Home Builder Developer, Interior Renovation and Design

Written by Oscar Holland, CNN

A pair of skyscrapers are set to become the tallest prefabricated buildings in the world.

And while the two 192-meter-tall (630 feet) towers will rise in densely populated Singapore, large parts of the structures are being built over the border in Malaysia.

The residential project, named Avenue South Residences, will see 988 apartments formed from almost 3,000 vertically stacked "modules." The firm behind the project, ADDP Architects, says the building method, known as Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PPVC), is less labor-intensive and can help reduce waste and noise pollution.

The towers' facades will feature balconies, sun-shading screens and a number of "sky terraces" filled with trees and plant life. Credit: ADDP Architects

The individual modules are factory-made in Senai, Malaysia, where a series of six-sided boxes are cast in concrete. The units are then transported to a facility in Singapore to be fitted out and furnished before being moved to the construction site.

By the time they arrive, the boxes are 80% complete, according to ADDP Architects. They are then lifted into position by a crane and "stitched up" to form a strong, load-bearing frame, said one of the firm's associate partners, Markus Cheng Thuan Hann. Final touches, such as doors, are added afterward, the architect said.

"It's like a car manufacturing concept, but for the building industry," he added in a phone interview.

Benefits of prefabrication

Limiting the amount of construction work carried out at the site, which is located in Singapore's residential Bukit Merah district, can help minimize disruption to those living nearby, Hann said.

"But this construction (method) really helps to reduce noise," he said, of the benefit to the surrounding public housing estates. "And it can reduce waste... because the workmanship in a factory is much better controlled."

The area surrounding the towers is described by the architects as "an inclusive oasis-like community space." Credit: ADDP Architects

Another unforeseen benefit has emerged in the light of Covid-19: Fewer people are needed at the construction site at any one time. "It's easier to control safe distancing and logistical planning in the factory, rather than having all the (workers) on site," Hann pointed out.

The prefabrication industry first boomed in Europe and America during the post-war period, with urban planners using it to quickly and affordably address housing shortages. But the market for prefabs is now increasingly dominated by the Asia-Pacific region.

The building method has proven especially popular in Singapore, with the country's Building and Construction Authority actively encouraging the use of PPVC, citing an 8% cost saving and a 40% boost in productivity versus traditional construction means (it credits the latter to more productive "manpower," and "time savings"). Since 2014, the agency has even made prefabrication a requirement for certain sites.

Pushing the limits

Construction on Avenue South Residences has already begun, and the developers hope to finish the project by the first quarter of 2023. Once complete, the towers' facades will feature balconies, sun-shading screens and a number of "sky terraces" filled with trees and plant life.

The project is set to overtake Singapore's -- and the world's -- current tallest prefab, the 140-meter-high (459 feet) Clement Canopy, which was also designed by ADDP Architects. Among the world's other tallest modular buildings is a 135-meter (443 feet) tower in Croydon, South London, and a 109-meter (359 feet) residential development in New York.

The individual modules of the building consist of six-sided boxes cast in concrete. Credit: ADDP Architects

Hann said he cannot see his firm's latest project being surpassed in height anytime soon.

"We are (building upwards) progressively, working with the engineers, studying 3D simulations to make sure the design can withstand the wind loads," he said. "But I think 56 stories will be the tallest in Singapore for the time being. I don't think we will stretch any further.

"It's concrete, and we have to lift it very high. But depending on if new technology or more lightweight construction (is developed), maybe there's a chance we can go higher."

BKSK Architects will again appear before the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) seeking approvals to construct a sizable commercial expansion and restoration in Manhattans Gansevoort Historic District, also known as the Meatpacking District. The historic row townhomes carry an address of 44-54 Ninth Avenue and 351-355 West 14th Street at the corner of 14th Street and Ninth Avenue.

If approved, developer Tavros Capital can break ground on a new commercial structure with updated retail spaces at the ground floor.

According to the LPC, previously submitted designs removed too much of the historic masonry faade and the proposed exterior changes were too great a contrast to the historic foreground. The commissioners also felt that the project team had failed to demonstrate the appropriateness of the infill itself, and that the proposed office tower was too tall and thus out of scale compared to the surrounding block.

