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Tag: architecture

  • Roof collapse at house near Ohio State University injures 14

    Roof collapse at house near Ohio State University injures 14

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    Authorities say part of a house collapsed and 14 people were injured near The Ohio State University Saturday evening when people climbed onto a roof that was not designed to hold significant weight

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — Part of a house collapsed and 14 people were injured near The Ohio State University Saturday evening when people climbed onto a roof that was not designed to hold significant weight, authorities said.

    Columbus Division of Fire Battalion Chief Steve Martin said his department received a report around 7:40 p.m. of a roof collapse on East 13th Avenue and arrived to find the roof above a front porch had collapsed while the rest of the home remained intact.

    “The few people that were trapped, I believe, were probably unpinned,” Martin said. “It was like their leg was caught under some of the structure and some of the students lifted that off the students. So everybody was kind of out.”

    First responders initially found 10 injured people and eventually transported 14 accident victims to area hospitals with “various states of injuries” but they all were in stable condition, Martin said.

    “It appears the roof was overloaded with students,” Martin said, with estimates ranging from 15 to 45 people on a rooftop “that was not designed to have anybody on it, and it gave way.”

    The names of the home owner or occupants were not immediately available.

    The home is not on the property of The Ohio State University. The main campus in Columbus has an enrolled student population of 61,677 for the 2022-2023 school year, according to the university’s website.

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  • Vegas-to-California high-speed train gets bipartisan backing

    Vegas-to-California high-speed train gets bipartisan backing

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    LAS VEGAS — A bipartisan congressional group from Nevada and California asked the Biden administration Monday to fast-track federal funds for a private company to build a high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.

    All six of Nevada’s elected federal lawmakers and four House members from California said in a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg that they’re on board with a proposal from Brightline West to spend more than $10 billion to lay tracks. Trains would whisk passengers generally along the traffic-clogged Interstate 15 corridor.

    “This project is a major priority because it will make southern Nevada more accessible to millions of visitors each year,” said U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, the Nevada Democrat leading the group. “That means more people spending money at our hotels, restaurants, casinos, and small businesses and attending conventions, sports competitions, and world-class special events, which will boost our economy and create more good-paying jobs.”

    Brightline West is seeking $3.75 billion in federal funding from the Biden administration-backed federal infrastructure law. The company and the Southern Nevada Building Trades Union announced in recent weeks that union labor will be used during construction.

    “After more than a decade of working to find a pathway, Brightline West will be the first true high-speed rail system in America and will serve as the blueprint for how we can connect major city pairs that are too short to fly and too far to drive,” said Mike Reininger, CEO of Florida-based Brightline Holdings LLC.

    The lawmakers’ letter pointed to company projections of 35,000 construction jobs, 1,000 permanent jobs and the diversion of “millions of automobile users from I-15 onto a faster, more efficient, zero-emission transportation option.”

    Amtrak passenger service to Las Vegas ended in 1997 with the demise of a train called the Desert Wind. The concept of building a bullet train through the Mojave Desert dates to at least 2005 under various names. It has seen starts and stops over the years and became sidetracked during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Brightline is the only privately owned and operated intercity passenger railroad in the United States. In Florida, Brightline West’s sister company began sharing the Florida East Coast freight line between Miami and West Palm Beach in 2014 and is building an extension to Orlando. High-speed trains running through urban areas have drawn criticism for numerous crashes with vehicles at rail crossings. Investigators found none of the deaths were the railroad’s fault, determining that many were suicides or drivers or pedestrians trying to beat the trains.

    Other places where high-speed trains have been proposed include the 240 miles (386 kilometers) from Dallas to Houston in Texas, and a 500-mile (805-kilometer) system linking Los Angeles and San Francisco. Completion of the California line depends on funding and other unknowns.

    The Mojave Desert is largely open space, and a Brightline West trip might cut a more than four-hour trip in half. Trains carrying 500 passengers at speeds of nearly 200 mph (322 kph) would connect Las Vegas, Victorville, California, and Rancho Cucamonga — a city in San Bernardino County with a passenger station on a suburban Los Angeles light rail line.

    Nevada’s senior U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat, and the four House members including Republican Mark Amodei signed the letter seeking federal-state partnership funding through the Federal Railroad Administration’s Intercity Rail Grant Program.

    California Democratic House members Nanette Barragán and Jimmy Gomez from the Los Angeles area and John Garamendi of the East Bay area signed on, along with Republican Jay Obernolte, who represents the Victorville and San Bernardino County area.

