When a senior architect at the Office of Public Works overseeing the installation of an 808,000 printer in the Oireachtas noticed the problem with its size, it was already too late to apply the brakes.

The full cost for building works needed to fit the printer inside Kildare House runs to nearly 400,000, almost double the original 236,000 estimated after the measurements mistake forced significant alterations.

May 30th, 2018: Siobhan Malone, facilities manager at the Houses of the Oireachtas, emailed senior Office of Public Works architects Hilary Vandenberghe and Brendan Dillon.

The dimensions of the machine have been provided: 2130mm high and 1960mm wide, with need for 250mm clearance. Minor works including the temporary removal of doors would be needed.

May 31st, 2018: Final contract is signed with Komori.

August 9th, 2018: Ms Vandenberghe emails Richie Roe, the Oireachtas printing manager, and other Oireachtas staff, and again on August 10th, to confirm measurements.

August 14th, 2018: Ms Vandenberghe notices that the printer is too tall. She emails Mr Roe and Alan Ruane, deputy head usher /office keeper at the Houses of the Oireachtas.

I note that the 3160mm head height for operating the machine would not be achievable without significant structural works and mechanical works to the services floor overhead, she says. It is, she writes, a matter of urgency.

August 16th, 2018: Ms Vandenberghe emails a critical note to Oireachtas staff . Delivery on September 1st cannot be met because of the height problems.

The delivery of the printer could be delayed; it could be stored elsewhere while works went on, or works could take place around it. The old printer could be brought back into use, she suggested.

The positioning of structural steel supporting the floor above is a major issue, since it cannot easily be removed without substantial changes. Supports would be needed for the floors above.

Officials discuss housing the printer in Print Room 2.

August 28th, 2018: Ms Vandenberghe emails Mr Roe to say that definitiveinformation is needed. This is specialist-designed equipment and we do not have the competency to make assumptions on this, she says.

September 4th, 2018: In an email Garret Nolan, HEO at the OPW, asks Ms Vandenberghe and others if a smaller machine could be procured.

December 12th, 2018: The Clerk of the Dil Peter Finnegan is briefed by Derek Dignam the only direct correspondence sent to him.

It became apparent in September that some structural works would need to be undertaken to ensure that new newer press could be accommodated . . . In the end these works transpired to be more significant than was initially realised. This work is now proceeding . . . and is expected to be completed early next year.

January 8th, 2019: Mr Roe e-mails Komori and Ms Vandenberghe: Theres a lot of internal pressure to get the project finished so hopefully the floor will be up for the job and we can get moving shortly.

March 14th, 2019: In a handover document to Ciaran Smith, Derek Dignam writes:

The new press which we bought last year and paid for with 2018 funds. It is currently in storage awaiting commissioning. The print facility ceiling is not as high as required and this is being addressed by OPW. Whatever they are this is a 12-year investment or longer for both the press and the ceiling work.

July 8th, 2019: Ms Malone outlines the envisaged building costs will be 236,000.

Excerpt from:
The Oireachtas printer: how installation costs hit the ceiling - The Irish Times

The MAXXI launches show that puts Gio Pontis architecture in the spotlight

Gio Ponti: Loving Architecture, the new exhibition on the iconic Italian architects work, has just opened at the Zaha Hadid-designedMAXXI Museum in Rome and takes the visitor on a jounrey across Pontiscareer with a firm focus on his buildings

Last year Paris: this year Rome. Forty years after the death of Gio Ponti, the great Italian architect, designer and publisher receives his second major retrospective in under 12 months this time at MAXXI, the Italian capitals Zaha Hadid-designed National Museum of 21st-Century Arts.

While the Paris show, at the Muse des Arts Dcoratifs, made a heroic attempt to encompass the full range of Pontis life and work, the new exhibition at MAXXI (which opened this week and runs till 13 April 2020) focuses squarely on his architecture, with occasional asides examining his industrial and household designs and the influence of his role as the founding editor of Domus and Stile magazines.

Curated by Mariastella Casciato and Fulvio Irace, Gio Ponti: Loving Architecture takes over the museums soaring fifth-floor gallery, and overcomes the challenge of its sloping floor with ease a testament both to MAXXIs installation team and the instantly engaging quality of the many models, drawings and plans on show.

