From the architect. Casa do Rosário had almost everything.
A comfortable scale , an appealing compositional structure and a captivating atmosphere. The big challenge was to keep its domestic spirit, refraining from a big design or a deep intervention.
Located on Porto’s Arts District, one of the most central and dynamic locations in the city, the building, once inhabited by a single family was divided over time and came to accommodate multiple families on the three floors of the 307, Rosario Street. Like many other buildings in Porto, this one became an assemblage of homes.
Today the house mirrors the diversity found in Porto’s contemporary cosmopolitanism, gathering under its roof a family that has been in the building for 63 years, and two architects who have fallen in love for the city.
The house was divided in five studios set on a 19th century building, designed so that both families or groups of friends can be accommodated comfortably in a creative and familiar environment.
LSD Residence is a private home located in Victoria, Australia. Completed in 2015, it was designed by Davidov Partners Architects. LSD Residence by Davidov Partners Architects: “LSD Residence was designed for a couple of soon to be empty-nesters. A significant driver behind the came about from the irregular sized lot on which the residence was built. The aim was to make both inhabitants and visitors unaware of the change in..
This pavilion KAPKAR.SF-P7S is designed and built for a temporary Building Lab (BOUWLAB) organised by Stichting Fabrikaat. This foundation, based in the city of Nijmegen in the east of the Netherlands is specialised in organizing temporary place making projects. This summer they erected a small settlement along the new shaped river bank on the north side of the city to focus on alternative ways of building and living in a more self organised way and show it to a broader public. This client asked me to design a low budget pavilion meant to program discussions, forums, meetings, small scale exhibitions, lectures and other cultural events during the period of BOUWLAB. Specific wishes were that the pavilion should have a striking appearance, be demountable and transportable to their future location, project ‘GRID” in Nijmegen, that it would provide space for 50 people, and that enough daylight would enter the building. Another wish was that I should collaborate with a MCT, a new company that developed a clever building system called KNØP.
The site of BOUWLAB and the pavilion is on top of a new dike which has been thrown up for making a new river channel in Nijmegen in order to give the river ‘De Waal” more flow space if the water is high. For this massive infra structural intervention, a part of the Nijmegen-North has been demolished amongst it also old farmhouses.
The first clue for the design of the pavilion is a classic truss frame construction that held up the typical broad gable roofs formerly used in old farmhouses and sheds. In this design I re-introduce this kind of constructions in contemporary design. With the difference that the supporting structure is not only visible inside the building, but that it is also visible from the outside to create more awareness. For me wood frame constructions are one of the anchor points of the Dutch agricultural landscape. Too easily they are destroyed. This design emphasizes on this constructions. I placed the construction of the building to the outside of the building, even so that it spatial becomes part of theroof and facades itself. In the interior the trusses are folded open and become interior spaces and places to sit for three people.
The main construction consists seven equal truss pillars, positioned parallel in three pairs. The seventh is turned 90 degrees and functions as a constructive ending. The base of the pavilion is a levelled floor on top the metal KNØP system. This system is not covered at the sides to emphasise in the beauty of this engineered construction method. The top of this base is covered with rough Douglas boards to provide a floor and side bench. The trusses are placed on the higher part. In the interior and outside this higher level is automatic used as benches by the public. The ‘head’ of the building is all made of steel angels and corrugated steel sheets and gives access to the interior.
The whole construction is built in segments and can easily be taken apart en replaced. The roof and siding of the spaces between the trusses are made of metal and pvc corrugated sheets. A beautiful but simple and low budget material that slowly disappears from the landscape in the Netherlands. The pillars are treated with a new rubber coating.
By charging this construction with several elements from classic farmhouse typology in combination with simple low budget materials I created an experimental hybrid construction that emphasize the importance of farmhouses and sheds in our cultural landscape and that these buildings can be a constant inspiration to design contemporary architecture. This pavilion at the same time is referring to the architectural heritage and also has futuristic appearance in the landscape.
By Zak Mustapha
Frustrating isn’t it? You’ve been working really long hard hours on your business, but no one’s showing appreciation. You’ve tried reaching out to several influencers, but…no response. In fact, you’re starting to doubt if you sent your message to the right email addresses in the first place.
Oh no, don’t worry you’ve got the right addresses. You probably just made a few deadly mistakes that sent your message to their trash folders. Good news for you, those days will soon be over once you learn to avoid these mistakes and implement these solutions.
But, before I get into that, let me tell you about the Golden Rule of outreach–the rule you must abide by if you ever want to succeed in influencer marketing and PR. Here it is:
Thou shalt make everything about them, offer them value, and continue to offer value WITHOUT asking in return.”
Read that a few times so it sticks in your head. Now, let’s get started.
There’s a 10/10 chance you’re not reaching out to save someone’s life; you’re reaching out because you want something. Yet, some marketers still insist on going anonymous. Your first and last names aren’t enough (unless you’re famous). Here’s why.
