The 234 Apartment

Interior refurbishment project of an old medical center –a nearby Hospital former external wing- located on a basement in a corner, facing a private inner court community garden . A flexible layout plan allows, with very few changes, to keep the existing commercial-office use or to establish two independent apartments of 100m2 each: Eventually, a façade circulation and a door –nowadays closed between two mirrors- can be simply reopened connecting the whole surface again. The interior architecture is sustained on timeless and modesty values, with no hunger for novelty or protagonism but with a rather clear will for the endurance on time of the design, and subsequently of the investment put in the renovation. It aims to be capable of supporting any of the programs set by the property owners, whether it is finally housing or offices. Either way, responding to its physical situation, the layout plan has been set to maximize the interior light by keeping always a direct visual connection...

A housing project in Qingdao, Shandong province. [Photo/VCG] President Xi Jinping has said "houses are built to be lived in, not for speculation". In this context, the pilot for joint property rights housing implemented by Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban Rural Development is an important move to cool down the heated housing market in the capital. According to a document, the government and the homebuyers will jointly own the policy- based housing units , with the government granting the buyers the right to use the property. Since the Beijing municipal government will provide policy support for the construction of joint property rights housing , the price of such housing units will be lower than commercial property in the same neighborhood. However, the homebuyers' right to use the property will be partly restricted. Different from economically affordable housing , joint property rights housing is a kind of limited property rights housing , becau...

Recycle. Reuse. Reduce. Reclaim. Cheryl Oliver is a true believer. Her husband, Jack, is not quite so sure. For Cheryl, there is no choice because she regards recycling as crucial for the survival of the planet. Jack said he gets it, but doesn’t think a few people can make any real difference. The house divided is a microcosm of communities when it comes to recycling. Cheryl believes everyone should do their part, while Jack believes that since not everyone is doing their part, why should he? “The problem with recycling is that most people don’t do it or won’t do it,” Jack said. “I think it’s mostly due to people being plain lazy.” Jack has a point – recycling takes more effort than just throwing everything into the same trash can. There are people who might recycle but don’t because they simply don’t know how. With paper, plastic, aluminum, metal and a myriad of other color-coded options for recyclable material, deciding where each thing should go can be troublesome. ...