The exhibition is divided into eight sections, examining Pontis approach to houses, nature, classicism, facades, lightness, skyscrapers, urban planning and architecture as crystal, derived from his gnomic claim that when architecture is pure, it is pure as a crystal magic, closed, exclusive, autonomous, uncontaminated, uncorrupted, absolute, definitive like a crystal.

Rome may seem an odd place to stage an exhibition about Ponti, who spent most of his life living and working in Milan, but as Casciato points out, he was an architect of national and international renown when that was still a rarity, and he knew everyone and travelled everywhere, when that was far more difficult than it is today.

With an essay-filled catalogue and a series of newly commissioned photo essays featuring some of Pontis finest buildings, including Taranto Cathedral and the Villa Planchart in Caracas, this is a full-service show as well as being an excellent excuse to visit Rome, if any excuse were needed.

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The MAXXI launches show that puts Gio Pontis architecture in the spotlight - Wallpaper*

Mark Carleton admits he doesnt know much about either cupcakes or rubber gaskets, but you can bet he knows something about the shop floors where theyre made by the hundreds or thousands. At that level, the manufacturing challenges for the two products start looking pretty similar.

Can we deliver the order by then? Do we have the materials? Will we need overtime? says Carleton, a Cambridge-trained engineer and COO of UK-based MESTEC. Carleton helped build the cloud-based MESTEC software that gives operation directors the info to make these kinds of calls.

Using Oracles Autonomous Transaction Processing Database, MESTEC cut its labor and infrastructure costs for database services in half compared to its on-premises environment.

MESTEC does this by quietly collecting data from points along the manufacturing process and tying it in with ERP and even HR data to build a clear picture of whats happening moment to moment on the shop floor. A factory will use the information to make smarter staffing decisions and pinpoint where flaws or delays are introduced.

Theres a relentless drive to improve labor productivity, Carleton says. Thats because, even as analysts tout robotic Industry 4.0 practices for repeatable products like autos and potato chips, most manufacturers need to change up their daily output depending on the orders that come in, and they rely on skilled people.

Are they going to stamp out a few pieces of aluminum or build a part that takes two man-weeks to complete? he says.

MESTECs customers make everything from pastry pies to electronic sensors and exacting marine parts, and range in size from small businesses to the likes of Siemens. All of them want to find the slack in their operations, increase output, and make commitments they can tell their customers with a straight face.

All that, and deal with a heap of regulation.

To be productive and compliant you need to be able to model your manufacturing processesyou have to define them, and you need to be able to enforce them to ensure compliance each and every time you perform a manufacturing job, says Carleton, whos early career saw him traipsing the globe installing control systems at packaging companies to monitor and drive quality improvements. This oversight includes every phase of production from knowing where raw materials came from, to making the right quality checks, to tracking material waste and energy use.

Autonomous Advantage

Thats a lot of data points being collected around the clock and analyzed in real-time for each MESTEC customer. And its customer list has more than doubled in the last two years. So Carletons small IT team moved all MESTECs data-intensive operations to Oracle Autonomous Database in May 2019. The autonomous database runs on Oracle Cloud and deploys, manages, patches, tunes, and secures itself with no human intervention while the system continues to run. Plus its built using Exadata hardware designed to run the database at peak performance. (An Always Free version of Oracles Autonomous Database is now available for anyone to sign in and try.)

Using Oracles Autonomous Transaction Processing Database, MESTEC cut its labor and infrastructure costs for database services in half compared to its on-premises environment, and found that database workloads run up to 600% faster with half as many CPUs, says Carleton. The autonomous transaction processing database did exactly what we needed in terms of providing platform as a service that just works, he says. When we moved that to the new environment with the database components in Oracle Cloud and application components in Microsoft Azure, across the board we saw performance improvements.

Its the same kind of load-and-go, ease-of-use experience that MESTEC is all about. Our cloud service has absolutely no upfront costs, Carleton says. Once a factory signs on to MESTECs cloud service, the information begins to flow, and analysis of that lets improvements begin, with labor, material, machine capacity, change-over times, logistics, and moreall continuously evaluated as production requirements change. Fifty percent improvement in labor productivity, a halving of customer complaints, 20% reduction in [work in progress]these things are real, Carleton says. These things are achievable.

But first you need the data. Many operations still run on scribbled notes and drawings passed along a busy shop floor. Big process improvements, Carleton says, are pretty hard if all you've got is pen and paper.