In an effort to appeal to the LPC, new renderings illustrate a reduction of overall height from 133 feet to 102 feet, which translates to the removal of one full floor. The architects also removed the roof-level wind screen and reduced the typical floor height from 13 feet to 12 feet. Over all, the tower component will top out at eight stories.

The faade of the new construction imitates the envelope of the historic structure, and will now be comprised of terracotta with custom matte glazing, a range of red and gray brick, and minimal quantities of gray metal paneling.

Previous rendering (left) and newly proposed property (right) at 14th Street and Ninth Avenue BKSK Architects

Updated rendering of street walls at 14th Street and Ninth Avenue BKSK Architects

The new proposals also call for the preservation of all original exterior walls and partial party walls from ground floor to the roof. Previous proposals planned for the substantial removal of existing masonry walls, which drew ire from the LPC. The team will also restore, not replace, the original slate roof, the historic wood shutters of the second floor windows, and the historic balconettes also outside the second floor windows.

With regard to the appropriateness of the infill, the team had this to say: From the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, open space reserved for manufacturing uses yielded to dense, fully built blocks. The proposed infill addition is a continuation of historic, as well as current, district development patterns.

While this argument may seem trite or unnecessary, it directly addresses the complaints of the LPC.

Current proposed restoration of rear walls at 14th Street and Ninth Avenue BKSK Architects

From top to bottom, the image depicts the existing storefront along 14th street, previous alteration renderings, and updated renderings of proposed alterations along Ninth Avenue BKSK Architects

From top to bottom, the image depicts the existing storefront along 14th street, previous alteration renderings, and updated renderings of proposed alterations BKSK Architects

As previously reported by YIMBY, the buildings were originally completed in the 1840s and are rare surviving examples of pitched-roof row houses in Manhattan. In their existing condition, the brick faades have been stuccoed, painted white, and converted for partial residential use at the upper levels. Their first floor and cellar levels are occupied by retail and dining tenants.

A virtual public hearing for the updated proposals is scheduled for Tuesday, August 11. It remains to be seen if the LPC will deem the project appropriate.

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Updated Design Revealed for Commercial Expansion at 44-54 Ninth Avenue in the Meatpacking District - New York YIMBY

Paraqueira Pedra do Sal (1987) Gerson Castelo Branco Share Share

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Gerson Castelo Branco is a self-taught architect from the state of Piau in Brazil. His architecture is a collection of references and experiences that he describes as "an expression of freedom," the Paraqueira.

We architects, always so formal, often use the term international to describe what in reality is just another renowned way of building. The architecture of Gerson Castelo Branco is not: it is original and fits anywhere on the planet without losing its essence, which reveals a pure, untouched and, therefore, one-of-a-kind, unique Brazilian country. - Olga Krell, architect and journalist.

This statement demonstrates the unique way in which Gerson Castelo Branco conceives his works: far from academic canons and languages. His architecture is inspired by nature, respecting it, and focusing on the users' well-being. His work has been compared to the work of Frank Lloyd Wright in a publication by the Architectural Digest in September 1995. Following a conversation with the architect, we gathered part of his trajectory which, despite being published in several countries, still does not have the proper recognition.

Gerson Castelo Branco was born in 1948 in the city of Parnaba in the state of Piau, northeast Brazil. Early in his childhood, he discovered his connection with the field of arts, and very early on he realized that "every system was inverted, the intention was to manipulate, [at school] when we were more daring with any kind of innovation, there was some scrutiny. My eyes were not on girls, they were on boys, this created an extremely uncomfortable situation in such a backward city." When he was 18, he left his family home and arrived in Salvador, the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia. When he came across the Bay of All Saints, the "fantastic colors" of the steep slopes and local population, he found himself introduced to a Brazil he didn't know, "an intense Brazil." He took a university entrance exam for architecture but was accepted in his second option, Fine Arts. "It was incredible to be there, Novos Baianos, Carnaval of Bahia, everything was very intriguing, new customs, new culture, however, it was very difficult to have the resources to stay in the city."

