Author: signordal

Castle Resort: Call For Entries

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Courtesy of YAC

Courtesy of YAC

Young Architects Competitions YAC and Marlegno s.r.l. launch Castle Resort, an open architectural competition aiming at the landscape renewal of the area around the Castle off Roccamandolfi, in Southern Italy. The competition is in cooperation with the Italian State Property Agency – Italian Government, the Municipality of Roccamandolfi, Touring Club, Associazione Italiana Confindustria Alberghi, the University of Bologna. The internationally-renowned jury gathers, among the others, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Todd Saunders, Alain Laurens of  “La Cabane Perchée”. A total of € 20.000 in prize money will be awarded and winner projects will be published on international architecture and design platforms. 

There are places which belong to the inner being. There are destinations first engraved into the unreal, then on a map. Architectures of the soul, capable of helping us escape from our everyday life and freeing us from space and time.

Castles are among the architectures that can, in a more pronounced way, whisper into the heart of human beings. They often are located in marvelous spaces, sheltered in inaccessible and isolated places. These are oftentimes magical places, full of plots and heroism, uncontrolled passions and unspeakable secrets.

Located in a fairy‐tale landscape, the Castle of Roccamandolfi seems to come out from the ancient legends of chivalry. A medieval fragment which encompasses the ancient times and can still fascinate with its long‐standing charm. The castle stands on a steep hill, towering over a cliff, forests, and sunsets. Sketching out over an enchanting landscape, in need of new forms and ideas to allow its protection and the ongoing promotion of such a priceless heritage.

“Valore Paese”, the Italian State Property Agency’s project for the reprocessing of the national architectural heritage, moves into this direction. Aimed at enhancing the historic and landscape value, it builds dream tourist facilities which take advantage of their own natural background to involve visitors in this unique and unforgettable holiday experience.

How does one convert a medieval fortress into an exclusive tourist facility? How do you combine architecture and nature and aspire to become a worldwide destination?

Using these intriguing questions as inspiration, Marlegno, in partnership with the Italian State Property Agency – Italian Government, wants to promote Castle Resort and invites designers to let themselves get swept away by the charm of this abandoned fortress. To conceive a fabulous accommodation facility, plunged into a majestic nature and set among the traces of an impressive castle. A dream place, capable of inspiring the imagination of every tourist who visits and offering a timeless holiday. All wrapped up by the comfort of modern life mixed in with ancient remains.

Jury

  • Eduardo Souto de Moura
  • Todd Saunders, SAUNDERS ARCHITECTURE
  • Alain Laurens, LA CABANE PERCHÉE
  • Giorgio Palmucci, ASSOCIAZIONE ITALIANA CONFINDUSTRIA ALBERGHI
  • Lamberto Mancini, TOURING CLUB
  • Edoardo Maggini, ITALIAN STATE PROPERTY AGENCY – ITALIAN GOVERNMENT
  • Giacomo Lombardi, MUNICIPALITY OF ROCCAMANDOLFI
  • Angelo Luigi Marchetti, MARLEGNO s.r.l.
  • Elena Mucelli, UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA
  • Remo Capitanio, CAPITANIO ARCHITETTI

Prizes 

  • 1° Prize € 10.000
  • 2° Prize € 4.000
  • 3° Prize € 2.000
  • 4° “Gold” Honorable Mentions € 1.000 each
  • 10 Honorable Mentions
  • 30 Finalists

Calender

  • 21/11/2016 early birds registrations – opening
  • 28/12/2016 (11.59 pm GMT) early birds registrations – ending
  • 29/12/2016 standard registrations – opening
  • 31/01/2017 (11.59 pm GMT) standard registrations – ending
  • 01/02/2017 late registrations – opening
  • 28/02/2017 (11.59 pm GMT) late registrations – ending
  • 03/03/2017 (11.59 pm GMT) materials submission’s deadline
  • 07/03/2017 jury summoning
  • 10/04/2017 results announcement

For more information visit: http://ift.tt/IXd70i
Contact us at: yac@yac-ltd.com
Download the information related to this competition here.