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Where Cupcakes And Gaskets Share The Same Secret Ingredient - Forbes

douard Manets Bunch of Asparagus (1880) is a winsome little painting of a pile of the vegetables on a bed of greens. It is one of the very greatest still lifes in art history (the brushwork on those greens!), and certainly one of Manets most alluring pictures. It is also a painting connected to the Nazis.

In 1974, artist Hans Haacke undertook the task of tracing the paintings history, charting each time it changed hands since it was made in 1880 for the French art collector Charles Ephrussi for just 800 francs. Haackes research culminated in a revelation: the painting had passed through the hands of Deutsche Bank chairman Hermann Josef Abs, who had acted as a financial adviser to Nazi officials. The painting was on long-term loan to the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, Germany. Haacke proposed showing a work about the history of the Manet canvas at the institution, which had invited him to participate in an exhibition held in celebration of its 150th anniversary. The museum rejected his project.

That is far from the only Haacke work that has not made it on view as he planned. Some museum officials seem to be afraid of Haacke, and their fear is not misplaced. Over the past five decades, Haacke has highlighted how institutions cannot be separated from unfettered capitalism, toxic ideologies, and power imbalances around the world. At one point, this was taboo material. Now, it is commonplace, the stuff of conversations in boardrooms and activist meetings. But the one-time edginess of Haackes art may be why Americans have not had the opportunity to witness a proper Haacke survey in more than 30 years.

Thankfully, the New Museum in New York is rectifying this situation, mounting the first proper Haacke museum retrospective in the U.S. since it last had the good sense to do one, in 1986. Curated by Gary Carrion-Murayari and Massimiliano Gioni, this incisive show comes at a crucial moment. A growing mass of workers and activists are now demanding that institutions take accountability for their connections to racism, sexism, ableism, colonialism, fascism, and a host of other issues, and calling on certain board members to be removed because of their business dealings. Museums are also being accused of having misplaced priorities, undertaking renovations worth millions instead of paying workers fairly, and pushing out historically oppressed communities through expansion projects. Protestors have called on directors to be more transparent about their activities. Haacke has been awaiting this moment.

The New Museum show makes a powerful case that Haackes work is not just the stuff of Art History 101 coursesits subject matter is deeply relevant, and the art on view has a lot to teach us. Take On Social Grease (1975), a series of magnesium plates, each of them bearing the words of a philanthropist-magnate engraved into it. EXXONs support of the arts serves the arts as a social lubricant, one plate reads, quoting Robert Kingsley, a cultural manager at the oil company. Seen from afar, Kingsleys words recede into their aluminum backgroundsthe plates become Minimalist objects that seem politics-free, even inoffensive. This is ideal for the museums goals, Haacke hints. The slicker the surface, the better.

In fact, Haacke, a pioneer of what became known as institutional critique, had his roots in Minimalist art. A superb gallery in the new survey is given over to Haackes early ever-changing sculptures from the 60s. In one, Haacke lets condensation form inside a Plexiglas cube. In another, an electrical current travels down a 22-foot-long glass pipe, occasionally hissing as it slowly glides across the gallerys floor. At a glance, these works can seem banal. But Haacke is up to something fascinating. Hes creating closed-circuit loopsliteral ecosystems in which matter is transmitted between poles, almost in the same way people exchange data and ideas. Theyre more than just science experiments, in other wordstheyre conceptual works about how disparate elements influence one another.

These works arent that different from On Social Grease, reallyas his career as progressed, Haacke has simply shifted his interest from scientific systems to the System, the larger web of power relations that makes moving money (and power) around the world possible. A number of installations at the New Museum even reflect this visually, through networks of images and words. Their texts are rife with arrows, data points, and numbersa lot of reading is required.

Dont come expecting beauty. Haackes work has a hauteur to it because of its reliance on ideas over aesthetics, and he is a conceptualist at heart. His weakest works actually tend to come when he tries to create something visually engaging. More recently, Haacke has had a tendency to create overcooked statements about the state of America, dealing in well-worn tropes like torn-up stars and stripes and distressed images of white-bread suburbia. One work in this veina new installation called Make Mar-a-Lago Great Again (2019), in which Donald Trumps tweets are displayed on an upturned monitor alongside Statue of Liberty bobblehads and a golf clubis unfortunately placed front and center, in the museums lobby. It is thuddingly obvious.

