September 2016 – Page 130

One World Trade Center / SOM

September 14, 2016signordalLeave a comment

Architects: SOM
Location: New York, NY, USA
Design Partner: David M. Childs
Area: 3500000.0 ft2
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: James Ewing, Iwan Baan

Managing Partner: T.J. Gottesdiener
Managing Director: Kenneth A. Lewis
Technical Director: Nicholas Holt
Senior Technical Designer: Nicole Dosso
Project Manager: Julie Hiromoto
Senior Design Architect: Frank E. Mahan
Construction Manager: Tishman Construction Corporation
Mep Engineer/ Vertical Transportation: Jaros Baum & Bolles, Inc.
Structural Engineers Spire: WSP Cantor Seinuk Group
Civil & Transportation Engineer: Philip Habib and Associates
Acoustics: Cerami & Associates
Geotechnical Engineer: Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers
Landscape Architects: Mathews Nielsen Landscape / Architects Peter Walker Landscape Architecture

One World Trade Center is a bold icon lling the skyline void left by the fallen towers. While the adjacent World Trade Center Memorial speaks of the past and of remembrance, One World Trade Center speaks about the future and hope as it rises upward in a faceted form. Depending on the viewer’s perspective and angle of light, One World Trade Center appears to shape-shift from a platonic solid reminiscent of the original twin towers to an obelisk recalling the Washington Monument.

Site

One World Trade Center ts seamlessly into the northwest corner of the World Trade Center site, on land claimed from the Hudson River over centuries of development in Manhattan. The site, several blocks east of the river and in the heart of the nancial district, will ultimately house more than ten million square feet of commercial development in ve towers, a performing arts center, 500,000 square feet of retail, a transportation hub, and, at its center, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

The master plan restores Fulton and Greenwich Streets, formerly blocked by the World Trade Tower plaza and the original 7 World Trade Center building, breathing new vitality into the area. The new 7 World Trade Center, which opened in 2006, reopens Greenwich Street, easing the ow of commerce and sending a message of accessibility to the approximately ve million annual visitors to the memorial and museum. The 2013 opening of 4 World Trade Center, the second tower to rise on Greenwich Street, signaled an important step towards completing the spiraling master plan, wherein each new tower stands progressively taller, culminating in the symbolic 1,776-foot One World Trade Center.

Podium

The tower rises from a podium whose square plan measures approximately 204 feet by 204 feet, the same footprints as the original towers. The podium is 186 feet tall and is clad in triple-laminated, low-iron glass ns and horizontal, embossed stainless steel slats. The more than 4,000 glass ns, each measuring approximately 13 feet by two feet, are xed and positioned at varying angles along the vertical axis to form a regular pattern over the height of the podium. This pattern both accommodates ventilation for the mechanical levels behind the podium wall and, in combination with a re ective coating, refracts and transmits light to create a dynamic, shimmering surface. The podium’s heavily reinforced concrete walls serve as a well-disguised security barrier.

Tower

Above the podium, the tower’s square edges are chamfered back, transforming the square into eight tall isosceles triangles. At its middle, the tower forms an equilateral octagon in plan and then culminates in a stainless steel parapet whose plan is a 150-foot by 150-foot square, rotated 45 degrees from the base. The resulting crystalline form captures an ever- evolving display of refracted light: the surfaces change throughout the day as light and weather conditions shift and as the viewer moves around the tower. Careful thought was also given to the design of the tower’s corners. Made of embossed stainless steel, the eight edges recall the re ective corners of the original twin towers.

Structure

One World Trade Center features a hybrid structure comprised of a high-strength concrete core surrounded by a perimeter moment frame of steel. Paired with the massive concrete shear walls of the core, the steel frame adds rigidity and structural redundancy. Both bolted and welded together for maximum connection strength, the steel members were hoisted into place by two Manitowoc cranes – the largest ever used in New York City. The tower’s tapered, aerodynamic form reduces exposure to wind loads while simultaneously reducing the amount of structural steel needed. Rising a quarter mile into the sky, the tower is brute strength veiled in glass.

