama said.

Holder responded by speaking of how he was inspired as a boy by Robert Kennedy's leadership on civil rights at the Justice Department, his voice choking as he expressed his thanks to Obama and his own family. "You got through it," Obama could be heard telling Holder as the audience stood and applauded.

In a speech earlier this week, Holder described the dual perspective he brought to the job and how it applied to the Ferguson shooting, in which a young black man was shot and killed by a white policeman. He said he had the utmost respect for police as a former prosecutor and the brother of an officer. But, he added, "As an African-American man who has been stopped and searched by police in situations where such actions were not warranted, I also carry with me an understanding of the mistrust that some citizens harbor."

Holder told The Associated Press in an interview that he's not sure whether the Justice Department will finish its investigation into the shooting before he leaves. "I don't want to rush them," Holder said. He said once out of office, he will direct attention to "issues that have animated me" during his tenure, including criminal justice and civil rights.

"If you asked me what my biggest regret was, I would say that it was the failure to pass any responsible and reasonable gun safety legislation after the shootings in Newtown," Holder said. He said he thought in the aftermath of the school shootings in Connecticut that the nation would embrace change that was "not radical but really reasonable" on gun ownership.

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UPDATE: Holder, champion of civil rights, resigning as attorney general

Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., the first African American to fill the nation's top law enforcement post, announced Thursday he was stepping down, ending a nearly six-year tenure as one of the Obama administration's most progressive voices and polarizing figures.

Holder, 63, leaves an impressive legacy on civil rights and criminal justice reforms, but one that took shape relatively late in his tumultuous term, which was initially dominated by political battles and a contempt citation from Congress. The former federal prosecutor and close friend of President Obama becomes one of the last original members of the Cabinet to resign.

At an emotional gathering in the White House State Dining Room, Holder, who came of age during the 1960s civil rights struggle, invoked his boyhood hero, former U.S. Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy, and called his time at the Justice Department the greatest honor of my professional life.

I hope I have done honor to your legacy, Mr. President, Holder said, choking up while recalling the support of his parents. I will leave the Department of Justice, but I will never, ever leave the work.

A formal announcement about Holder's replacement is not expected until early next week. Holder has agreed to stay on until a nominee is confirmed.

Names already being tossed around inside the White House and the halls of Congress include Solicitor Gen. Donald Verrilli Jr.; Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in New York who handles bank fraud and terrorism cases; Janet Napolitano, former Homeland Security secretary; former White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler; Deputy Atty. Gen. James Cole, the No. 2 official in the Justice Department; and Mary Jo White, a former U.S. attorney in New York who now leads the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Two other potential successors, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, said Thursday they had no plans to take the job.

The likely battle over Holder's replacement sets the stage for a partisan power struggle that is likely to extend into the post-election lame-duck session of Congress or beyond. The administration hopes to win a quick confirmation from the Democratic-controlled Senate in the coming months, but some Republicans who are betting they will seize control of the Senate in the November election are already calling for the confirmation to be pushed into next year.

Holder, who had hinted for months that he was planning to leave, came to the Justice Department in the winter of 2009 as the 82nd attorney general, a figure well-versed in the difficult, sometimes delicate, task of running a sprawling law enforcement agency after earlier serving as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration.

He pleased Democrats by reinvigorating the Justice Department's efforts on civil rights, same-sex marriage, voting protections and prosecution of abusive police officers.

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Eric H. Holder Jr., U.S. attorney general, is stepping down

The first thing you notice about Kiera and Michael Kushlan's one-bedroom co-op is how they've pulled it together to be both modern and classic. The second is how spacious it seems.

The Kushlans, both 29, believe that what you leave out of a room is just as important as what you put in. On a limited budget, they invested their own time and DIY skills to renovate the run-down 1920s flat. In the process, they uncovered its hidden charms and discovered a lot about themselves.

"I would much rather have a small space filled with all the things that I love than just buying furniture to fill space," says Kiera, an interior designer who enjoys editing just as much as shopping. The Kushlans' renovation of their 750-square-foot home in Washington unified the three rooms with white walls and new espresso wood floors. They carefully layered in a few bold patterns and colors, framed maps of places they loved and pulled in furniture they've reclaimed and repurposed. They used space creatively: an entrance foyer became a place to dine or work; two Ikea cabinets were transformed into a floating bar. In the bedroom, Michael built a small desktop into a window niche with a piece of plywood and iron brackets from the Brass Knob.

Their stylish co-op has become a calling card for Kiera's design business, Residents Understood, and has created a bit of an online sensation in the blogosphere. In April, Design Sponge featured photos of the Kushlans' apartment. In June, their place got the most votes in the Apartment Therapy Small Cool Home Contest in the "Little" division (homes under 1,000 square feet).

"We discovered we had the same kind of vision," Michael says. "We like to have some traditional pieces but add our own twists of modern. We find things that reflect who we are and where we travel together. We both love order."

The result is a warm retreat that's organized. "I don't like to have a lot of things. It makes me anxious," Kiera says. "My philosophy is, if I don't love it, I don't keep it."

Kiera and Michael met at Ohio University. Michael got an MBA there and he is now a management consultant. Kiera went on to get a master's degree at the University of Florida. In 2009, they moved to Washington and got married. Kiera worked briefly for a designer before starting her own firm in 2010 with Florida classmate Jessica Centella.

"We had a targeted demographic of ages 25 to 40," Kiera says. Most clients live in small spaces. "The name of our firm came from how we approach our projects. It's based around the client's wants, needs, personal aesthetic and style," she says.

The Kushlans started looking for a place to buy in March 2012. It was the building's European flavor and the neighborhood that sold them.

"It felt like I was in Paris with its small elevator and wonderful details," Kiera says. The flat needed work: electrical upgrades, lighting and a new kitchen. They came up with a plan and spent two months remodeling before they moved in, doing a good chunk of the work themselves. They tore out the dated, worn-out galley kitchen. Part of the wall between the kitchen and living room also came down. They chose the Ikea Adel line of white cabinets that they warmed up with Ikea butcher block counters and a farm-style porcelain sink.

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Spare change for small space

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