Lack of euro treasury key to crisis and to recovery

Thursday, January 02, 2014

THE architects of the euro knew that it was incomplete when they designed it.

By George Soros

European authorities were confident, however, that if and when the euro ran into a crisis, they would be able to overcome it. After all, that is how the EU was created, taking one step at a time, knowing full well that additional steps would be required.

With hindsight, one can identify other deficiencies of which the euros architects were unaware. The euro was supposed to bring about economic convergence, but it produced divergences instead, because its architects did not realise that imbalances may emerge not only in the public sector, but in the private sector as well.

After the euro came into force, commercial banks could refinance their holdings of government bonds at the discount window of the European Central Bank, and regulators treated government bonds as riskless. This caused interest-rate differentials between various countries to shrink, which generated real estate booms in the weaker economies and reduced their competitiveness.

At the same time, Germany, suffering from the after-effects of reunification, had to tighten its belt. Trade unions agreed to concessions on wages and working conditions in exchange for job security. That is how the divergences emerged. Yet the banks continued to load up on the government bonds of the weaker countries in order to benefit from the minuscule interest-rate differentials.

The consequences of the lack of a common treasury first became apparent after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008, when governments, in order to prevent financial markets from collapsing, had to guarantee that no other systemically important financial institution would be allowed to fail.

At that time, Angela Merkel rejected a Europe-wide guarantee, insisting that each country should guarantee its own institutions. Interestingly, interest-rate differentials widened only in 2010, when the newly-elected Greek government announced that the previous government had vastly understated the true fiscal deficit.

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Lack of euro treasury key to crisis and to recovery

More and more cities are investing in ways to get bikers on the road, but London has been particularly preoccupied with keeping them safe.After a particularly brutal spate of deaths last year, Mayor Boris Johnson drew the ire of cyclists when heinsisted theres no amount of traffic engineering that we invest in that is going to save peoples lives.

Actually, about $360 million of engineering should do it. Thats according to plans for SkyCycle, a 137-mile network of elevated bike paths that would allow Londoners to pull a Mary Poppins by riding above the citys traffic. Unveiled this week by a team of architects including Lord Norman Foster (the guy who designed thatgiant egg-shaped building), the design is two years in the making and would take about 20 years to complete.The Guardian has more:

The project, which has the backing of Network Rail and Transport for London, would see over 220km of car-free routes installed above Londons suburban rail network, suspended on pylons above the tracks and accessed at over 200 entrance points. At up to 15 metres wide, each of the ten routes would accommodate 12,000 cyclists per hour and improve journey times by up to 29 minutes, according to the designers.

Lord Foster, who says that cycling is one of his great passions, describes the plan as a lateral approach to finding space in a congested city.

By using the corridors above the suburban railways, he said, we could create a world-class network of safe, car-free cycle routes that are ideally located for commuters.

As bike enthusiasts andinfrastructure wonks alike keep themselves busy arguing over whether SkyCycle is even a good idea, the design firms still trying to raise money just to study its feasibility. But hey, cities can dream.

Correction 1/2/14 3:45 p.m. ET: A previous version of this story quoted the estimated cost of SkyCycle at $3.6 million. The correct amount is $360 million. Salon regrets the error.

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Architects unveil plan for $360 million bike path in the sky

Alfonso Architects will design the Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement (MAACM) in St. Petersburg on behalf of collector Rudy Ciccarello and the Two Red Roses Foundation (TRRF). Scheduled to open in early 2016, the four-story, 90,000-sq.-ft. museum will include rare and one-of-a-kind works by leading craftsmen and artists of the early 20th century. A reference library, furnished with period pieces such as Stickley furniture and Tiffany lighting, will house books and catalogues on the Arts and Crafts Movement and the TRRF collection.

The museums architecture is inspired by the Arts & Crafts Movement in its detailing and customization of materials and joinery, architect Alberto Alfonso said in a statement. The spaces will embrace natural light and respond to the different scales of the objects they hold. It will be a building of our time that celebrates this immensely important period of art, architecture, and American history.