  • Title: Castle Resort: Call For Entries
  • Type: Competition Announcement (Ideas)
  • Organizers: YAC
  • Registration Deadline: 28/02/2017 23:59
  • Submission Deadline: 03/03/2017 23:59
  • Venue: Roccamandolfi, Italy
  • Price: 75 €

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5 Reasons Why Wearing Safety Boots at the Workplace is Crucial

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Safety boots aren’t the most glamorous footwear you can take to work. They also aren’t the lightest ones for your feet. Surprisingly, however, safety boots offer a lot of benefits not just for your feet but your general health as well. They can even affect your productivity at work.

If you’re still thinking twice about wearing your safety boots to work, here are some of the best reasons why you definitely should.

1. They protect the feet

safety-boots-for-work

This is probably one of the most obvious reasons why you should always wear your safety boots. They offer protection against punctures as well as slips and trips. They can also protect your feet from burns.

Safety boots are often made of durable materials to withstand a wide range of workplace hazards. There are various types of safety shoes so make sure to find one that will fit your unique job role. If you know you’ll be exposed to electricity and high voltage machines, choose electric hazard shoes. In case you’ll be assigned to handle heavy industrial materials, you can pick safety-toed shoes.

If you know you’ll be exposed to electricity and high voltage machines, choose electric hazard shoes. In case you’ll be assigned to handle heavy industrial materials, you can pick safety-toed shoes.

2. They offer support

Safety boots are often heavy but they are great when it comes to supporting proper posture. Since workers often have to stand for long periods of time, this type of footwear can help ensure that their feet are properly cushioned and supported.

By ensuring your feet’s comfort, you’ll less likely feel fatigued. They can also decrease the strain on the muscles of your lower extremities and your chances of developing chronic work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Since they lessen fatigue, you’ll be able to do your work faster and better.

See Also: How to Prevent Back Injuries at Work 

3. They offer protection against extreme weather changes

Extreme weather conditions can result in a lot of health problems. An intense low temperature, for example, can reduce the blood circulation in your feet. If this type of exposure is prolonged, it can cause nerve damage and even death of the area.

There are also medical conditions, like Reynaud’s Syndrome, that can easily be aggravated by weather changes. Reynaud’s Syndrome is a condition where a person’s extremities can turn purple due to poor blood flow after being exposed to cold weather.

Take note that not all safety boots are insulated so make sure that you find one made with the right materials.

4. It helps avoid lawsuits

safety-boots-for-protection

Because of how important safety boots are in workplaces, wearing them has been a part of the regulation. It should be followed at all times to ensure every worker’s safety while working. If your company fails to provide safety boots or isn’t strict when it comes to making every employee comply to regulations, they can get sued.

Lawsuits involving workplace safety aren’t only time consuming and expensive but they can also cost your company’s permits and licenses. Aside from safety boots, workers must also wear shirts with long sleeves, long work pants and protective head gears. They should also wear eye goggles and face masks if their work puts them at risk of getting splashed with chemicals or toxic particles.

5. It can help you keep your work

Employers aren’t the only one responsible for making sure their employees comply to the rule. Workers are also responsible for their own safety at work. Under the OHSA Compliance Standards, employers can send their workers home if they fail to act in a safe manner. They can also terminate employment in the event of employee misconduct.

For your own safety and protection, make sure to wear your protective gear all the time. It isn’t only a necessity during inspections and assessments.

 

The post 5 Reasons Why Wearing Safety Boots at the Workplace is Crucial appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Scenario Architecture Renovates a Private Residence in London, England

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Clapton Home by Scenario Architecture (7)

Clapton Home is a private residence located in London, England. It was designed by Scenario Architecture in 2016. Clapton Home by Scenario Architecture: “Our clients have been living in their ground floor flat for several years, before deciding to renovate it. The existing flat had a very old glass conservatory, which was freezing cold in winter and overheated in summer. It was blocking the light to the inner sitting room..