It was the brother of a friend, who was living with Gerson, that commissioned his first architectural work proposal: a renovation in the city of Teresina, Piau. The project was successful and soon came another request from the same client to design a project from scratch, according to his desires. During that time, Gerson was interested in subjects such as astrology and extraterrestrial phenomena and started to be influenced by the architecture he saw in Salvador, which featured elements such as gardens that invaded the spaces and pools very close tothe houses, that impressed himand ledhis way in the field of projects.

After three and a half years, without graduating from Fine Arts, Gerson returns to Fortaleza, the state capital of Cear, northeast Brazil, where he meets his brother Cabeto, in his family home.

We were very modern in our behavior, I don't know if this is the right word, but we were the reference ofdifferent people in that conservative city of Fortaleza, I looked at all that, and I could not live there anymore.

So he decides to go on a trip to the Andean countries, in which he acknowledges that, despite his Christian upbringing, he was having his values put to the test. This experience carried him into a new phase in his life and work.

When returningfrom his trip, he decided that he could not live in Teresina, where he had works of his own being built, nor could he return to Fortaleza. For this reason, he chose to go down the coast of Piau and settled in a fishing village 30 km away from Parnaba, his hometown. There, Gerson recognized a kind of behavioral freedom between the fishermen and the women, who carried out the handicraft work. It was a behavior that could not be found in urban centers. He came across a sexual fluidity and non-judgemental approach that provided "thepossibility of being creative regardless of the rules of the system."

The community was protected by a few sand dunes and small lagoons. Gerson settled in a fisherman's hut, made of Taipa (rammed earth), and with low ceiling height. Inspired by:

My grandmother's recipe for high ceilings, with half walls and ventilation circulating in all rooms.

He did a renovation in several stages, knocking down a wall and lifting a roof to make room for a mezzanine.

Carnaba - a material that was being discarded in the demolition of warehouses in Parnaba and therefore very cheap - was picked for structural purposes and also for panels and revolving doors, in order to create integrated spaces and to dialogue with other local textures such as the cattailand monkey vine mats, also used to make walls that provide natural light.

The staircase was inspired by Lina Bo Bardi's iconic stairs at Solar do Unho, and this design becomes an element that he will incorporate in most of his future projects, as well as the permeability between the interior space and the surroundings. This hut, in particular, had abathroom witha large window facing a pathwayfor the fishermen, who interacted with Gerson while he was taking a bath.

On a trip to Fortaleza, he was introduced to Olga Krell, who at the time was developing Claudia magazine and was interested in publishing the photographs of this renovation. Since then, his name started to get national recognition from several different publications, aiming to promote an architecture beyond those from So Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

And so was created what would become the first Paraqueira - the name he calls his architectural works. The inspiration for this title comes from the nickname he received in his teenage years, Paraca, because they say he "looked like a parachute, always opening up to life." "Since I was the Paraca, feeling good about life, these architectures could be theParaqueiras, that's where this expression came from," he explains.

In the early 1970s, Gerson was asked to design a house to be built on Praia do Futuro, in Fortaleza, where "there was nothing but flying objectsat that time." The project consisted of a regular brick house in the shape of a sail. However, the city government did not allow the construction, which he considers a boycott of his work at the time. Fortunately, around the same period, one of his neighbors requested a project which allowed him to adapt the design for a new plot of land.

Finally, the house was built on another beach and was included, amongst forty projects selected by Oscar Niemeyer, in the book Art in Brazil, organized by Pietro Maria Bardi.

From this moment on, Gerson's career was divided into two types of work: more urban projects carried out in Teresina - where no architect was working at the time, allowing him to pursue several lines of projects in the city such as bank agencies, factories, landscape designs, and plazas - and another type of architecture that he considers "totally carefree regarding concepts and rules established by architecture schools." Always accompanied by an engineer who was responsible for the structures and construction.