The people you’re reaching out to are busy. They don’t have time for everyone. For that reason, they need to prioritize and pick whom they want to work with (and help). The way they do that is by figuring out who’s worth their time, and one way they do that is by looking at your name, job title, and company.
For example, if you’re just “John Doe,” then the chances of getting a response are low. For all they know, you could be a spam bot. On the other hand, if you’re “John Doe, VP of Growth at Cool Startup”… now we’re talking.
Action Plan: Make sure you introduce yourself in the beginning and end your message with a solid signature with your real contact details to prove that you’re a real person. Don’t hide behind a mask.
You wish you were; unfortunately, you’re not. Remember, you’re reaching out for a reason (Hint: It’s because they can offer something) and most likely other marketers are reaching out for the same reason as you are.
When marketers forget that the person on the other end is loaded with emails, they begin to smack out paragraph after paragraph, forgetting that the person on the other end doesn’t have the time to read such an email.
Starting off your relationship with a long email is already taking up a lot of their time. They’ll be actually doing you a huge favor if they even read it, let alone respond.
Action Plan: Keep your emails short and to the point. Your emails should be no longer than 200 words, preferably 150 words or less.
Appreciating the recipient’s work is nice, but sucking up to them like they’re out of this world is not. It makes them feel uncomfortable and it also burns your credibility. Oh and by the way, credibility is important if you want to get a response.
Action Plan: Show moderate appreciation and respect to the recipient. Speak to them in a professional tone.
Nothing can hurt your credibility more than terrible grammar and typos. Granted, your English doesn’t need to be perfect, but that’s not an excuse for poor writing. Even if you don’t believe in judging someone based on their writing, it doesn’t matter. What matters is what the other person may be thinking. You want something from them–not the other way around.
Action Plan: Proofread your email before sending it and let someone else read it. Letting another pair of eyes have a look will sometimes point out errors you never thought existed.
Not literally, but many marketers tend to have huge “asks.” Whether it’s asking for multiple things in one email or just having one massive ask, they are both bad. Remember these people are busy and they get asked for things all the time. Unless you’ve built a solid relationship beforehand, it’s best to keep your ask small and quick.
A good thing to do is to imagine you’re in a video game and you need credits to make asks. Whenever you give, you increase your credits; whenever you take, your credit bank reduces. So what are some ways to increase your “ask credits” with influencers?
And the list goes on and on. Just find a way you can offer value.
Action Plan: Give before you ask for something. Make sure to ask for one thing at a time.
Post by: Zak Mustapha
Zak Mustapha is the founder of Zonifer.com and FoolishnessFile.com. He’s on a mission to help entrepreneurs progress faster through learning from other people’s mistakes. When he’s not working on his startups, he’s working out and practicing his Ninjustu.
Company: Foolishness File
Website: http://ift.tt/20qtEvK
Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.
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You’ve done a lot to get your business off the ground. Now it’s time to plan for your business‘s future. From your company’s sales strategy to its processes and procedures, there are plenty of steps you can take now to guarantee meaningful growth down the road.
That’s why we asked 11 successful entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council the following question:
Early on, you have to focus on the top of the funnel. Creating content for marketing purposes, getting quoted in magazines, speaking at events, and generally making your customers aware of your existence is the best thing you can do to guarantee future growth. Once you achieve growth, then you can focus on optimization and unit economics. —Brennan White, Cortex
We are all in the business of media. You may not be a content marketing company, but you should be a company with content expertise. You may not be a venture capitalist, but you should have fiduciary responsibility. Become a media-focused company by being dedicated to creating and publishing useful blog posts, videos, podcasts, social shares, and live streams. Appear to be everywhere with your target demographic. —Peter Awad, Slow Hustle
People are purchasing, browsing, and finding more businesses online than ever before. If your online presence isn’t up to speed, you’re going to get passed by. Invest now and do it correctly. Don’t skimp in the place where you can easily see the biggest growth. —Brooke Bergman, Allied Business Network Inc.