    Traffic jams on Interstate 15 often stretch 15 miles (24 kilometers) or more near the Nevada-California line as motorists return to the Los Angeles area after weekend and holiday travel.

    “This bipartisan delegation from Nevada and California are pleased to support the federal resources necessary to develop essential transportation access between this highly trafficked corridor,” the lawmakers said.

    ___

    This story has been updated to correct that Amtrak service to Las Vegas ended in 1997, not 1991.

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  • A 3D-printing company is preparing to build on the lunar surface. But first, a moonshot at home

    A 3D-printing company is preparing to build on the lunar surface. But first, a moonshot at home

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    Jason Ballard, the CEO and co-founder of 3D printing architecture company ICON, doesn’t mince his words. “There are certain people who are content to build a really ugly or uninspiring world,” he said. “We’re not. The day I walk outside and see something ugly being built by one of my robots — that’s a nightmare scenario for me.”

    Ballard, a quick-talking Texan in a 10-gallon hat, has a vision for the future of architecture. Others are buying into it. Since launching in 2017, Austin-based ICON has received close to half a billion dollars in funding, won a contract with NASA and paired up with influential architects like Bjarke Ingels. If all goes according to plan, ICON will be building on the moon before the end of the decade.

    But first, the CEO wanted to discuss a moonshot much closer to home.

    ICON made its name creating houses using a high strength concrete it calls “Lavacrete,” printed in layers to form walls. A large machine ICON named the “Vulcan” does the printing, fed by an on-site mixing system dubbed “Magma.”

    The company’s first house was unveiled in 2018, and since then its operations have scaled up, from a collection of six homes in 2020 to a 100-home community north of Austin currently under construction (the largest printed community in the US). At each stage, the footprint of properties has increased, from 350 square feet to over 2,000 square feet, as the technology has advanced and 3D-printed homes have moved from prototype to novelty to relatively mainstream.

    ICON’s award-winning “House Zero” was printed in less than two weeks and designed to push the boundaries of sustainability, say the company. Credit: Casey Dunn/ICON

    A thread running through ICON’s work is building homes for disadvantaged people, including accommodation for the long-term homeless, often in collaboration with non-profits. Creating affordable housing is also an objective, which led the company to launch design competition Initiative 99 last month.

    Initiative 99 seeks submissions for homes that can be 3D-printed for $99,000 or less. Ballard described it as “a call to arms for the global architecture and design community” to get to grips with “one of the most pressing industries in need of a rethink.”

    A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2021 found about half of Americans reported affordable housing was a “major problem” in their area. One estimate from late 2020 calculated the US had a housing supply deficit of 3.8 million units.

    Peggy Bailey is vice president of housing and income security at progressive US think tank the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Bailey explained that in the US, many people struggle to pay for their accommodation. “Even before the pandemic and economic downturn, 23 million people lived in 11 million low-income households that paid more than 50% of their income for rent,” she told CNN via email.

    “Innovative ways to build housing are a promising step toward creating more affordable housing,” she added, while cautioning, “the housing affordability crisis isn’t due to a single issue or event. Multifaceted problems require multifaceted solutions.”

    Wolf Ranch, a 100-home community north of Austin, Texas, is under construction and will be the largest 3D-printed housing project in the US.

    Wolf Ranch, a 100-home community north of Austin, Texas, is under construction and will be the largest 3D-printed housing project in the US. Credit: Lennar/ICON

    The idea for Initiative 99 came from an internal exercise ICON has run every six months for the past five years, to see what can be constructed for $99,000 with the technology available. “This year we hit an inflection point,” said Ballard. “The results were very compelling. It immediately dawned on all of us (that) we’ve got to tell everybody about this.”

    The ICON CEO said Initiative 99’s $1 million prize fund will be the largest ever for an affordable housing competition. The competition will launch on May 23 and run for a year, with stages for concept development, schematic design and design development. There will be multiple winners and their designs will be built by ICON.

    Ballard hopes the competition receives entries tailored to meet cultures and contexts around the world, addressing specific needs and challenges.

    Bailey suggested the success of 3D-printed housing could hinge on how it is perceived by prospective residents. “One thing to keep in mind with any innovation in housing development, including 3D-development … is that the housing must fit in the rental market and be of the quality and style that any person would want to live in,” she said.

    Off-world R&D

    Ballard said all ICON’s projects feed into one another: for example, the systems monitoring and support software it will use in the Initiative 99 homes was developed as part of its Project Olympus initiative, which is investigating building 3D-printed structures on the moon.