Gerson tells us: "Because I traveled a lot, on the roads I noticed something that ended up opening my head to timber resources, many trucks were carrying them, I looked at that and thought 'is no one using this?'" He cites names such as Severiano Porto, Zanine Caldas, and Cludio Bernardes, but insists that there was hardly a sense of alternative architecture.By combining the local peculiarities of Piau, with his memories of his grandmother's house, the experiences on the beach and the climate, Gerson begins to adopt a style in which the roofs are shaped like tall sails and, due to the possible influence of Burle Marx's work in Braslia, always includes water in his environments, resulting in a natural dialogue between the houses and their surroundings, a way of sheltering part of nature in architecture.

When asked about his creative process, Gerson states: "I am absolutely sure that it is nature. For me, creating is a stone, it is a tree, it is the very definition of terrain, which can change, bringing whatever reference, literally a process of transmission of nature through thought, imagination, from the electric field to the magnetic."

The architect goes on to say that he likes to ask the energy fields for permission before making a project for a specific location. About his project in Loiba, Spain, he says that it was "very full of crosses everywhere, a land where people were protecting themselves from witches, I have to ask them for permission, I believe they exist, and they do exist! So I ask for permission to arrive." As for the work process, he indicates that most parts of his projects are carried out on the drawing board.

As an example of creation, he cites his own house, in Viosa do Cear:

"I had already made many hang glider roofs on the coast of Teresina. So, this time, I decided to make a roof with enough space to fit three floors: the ground floor, the second floor as a living area, and the third floor where the bedrooms are. The first thing I did was the sleeping cabins, which I call Camarinhas, composed of two wooden beams attached to the sides, divided by babassu stems that sustain awnings and curtains from one side to the other. I welcomed many friends, groups of couples, and I used to say 'look, let's get settled, but don't move around too much and don't have sex. If you're going to have sex, arrange it!', everyone laughed, enjoying a unique energy field."

These spaces are literally integrated, open, with no concern for anything established by the concepts of morality and behavior. There was no promiscuity, but the human being living in freedom with nature itself. For me that was the fundamental point.

Gerson says that duringhis career he felt very confident about doing his work despite the differences from what had been proposed. In the 1970s and 1980s it was easier to let people be carried away and even today some clients are extremely open and ask for concepts, ideas, and shapes. However, he faces today more difficulties in this sense due to the "decoration trade fairs, the saturated market, a huge number of professionals being trained together with suppliers who are payingthem commissions, prostitution in the business. It is no longer the client who pays the architect, but the supplier, who also sustains this great catwalk of architecture, fads, finishings, and determines what should be and what shouldn't."

When giving lectures in several Brazilian universities, I felt bothered by the old-fashioned nature of architecture schools, by the constraints they impose on the minds of young people in Brazil. A lack of self-direction, a subordination to the market, to materials.

In general, one can say that Gerson expresses his dissatisfaction with the current scenario of architecture, just as he was unable to see himself inside the city, "getting along normally, I have spent my whole life hiding, looking for shelter on the beach, in the countryside."Finally, the lack of academic background, the non-subordination to the ruling market, the societal castrations opposed tothe freedom and proximity to nature he experienced, together with the way he appropriates the climates, are some of the main factors that helped to shape his character and way of thinking the spaces. Without a doubt, it is a unique way of approaching architecture and has a lot to teach us.

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Gerson Castelo Branco: The Impressive Works of a Self-taught Architect - ArchDaily

Developer, architect, lay out design for Class A-plus office tower at entrance to West Palm Beachs downtown tent site.

WEST PALM BEACH -- Developer Charles Cohen on Monday gained conceptual approval for what he promised would be a world-class office tower at the entrance to West Palm Beachs downtown, one he said would enhance its surroundings and draw top tenants.

And it will get done, he said -- something that has eluded the citys efforts to build on the property nicknamed the tent site for 24 years.

"We are going to make this happen. Weve never undertaken, as a company or me, myself, any project that we havent completed within the time frame that we made our commitment to accomplish."

City commissioners, acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency board, voted 4-0 for the West Palm Point project to rise on the 2.4-acre property at the corner of Okeechobee Boulevard and South Dixie Highway. Commissioner Cory Neering was absent.