If you don’t have documented processes and procedures, you won’t have a way to improve them. Make sure every process in your company has a written standard operating procedure and that your employees all have access to it. Then take a process a week and look for ways to improve. By the end of the year, you will have improved 50 processes, which will have an effect on your bottom line. —Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now
It’s easy to spread yourself too thin with a new venture since there seem to be endless opportunities. Achieving growth in the future is easier for startups that are able to identify a niche market that values their core competency. Becoming a leader in a specific niche will naturally allow for growth if that market matures, but will also provide valuable tools and lessons for success in other markets. —Charles Bogoian, Kenai Sports, LLC
When it comes to growth, many entrepreneurs make the mistake of putting all their eggs in one basket by focusing on acquiring a few large customers. While this has a positive effect in the short-term, it’s not the meaningful type of growth you want. Nothing is guaranteed; that one big client could leave you in the dust at any point. By setting diversified growth metrics, you’ll ensure sustainability. —Elle Kaplan, LexION Capital
Transactions are a byproduct of the great relationships you’ve built with prospects, customers, and referrers. Your business will grow and change, but the rock-solid relationships you cultivate will transcend whatever services or products you sell. So focus on more high-value, long-term, growth-oriented relationships rather than give-and-take relationships with your prospects, customers, and referrers. —Charlie Gilkey, Productive Flourishing
We always tell our clients the most important thing they can lock down is their brand voice and tone. Everything across all social channels should feel consistent and on point. Consistency is how you drive people to your brand and keep them there. —Bryanne Lawless, BLND Public Relations
Building a website is a good start, but there’s more to it. The biggest concern I hear is that most businesses don’t want to spend $2,000 a month on SEO. It takes time to develop trust from Google—you need to create great content, post on social media, build more review sites with user-created content, and get great links. Google takes time, but it will be the cheapest acquisition cost in one year. —Tommy Mello, A1 Garage Door Service
Having a detailed growth strategy with realistic goals is crucial. Even more important is having extensively developed executions ready to go that you’ll use to meet these goals. If you have goals with no way of reaching them, you’re going to miss all of your targets or spend time trying to figure them out when it’s “go” time. —Duran Inci, Optimum7
Focus hard on your go-to-market strategy. Figure out what’s broken and fix it. If your GTM is working, it’ll be easy to grow and scale your business in the long run. If it isn’t, you’ll be in for a tooth-and-nail struggle every step of the way. —Simon Berg, Ceros
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Every business, regardless of industry, owns some type of equipment. It may be something as basic as an office printer or as complex as industrial machinery. However, no matter the price or function, it’s imperative that you understand when to repair versus when to replace equipment.
Making the wrong choice can set you back thousands of dollars and could ultimately lead to safety and productivity ramifications. In other words, you don’t want to take these decisions lightly.
1. How to calculate repair costs. When it comes to repair costs, you need to think about all the different factors involved. These include possible expenses like:
Unfortunately, nothing is very straightforward. The estimate a repair company gives you is just the starting point.
2. The ’50 Percent Rule.’ In repair-replacement debates, businesses have long used the “50 Percent Rule” as a guiding factor. The rule simply states that if repairs exceed 50 percent of the total cost of a replacing a piece of equipment, then you should go with replacement. In other words, it doesn’t make sense to pour money into an outdated piece of equipment if it can be cost-effectively upgraded.
While you have to take this rule with a grain of salt, it’s a good starting point. If you’re well above the halfway mark, then you should absolutely go with replacement; if you’re well below the halfway mark, then a repair makes more sense. Difficulty arises when you’re hovering in that 45 to 55 percent range. In these instances, you’ll need more than a rule of thumb to decide.
3. Think about tax credits and rebates. Tax credits and rebates are often available when purchasing certain types of business equipment. When you add in these benefits, they could dramatically reduce the cost of replacing whatever is broken.
For example, if your office’s HVAC system goes out and you have to make the choice between repair and replacement, did you know that there are actually federal tax credits available for purchasing high-efficiency systems? There may be utility rebates available as well. These all could add up to thousands of dollars in savings in the first year alone.
It’s little details like these that you have to consider. You can’t just look at the sticker price on a replacement piece of equipment.
4. The repair new and replace old theory. Common sense logic says that it’s much better to repair new equipment and replace old equipment. This simply has to do with the fact that older equipment will need to be serviced more often and any issues you experience now will probably occur again in the future.
However, a lot depends on your piece of equipment. In some industries, older equipment is actually made of better quality materials and may last longer than newer pieces of equipment made with cheaper materials.
5. Consider all the benefits of replacing. “Safety becomes a crucial point of consideration when dealing with older equipment,” according to Polaris Engineering. “No matter how many repairs are made to a piece of equipment, it continues to age and wear down. In addition to being more prone to breakdowns, older machinery is more likely to malfunction and cause injury to workers.”
Furthermore, think about efficiency. While an old piece of machinery may perform the same job as a new piece, are they both doing so with the same level of output? More efficient machinery will save you time and money in the long run.
6. Study tax implications of asset disposal. If you do end up replacing your equipment, then you’ll obviously have to dispose of the existing piece of equipment. Before deciding what to do with it, consider all of the tax implications of asset disposal.
There’s a little section on your tax filing documentation each year that’s entitled “assets” or something similar. “This page is a listing of all depreciable assets that you purchased for your business–which includes everything from computers to leasehold improvements to equipment and furniture,” tax expert Bonnie Lee says. While you may normally skip over this page, it’s the place to show that you no longer have possession of a specific asset.
Speak with a tax professional about the benefits of selling, abandoning, trading, or donating. Each has different implications and can be used to benefit your bottom line.
In the end, there may not be a perfect answer regarding whether to repair or replace a specific piece of business equipment. However, if you’ve done your due diligence and looked at every possible angle, then you can at least make an educated decision and avoid regret in the future.
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Sig Nordal 