Plans also call for spaces for special exhibitions, events galleries, a small auditorium, restaurant, caf, gift shop, and bookstore.

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Alfonso Architects Selected for Arts & Crafts Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida

Foreign Architects Christmas Challenge
Andrew calls Matt the Grinch after accusing him of having little Christmas knowledge, so the two do battle to test their christmas know how in front of the m...

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Architects - Paul Evans Design Architects

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Architects - Paul Evans Design Architects - Video

Tulsa, OK (PRWEB) January 01, 2014

A new residence hall designed by KSQ Architects recently opened on the campus of Texas Christian University. Known as Marion and Clark Halls, the two-building residence hall offers 400 suite-style student beds designed for sophomores. Common areas, study lounges and baking kitchens are included to build community within the space. The buildings are LEED Gold certified.

A dramatic barrel-vault archway is the signature design element of the building, serving as both a figurative and literal connector to the surrounding TCU campus. Marion and Clark Halls is the first of three phases planned for the Worth Hills Village development, which will eventually include a third residence hall, a parking structure, a dining/multipurpose building and Greek Village. In total, the development will house 1,800 students.

"We are so pleased to offer our students another beautiful place to call home on the TCU campus, said Kathy Cavins-Tull, TCU Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. Marion and Clark Halls create a gateway to our developing residential community and connects the Worth Hills community to the Campus Commons. It is the result of effective planning and programming, brilliant architectural design and quality construction.

KSQ Architects has provided architectural services for more than 16 new or renovated residence halls on the TCU campus since 1995. To date, the number of student beds provided in these projects is more than 3,000.

Marion and Clark Halls employ the existing TCU palette of building materials, including buff-colored brick, Ludowici tile roof and limestone accents. For the interior, wood-look floors, porcelain tile accents, granite counters and a youthful color palette keep it fresh yet sophisticated for student living.

Our team is extremely proud of the work we provided on Marion-Clark Halls, said David Short, KSQ principal and president. We listened to what the TCU team wanted to achieve and that comes through in the design. The halls are a perfect blend of beauty and functionality for how students live today, he said.

ABOUT KSQ ARCHITECTS With offices in offices in Colorado, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas, KSQ Architects is a full-service architectural firm providing programming, planning, architectural and interior design services. The firm specializes in collegiate life, K-12 and multi-family housing facilities throughout the United States. A hands-on, environmentally sensitive approach is fundamental to each KSQ project, and ensures a rare level of personalized attention and sustainable methodology. KSQ has completed projects nationwide on more than 50 campuses totaling $1 billion in construction. For more information, contact Monica Roberts, Communications Manager, 918-592-0622 or mroberts(at)ksqarchitects(dot)com.

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New Student Residence Designed by KSQ Architects Opens at TCU

Spar supermarket flagship store by LAB5 architects, Budapest, Hungary
The latest store format innovations, store design trends and visual merchandising, including the latest store image galleries. Classic modern and cutting edg...

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Another buyer might not have flinched at the idea of demolishing the tiny 1920s house in Lyon Park, with its two bedrooms, single bathroom and basement built for dwarves.

Far larger houses are routinely torn down across Arlington to make way for six-bedroom, five-bathroom abodes that are four or five times the size.

But the new homeowner and her architects, Paola Lugli and Paola Amodeo, could not bear to tear down the house, a Sears kit home built in 1926, as part of the original subdivision. It was well cared for, with the original door frames and wooden shingles. The house, with about 960 square feet of living space, just wasnt big enough for the new owner and her two children.

There was space in the yard to build up and out. But the architects wanted to avoid the sort of oversized additions that have become commonplace in Arlington County, where, Lugli said, it looks like the house ate the house.

So she and Amodeo came up with another idea: give the Sears house away to someone who is willing to preserve it and move it to a new location.

We need someone with an adventurous spirit, Amodeo said. Someone who can appreciate the project.

But giving away a house, it turns out, is not as easy as it sounds. This one comes with strings attached hauling away the nearly 88-year-old home could run as much as $50,000, Lugli estimated.