Peculiarly, some of his older works feel more contemporary than his new ones. MetroMobilitan (1985) is an installation that calls out the Metropolitan Museum of Art for accepting money from Mobil, which provided funding to South African police during Apartheid. Total denial of supplies to the police and military forces of a host country is hardly consistent with an image of responsible citizen in that country, one banner included in the installation reads, quoting corporate literature. This is eerily similar to signs brought by protestors to the Whitney Museum earlier this year, when activists demanded the resignation of Warren B. Kanders, then the vice chair of museums board, following reports that he owns a defense manufacturing company that produces tear-gas canisters used against migrants and protestors around the world. (Kanders capitulated to activists in July.)

Like any activist aiming to have sway, Haacke has had to walk a fine line in terms of his own power and complicity. His practice, in one sense, exemplifies that old American Express slogan: Membership has its benefits. He is a card-carrying art-world member, with a Chelsea gallery and a long tenure as an admired professor. At the same time, he has been persistent in taking audacious risks, both political and aesthetic. If some of his work has lost its change, it may simply be because its targets have vanished into history books. His enduring presence on the scene, his zest for the next cause, is inspiring. Just a month before the show opened, the museums newly formed union voted to authorize a strike amid demands for a new wage structure. Many observers wondered if the artist would address the issue; in the end, the New Museum came to an agreement with its workers, potentially avoiding becoming Haackes latest victim.

When he is at his best, Haacke avoids any straightforward political polemics. He probes power, and aims to ascertain public opinion, which alone is often enough rile up gatekeepers. Since the 1970s, hes polled visitors about their political views in his art. At the Museum of Modern Art in 1970, he asked visitors about their thoughts regarding MoMA trustee and New York governor David Rockefellers support for Richard Nixon and his interventions in Vietnam. (The majority of the 37,000 who cast ballots decried it.) After MoMA Poll, Haacke didnt show another work at the museum for 29 years. In the New Museum shows catalogue, the curators ask for his feeling about this. Haacke responds: I am not sorry.

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Hans Haackes Art Has Long Targeted Museums. A Career Retrospective Tests Its Potency Today. - ARTnews

This a sponsored article on behalf of The View from The Shard.

With its arty light installations, illuminated landmarks, and a plethora of glowing Christmas displays, London turns those dark and dreary winter days into truly magical occasions.

Above them all, looms The Shard, Western Europe's tallest building. Not only is The Shard getting its own stunning winter makeover its top 20 stories transformed into a colourful spectacle of light designed by local school-children but the gleaming glass landmark also provides an incredible vantage point for admiring the rest of the capital's illuminations.

Step inside the high speed lift and whizz up 68 floors to the viewing gallery at The Shard's summit. Situated 800 ft in the sky, The View from The Shard boasts floor-to-ceiling windows in every direction, giving visitors breathtaking 360 degree views of the capital.

On clear days, you can see up to 40 miles over London from here, but if you want to really see the capital sparkle, you need to visit after dark. Luckily for impatient types, the sun sets pretty early at this time of year... though not so early that you can't justify a glass of bubbly from London's highest champagne bar!

Once you're feeling suitably refreshed, it's sightseeing time. Spot the pale glow of the famous dome of St Paul's Cathedral, see Tower Bridge cast its shimmer upon the inky black River Thames, and watch the towering skyscrapers of Canary Wharf glitter in the distance.

There's also the bright red glow of the London Eye to behold, though come February it'll turn hot pink to herald its new sponsors. But those aren't the only shiny new lights to admire from The View from The Shard...

Illuminated River has begun to light up London's main artery, with the first few pieces of this massive art installation on the River Thames unveiled in summer 2019. From your vertiginous vantage point, look out for the warm rainbow hues projected onto London Bridge, the moving pulse of light that creeps along the Millennium Bridge, and the Impressionist-inspired illuminations on Southwark Bridge.

Suffice to say that The View from The Shard makes for a pretty spectacular date night, then. Treat that special someone to an unforgettable evening this month (psst... you can even get special packages with champagne and photo souvenirs), or buy a gift ticket, which gives your lucky recipient the flexibility to choose the time and date that suits them best. So that's one present ticked off your Christmas list and a brilliant way for you and your loved ones to beat the January blues. We'd call that a win.

