Our US job of the week on the new and improved Dezeen Jobs website is for an architect at Oppenheim Architecture + Design in Miami, which proposed carving desert lodges directly into a cliff face in Jordan (pictured). Visit the ad for full details or browse other architecture and design opportunities on Dezeen Jobs.
Vantrue’s R2 dash cam was The Wirecutter’s runner-up pick, and you can save a whopping $50 on yours today with promo code UHBTWINY, bringing the price down to $100.
You’ve heard the commercials: “We will give you a minimum of $500 for your trade no matter the condition!” This is usually just a shell game to get you to pay more for the car you are buying, and dealers that advertise this way should probably be avoided.
Erratic Boulders
The construction of new builds to replace the buildings along Teollisuuskatu as well as the northern corner house on the Päijänteentie side constitutes the most extensive change to the cityscape around the quarter. As these new buildings closely match their predecessors in height, the scale of the quarter has remained unchanged. The quarter will be completed in 2017, when new buildings are set to rise on the eastern corner of Teollisuuskatu.
The interaction between the inside and outside of the large quarter was at the heart of the architectural concept: The inside should be visible to outside observers, thus creating vistas of openness and transparency. In turn, those inside require visual contact with the outside world. This vision was brought to life through tall openings designed between the building materials, which punctuate the long façades and open up a view of the inside.
The design process has aimed to eschew rectangular designs in favour of a strong and memorable visual identity: the sculptural, massive quality of the new buildings recalls the imposing solidity of erratic boulders. The presence of the latter as an architectonic and design theme carries connotations of durability, permanence and Finnishness.
The Premises
The “gallery”, a circular indoor path under a glazed roof, serves as the quarter’s hub, connecting various functional units and providing a meeting space. When considered vertically, three discrete functional zones emerge: the basements (parking, machine rooms, storage rooms and maintenance facilities), the ground level (foyers, restaurants, conference centre, welfare services) and the upper levels (offices).
The design of the premises takes its cues from a new work environment concept, in which solutions seek to enable various modes of working, from quiet concentration to active interaction and teamwork. The themes of openness, flexibility and functional communality take centre stage in the new multi-space work environment.
The Materials
The frame of the new buildings consists mainly of concrete, but steel has also played a large role in the realisation of a diversity of structures. Interior surfaces and furniture feature natural materials, stone and wood.
With the inner city’s stone buildings and urban environments in mind, the façades’ surface materials have been chosen to emanate durability and permanence. The new buildings’ façades are mainly plaster, Finnish granite and glass.
Online retail giant Amazon is celebrating the birthday of legendary designer Charles Eames with a pinboard that collects together replicas of his designs sold on the site. (more…)
You’re reading 3 Steps Guaranteed to Remove Barriers From Your Life, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
‘The biggest obstacles in our lives are the barriers our mind creates’
~ Unknown
We all daydream about our ideal life, but it can be a daunting task to figure out how to turn these dreams into reality. Instead we can find ourselves accepting our circumstances and trying to make the best of them.
It’s quite common to hear people discuss their hopes and aspirations, followed by a comprehensive list of reasons why they will never be realized. Multiple barriers can be created that ensure that your life’s desires remain a fantasy rather than something that can ever be achieved. This frustrates me.
We can drown in our own self pity, convinced that good things only happen to other people and never to us, or we can create our own luck and start making our dreams come true.
During my research I have noticed that the so called ‘lucky’ people, those who are successful and realizing their potential, don’t place barriers in their own way. They remove each real hurdle they face. The ‘unlucky’ people who believe that nothing good will ever happen to them, allow themselves to be controlled by the barriers that they perceive to be blocking their path.
One of the most valuable things I learned from the 3 years I spent living and working in South Africa is the Afrikaans saying ‘maak ‘n plan’ It literally means ‘make a plan’ and is the concept that anything is possible. If you think on your feet and approach something in a new way, no matter what obstacle is presented to you, you will be able to find a way to overcome it.
This powerful philosophy is something I now live my life by. If you truly believe anything is possible (which I do), it helps ensure that you always find a solution for any problem. Any time I am faced with a challenge, my first thought isn’t ‘can this be solved?’ it’s ‘how can I solve this?’
What is the difference between a barrier and an excuse?
We will constantly be faced with barriers as we journey through life. A barrier can be defined as ‘a circumstance or obstacle that keeps people or things apart or prevents communication or progress.’ It’s just an obstacle and obstacles can be removed. A barrier becomes an excuse when we make it into a reason not to achieve something, without even seeing if it is possible.
3 practical steps to overcome any barrier
STEP 1: Get your positive mindset on
You need to face barriers with the right attitude. If you ensure you’re looking at the situation from the point of view of how you can resolve it, rather than whether you can resolve it, you are much more likely to succeed. If you approach everything with the mindset that there is a resolution, you just need to figure out what it is, it makes the chance of overcoming the barrier much greater.
STEP 2: Gather the facts
This step is important to differentiate perception from reality. It is easy to create your own barriers based on thoughts and feelings and possibly fear, but not based on hard facts and evidence. If you document the reality of the situation, you can determine which issues are real and which your mind has invented and placed in the way of your success. Once you understand the difference, they are easier to overcome.
STEP 3: Make a plan
The last part of overcoming barriers is forming a plan to unblock your path. List all the blockers you are facing and for each one come up with as many solutions as you can think of to rectify the situation. You’ll find that each issue can be solved if you put your mind to it and apply the positive mindset previously mentioned. If you can’t find the answer yourself, ask advice from others. When you have the solutions clearly defined, detail out exactly what steps you need to take to implement them and then take immediate action.
Achieving our dreams takes courage. It can be easy to put barriers in place that let us avoid taking risks and prevent us from following our aspirations. By following the simple strategies above, I believe we can reach for the stars and implement our ideal life.
I’d love to hear from you. How do you overcome your barriers?
You’ve read 3 Steps Guaranteed to Remove Barriers From Your Life, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
By now, your garden should be in pretty good condition, but if you need a hand keeping your furry companion out of it—or you didn’t plant this year because you were worried about it—these suggestions from HomeAdvisor can help.
Sig Nordal 