Images of SOM’s Completed One World Trade Center in New York
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Is Technology Taking Away Human Resources Jobs?

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The idea of robots taking over human tasks sounds like something straight out of the Jetsons. But robots have been making humans’ lives easier for decades.

Consider the Rumba that eliminated the household chore of vacuuming. Or the microwave that made it faster to cook up dinner. And more recently, Amazon Echo, which is a device with built-in artificial intelligence designed to recognize your voice and understand what you need.

Technological innovations don’t look like they’re slowing down any time soon, so it’s no wonder more people are looking for apps and software to take over (or at least simplify) other tasks.

Human resources tasks are a prime example of this. There are quite a few redundancies in the human resources department, which adds work to the plates of already strained employees. As technology advances, some of these administrative tasks get passed on to robots instead of humans. Could this be jeopardizing jobs? Let’s take a look.

Scheduling

Scheduling is perhaps one of the biggest time drains in human resources’ departments–at least if technology isn’t being put to use. Now, more businesses are using software to manage schedules. By offering an app to manage shift changes and view schedule rotations, employees no longer need to reach out to a single contact person. Instead, they’re able to make the changes themselves, eliminating the need for a point person.

Although this task can be outsourced to an app, it doesn’t seem to be stealing people’s jobs. Usually, the scheduler is also a manager or an executive. Having an app take care of this task has allowed this point person to focus work hours elsewhere.

Benefits

One of the first things you do when a new employee starts is set up his or her benefits such as health insurance, 401(k) plans, and more. Setting up and managing these benefits can take a lot of administrative work (and hassle). With new apps designed to simplify the process, employees can get to work faster and HR administrators can focus on other demanding tasks. The software may simplify the process, but the process still requires human-to-human interaction to answer questions and ensure everything is set up correctly.

Payroll

There are a lot of complexities in payroll, and therefore, room for human error. This is especially true when some employees get bonuses and others don’t, or when not all employees have payroll direct deposit.

Software that manages payroll can be a tremendous benefit–especially to small businesses that don’t have large human resources departments. Typically these businesses outsource payroll to an app because they don’t have someone on board full-time to manage the process.

In Conclusion

The conclusion is no, technology is not stealing human resources jobs; instead, it’s helping small businesses work more efficiently. Although apps and software eliminate some tasks, they typically aren’t enough to replace a person in the workplace.

The post Is Technology Taking Away Human Resources Jobs? appeared first on AllBusiness.com

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2016 NBA Longlists: Nonfiction

September 14, 2016signordalLeave a comment

NBA Nonfiction List Crop All through this week the National Book Foundation is announcing the Longlists for the 2016 National Book Awards in Poetry, Nonfiction, Fiction, and Young People’s Literature. Today the long list for the National Book Award for Nonfiction was revealed. Five finalists will be chosen from this list in October, with the winner to be announced in November. See the Longlist for Young People’s Literature here and Poetry here. Tomorrow, the Longlist for Fiction will be announced.

The 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction Longlist:

Andrew J. Bacevich, America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History (Random House / Penguin Random House)

Patricia Bell-Scott, The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice (Alfred A. Knopf / Penguin Random House)

Adam Cohen, Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck (Penguin Press / Penguin Random House)

Arlie Russell Hochschild, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (The New Press)

Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (Nation Books)

Viet Thanh Nguyen, Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (Harvard University Press)

Cathy O’Neil, Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy (Crown / Penguin Random House)

Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Manisha Sinha, The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition (Yale University Press)

Heather Ann Thompson, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy (Pantheon / Penguin Random House

Some detaila about the selections from the National Book Foundation’s announcement:

“Two titles that appear on the Longlist explore specific instances of American injustice: Adam Cohen’s Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck and Heather Ann Thompson’s Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy.