    Lunar concept designs, created in collaboration with Bjarke Ingles Group, were released in 2020, and in November 2022 ICON was awarded a $57 million contract by NASA, which will culminate in testing on the moon.

    Instead of Lavacrete, ICON is experimenting with using lunar regolith, the mineral-rich dust and rock that covers the moon’s surface. The regolith can be melted with a laser and turned into a ceramic-like material that is hard, durable and radiation-absorbing, explained Ballard.

    Parts of the construction system have been tested in a vacuum, and will next be tested in simulated lunar gravity, before being sent to the moon in 2026 or 2027, he added. The CEO stressed there are no plans for a lunar base yet, but ICON’s tests will represent a significant step in that direction.

    ICON's Project Olympus will see a construction system built by the company on the moon later this decade.

    ICON’s Project Olympus will see a construction system built by the company on the moon later this decade. Credit: ICON /Bjarke Ingels Group

    Some of ICON’s lunar ideas could find a civilian context too. Ballard is conscious that Lavacrete contains cement, which has a large carbon footprint, and said that ICON is researching ways to utilize locally sourced building materials on Earth that can compete with concrete.

    Patti Harburg-Petrich, principal at engineering consultancy Buro Happold, noted that some companies are already printing with materials other than concrete. The firm consulted on Mighty Buildings’ award-winning Mighty House, in California, which utilized prefabricated, 3D-printed composite stone material for its walls.

    She argued there was a strong case for 3D-printing’s sustainability credentials. “Oftentimes 3D-printed homes can be built faster and more sustainably when compared to traditional construction,” Harburg-Petrich said via email, pointing to a reduction in building materials wasted in construction.

    Achieving scale

    In recent years, there has been growing ambition around 3D-printing. Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, aims to have 25% of new buildings constructed with 3D-printing technology by 2030, and the city is home to the world’s largest 3D-printed structure by volume — a two-story local government office built by Apis Cor in 2019.
    The first multi-story 3D-printed building in the US was unveiled in September 2022, and the tallest 3D-printed building in the world is a 9.9 meter (32.5 foot), three-story house in Saudi Arabia, completed last November — both realized using printing technology by Danish company COBOD.
    Completed in late 2019, Apis Cor created the walls for what is currently largest 3D-printed building in the world by volume of material. It was formed with a mobile 3D printer and designed to withstand harsh climatic conditions.

    Completed in late 2019, Apis Cor created the walls for what is currently largest 3D-printed building in the world by volume of material. It was formed with a mobile 3D printer and designed to withstand harsh climatic conditions. Credit: Apis Cor

    COBOD is responsible for what it claims is the tallest 3D-printed building in the world, a three-story house in Saudi Arabia.

    COBOD is responsible for what it claims is the tallest 3D-printed building in the world, a three-story house in Saudi Arabia. Credit: COBOD

    Ballard says ICON is also planning to print multi-story buildings, and has triplex and quadplex designs in the works. ICON is developing the next generation of its Vulcan printing system, capable of building much bigger projects, Ballard said, adding that the company aims to eventually create a system in which three or four machines can be operated by a single person. “You should expect it to be a lot faster, you should expect it to be a lot more autonomous,” he added.

    This thinking comes as the design and construction sectors in the US face a skilled labor shortage, noted Harburg-Petrich. Along with more affordable and transportable 3D-printing systems, in the future, “we also need a workforce that is adaptable to 3D-printed construction technology,” she said.

    The next generation of ICON's Vulcan printing system is in development.

    The next generation of ICON’s Vulcan printing system is in development. Credit: ICON

    3D-construction at scale, with an emphasis on affordable housing, is where Ballard wants to take ICON. In the case of Initiative 99, the winning designs will be released for free, meaning anyone with the tools can create the houses themselves.

    “I feel like the future can be amazing,” said Ballard. “But I’m also haunted by this understanding of history and human behavior, because it’s not guaranteed to be amazing. We have to make it so. And we’re going to have to take some risks to make it so.”

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  • Jury holds key to fate of $1 billion transmission project

    Jury holds key to fate of $1 billion transmission project

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    PORTLAND, Maine — A battle over a $1 billion transmission line that won all regulatory approvals only to be rebuked by state residents in a referendum now comes down to nine regular folks.

    In a rare move, a jury is being asked to decide a complicated constitutional matter — whether developers have a vested right to complete the 145-mile (233-kilometer) project, which would supply Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid.