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Job of the day: industrial designer at Industrial Facility

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Dezeen Jobs architecture and design recruitment

Our job of the day from Dezeen Jobs is for a middleweight industrial designer at Industrial Facility, which created a modular seating system for US furniture brand Herman Miller (pictured). Read more stories about Industrial Facility or browse more architecture and design opportunities on Dezeen Jobs.

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Article 25’s “10×10” Auction Features Work by Zaha Hadid, Kengo Kuma, Richard Meier & Antony Gormley

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Kyle Henderson. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Kyle Henderson. Image Courtesy of Article 25

In celebration of their 10-year anniversary, Article 25, the world’s largest architectural charity, will hold this year’s “10×10 Drawing the City London” event on November 29 at the Royal Institute of British Architects. Each year, representatives from UK’s top architecture studios and property and design industries gather to raise funds for Article 25’s work in developing countries. The event features an auction of artwork by 100 prominent rising artists, designers, and architects; this year’s participants include Kengo Kuma, Richard Meier, Antony Gormley, Zaha Hadid Design, and David Adjaye.


Eva Jiricna. Image Courtesy of Article 25


Roger Fitzgerald. Image Courtesy of Article 25


Time Gledstone. Image Courtesy of Article 25


David Adjaye. Image Courtesy of Article 25


Roger Fitzgerald. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Roger Fitzgerald. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Article 25 works for human rights by designing, building, and managing projects that provide necessary buildings in the world’s most vulnerable communities. The organization has completed 82 projects and raised over £500 thousand for their work to date. Current projects include the reconstruction of a hospital in Nepal, design of a solar system installation training center in Burkina Faso, and planning of an inclusive preschool in Tanzania for disabled children.


Will Alsop. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Will Alsop. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Fuller. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Fuller. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Peter Murray. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Peter Murray. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Karl Singporewala. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Karl Singporewala. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Laurie Chetwood. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Laurie Chetwood. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Charles Holland. Image Courtesy of Article 25

Charles Holland. Image Courtesy of Article 25

You can support Article 25 through their live online auction here.

News via: Article 25

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The Parking Garage that Moonlights as a Sledding Slope / White Arkitekter + Henning Larsen Architects

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© Åke Eson Lindman

© Åke Eson Lindman


© Åke Eson Lindman


© Åke Eson Lindman


© Åke Eson Lindman


© Åke Eson Lindman

  • White Arkitekter's Architects: Anna-Carin Dahlberg, Anders Sveningsson, Fredrik Larsson
  • White Arkitekter's Construction Engineer: Maria Ekenberg, Frida Ejdemyr, Per-Anders Andersson, Lars Åsberg, Gunnar Stomrud
  • White Arkitekter's Light Designer: Andreas Milsta
  • White Arkitekter's Landscape Architect: Karin Sjödin
  • Henning Larsen's Architects: Per Ebbe Hansson, Martin Stenberg

© Åke Eson Lindman

© Åke Eson Lindman

The Swedish city of Piteå, located about 130 kms below the Arctic Circle, wanted a new parking garage but also got a sledding hill, an amphitheater and a large lantern. The project ‘Stadsberget’ (Swedish for ‘city mountain’) was designed by White Arkitekter in cooperation with Henning Larsen Architects and has become a unique meeting place and tourist attraction in the city centre.


© Åke Eson Lindman

© Åke Eson Lindman

Section

Section

© Åke Eson Lindman

© Åke Eson Lindman

The five storey parking garage accommodates 228 new parking spaces but it is its other functions that became the talk of the town. During the summer it serves as a popular meeting place with lush greenery and flowers planted on the hill. The slope is designed as an amphitheater where people can enjoy the evening sun. It has already been used for music events, for instance. But as the snow falls, it becomes a slope that delights children and adults with a sledge or a cup of warm chocolate on the staircase.