The View from The Shard, Joiner Street, SE1 9QU. Tickets start from 24 per person and must be booked online in advance. For more information and to book your space visit The View from The Shard website.

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Treat Your Loved One To London's Twinkliest Date Night This Winter - Londonist

Plans for the former Post Office on Lendal to be transformed into a branch of a chain restaurant have been submitted.

YorkMix reported last month that steakhouse chain Miller & Carter had applied for a licence to take over the building.

And a spokesman for Miller & Carter confirmed that there are currently no plans to move the war memorial inside the building honouring York post office workers who died while serving their country.

All the counters and post office fixtures will goThe planning statement says post office fixtures including the counters, lighting and booths will be removed to make way for the restaurant to be redecorated.

It adds:

The application proposals will bring the former post office building back into use and increase the vitality and viability of this part of the conservation area.

Therefore, on balance it is considered that the impacts identified are outweighed by the public benefit of bringing the building back into a viable use and the positive spin-offs to existing business premises, many of which are listed and/or contribute significantly to the conservation area.

The Post Office was built in 1884 and the branch closed in April, when services moved into WH Smith on Coney Street.

The planning application says the building was also formerly a telephone exchange understood to be one of two main telephone exchanges in the city centre. The other was in Parliament Street.

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This is what Lendal post office will look like as a steakhouse - YorkMix

Varif and his family are thrilled to share their experiences of building their dream abode in a 6 cents plot in Eranjipalam, Kozhikode. They wanted the house to have all the modern facilities and a beautiful garden in the front yard. The structure is built by leaving enough space in the front to arrange the garden and a parking space as well. The elevation features flat roof to make it space efficient. Car porch isnt built as part of the structure. Natural stones cladding the pillars in the front and the wall in the sit-out enhances the spectacular look of the exteriors.

This beautiful house built in 2400 sq ft area has a sit-out, formal and family living areas, dining space, kitchen with an adjacent work area and four bedrooms. Excellent space management is the highlight of this house. Spaces in the interiors are designed in the semi open style. Sliding glass doors are installed to separate the rooms and spaces. The interiors look incredibly vast and spacious when these doors are kept open.

The area that is legally required to be left vacant in the back of the house has been smartly turned into a beautiful courtyard. A sitting area is arranged here by installing glass pergola on MS pipes. You could sit here and enjoy the cool breeze that blows from the plot behind.

The stairway made by covering rub-wood on square pipes, is the highlight of the interiors. The wash area is arranged beneath the stairway. The stair area is designed in double height. The natural sunshine that comes in through the skylight here illuminates the interiors.

The stairway looks as if it has been hung from the structure in the cantilever style. Toughened glass is installed instead of building separate handrails. Vitrified tiles are paved on the floor.

The formal living area is arranged by ensuring enough privacy. The double heighted roof in the dining hall helps this space look vaster. The unique design of the dining table which has a bench on one side goes well with the general theme of the house.

There are two bedrooms each in both the floors. The bedrooms are designed with just the required facilities.

The kitchen cupboards are done in acrylic auto paint finish. A breakfast counter completes the kitchen area. A glass door separates the dining space and the kitchen. Roller blinds are installed here to ensure privacy.

The construction of this amazing house, including the structure and the furnishing, was completed on an elaborate budget of Rs 60 lakh.

Project Facts

Location Eranjipalam, Kozhikode

Area 2400 SFT

Plot 6 cents

Owner Varif

Designers Fayis Muhammad, Corbelarchitecture, Kozhikode

Mob 90610 88111

Pictures Badusha

Link:
Haven of luxury on 6 cents; this Kozhikode mansion is incredible - Onmanorama

After reports of mismanagement of public parking lots surfaced, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) deputed their own employees to manage indoor parking lots across the city three months ago. This initiative of the civic body has invited appreciation from residents.

The Satish Misal parking lot in Mandai is free of cost for motorists and is one of the PMC parking lots which is being managed by the civic body employees since the past three months. Hindustan Times visited the parking lot at Mandai, on Sunday, which is being operated by six PMC employees who are stationed on the five floors of the building.

Residents are still unaware that the parking lot is free and often wait for a challan (receipt). Ravi Kale, who came to shop at Mandai with his wife, after parking his two-wheeler, stopped to asked for a challan. When he was informed by the civic staff that parking is free, he seemed surprised. Earlier, whenever I visited Mandai and parked my vehicle here, I had to pay Rs 5 or Rs 10 depending upon the space available and the day of the week. Today being a Sunday, I was sceptical about getting a parking space, but I am lucky to find one and that too free of cost.