Cohen Brothers Realty now is to spend several months refining plans for the 338-foot glass tower, conducting traffic studies and seeking city approvals for project details before construction begins.

Cohen and chief architect Kristin Hawkins of world-renowned Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects presented the board with their concept for the project. It will include an elliptical tower with 23 floors of offices, rising beside a 10-story garage adorned with art and topped with a sky terrace with a reflective pool and landscaped seating areas.

The tower and garage will separated by a walkway called a paseo, 45 feet across at its widest, with tables and chairs, "a very active space, kind of a destination space," as Hawkins called it. Shops will line the garages ground level, along Dixie and elsewhere.

Mayor Keith James asked Cohen whether the project could attract tenants in a COVID-19 world that has thrown into question how strong office demand will be.

The developer responded with a reference to the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams.

"If we build it and do the job right, which we have every intention of doing, they will come," Cohen said. "We have time," he said, adding that development is a long process and this project has the advantage of an environment of available financing with low interest rates.

The company has yet to address one of the biggest concerns facing downtown -- traffic. Cohens attorney for the project, Brian Seymour, said traffic studies could not be done until the conceptual design was completed but that now they would be.

The developer recognizes the building will not exist in a vacuum, Seymour said.

"We know traffic on Okeechobee is an issue for the community. I cant tell you how were going to deal with all of it, because were not at that stage yet but we are going to deal with that," he said.

The developer will look for ways to integrate trolley service, scooter-share and bike-share facilities with the design, he said, forms of transportation the city has encouraged to reduce dependence on cars.

Hawkins, with Pelli since 1985, was design team leader for Cohens Red Building, the 800,000-square-foot final building of the award-winning Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, Calif. She is leading the design team for a natural history museum in China.

"Its deeply ingrained in our process that our buildings become good citizens," she told commissioners. "We design them to fit into their context, not necessarily to be the same as, but to fit in so that they complement the existing context and become positive additions to the fabric thats already there."

The architects approached the project as almost a campus master plan, with components that relate to each other "without talking over each other," she said. At West Palm Point, the main components are the tower, the garage and the paseo.

Early on, they considered having the garage as part of the tower but decided that would look too massive, she said. Instead the two will be linked only by the ground floor paseo and a small garage-top bridge.

The tower, with its main drive-up entry on Quadrille Boulevard, will be of lightly tinted glass, she said. Its designed to look transparent, airy and open, so you can see through the lobby to the paseo, she said.

The tower will taper slightly toward its top, with subtle "fins" on the sides, to accent its verticality.

The garage is designed not to be disguised, as in some buildings, but to be as "soft" and attractive a structure as possible, with colorful art by Felice Varini wrapping around its sides, around its corners and into its interior, with fragmented geometric shapes that look different from different angles.

"What makes the building important in today's world is that It has all the latest technological advances," Cohen said, touting its quality level as Class A-plus.

"Were in a different world now and we will use that to educate ourselves, to make a building that will be not only world class in its planning and construction," the developer said, "but in the building systems and how it will be a healthy environment that is all focused on wellness and allowing people to feel safe and secure in an office environment."

tdoris@pbpost.com

@TonyDorisPBP

Chybik + Kristof Architects & Urban Designers, Lahofer Winery, Dobice, Czech Republic, 2020

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Lahofer Winer by Chybik + Kristof Architects & Urban Designers follows the rhythm of the viticultural landscape - Domus

Argentinian architect Emilio Ambasz is considered a pioneer of green architecture, has taught at the School of Architecture at Princeton University, and served as curator of the MoMA from 1969 to 1976. He has been the recipient of major international awards, such as the Honorary Fellowship at the American Institute of Architects and the Honorary International Fellowship at the Royal Institute of British Architects. One of his important works, the ACROS centre, which stands for Asian CrossRoad Over the Sea, designed in Fukuoka in Japan, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. The project is the result of a line of research that the Argentinian architect had embarked upon fifteen years prior, based on the idea of giving back to nature the land taken from it with the construction of a building, neatly summarised by the saying green over grey. Indeed, the need for new government offices in Fukuoka was nearly irreconcilable with the fact that the only available site was a two-hectare public park in the city centre. The idea of using this last green area for a new construction, albeit for public purposes, was met with strong opposition and protests from citizens. The design proffered by architect Emilio Ambasz had the merit of reconciling the two opposing positions, allowing for the same span of green land to be preserved whilst still constructing the new offices, with the added benefit of obtaining an iconic building representative of the entire city.