The fact the owner is willing to pursue alternatives is great, said Cynthia Liccese-Torres, the countys preservation program coordinator. But I I dont know if they will succeed.

Moving a house is quite a project. Utilities have to be disconnected. The front and back porches need to be removed. Only then can the house be hoisted from its foundations and placed on a truck that can take it to its new location. The new site has to be prepared, too, with a basement, a foundation and utilities in place, ready to go.

Even with those costs, the Lyon Park house still might be a bargain in pricey Arlington, where buyers regularly shell out upward of $600,000 just to buy a house they plan to tear down and replace.

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In Arlington, architects offer a free historic house — but only to go

National Centre for Contemporary Art: the design comprises a series of stacked gallery spaces

Dublin-based Heneghan Peng Architects have won an international competition to build Moscows super museum the new National Centre for Contemporary Art with a design that comprises a series of stacked gallery spaces.

The firm was selected from a shortlist of three that included Moscows MEL Space and Madrids Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos to design the centre, which will include spaces for exhibitions, lectures, conferences, concerts and performances.

The competition attracted more than 900 submissions, including entries from high-profile architects as Zaha Hadid, for the prestige of building a museum thats expected to draw around 500,000 visitors a year to a former airfield in Khodynskoye Pole.

Heneghan Pengs portfolio includes two London Olympic Park bridges, a library for the University of Greenwich, refurbishment of the National Gallery Ireland, the Giants Causeway Visitor Centre in Co Antrim and the yet-to-materialise Grand Egyptian Museum outside Cairo.

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Dublin architects win prize to design Moscow ‘super museum’

The firm of Rodriguez & Quiroga Architects, which is marking its 30th year, has long enjoyed a reputation as one of Miamis premier studios for its versatility and its technical and design chops.

The firms architects are now tackling what principal Raul Rodriguez says is easily the most complex building ever attempted in South Florida: the new Miami Science Museum, which is under construction in downtown Miamis Museum Park.

Rodriguez & Quiroga is associate architect to Britains Grimshaw, the design firm. That means the locals must sweat the nitty-gritty details of the high-tech, $275-million project, which includes a new planetarium, an aquarium and a panoply of built-in, eco-friendly elements.

Even before that, the Coral Gables-based firm had left an extensive imprint on South Florida, where its practice has focused on civic and collegiate buildings. Rodriguez has been its sole principal since co-founder Tony Quiroga retired a decade ago. Another original partner, Jorge Khuly, left in 1988 to go into practice with his wife, architect Maggie Khuly.

Equally conversant in traditional and modern styles, the firm has long been one of Miami-Dade Colleges go-to architects, responsible for numerous MDC academic and athletic facilities as well as two compact urban campuses Homestead and Interamerican in Little Havana. It also has designed buildings at Florida State, Florida International, Florida Atlantic and several private schools, including the University of Miami.

The firms range has extended from federal courthouses in Miami and Jacksonville to the main terminal at Miami International Airport, a 20-year improvement project that only recently wound up. Rodriguez & Quiroga also served as executive architect to Cesar Pellis firm at another highly complex project, the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. It also developed a sideline in the restoration of historic buildings, including the Freedom Tower and Ponce de Leon Middle School in Coral Gables.

Two long-stalled Rodriguez & Quiroga designs may now be nearing realization: a classically inspired city hall for Homestead and the Cuban Museum just off Coral Way.

We sat with Rodriguez in the Le Corbusier LC-series chairs at his Coral Gables office, where he told us how the firm has thrived in a notoriously cyclical, fickle field, and why hes nowhere near ready for retirement.

Q: How did the firm get its start?

A. Tony and I were together at what was then Ferendino Grafton Spillis Candela. And the firm brought us in as partners when they changed to Spillis Candela and partners. I guess the easiest way to say it is that we didnt like the terms. We would have had to sign a long-term noncompete agreement. And I was 35. What I thought at the time was, we must all leave the nest sometime. So we decided to strike out on our own.

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Raul Rodriguez, principal of Rodriguez & Quiroga Architects, shares how his firm has endured and thrived.