“Two titles call for Americans to rethink and re-examine ideas about war: Andrew J. Bacevich’s America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History is a reassessment of US military policy in the Middle East over the past four decades, and Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War is a kaleidoscopic look at how the Vietnam War is remembered around the world. Nguyen also notably won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for his debut novel, The Sympathizer.

“Three titles explore the legacy of slavery and racism in America: Andrés Reséndez’s The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America, Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas In America, and Manisha Sinha’s The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition.

“In The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt and the Struggle for Social Justice, Patricia Bell-Scott draws on letters, journals, and interviews to contextualize Eleanor Roosevelt’s decades-long friendship with an African-American intellectual revolutionary.

“Addressing some of the most pressing issues in America today—partisan politics and equality—are Arlie Russell Hochschild’s Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right and Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. Hochschild travels to the Louisiana bayou—a stronghold of the conservative right—to explore how the world looks from that perspective, and O’Neil analyzes algorithms, tests, and mathematical models intended to increase fairness, only to find they further obscure our humanity and compassion.”

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In this rare sight, a rainbow (we like to call it a “blob-bow”)…

September 14, 2016signordalLeave a comment

In this rare sight, a rainbow (we like to call it a “blob-bow”) brightens the dunes following an afternoon storm at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado. Summer thunderstorms at the park are common and bring cool winds, heavy rain and lightning. When storms approach, be sure to come down off the dunes, as lightning often strikes the dunefield. The electrical current fuses or melts sand particles together, resulting in a “fulgurite” (Latin for lightning rock). Photo by Patrick Myers, National Park Service.

Why Is It So Hard To Be Good?

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Have you ever heard of Mussar?

Believe it or not, it is believed that the Jews invented self-help over 1000 years ago. During that period, the Rabbinic scholars were also in the midst of trying to understand goodness and human nature.

The Ten Commandments and other Jewish teachings clearly spell out how we should act. Yet many of us, both now and then, violate the spirit of these commandments quite regularly.

Why is it so hard to practice goodness?

One of the answers to this question is Mussar.

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What is Mussar?

Via bethjacobrwc.org

Mussar is a practice that gives concrete instructions and guidelines to help you live a meaningful and ethical life. The first Mussar book was Duties of the Heart by Rabbi Bahya ibn Paquda. It was written in eleventh-century Spain.

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Rabbi ibn Paquda clarified a central tenet of Mussar: Following the spirit of the commandments is just as important as following the letter of the Law.

For example, he scorned at a scholar who focused on pointless intellectual exercises instead of working to become a better person. On the other hand, he praised another scholar who worked for 25 years to refine his conduct.

In the ensuing centuries, Mussar literature grew as scholars started contemplating on how various character traits like humility, patience, anger and jealousy contribute to a good life. Mussar became a widespread movement in Eastern Europe during the early 19th century under the leadership of Rabbi Yisroel Salenter.

Rabbi Salenter transformed Mussar from a solitary practice to something the community exercised. Throughout its history, Mussar masters used real examples and described situations that are still relevant today.

Mussar points out that whatever our religion or level of spirituality is, we all have issues and that they don’t change easily. For us to start doing good, we need to find those issues inside us and settle them once and for all- so that they don’t affect us over and over again. The practice provides guidance on how we can begin to make small changes in our lives that will bring healing to our soul and give us greater balance.

Rabbi Elya Lopian (1876-1970) once defined Mussar as “making the heart feel what the mind understands”. I love this definition because we often know what we should be doing, but we just can’t seem to make ourselves do it.

Real World Spirituality

spirituality

Compared to Mussar, Kabbalah is the more widely known branch of Jewish spirituality. It is mystical in that it focuses on the unseen forces in the universe. Mussar, on the other hand, is more practical. It focuses more on our inner world and how it impacts the choices we make every day.

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I have to admit that I don’t know a lot about either traditional or modern Kabbalah. I do know, however, that traditional Mussar and Kabbalistic literature overlap in some way. If you are currently a seeker who has explored Kabbalah, Mussar will complement and enrich your understanding. If you find Kabbalah a bit too “out there,” you’ll find Mussar helpful since it is a very grounded practice.