The Argentinian architects idea, based on a system of garden terraces, allowed for the expansion of the buildings faade, all whilst compensating for the portion of green land taken up by the construction. The structure features 14 large terraced gardens, each alternating with pools and water courses. Finally, on the roof, there is a belvedere that offers panoramic views over the port and the areas surrounding the city. All this is accessible and open to the public, along with the land in front. Talking about his project, the architect Emilio Ambasz said: The building is at the heart of a city that previously had a two-hectare square and which still has a two-hectare square. Inside, a surface of over 97,000m2 is home to: multipurpose spaces with an exhibition hall, a museum, a 2000-seat theatre, conference rooms, government and private offices, an information centre for tourists, commercial spaces and four underground levels.Emilio Ambaszs green pyramid has had a profound influence on subsequent projects which sought - and still seek - to establish a relationship of coexistence between architecture and nature. The ACROS centre has won major international awards, such as the American Institute of Architects Business Week/Architectural Record Award and the first prize from the Japanese Institute of Architecture. Twenty-five years after its construction, there are two solid tests proving that the Argentinian architects intuitions remain valid to this day. The building has shown significant natural development: whereas at its opening, the green pyramid was home to 76 plant varieties and 37,000 plants, today it boasts 120 varieties and 50,000 plants. In addition, a thermal environment measurement survey conducted by Takenaka Corporation, Kyushu University and the Nippon Institute of Technology has certified that the ACROS centre makes a significant contribution to reducing the heat island around it and to reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions, making for a 15C difference between the exterior and interior of the building in the hotter seasons.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Architects: Emilio AmbaszLocation: Fukuoka, Japan

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Architecture and nature: 25 years of Emilio Ambasz's ACROS centre in Fukuoka - Floornature.com

CHICAGO Hours after Mayor Lori Lightfoot scolded a large, maskless crowd at Montrose Beach on Twitter, city crews erected fencing to try to block off access to the closed beach.

Its called a pandemic, people. This reckless behavior on Montrose Beach is what will cause us to shut down the parks and lakefront. Dont make us take steps backwards, Lightfoot warned in a tweet.

In a follow-up tweet, Lightfoot said she visited Montrose Beach personally.

In case you were wondering, I stopped by to see for myself. Its being addressed, Lightfoot wrote.

By Sunday, approximately 300 yards of fencing was installed between the grassy area that leads to the beach and the sand.

Less than 24 hours after Lightfoots tweet, people continued to gather near Montrose Harbor and the nearby lakefront. Many people walked around the fencing.

Some entered the area by walking past The Dock at Montrose Beach, the newly reopened beachside restaurant. But owner Luke Cholodecki said he does not let customers wait outside his restaurant and none of his patrons were involved in the partying condemned by the mayor.

Amy Osborne of Lakeview who was at the beach with two friends said she didnt see the mayors tweets.

I dont think its really a problem, she said.

Chicago Park District spokesman Michelle Lemons confirmed that park district employees installed fencing Sunday to deter large gatherings.

While the lakefront trail is open, Chicagos beaches and parkland east of Lake Shore Drive remain closed under the Chicago Department of Public Healths executive order, Lemons wrote in an email.

On Sunday evening, Chicago Police and emergency workers blocked cars from entering the driveway that leads to the beach from both Montrose and Wilson Avenues, but were not stopping pedestrians on foot.

Another woman at the beach who declined to give her name said she did see the mayors warning. She shrugged her shoulders in response.

Her boyfriend, who accompanied her, responded with a shrug, too, and a laugh: That says it all.

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City Fences Off Montrose Beach After Lightfoot Scolds Beachgoers: 'It's A Pandemic, People' - Block Club Chicago

Clinton was hit very hard from the storm last night. Clinton County is one of many that Governor Reynolds has declared a disaster area, which means they are eligible for federal aid.

