Finished Basement Remodeling with Almar Building and Remodeling in Hanover, Massachusetts
Remodeling your basement can be a great way to get more living space in a home. Check out some basement finishing projects Almar Building Remodeling has do...
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Finished Basement Remodeling with Almar Building and Remodeling in Hanover, Massachusetts - Video
Solibri Customer Interview with Reflex Architects, Stockholm - Sweden
Solibri Customer Interview with Reflex Architects, Stockholm - Sweden Solibri, Inc. develops and markets Quality Assurance solutions for AECO field that impr...
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Solibri Customer Interview with Reflex Architects, Stockholm - Sweden - Video
Ottagono intervista norm.architects, Maison Objet 2014
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Ottagono intervista norm.architects, Maison & Objet 2014 - Video
Architects in nature
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Rodinne domy by Free architects
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It uses sliding partitions and storage walls, extension modules and a puzzle of garden components. Danish architects Henning Larsen's new Adaptable House is designed to accommodate the most common lifestyle changes, from having children to settling into retirement. The energy-efficient home can even be fairly separated in case of divorce.
Realized with developers Realdania Byg and contractors GXN, the Adaptable House not only offers flexible room arrangements, but has a built-in strategy for extending and separating volumes. The house has also been designed to consume 37 percent less energy than a standard home, with a significant reduction in overall carbon emissions.
The Adaptable House was conceived to help meet a range of lifestyle changes. For a growing family, bedrooms can be easily added or enlarged; when children leave home, spare rooms might be converted for other uses. There are also planned schemes for working from home, taking in boarders (in which some bedrooms would be separated from other private spaces), and aging inhabitants (for whom the garden decks and planters could be made step-free).
Perhaps the most innovative and coolly pragmatic gesture is in adapting for divorce. In this scenario, the house can be divided horizontally, separating the upper floor from the lower floor, adding a kitchen upstairs and creating separate entrances. This is, of course, the most extreme scenario (and assumes a rather amicable split). The lower floor could also be separated for use by an elderly couple who need to live on a single floor. In all cases, the idea is to adapt to changing circumstances without having to move house or tear down and start again.
Sliding partitions make flexible interiors (Photo: Jesper Ray/Realdania Byg)
The architects were determined that any new configurations meet their criteria for natural light, ventilation, plus noise and temperature control. This is perhaps what distinguishes this project from the kind of flexible open-plan living that has been around for decades. The new spaces are not just clever cut-outs, like making a bedroom out of a dark closet under the stairs. Future configurations have been thought through, so that creating the home-office space, for example, utilizes a glazed partition that allows ample light but blocks out noise.
The extension program works by starting with a house of 146 square meters (1,571 sq ft) consisting of two stories, with an optional garage/extension. The ground floor has fixed walls, which carry the load of the upper floor and leave the internal walls upstairs free to move. On the ground floor, the house can be extended beneath the first-floor overhangs. The upper floor can also be extended by enclosing the terraces. Decking around the house creates accessible garden spaces, which can be maximized for older or retired residents.
Though the ground floor has some fixed walls, the services have been tucked into an aluminum bar in the ceiling structure, making it easier to change the floor plan as needed. Partition walls include their own doors and storage, and can be moved around to reconfigure the interior without worrying about electrical fittings. Sliding partitions can be used on an impromptu or daily basis, if say, you need to have a business meeting in your living room and want to close off the kitchen and kids play area from view.
Upstairs, the partition walls are designed as moveable cupboards, which can transform the layout from a single space covering the entire floor to four separate rooms, and other configurations in between.
The architects cite statistics which show that even when people decide to move house, most of them will choose to live in the same area. The Adaptable House will mean never having to leave the neighborhood. So you might say their motto is something like "plus a change" ("the more things change, [the more they stay the same]") for the housing industry.
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Adaptable House caters for growing family, home office, retired living, or divorce
By Paula Garcia, Globe Correspondent
It is late afternoon and steady streams of people are making their way to the Fenway MBTA station. Some are dressed in suits, others in scrubs, and others more casually in jeans and sneakers. They all seem to emerge from the Landmark Center, a multi-service building that looms over the T stop.
This is a usual scene during weekdays in the Fenway, at the intersection of Brookline Avenue and Park Drive. The area, known for its proximity to Fenway Park and the Audubon Circle community, is the site of the Landmark Center, which provides office space for companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield and a variety of retail stores including Bed, Bath & Beyond and Best Buy.
On Jan. 16, the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved an expansion project for the Landmark Center. The project will renovate the interior of the current building, and expand to build a new section dedicated to housing development. The expansion is expected to create 550 housing units, more office and retail space, and the construction of a Wegmans supermarket.
Bill Richardson, president of the Fenway Civic Association, said the FCA and its members back the recently expansion plan.
We support it because it is predominantly residential, Richardson said in a telephone interview. We have been supporting all the residential projects in the neighborhood.
The Landmark Center expansion is a continuation of several development projects in the Fenway area by Samuels & Associates, a development firm that currently owns the Landmark Center. Samuels & Associates has been an active player in the Fenway since 2004. In the past 10 years, Samuels & Associates has built and redeveloped the Fenway community through the construction of the Fenway Triangle Trilogy and the 1330 Boylston St. building.
We believe that there is certainly a demand for housing in the city of Boston, Richardson said. I think the number one complaint among the younger people is that housing is too expensive, and there is only one way to tackle that -- try to get more housing.
The Landmark Center project will be part of three new housing-oriented projects in the area, which under BRA regulations will include onsite affordable housing units. The regulations, which are part of the Inclusionary development policy created by former Mayor Thomas M. Menino in 2000, require that any residential development have at least 10 percent of the total housing units be affordable housing for moderate to middle-income residents.