In Judaism, we don’t wake up, decide to be spiritual, and then book a retreat to a mountain top for contemplation. It requires a lot of inner work to change our very soul so that we become better people. We don’t expect to become great overnight. Instead, we strive to become better than we were the day before.

One of my teachers, Alan Morinis, once said that all people have their own unique spiritual curriculum. It means that we all have our own path in life, with a unique set of challenges and opportunities. We face the same test over and over again until we pass it.

For example, my trait of Humility was once out of balance as I used to be arrogant. This arrogance damaged my relationship with others for years, especially my coworkers. I was caught in a cycle of starting well on a job and then gradually losing the support of my colleagues because of it.

When I started bringing my Humility into balance and gave more room for other people’s opinions, I became a lot easier to work with. As a result, I was spared a lot of unnecessary stress and conflict.

This example also illustrates what Mussar teaches- actions do count. Most of us have good intentions, but, more often than not, our intentions don’t translate into good actions. Mussar brings our actions and intentions into alignment with Jewish values.

Rabbi Hillel summarized this best: “That which is hateful to you, don’t do to another. The rest [of the Torah] is just detail.” These phrases translate to a more popular saying: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Whether or not you are Jewish, it is hard to argue with this golden rule. But, once you’re able to put this idea into practice, you’ll find it easier to do good and be good.

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UK should trigger Brexit immediately says James Dyson

September 14, 2016signordalLeave a comment

Brexit: British inventor James Dyson is “delighted” at the EU referendum result and believes Brexit should be triggered sooner rather than later. (more…)

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Five of the best houses in Maryland on Dezeen

September 14, 2016signordalLeave a comment

Maryland is the next state in our series of roundups focused on residential architecture across the US. A house sheathed in a wooden brise-soleil and a home with walls that look like pixellated blocks are among our top five in the region (+ slideshow). (more…)

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This Onsite Pop-up Plant Turns Excavation Waste into Building Material

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Excavation is usually a bane for real estate developers. To make way for new buildings, truckloads of excavated waste are removed from site in a noisy, time-consuming and gas-guzzling process. Exploring a more sustainable solution, the California-based company Watershed Materials have developed an onsite pop-up plant which repurposes excavated material right at the job site to create concrete masonry units (CMUs) used in the development. By eliminating truck traffic, reusing waste and reducing imported materials, the result is a win for the environment.

The machine is shown here at Watershed Materials’ pilot block factory and research lab in Napa, California. Image Courtesy of Watershed Materials

The pop-up plant itself works by applying ultra-high compression to loose excavation spoils, transforming it into a sustainable CMU. The pressure turns the mineral grains into a sort of sedimentary rock, mimicking the natural geological process of lithification. This unique manufacturing technology is the brainchild of Watershed Materials, who previously developed the compression technique in order to reduce the amount of cement used in concrete blocks by 50%.

Sample structural masonry block produced by Watershed Materials using excavated soil samples from the Kirkham site. Image Courtesy of Watershed Materials

As the founder of the sustainable building materials startup David Easton points out: “There’s absolutely nothing new about building masonry structures from local materials. Some of the oldest and best-known architecture in the world has been constructed from stone and clay sourced directly on site.” But according to Easton, “what is new and absolutely groundbreaking is that with upgraded technology and improved material science, a construction waste product the developer had to pay to dispose of can now become an asset and provides environmental benefits as well.”

The Kirkham Project Community Plaza, a one-quarter acre accessible open space in the center of the development, provides excellent opportunities for installation of Watershed Materials blocks as pavers and landscaping features. Image Courtesy of Watershed Materials

The pop-up plant was born when Naomi Porat, development manager of Alpha Group and part of the team working on the Kirkham Project, approached the startup to bring their technology straight to the construction site. The Kirkham Project is an urban infill redevelopment in San Francisco spanning across 445 new housing units, community plazas and gardens. While addressing the city’s need for additional housing, neighbors expressed concern over construction traffic, making it the perfect place to explore this onsite approach.