Trees are down all over Clinton, and one was in the middle of a road. Local Four News spoke with one neighbor who had some property damage.

David Martensen just moved into his new house in Clinton a couple weeks ago. Last night was a wild one and its one that he will never forget.

I came home. I came with my mom in a car and we came here to see the damage at my house and I witnessed branches and trees laying on my shed here and its pretty devastating. I was pretty frightened.

As the severe weather was rolling in, Martensen immediately went to his mothers house to pick her up and get her to safety.

I cant really get her down in the basement so I figured it would be safer to get her in a car and find some shelter somewhere. So we found kind of like an overpass to just hide under.

Matensen didnt have any damage to his house, but his shed and fence in his backyard werent so lucky.

I was renting another house up in the north end of town, central part of town and I loaded it up on a trailer and just brought it down here because I thought it would be a nice little extra shed to keep lawnmowers and stuff in and I wasnt really expecting a limb to fall on it and destroy it the way it did.

Considering the extent of the storm, Martensen knows it could have been a lot worse.

I was surprised that was all there was. It was just a shed. Im not complaining at all.

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Clinton man has shed and fence destroyed from severe weather - WHBF - OurQuadCities.com

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota's temporary fence around the state Capitol has cost taxpayers at least $38,000 -- and counting -- and state officials say the barrier will stay up indefinitely.

The decision to keep the fence up is a reversal in tone from last month, when officials said it would come down soon. During Monday's meeting of the Advisory Committee on Capitol Security, state officials said the Capitol has recently become the target of increasing vandalism.

Minnesota's temporary fence around the state Capitol has cost taxpayers at least $38,000 -- and counting -- and state officials say the barrier will stay up indefinitely.

The fence has been in place since May 31. Large protests broke out after the Memorial Day police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, prompting Gov. Tim Walz's administration to order the Minnesota National Guard and a large contingent of state troopers to guard the Capitol around the clock. The National Guard has gone home and most of the troopers have returned to their regular posts, but the fence has remained.

The fence cost $18,707 for installation plus $274 a day in rental fees, according to a copy of the contract with Minneapolis-based Mortenson Construction and Keller Fence in St. Paul. The money is coming out of the Department of Administration's operational budget.

The fence -- and the locking of the Capitol because of the coronavirus pandemic -- has blocked the public from entering the building, even as the Legislature has held two high-profile special sessions this summer. A third special session is scheduled to start Wednesday.

"Its helpful, and thats the bottom line," State Patrol Col. Matt Langer said of the fence. "I would hope it could stay in place for the foreseeable future."

In the past two months, Langer said the State Patrol has "staffed the Capitol complex like we have never staffed it before and is significantly over budget for security. The Capitol is "extremely large" to protect with troopers alone, added Capt. Eric Roeske, the head of the State Patrol's Capitol Security unit.

Administration Commissioner Alice Roberts-Davis said the Capitol complex is increasingly a target. In recent weeks, taggers have put graffiti on concrete, statue pedestals and security bollards. Someone used a chisel to damage the Peace Officers' Memorial, she said.

The Peace Officers' Memorial is being repaired, Roberts-Davis said. She did not say whether anyone was caught or arrested for the incidents, and a follow-up email to the state Department of Public Safety went unanswered.

The most infamous incident on the Capitol grounds in recent weeks happened June 10, when protesters toppled the Christopher Columbus statue. No one has been arrested in that incident. The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension turned over the case to the Ramsey County attorney in July, and prosecutors are "getting close" to a charging decision, Langer said.

The fence has many critics.

State Sen. Scott Dibble said the Walz administration should take it down by January, when the Legislature is scheduled to start its 2021 session.

"Ill just make the point that the fence is ugly and sends a really negative message," said Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis.

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who has argued for fence removal in July, said she also wanted an answer by January so the public would know how to engage with lawmakers.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea pushed for a timeline on fence removal, and said the court wants to hear cases in its Capitol courtroom in September.