The Landmark Cente, along with The Point and the Van Ness Street projects, will add more than 1,000 new housing units into the Brookline Avenue corridor that runs from Kenmore Square to Park Drive.
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Planned expansion of Landmark Center gets positive reviews
The Markit and Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply's Construction Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed output across the UK's construction industry reach a figure of 64.6 in January, up from a PMI figure of 62.1 in December. A value of over 50.0 on the PMI scale signifies growth.
PMI data is collected via a monthly survey of more than 170 purchasing executives working within the construction sector, based in businesses of all sizes.
Markit said that the January PMI of 64.6 is the highest recorded growth in the industry since August 2007 and that its survey showed "near-record growth rates" across house building, commercial and civil engineering activity.
"The upturn was again led by house building, which increased for the twelfth successive month, but surging growth was also recorded for commercial construction and civil engineering," Markit said in a statement. "The rise of the latter two activities points to increased spending by business on infrastructure, office space, industrial units and retail outlets."
Markit said that construction industry businesses it surveyed expressed the highest levels of confidence about the forthcoming year's activity since September 2009. Jobs have also been created in the industry for eight months in a row now, it confirmed.
Construction industry expert Graham Robinsonof Pinsent Masons said that the "strong rebound" the construction industry is enjoying was welcome, but identified some challenges associated with the rate of growth in some areas and predicted that that rate would "moderate" in the longer term.
"The success of the house building and commercial markets in particular are acting as the main drivers for this strong rebound from the major troughs the construction industry experienced in the depths of the recession," Robinson said.
"However, much of the growth in house building can be attributed to the Government's continued backing for its 'Help To Buy' scheme, whilst the boom in the London property market may be masking the fact that in many parts of the country the commercial property market is still struggling," he said.
"There is some way to go in terms of taking up existing capacity in some areas, but where there are hot spots of activity there may be resourcing problems for contractors, in terms of both labour and materials. Although jobs have been created for a steady eight months in a row now, the construction jobs market has been rising from a very low base. Many of the workers who found themselves out of work in the recession have found jobs in other industries," he said.
Robinson said that "headwinds" in the European economy will continue to affect the UK export market and that this would eventually cause current growth levels in the UK construction industry to slow.
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Construction industry sees sharpest growth since before the recession
Polly Grieff and her husband Eric. Their house Old Manor, in Saham Toney, will be on Restoration Home - one year on. Picture: Ian Burt
Kathryn Cross Thursday, February 6, 2014 11:39 AM
It was its down-at-heel aura that first attracted Polly Grieff to the crumbling Old Manor at Saham Toney.
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The house was like a Miss Haversham, nobody cared about her, but she was just waiting to be loved again. I just thought this is it, I can make it a home.
In fact it was just over four years ago that Mrs Grieff first set eyes on the house, believed to be the oldest in the village, near Watton.
And while progress has been made, its story so far has been less about its restoration and more about breaking it down to its bare bones.
Nonetheless it caught the eye of historians for the BBC2 programme Restoration Home as it started to reveal its fascinating past.
And since the episode featuring the Old Manor, presented by Caroline Quentin, was screened in 2012 they have been inundated with people offering more insights into its heritage and wishing them well for the restoration.
We have had lots of information coming in from people whose families lived here and interest from all over the world as a result of the previous programme, said Mrs Grieff.
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Photo gallery and video tour: Historic Norfolk house revisited for TV restoration show
Cabinet Magic offers several options for homeowners who are considering updates to kitchen or bathroom cabinets, including refacing or replacing existing cabinetry.
February 6, 2014 /MM-prReach/
Diamonds may last forever, but kitchen cabinets and countertops certainly do not. What was once so functional and attractive becomes beaten down with daily wear: opening and closing to put away dishes and groceries, coffee grounds spilling everywhere and staining the surface, cooking ventures gone horribly awry. Eventually, it becomes time to decide whether to overhaul the whole kitchen or bathroom, or find creative ways to make it look new again. Cabinet Magic offers options no matter what a homeowner decides for kitchen and bathroom cabinetry.
Some cabinets and countertops require removal, while others only need a new face. Cabinet Magic offers all services necessary to make a kitchen fabulous and fresh with a variety of options from new granite countertops to new kitchen cabinets at http://www.cabinetmagic.com.
Refacing or replacing cabinets can pay dividends, particularly when it comes time to sell the home. The kitchen is one of the first places people look when they are considering buying a new home. Countertops and cabinets play a huge role in the impression visitors receive of how luxurious a home is and how well the owners have taken care of it. Simply by altering the wood type and color of cabinets or the content type of the countertops, it is possible to make a kitchen look cleaner, more open, and more inviting. Even if selling a house is not the objective, changing the look of a kitchen with the help of Cabinet Magic can be an easy way to seeing the house in a new light.
Cabinet Magic also specializes in cabinet refacing in Orange County at http://www.cabinetmagic.com. Cabinet refacing is similar to having caps put on teeth: the bodywork remains the same while the drawers and veneers are removed and refreshed to become any desired style or color. Though much less time, work, and expenditure than a full kitchen remodel, cabinet refacing still manages to achieve the feel of a brand new kitchen.
About Cabinet Magic: Based out of Southern California, Cabinet Magic is a family-owned and operated company dedicated to creating beautiful and functional kitchens and bathrooms at reasonable prices. Their cabinetry is all custom-made to order. Since establishment of the business in 1989, Cabinet Magic has sought to fully satisfy each and every customer with their expert installation team and quality product.
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Cabinet Magic Offers Cabinet Options: Reface or Replace ...