The decision to depute PMC employees was taken by the land management department of the civic body following complaints from residents and cases of financial irregularities by private contractors.

Rajendra Muthe, deputy commissioner, who gave the go-ahead for its implementation, said, There are 142 parking lots in the city and of these, the PMC has developed 29 parking lots, which had been given to private contractors to operate for three to five years. The PMC land management department found irregularities being undertaken by contractors during inspections, which were conducted during Ganesh festival this year (September). The contractor was overcharging motorists, issuing handwritten challans (citation) and had delayed installing close circuit television (CCTV) cameras at the parking lots.

Irregularities were reported at six parking lots in Mandai, two parking lots near Peshwa Park, Hamal Panchayat, and Laxmi road and hence, we decided to depute our civic staff to operate the parking lots, added Muthe.

Vidyadhar Dalvi, a PMC employee, who has been shifted from the anti-encroachment department to the parking lot duty at Mandai, said, We have two floors for two-wheelers and three floors for the parking of four-wheelers. We can park at least 1,500 two-wheelers while each floor above holds 70 four-wheelers each. We work in two shifts from 8am to 8pm. We are six of us and each one takes care of one floor, informing each other once there is space to park, using our mobile phones.

Namdeo Gaikwad, another PMC employee, who takes care of one of the floors and is in charge of security and safety of the parked vehicles, said, Presently, the upper floors are not lit as the electrical system is old and faulty. However, a week earlier, a team from PMC had come to survey the building and informed us that tube lights and bulbs will be fixed. Similarly, they also surveyed the building for points where the CCTVs can be installed.

Nivedita Gupte, a resident who uses the parking lot at Mandai, said, The authorities should fix the tube lights at the earliest. Also, there is no working lift in the building, which if installed, can be a boon to the people using the parking service.

Sandip Choudhary, a regular visitor to Mandai, said, I wish they could keep the parking lot open until 10pm, most of the shopkeepers like me close shops by 9.30pm and hence, despite this being free, we have to go to the paid parking lot to park our vehicles post 8pm.

Originally posted here:
Fed up with inflated costs and lack of space; free, well-managed parking lots by PMC staff delight ... - Hindustan Times

Who would have thought an exhibit about wheat could be so emotional?

An Israeli installation titled Goren won first prize the Big Emotions Award as part of the Jerusalem Design Week delegation at Design Art Tokyo 2019 in October.

Visitors to the show at Japans Spiral Arts Center, held in cooperation with the Israeli Embassy of Japan, were mesmerized by the cloud of chaff designed from actual wheat and 2,500 meters of brass wire appearing to float up from the threshing floor (goren in Hebrew).

Goren displayed at Japans Spiral Arts Center, 2019. Photo courtesy of Hansen House Jerusalem

The ethereal chandelier of wheat was the brainchild of New York-based Israeli architect Nati Tunkelrot and Israeli designer Guy Mishaly, graduates of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem.

The Middle East, for the last 12,000 years, has been home to thousands of genetically diverse varieties of wheat, Tunkelrot explains.

Visitors to Design Art Tokyo examining specimens of wheat. Photo courtesy of Hansen House Jerusalem

Sadly, over the last hundred years this important building block of humanitys history has been driven to the brink of extinction being replaced by a handful of high-yielding and uniform strains. We wanted to give voice to this topic and spark a dialogue.

Telling the story of the scientists

Goren originally was created for Jerusalem Design Week in 2018, which explored the role of design in conservation.

All wheat started in the Middle East region, between Egypt and Turkey, Mishaly explains.

The wheat genome is six times more complicated than the human genome. But all this biodiversity doesnt exist anymore. In the 1950s, a new wheat was developed by a US scientist, that was easier to grow with higher yield, and the other species went extinct.

Goren in the courtyard of Hansen House, Jerusalem. Photo by Ido Adan

Through their research, the two artists discovered that the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Volcani Center-Agricultural Research Organization are working to gather, examine and conserve wheat strains indigenous to the Israeli region.

The Weizmann Institute and the Israel Plant Gene Bank [at the Volcani Center] have collected seeds of 890 species out of about 4,000 that once existed. They are growing them to find new and better types of wheat, researching and analyzing the valuable genome they hold inside, Tunkelrot tells ISRAEL21c.