"Its almost middle of August now. So what is the deadline for when were going to have a plan here?" Gildea asked.

Monday, no one provided any timelines. Roberts-Davis made a cost-savings argument, pointing to the recent $310 million restoration of the Capitol and said the state must protect its investment.

What I would hate to see is us take the fence down and go through that expense and then end up in a position where we have to put the fence back up because of something thats happened again," Roberts-Davis said.

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Minnesota's fence around the Capitol is costing $274 a day -- and it's staying up indefinitely - FOX 9

The video clip I received to my cellphone contained 29 seconds of waves breaking on rocks. Were in Tel Aviv, my friend wrote me. How much excitement was compressed into those few words.

She is from Nablus. She, her husband and their two children did what tens of thousands of Palestinians from throughout the West Bank have been doing in recent weeks. They left through a breach in the separation fence and entered Israel.

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This was the first time her 25-year-old son had crossed the Green Line and seen Palestines sea. He didnt want to leave, my friend said. He went crazy over how beautiful the sea is.

As chance had it, they exited through the breach at Farun, east of Taibeh, about half an hour after I left that exact same spot. Like them, I saw the soldiers standing on the road and watching as masses of people crossed on foot from the fence to waiting minibuses or taxis.

I saw entire families, groups of young people, couples, babies in strollers and toddlers trotting along the dirt road after their parents. Some went down the sides of the narrow wadi and climbed up toward the breach. Still others chose the longer but easier, paved route there.

It went on all day and all evening. They came from cities, villages and refugee camps. Some headed to Acre and some to Netanya. Some planned to spend the night in the Galilee or the Triangle region, others would go home at midnight. The excessive price for a taxi ride angered them, but didnt deter them.

And as usual, there were small-scale entrepreneurs there. One was selling masks. Another lugged a canister of cooking gas all day, back and forth, and sold coffee or sage tea. Im afraid the soldiers will shoot me, because theyll think the canister is a weapon, he said. But the lure of some income was stronger than his fear.

These breaches in the fence are no secret, and BTselem the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories has documented cases in which soldiers shot and seriously wounded laborers who entered Israel through them. Yet the army, the lord and master on the ground, hasnt closed them.

Its also well-known that these breaches have multiplied since the coronavirus pandemic began. They are now spread out along the entire length of the fence.

Before dawn, laborers come through them. Israel needs their work, and they need a livelihood. Farmers whose land is locked away on the other side of the separation barrier also come through them. That way, when they go to and return from their fields, they dont have to wait for soldiers to open the gate.

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And over the past two weeks, even before the Eid al-Adha holiday on July 31, they have been joined by a never-ending stream of vacationers people who long for normalcy, freedom of movement, fun and visits to friends. Theyre hungering to travel around their homeland, said Ehab Al-Jariri, editor and host of one of Palestinian radios most interesting talk shows.

I decided to wait with the story and pictures of this exodus. I was afraid that any attention to it from the Israeli media would hasten the closure of the breaches. An opportunity for another few thousand Palestinians to exercise their right to travel around their homeland is much more important than any journalistic report.

For the same reason, photographer Oren Ziv of +972 Magazine, whom I met during one of my visits to Farun, decided to temporarily shelve his photographs. But now that the story has already been told on Israeli television, we have been freed from this decision.

When so many breaches have remained open for around half a year, its clear that this is a decision from above. Israeli security officials have made some sort of cost-benefit calculation, once again proving the extent to which Israeli control over the Palestinians is present, invasive and capricious.

In the morning, soldiers actually do lie in wait near the breaches in some parts of the West Bank and fire tear gas canisters at people as they pass by. Why? Its not clear. Palestinians have been busy speculating about why the breaches havent been closed and why soldiers sometimes fire tear gas at them and sometimes dont. Indeed, by Tuesday morning reports from along the fence were telling about soldiers shooting tear gas and closing some breaches.

The fear or the dangers the vacationers may face are dwarfed in comparison to the possibility of freeing themselves of the usual suffocation and stress, if only for a day. Even if afterward, the feeling of being imprisoned in West Bank enclaves merely grows stronger.

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