Diagram

Diagram

© Åke Eson Lindman

© Åke Eson Lindman

Courtesy of White Arkitekter + Henning Larsen Architects

Courtesy of White Arkitekter + Henning Larsen Architects

Wood became the dominant material in Stadsberget nodding to the region’s strong tradition and forrests. The entire facade is clad in larch battens mounted with high precision. Along with an extensive lighting program achieved the illusion of a bright lantern in the evening, while exuding a natural warmth during daytime. 


© Åke Eson Lindman

© Åke Eson Lindman

The lighting is integrated in the façade, setting light on the inside, and creating an interesting effect from the outside. 


© Åke Eson Lindman

© Åke Eson Lindman

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💙 Don’t move ! on 500px by Lara Koo, los angeles,…

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💙 Don’t move ! on 500px by Lara Koo, los angeles, USA☀  … http://ift.tt/28SCRJB

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6 Ways You Are Making Your Depression Worse

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Why is it that all your friends seem to have such perfect and lovely lives? You see them traveling the world, enjoying sunny holidays, playing with their cute pets, and raising happy families. Well it’s true, but the truth is that everybody has good and bad days. What you see on the internet is people promoting the best parts of their life – nobody wants to advertise the bad parts – it would be too dramatic.

But we all have some bad days every now and then, and depression is a real problem, especially among working class people who often feel like their efforts and going no where and are bored with life. There are a lot of things we do when we are suffering from depression that stop us from recovering as fast as possible. Oftentimes when we should be out and about learning new things and distracting ourselves, we hide ourselves inside with self pity and refuse to accept help. It’s the biggest problem depression exists. We need to stay away from bad habits and accept positive change. Here are a few bad habits we have when we are sad, the exact things we should not be doing. What should we do instead? The opposite! Stay healthy, stay active.

depression_11. Spending too much time on the internet

Isolation is our biggest problem when we are depressed – we should be socializing and distracting ourselves but it is hard for us to get beyond our struggles in our mind. When we stay at home, what do we have to do? We play on the computer. We spend all day on our phone looking at others people’s happy lives, pictures, and events, and it just drags us down deeper and deeper. Why can’t we just be like them? They look so happy and we are not. Why do their lives look so perfect and ours are the way it is now?

The problem with social media is that we spend all day comparing their lives to ours, without remembering the fundamental fact that everyone has complicated and emotional lives, and that we only advertise our highlights on the internet. Of course everyone looks happy on Facebook – we are promoting our best parts. But when we are depressed we forget that everyone has a colourful and varied life and we suffer from tunnel vision.

Stay away from social unless you have a hardened sense of reality and can remind yourself to look past the blur and simply feel gratitude for the uplifting pictures other people will be posting.

2. Eating junk food

Yum! Cake, chips, crisps, chocolate…all these delicious things seem to be so much more delicious when we are suffering from depression. The last thing you should be eating is junk though. Your mind is under enough duress when you are depressed, and you need to keep your body in tact during this stressful time. There are plenty of comfort foods that also satisfy the sweet or salty tooth, but don’t involve eating an entire box of ice cream. Think about mom’s rice pudding, a nice fruit shake, or some gluten free desserts from a local cafe. Same great taste, not as much stress on your body.

3. Smoking…anything

I had a friend who suffered from depression for a while, and in the depths of it he immediately relapsed into an old smoking habit of his. It’s easy to want to smoke since it appears to calm our nerves and gives us something to do with our hands and mind, or perhaps gives us a reason to go outside. The truth is though, that it is a nasty habit that reconfigures what your brain and body needs, and acts as an appetite suppressant when you are probably already suffering from a decreased appetite.

My friend ended up getting to over a pack a day before he healed himself and quit cold turkey the next day. By the end of it, he barely ate and could not taste food anymore. Luckily he recovered completely and went on to live a healthy life. Just don’t do it.