We were amazed by the tremendous scientific research that has been done for so many years, and decided to create a visual outcome to that story and reveal it to the public.

The chaff rises

Chaff rises in a cloud when wheat is threshed. Photo: courtesy

Cereal crops including wheat contain edible grain kernels covered by an inedible hull (chaff). When the chaff is separated from the grain on the threshing floor, the chaff rises.

Our vision was to let the visitor walk inside that experience, says Tunkelrot. We wanted to capture the wheat chaff floating in the air, uniting ancient wheat varieties with new types so you can see the differences.

The installation changes its form to fit the architectural space. In the courtyard of Jerusalems Hansen House Center of Design, Media and Technology, the wheat chandelier nearly touched the ground.

People were standing in it, walking through it, and sitting in it, Mishaly says. When the wind picked up, the whole exhibit shifted form and even the birds came to visit throughout the day.

Visitors walking through the wheat at Hansen House, Jerusalem. Photo by Dor Kedmi

In Tokyo, the installation was indoors in a round gallery. Tunkelrot says its form seemed to change as you went up the ramp inside the Spiral Arts Center.

Goren on display at DesignArt Tokyo 2019. Photo by Tal Erez

The whole piece sparkled like a talisman of golden jewelry.

Some viewers chose to lie down on a podium at the base of the spiral to get a different perspective of the installation.

Guests asked a lot of questions about wheat, an issue that had never crossed their mind. They were intrigued by the investment Israeli scientists are making in trying to preserve the most important agricultural crop for the Western world, and they were genuinely curious about what they could do to assist these efforts, says Tunkelrot.

Even before leaving Tokyo, Mishaly and Tunkelrot had a few offers for their next exhibition location.

It is precisely due to these interactions with visitors to Goren that provide us with great motivation to continue presenting Goren in many diverse metropolises around the world, so that we might spread the story of wheat and the loss of biodiversity.

For more information, click here

Link:
Israeli wheat exhibit stirs up big emotions in Tokyo - ISRAEL21c

In 2012, the Baruch fitness center was described as a high-tech college fitness center with state of the art Life Fitness, Universal and Hammer Strength weight training equipment and eight plasma flat screen televisions [with] a surround sound stereo system, according to an online article in EDTech Magazine. The Baruch fitness center boasts around eight treadmills, a variety of upper and lower body machines and many different free weights.

However, upon closer inspection you'll find that some of these machines are out of order, dust is accumulating on most of the machines and skid marks are present all over the floor.

Combined with pasty yellow paint on the walls and a similar hue on the ground, the citness center offers little in the aesthetics department and even less to the prospective students that pass through it during college tours.

The fitness center is an area available for all Baruch students and faculty to use free of charge. Physical fitness is an important aspect of one's overall health and working out has a multitude of physical and mental benefits. For college students especially, it can be easy to forget to exercise in the face of assignments, exams and work. Even among all these, students should still prioritize exercising.

Many students at Baruch have never stepped into the fitness center and know little about what it offers. One thing students can do with the Life Fitness machines is to track their progress after each workout across multiple devices. However, many patrons of the gym do not bother using this useful resource.

One point of improvement within the fitness center would be the installation of sanitation wipe dispensers. Currently, students can use Lysol and paper towels to wipe down the machines after they use them, but many do not use these resources. This leaves machines unclean for the next user and, overall, fosters an unclean environment.

Some students use dry paper towels alone, but these don't always cut it when you have sweaty people leaving a trail of moisture wherever they go.

Installing sanitation wipes is not much different from spraying Lysol and wiping it down with a paper towel, but this may encourage students to clean the machines after they work out. Most established gyms have sanitation wipes for patrons to use as well.

While you're encouraged to break a sweat in the fitness center, it shouldn't be left on the machines for another person to deal with. The installation of sanitation wipes should be a priority for the Fitness Center to maintain a cleanly environment for both students and faculty to work out in.

An overhaul is needed for the fitness center as soon as possible. The very least should be a paint job, sanitary wipes and cleanup of the floor.

Replacing machines can be costly but a bucket of blue paint will do wonders for this outdated space and may even encourage more students to come and work out.

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It's time to clean up and upgrade Baruch's fitness center The Ticker - The Ticker