December 5, 2008
The Associated Press reported this week that regulators and other watchdogs repeatedly warned the Bush administration, Treasury Department, banks and Wall Street about unsound lending practices years before this fall’s financial disaster. The Bush administration fought off all attempts to limit risky mortgages that were re-bundled and re-sold around the world.
Based on his exhaustive review of regulatory documents, reporter Matt Apuzzo writes, “Bowing to aggressive lobbying – along with assurances from banks that the troubled mortgages were OK – regulators delayed action for nearly one year. By the time new rules were released late in 2006, the toughest of the proposed provisions were gone and the meltdown was under way.” Read More
December 4, 2008
Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne has trashed the design of the new L.A. Live development. AEG created L.A. Live to capitalize on the economic activity of Staples Center next door (which AEG also owns) and the Los Angeles Convention Center. But, like other urbaneers who have wrung their hands since its announcement a decade ago, Hawthorne worries that “the project is relentlessly focused on creating its own wholly separate commercial universe.” And he blasts the architecture as “not really architecture at all but an extensive series of armatures on which the developer and its tenants can hang logos, video screens and a sophisticated range of lighting effects.”
Then he really gets going: “It’s not simply that AEG Read More
December 4, 2008
Famed for its revolutionary heritage, Boston also boasts some of the country’s most spectacular sustainable buildings and was the host city last month for Greenbuild 2008 under the highly appropriate title, “Revolutionary Green: Innovations for Global Sustainability.”
Each November, the U.S. Green Building Council produces the Greenbuild expo on sustainable design and construction featuring educational sessions, keynote speeches, green-building tours and demonstrations. Greenbuild 2008 brought a record turnout (28,000 attendees) and a new program called Green Homebuilder’s Day focusing on sustainable residential design. Read More
December 1, 2008
While Americans were giving thanks last week, Mumbai, India suffered a terrorist attack that exposed ill-prepared emergency-response teams. (As reported in the Wall Street Journal, India’s Army commandos were armed with hand guns and scooter helmets, while terrorists had machine guns and grenade launchers.)
As Mumbai vies to become a world financial center, such security issues may deter tenants from pioneering green buildings such as the Cybertecture Egg (designed by Chinese firm, James Law Cybertecture International). Merging geometric sophistication with green technology, the Cybertecture Egg will Read More