    The constitutionality of the statewide referendum on the project depends on the jury’s decision on the narrow vested-rights issue. And the case could turn on a simple majority of jurors.

    “We’re not aware of a similar instance in which the fate of a large energy asset rests in the hands of a jury. This is an unusual circumstance,” Timothy Fox, vice president of Clear View Partners, an energy research firm in Washington, D.C., said before the trial began Monday.

    The courtroom was packed Monday.

    Attorneys for groups opposed to the project and the state attorney general’s office, which is charged with upholding the referendum, suggested to jurors on Monday that developers rushed construction with a goal of winning vested rights and nullifying the referendum.

    But John Aromando, the lawyer for the developers, said the construction schedule was put in place years earlier, and that the case is “about fundamental fairness, about vested rights, about protection of property rights against retroactive laws.”

    Last year, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court breathed new life into the stalled project when it ruled the retroactive nature of the statewide vote to stop the project would violate the developers’ constitutional rights if substantial construction already had begun in good faith before the referendum. Construction started in January 2021, about 10 months before the referendum in which 59% of voters rejected the project.

    Justice Michael A. Duddy could have made the fact-finding determination himself. But he ruled in favor of project opponents, including the Natural Resources Council of Maine, who asked for a jury to make the determination. The judge seated nine jurors and two alternates.

    Central Maine Power’s parent company and Hydro Quebec teamed up on New England Clean Energy Connect, which was unveiled in 2017 with a goal of supplying up to 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid. That is enough electricity for 1 million homes.

    It’s one of two proposed large-scale transmission projects aimed at tapping hydropower from Quebec. The other would provide electricity to New York City.

    Early on, developers envisioned smooth sailing because the transmission path would mostly follow existing corridors, with only a new 53-mile (85-kilometer) section crossing sparely populated woods to reach the Canadian border.

    But the project encountered opposition each step of the way even as it received all necessary regulatory approvals. Developers already had begun cutting trees and setting poles for months when the governor asked for work to be suspended after voters rejected the project in November 2021.

    Supporters say bold projects such as this one, funded by ratepayers in Massachusetts, are necessary to battle climate change and introduce additional electricity into a region that is heavily reliant on natural gas, which can cause spikes in energy costs.

    Critics say the project’s environmental benefits are overstated — and that it would harm the woodlands in western Maine.

    In Maine, two lawsuits over the project went before the Supreme Judicial Court, which ultimately upheld a lease for a 1-mile portion of the proposed power line that crossed state land.

    The constitutional issue will likely end up back before the Supreme Judicial Court regardless of the outcome of the judge’s decision after the jury trial.

    ___

    This story has been corrected to show the attorney’s name is John Aromando, not Armando.

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  • Jury holds key to fate of $1 billion transmission project

    Jury holds key to fate of $1 billion transmission project

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    PORTLAND, Maine — A battle over a $1 billion transmission line that won all regulatory approvals only to be rebuked by state residents in a referendum now comes down to nine regular folks.

    In a rare move, a jury is being asked to decide a complicated constitutional matter — whether developers have a vested right to complete the 145-mile (233-kilometer) project, which would supply Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid.

    The constitutionality of the statewide referendum on the project depends on the jury’s decision on the narrow vested-rights issue. And the case could turn on a simple majority of jurors.

    “We’re not aware of a similar instance in which the fate of a large energy asset rests in the hands of a jury. This is an unusual circumstance,” Timothy Fox, vice president of Clear View Partners, an energy research firm in Washington, D.C., said before the trial began Monday.

    The courtroom was packed Monday.

    Attorneys for groups opposed to the project and the state attorney general’s office, which is charged with upholding the referendum, suggested to jurors on Monday that developers rushed construction with a goal of winning vested rights and nullifying the referendum.

    But John Aromando, the lawyer for the developers, said the construction schedule was put in place years earlier, and that the case is “about fundamental fairness, about vested rights, about protection of property rights against retroactive laws.”

    Last year, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court breathed new life into the stalled project when it ruled the retroactive nature of the statewide vote to stop the project would violate the developers’ constitutional rights if substantial construction already had begun in good faith before the referendum. Construction started in January 2021, about 10 months before the referendum in which 59% of voters rejected the project.

    Justice Michael A. Duddy could have made the fact-finding determination himself. But he ruled in favor of project opponents, including the Natural Resources Council of Maine, who asked for a jury to make the determination. The judge seated nine jurors and two alternates.

