The style of this modern-day home was derived from the International Style of architecture, which began in the 1920s. Its large floor-to-ceiling windows take full advantage of the mountain and valley views afforded by its location. The white walls against the backdrop of blue and green create a dramatic setting.

Yalick Farms, being developed on 56 acres that once produced crops sold at a stand on the other side of Memorial Highway, is the first project of its kind in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Mostly residential, the “luxury condominium village,” as one partner described it, will include a clubhouse, an Olympic-size swimming pool, tennis courts and small shops.

Lead developer J. Naparlo said Yalick Farms would not be considered unusual in the Williamsburg, Va. area, where the Plymouth native now lives.

“There are projects like this down here,” he said recently; developments that include small shops with housing above or nearby.

Partner Perry Dunford, who also is the general contractor, said the first of a planned 112 townhouses will be ready for sale within weeks. A sales office will be set up in the clubhouse and initially they will be marketed directly by the developers.

Both Naparlo and Dunford tout the building quality and amenities at Yalick Farms. Read more…

Timaru’s new $9.5 million courthouse complex will incorporate parts of the original 110-year-old courthouse.

The concept plans now out for consultation involve the retention and refurbishment of the existing 1877 portions of the building combined with a modern contemporary addition.

Offices at the North Street entrance to the complex will eventually be removed, revealing the exterior of the original court building.

Minister for Courts Rick Barker said the new courthouse complex will address issues of security, while providing areas for the public and support services. It will incorporate the latest technology and has been designed to allow for future growth.

Mr Barker said the plans follow international principles of best practice design for courthouse buildings.
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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in early June completed America’s first PATH Concept Home in Omaha, Neb., featuring more than 60 efficient, sustainable and flexible products and systems all in one affordable home.

“With the PATH Concept Home, HUD has created a blueprint for the future of the American Dream by using innovative housing technologies that support our goals of sustainability, efficiency and flexibility in an affordable home,” HUD Assistant Secretary Darlene F. Williams told the gathering of more than 100 visitors at the ribbon-cutting event and open house held here. “June is National Homeownership Month, and we are excited to showcase a home that is affordable to purchase, maintain and renovate as families and their needs change over time.”
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A rooftop with colorful vegetation is one of several features of the U.S. Social Security Administration Southeast Payment Processing Center that will make it environmentally friendly and energy efficient.

When completed in January 2008, the eight-story building under construction in Birmingham’s Civil Rights District will have a silver certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, which is recognized nationally as a standard for buildings that are constructed to address environmental issues and reduce energy costs.

Romy Guevara, co-owner of Rommy Custom Designs, can give you a beautifully-lit stone patio with lanterns and arched walkways, elegant stone bathrooms and living areas with recreations of the Sistine Chapel, and dining rooms with bars of rich brown wood.

“Our art is architecture and interior together,” said Guevara, 45. “We start in the heart.”

Guevara has been doing interior and exterior design in the Rio Grande Valley for about 10 years; prior to his move here, he worked from Ajijic, Mexico where he did projects on a grand scale in Guadalajara and other parts of Mexico. His works include a jewelry store in Guadalajara, Mexico, and a trompe-l’oeil in the home of TV Azteca actor Fernando Allende in Aspen, Colo. Trompe-l’oeil is an artistic technique in which the images appear real instead of two-dimensional. Read more…

Pacific Controls announced that its HQ Building was awarded the Digie Award for the Digital Real Estate - Extreme Office Building - International, category at Realcomm 2007 on 4th June at Boston, USA.

Dilip Rahulan, Chairman and CEO of Pacific Controls, on receipt of the Award said “We are delighted to receive the Digie Award 2007. It tells us and our clients that our efforts to showcase the concept of Intelligent green buildings has won Global Recognition, We deserve to be singled out for creating a trend in sustainable development and deployment of State of the Art Converged IP Technology in buildings. The Digie Award further recognizes our ability to meet the marketplace technology needs”.

Each year, Realcomm presents the most innovative real estate companies, individuals, and solution providers with the prestigious “Digie” Award. This award is designed to recognize the most forward-thinking leaders in commercial real estate who are making the greatest impact through the use of technology and automation. Read more…

It’s not always easy to see the value of the things around you.

As a kid in this city in the 1960s, I was surrounded by modern architecture.

I grew up in Valleyview, surrounded by avant-garde homes, one-of-a-kind works of modernism designed by some of the city’s leading architects.

I went to Ross Sheppard High School, star-gazed at the planetarium, took swimming lessons at Coronation Pool, shopped at the Bay downtown, saw movies at the Paramount and the Garneau, went to bar mitzvahs at the Beth Shalom synagogue.

I didn’t know it at the time, but my Edmonton was actually a laboratory for modern design. Our postwar oil boom made this city a perfect laboratory for architectural experimentation. We were building a new city, with money and brashness to burn. Architects gathered here, some Read more…

The light of dawn penetrating through the large windows and soft music playing in the background - this is not the image that flashes across your mind when you think of a hospital, but its time you change that perception. More and more hospitals today understand the importance of ‘healing architecture’, a concept which is gradually making its presence on Indian shores.

How Healthy is Healthy?

“We do healing design which you refer to as ‘healing architecture’,” clarifies Hussain Varawalla, Senior Architect, HOSMAC, Mumbai. “I would define it as creating environments that make you feel good. To a certain extent, we generalise by saying that if you feel good you will ‘heal’ faster. I do not think in that sense that a surgical wound will heal faster, but your mind will heal faster,” adds Varawalla. So, basically, it means that an environment that accentuates the healing process is ‘healthy’. “Healthy-hospital design is a harmonious blend of nature and architecture, that promotes health and aids early recovery in those who are sick,” echoes Dr Shakti Gupta, Author of Modern Trends in Planning and Designing of Hospitals, Principle and Practice. Read more…

Chinese building contractors are in big demand by the Trinidad and Tobago Government, and are often tagged for major projects over home-grown construction companies, who have been criticised for their inflated bids, poor work ethic, and failing to complete jobs on schedule.

But builders have in turn accused the Government of discrimination, saying the foreign builders have more leeway to import labour, some of whom are being paid below market rates, causing displacement.

A Chinese contractor is the sole builder of the new Prime Minister’s residence and diplomatic centre, the academy for the performing arts and a new ministry of education. Another has been awarded a contract to build a stadium, and one is involved in the construction of the Alutrint smelter plant. Read more…