4. Drinking alcohol

Perhaps some would resort to drinking alcohol instead, and the reasons are too easy to see. It’s legal, openly available and socially acceptable to drink – when you are depressed and have nothing to do, why not drink more? It gives you a reason to go out, or gives you a reason to stay in. Unfortunately, it’s not a good reason.

Alcohol does to us exactly what we should not be doing – limiting our brains, making us lazy, and actually poisoning us. We should be doing proactive things that stimulate our minds and distract us – not the opposite. It’s easy to go out and buy a bottle of wine and watch a movie – we probably do it anyways. But with a cloud of depression, a bottle of wine or beer is just a toxic combination that leads down a slippery slope to more regression, when we should be moving forward with our recovery.

5. Staying inside

The best recovery for depression is going out, meeting people, seeing your friends, and exercising. Unfortunately, that’s exactly the opposite of what we want when we are unhappy. We want to stay inside, flick through movies, listen to the same music over and over again, and have nothing to do with people. We feel trapped, and we do it to ourselves. The image of a sad person in a dark and quiet house is not just social, it’s real. Do yourself a favour and spend as little time inside as you can. It will seem futile to even go outside and go for a walk – you may feel frustrated or lonely, but anything is better than staying in. Insist that your friends ask you out, and take up the offer. You need to be distracted.

6. Avoiding our friends

Comfort is important in our life and even more so when we are suffering from acute depression. Therefore it is 100% ok to bother your friends when you feel depressed and ask for their help – that’s what they’re there for. What should you not do? Avoid your friends. Do not feel like you are bothering them. You should be, and when they ask you to go out with them, you need to accept the invitation and go with them. They are trying to help you and mean well. You are not a burden on anyone. Everyone knows that we all go through dark times. It’s acceptable and you should enjoy the hospitality. At the end of the day, your friends and family are the most important things to you. Enjoy their love and reciprocate it.

The post 6 Ways You Are Making Your Depression Worse appeared first on Change your thoughts.

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May signals plan to put workers on company boards being watered down – Politics live

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Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn’s speeches to the CBI conference

9.01am GMT

In his Financial Times preview of Theresa May’s speech (subscription) George Parker describes one of the ideas that May is apparently looking at as an alternative to having workers on company boards.

The prime minister is looking at alternative models, rather than having an ordinary worker at board meetings. This could include a director instructed to reflect shop floor or consumer opinion.

8.56am GMT

When Theresa May became prime minister she said that she did not want her government to be defined by Brexit. For the last four months she has been conspicuously failing to achieve this ambition – Brexit has overshadowed almost everything else the government had done, virtually on a daily basis – but this morning May will step away from EU policy for a moment and give a speech to the CBI setting our her vision of how business should operate in Britain.

Some aspects of the speech have already been briefing in advance. May will commit the UK to a £2bn annual fund for scientific research and development and a review of tax incentives for innovative corporations in an effort to boost the technology industry. She will reaffirm the government’s commitment to keep business taxes lower than in any other G20 country. But she is also expected to signal that she is watering down her plan to force firms to have workers’ represented on company boards.

The people who run big businesses are supposed to be accountable to outsiders, to non-executive directors, who are supposed to ask the difficult questions, think about the long-term and defend the interests of shareholders. In practice, they are drawn from the same, narrow social and professional circles as the executive team and – as we have seen time and time again – the scrutiny they provide is just not good enough. So if I’m Prime Minister, we’re going to change that system – and we’re going to have not just consumers represented on company boards, but employees as well.

I am asking British businesses to work with me to change this. It will mean establishing the best corporate governance of any major economy, ensuring the voices of employees and consumers are properly represented in board deliberations and reforming executive pay. This will be essential to ensure business maintains and — where necessary — regains public trust.

Continue reading…

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Cun-Design converts Beijing house into film studio with weathering steel and glass extensions

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Office design for Blue Moon Films - A Line between Time

Chinese firm Cun-Design has transformed a typical suburban house in Beijing into a film production studio featuring glass and pre-rusted steel extensions. Read more

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