The Kirkham Project pedestrian entry, stairs and retaining wall along Kirkham Street provides an opportunity for installation of Watershed Materials’ blocks as both structural and decorative applications. Image Courtesy of Watershed Materials

In their feasibility study, the Kirkham Project team identified compelling advantages of the onsite process and product. Reduced truck traffic meant reduced cost, diesel emissions and impact on neighbors. Also beneficial to neighbors is the pop-up plant itself, which is no louder than typical construction equipment and only onsite for a limited period of time.

The Kirkham Project development team is evaluating the feasibility of using Watershed Materials blocks for the structural elements of sub-grade parking structures below these residential buildings. Image Courtesy of Watershed Materials

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New York City – New York – USA (by Jonathan Gross)

September 14, 2016signordalLeave a comment

New York City – New York – USA (by Jonathan Gross)

Center for Postgraduate Studies / Studiohuerta

September 14, 2016signordalLeave a comment

Architects: Studiohuerta
Location: Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico
Design Team: Salvador Gutierrez, Gabriel Huerta, Kevin Murray, Angelos Palaskas, Armando Toscano, Jorge Velez
Area: 4400.0 sqm
Project Year: 2016
Photographs: Roland Halbe

Client: Cetys University (Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior)
Consultants: Grupo Basica, Grupo Softair, Hermosillo y Asociados, Ingeneria Rojas, Jorge Almaraz / Green Desert, Luis Vilchis

From the architect. Since its founding in 1961, Cetys University has been dedicated to shaping a new culture for expanding and sharing knowledge throughout Baja California. The Center for Postgraduate Studies is emblematic of the institution’s vision for leadership and innovation, creating a singular building focused on social connectivity and environmental sustainability.

Located in the arid desert climate of Mexicali, along the San Andreas fault line, the building stands as a fortiñed block that protects against earthquakes and high temperatures. The solid mass of the building wraps around the southeast and west sides with a layered exterior shell and built earthen topography insulating against the sun, whereas to the north the structure and landscape open to connect with the central campus quad. The thick exterior walls house the building’s anti-seismic structure and help isolate interior and exterior temperatures, and an expanded aluminum screen offset from the perimeter envelops the building, creating an additional layer that allows for natural air circulation and reduced heat gain.

The building’s interior organization is predicated upon the interaction of two distinct spatial zones, creating a strategic composition of public and private spaces that simultaneously serves as a passive ventilation system. An enclosed, private zone of classrooms, offices and study areas interlocks with an open, public zone made up of various social spaces, producing a vibrant interplay of transparency and opacity as well as a continuous dialogue of spatial uses. A spiraling of hallways across the building’s three floors allows for both pedestrian and air circulation. The central atrium is not only a major social hub, but also the largest of various thermal centers which collect and flush out hot air through a system of solar chimneys located above stairways and other multiple-height spaces.

Though shielded, the building’s private zone interacts with its public spaces and the campus through a series of cubes and incisions that reveal the building’s deep interiors and frame views to both the outside and within. Like stones cast in a riverbed at varying depths, the cubes puncture, expand, and expose the solid walls. Private rooms for study and meetings are located within – dense and protected, they’re closed off from the noise of the building but are visually open, allowing light and visibility for those inside. Although the building’s thickness stems from the need to protect against solar radiation, these moments allow for transparency without over-exposure, creating both visual and thermal connections throughout.

By integrating passive thermal strategies with the building’s interior space, a 50% reduction in energy demand was achieved in comparison to a building of equal size and conventional construction. The Center for Postgraduate Studies marks a new precedent for Cetys University’s future growth, as well as the development of energy-passive building specific to the arid climates of Baja and Southern California.

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The World Around Us

Month: September 2016

One World Trade Center / SOM