You’ve worked to improve morale and improve revenue using all of your leadership skills and tactics but your company still has room for growth and improvement. You’re at a point where you should consider a good executive coaching program. What should you look for in an executive coaching program?
First, choose a program that fosters creativity and thinking outside the box. It’s easy to fall prey to apathy during a PowerPoint presentation, but putting your corporate team in challenging and energizing situations guarantees fully engaged minds. Maybe ropes training, maybe white water rafting, or mountain climbing, or a softball game, any activity involving challenge that allows the application of effective communication, human performance, accountability, or delivery can give your team the morale and skill boost they need to excel.
Second, make sure the program offers expert one-on-one advice and training for your organization’s needs. A good executive coaching program will cater to you and will strive to become a trusted and capable advisor that adapts to your needs as your company grows. Also, a good executive coaching program will have advisors able to offer you industry specific consultants capable of delivering guidance concerning technical issues.
From the architect. A Sandstone Coastal Lookout
Situated on the highest point of a ridge overlooking Sydney’s Middle Harbour is a solid, 3 storey brick house built during the between the late 1950s and early 1960s, which has been complemented by contemporary additions bearing all the signature hallmarks of Luigi Rosselli Architecture: the sandstone base, the whitewashed walls, and the aerofoil vertical louvres placed next to “log-cabin” exterior wall cladding.
The front of the house features another Luigi Rosselli Architects key element – a lightwell containing an elliptical stair – framed by the sandstone Martello Tower* entry porch that, in its “partially ruined” state, opens up to the horizontal whitewashed concrete beams and roof lines that complete the new street elevation.
Gentle alterations to the existing house have left ninety-five percent of the original structure standing including the 1950s sandstone fireplace in the lounge, while the additions to the front of the house and the new lower ground floor level at the back have enlivened its somewhat bland appearance. Internally, the interiors created by Romaine Alwill incorporated the client’s favourite Mediterranean Blue colour into a timeless palette to create a comfortable and luminous family home that is ready to survive another 50 years.
*Sometimes known simply as Martellos, Martello Towers are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts.
Japanese studio Sides Core has created a space inside a hair salon for the owner’s books, art and music (+ slideshow). (more…)
As.Architecture-Studio and VHA Architects have unveiled their plans for the urban design and architecture of a new campus at the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH) in Vietnam. Located 30 kilometers east of Hanoi City, the new campus is designed to be a “New Model University,” and will feature facilities for administration, teaching, research, housing, student activities, services, and infrastructure.
Through its position around and across existing lakes, the project aims to offer researchers and students a living area structured by landscape. “The presence of water, along with the tropical architecture of the buildings and their specific technologies, will embody the unique character of the USTH being a Vietnamese University leading in sustainability and renewable energy.”
This “Water Park” will bring together all campus activities around a core, while also providing a place for quiet thought in a natural environment. The Park will include a variety of spaces, such as a plaza, landscaped banks, an “Isle of Contemplation,” gardens, strolling paths, and events spaces.
The entire campus will be oriented with the four cardinal directions, allowing for solar protection of buildings and natural acceleration of wind between buildings, but also for future possible expansions.
The Learning Center building will serve as the main entity of and gate to the campus. Here, students can access study rooms, reading rooms, and library space on each floor.
Six buildings on the north side of the Water Park will house faculty space, research offices, and classrooms.
On the east side of the Park, a shared facilities complex will feature six amphitheaters located between the ground and first floors.
At the South-West corner of the Waterpark, the dormitories district is organized along the water bank. The lakes naturally isolate this living area from the campus teaching areas, preserving intimacy and creating a village atmosphere. The peripheral gallery provides a pedestrian connection to this district, across three bridges, from the Learning center facilities on the south side, and from the faculties on the north side. Each building is composed of an ‘apartment type’ layout, to create living communities at small scale. Natural ventilation is enhanced, from the ground floor to the roof level, through outdoor corridors and “wind towers”. Along the peripheral gallery, at the dormitories ground floor level, kiosks and small shops bring animation to this living district – said the architects in a press release.
News via As.Architecture-Studio and VHA Architects.
Sig Nordal 