Smart Growth Plan Gets Resistance From Builders
After outcry from its subscribers, Professional Builder magazine decided to withdraw plans to award the American Planning Assocation’s Growing Smart Project its annual Professional Achievement Award.
Growing Smart represents the APA’s next generation model planning and zoning efforts (through statutory reform). It includes model authorizing legislation for state and city government. So far, 14 states have used the Guidebook and according to the APA, more than 20 percent of state legislatures are pursuing amendments that would strengthen or improve local/regional planning. The award was scheduled to be awarded at the National Association of Homebuilders annual convention last month. However, when news of the award went out with the invitations, some members complained.
“Our 127,000 home builder subscribers are not supportive of the Growing Smart initiative and were vocal in letting us know their positions,” wrote Professional Builder’s editor-in-chief Heather McCune.
Michigan Innovates with Habitat
The state of Michigan has budgeted nearly $1 million in a partnership with non-profit Habitat for Humanity to build affordable, free-standing public housing.
The housing and development authority has nearly an eight-year relationship with the charitable organization, based in Americus, Ga. The proceeds from the $950,000 investment will be used for loans for those seeking homes, whose income is below 50 percent of median income.
The investment was part of the Habitat for Humanity International Linda Mae Bond Program to provide an easy way of investing money in affordable housing. The total Linda Mae Bond Program amount this year was more than $7.4 million, including MSHDA’s investment and other commitments from investors such as Citibank and Wells Fargo.
More than 90,000 families in the United States have been housed in Habitat homes, with an average cost of $51,000. The program has also built homes in 86 other countries.
Art Institute Launches Virtual Degree Program
The Art Institute Online, a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, expects to start its first classes for its new online bachelor’s degree program in Interior Design starting this April.
The online version of the Interior Design program mirrors the Institute’s traditional three-year professional associate degree program in Interior Design begun in 1945. The Pittsburgh school began its bachelor’s program in 2000.
The bachelor’s degree in Interior Design consists of 180 credits. In early courses, students learn the basics of drafting, color theory and the fundamentals of space planning and perspective. Later, students incorporate computer-aided drafting, and work on projects in the studio that simulate real-life interior design scenarios. The Art Institute Online began enrolling in 2000, as a division of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, offering degrees in Graphic Design and Multimedia & Web Design. In October, The Art Institute Online added Game Art & Design.
“We are building upon the academic history of The Art Institute of Pittsburgh’s Interior Design program,” said Ken Sutton, President of The Art Institute Online. “The only difference is that in April, a student can pursue their degree from any location in the world.” Through the convenience of a media-rich virtual campus, students receive personalized, accelerated instruction in a challenging six-week format. Students can take courses anytime, day or night, and must participate five out of every seven-day period. www.aip.aii.edu.
CMD introduces new name:
Reed Construction Data
Last quarter, Construction Market Data (CMD) announced a name change, to Reed Construction Data. The move was part of a global branding strategy and an effort to more closely align with parent company, Reed Business Information, which is a member of the Reed Elsevier Group plc. The new brand name also prepares the company for continued international expansion of Reed Elsevier’s construction data businesses.
“This coming year we will launch many new products and services, and we believe our new name will help us leverage this growth,” said Curtis Allen, president of Reed Construction Data. The size and stature of Reed Elsevier in the world community will help give us immediate recognition that we would not have received independently.” Reed Construction Data was founded in 1975.
www.reedconstructiondata.com
Segway not welcome on Streets of San Francisco
In January, the city by the bay became the first major municipality to go on record as saying its sidewalks will not be sporting “Segway” lanes.
The decision came before the personal transport, non-fossil fuel vehicles became available publicly, although prototypes have been in use by police departments in cities including Atlanta.
The Board of Supervisors acted in December following intense lobbying by Segway in state capitols to change laws to permit the two-wheeled vehicles on sidewalks. In all, 33 states, including California, approved Segway-enabling legislation.
When unveiled in December 2001, inventor Dean Kamen said the two-wheel scooter-like device controlled by body movements via gyroscopes and tiny computers would “change civilization.” It weighs about 70 lbs. and speeds top out at about 12 mph. The Segway is being launched publicly in March through Amazon.com with a price tag of roughly $5,000.
“There were statistics submitted to us about injuries and the Segways themselves did not have adequate safety features to alert people they might be behind them,” said Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco supervisor who supported the ban. Segway officials, however, say they’ve done 100,000 hours of testing on city streets with nary an injury.
Scrumpy Jack Spirit Lives on
A lumber importer in Virginia has hit upon a spirited combination of recycling and preservation. Mountain Lumber is offering flooring created from century-old casks from the Guinness Brewery and stout ale manufacturers in Britain. Some of the casks held up to 60,000 gallons and stand up to 27 feet tall. The names reflect the wood’s past—including “Scrumpy Jack” and “Strongbow.” The company’s trademark is its world-wide search for irreplaceable ancient wood. The company reclaims wood from factories, mills, warehouses, barns, piers, cider vats and other structures slated for demolition, “rescuing” wood that otherwise might have gone into landfills. Sites they’ve harvested include a Colonial-era wharf, the John Deere and Studebaker factories, New England textiles mills, Union Station in Charlottesville,Va. Russian railroad cars, and a grain elevator in Texas.
http://www.mountainlumber.com/main.html
RIBA Researches Why Women Leave Architecture
Results are expected in April for a RIBA study commissioned to determine why Britain is losing so many women architects after they earn their degrees and enter practice.
Sandra Manley and Ann de Graft-Johnson of the University of the West of England were appointed to carry out the study, which is conducting some surveys via the web at: http://environment.uwe.ac.uk/womenarch/
During the past decade, the number of women architecture students has risen in the U.K. by 10 percent, up to the present 37 percent. But statistics show that once they qualify, the number of women who stay in the profession drops to 13 percent. The emphasis of the research will be to plumb the reasons why women, once qualified as architects, do not go on to work actively in practice—and identify ways to stop the drop-out.
“It’s good news that the RIBA has launched this investigation. The profession simply cannot afford to lose talented, qualified women in such large numbers and needs to urgently find out what it needs to do to attract and retain them,” said Julie Mellor, Chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission.
An online questionnaire of women architects’ experience in the work place will form the first stage of the research. The second part of the research will consist of interviewing chosen individuals to provide a series of case study profiles demonstrating a range of causes, experiences and possible solutions. The full results will be available in April.
Kling Lindquist, U. Penn Create New Award for Diversity
This fall, the first Kling fellowship in Architecture will be awarded at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Fine Arts. The grant will be awarded with preference to women and minorities. The fellowship will be awarded annually.
The graduate school fellowship reflects a long relationship between the firm and the university. Richard J. Farley, principal and director of projects for Kling Lindquist, is an adjunct associate professor with the architecture program. He teaches graduate-level classes on architectural structures, emphasizing its role in architecture. Farley also serves on two university committees, assisting Dean Hack with the search for appointing a Chairman of Architecture as well as providing counsel on continuing education initiatives.