    Central Maine Power’s parent company and Hydro Quebec teamed up on New England Clean Energy Connect, which was unveiled in 2017 with a goal of supplying up to 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid. That is enough electricity for 1 million homes.

    It’s one of two proposed large-scale transmission projects aimed at tapping hydropower from Quebec. The other would provide electricity to New York City.

    Early on, developers envisioned smooth sailing because the transmission path would mostly follow existing corridors, with only a new 53-mile (85-kilometer) section crossing sparely populated woods to reach the Canadian border.

    But the project encountered opposition each step of the way even as it received all necessary regulatory approvals. Developers already had begun cutting trees and setting poles for months when the governor asked for work to be suspended after voters rejected the project in November 2021.

    Supporters say bold projects such as this one, funded by ratepayers in Massachusetts, are necessary to battle climate change and introduce additional electricity into a region that is heavily reliant on natural gas, which can cause spikes in energy costs.

    Critics say the project’s environmental benefits are overstated — and that it would harm the woodlands in western Maine.

    In Maine, two lawsuits over the project went before the Supreme Judicial Court, which ultimately upheld a lease for a 1-mile portion of the proposed power line that crossed state land.

    The constitutional issue will likely end up back before the Supreme Judicial Court regardless of the outcome of the judge’s decision after the jury trial.

    ___

    This story has been corrected to show the attorney’s name is John Aromando, not Armando.

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  • Dreaming of summer in the backyard or patio? Create an oasis

    Dreaming of summer in the backyard or patio? Create an oasis

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    A relaxing retreat just steps from the back door? Count us all in.

    Outdoor home spaces serve a lot of functions, but Soothing Refuge is one that designers say is in high demand. Aromatic plantings. Romantic arbors. A meandering path. A yoga platform. Pergola daybeds. Prefab saunas. Plunge Pools. An outdoor shower. And comfortable furniture that can stand up to the weather.

    “The outdoor living trend has been building for the last decade, but it got a major bump during the pandemic, ” said Dan DiClerico, home improvement and outdoor director for the Good Housekeeping Institute.

    In response, manufacturers have made “huge investments in products and materials geared towards outdoor living” year-round, he said.

    SEAMLESS TRANSITION

    There can be comfort and ease in keeping a flow between indoors and outdoors. DiClerico calls spaces that straddle that line “transition rooms.”

    He spent much of the pandemic renovating his back terrace in Brooklyn, New York. Deck tiles laid on the diagonal echo the home’s parquet floors inside, and a folding door system (his is from NanaWall ) creates a seamless flow.

    “When the doors are open wide,” DiClerico says, “the two spaces become one.”

    Interior designer Anna Popov is also using folding glass walls in a client’s home, for a double-sided fireplace surrounded by indoor and outdoor seating.

    WEATHER-FRIENDLY STYLE

    And outdoor seating can by cozy. Durable materials and new tech have made for weather-hardy furniture that looks just like interior stuff.

    A few examples: Room & Board’s Rayo outdoor sofas are made of sturdy, recycled, high-density polypropylene, with cushions covered in performance fabrics. Their modern silhouette takes them about as far from a folding aluminum lawn chair as you can get. Article and Homary have sectionals with built-in side tables and convertible lounge features.

    Annie Selke’s new collection of fade-resistant, scrubbable PVC rugs features snappy geometrics and bright plaids. Southwestern, vintage traditional and midmod motifs can be found in Ruggable’s washable outdoor collection. There are jute-look rugs that wouldn’t wear out as fast as the real deal.

    A permanent roof over an outdoor living area increases the number of months it can be used, and might merit the investment.

    As for more temporary shade, pergolas and gazebos in kits can be assembled by a proficient DIYer. A retractable, weatherproof fabric awning in a pattern that complements your outdoor furnishings adds an aesthetic and practical element. Or maybe you just prefer a patio umbrella.

    Heaters and fireplaces can extend the outdoor living season. Consider something beyond the standard pit style; Le Feu’s ovoid-shaped, steel fire vessels have a sexy ’70s vibe. Interiors maven Lauren Rottet has designed a dramatic firepit out of a pillar of basalt, and there’s a calming, bubbly water fountain in the same collection.

    ZEN AMENITIES

    Yoga platforms, hot tubs, Japanese soaking tubs and daybeds are more commonly found at resorts, but people are bringing the idea home.

    “These experiences aren’t just reserved for high-end clients,” says Popov. “There’s a distillation of these elements happening throughout the design world, as the value of home and comfort increases.”

    Don’t have the room or cash for a full-size pool? “One of the things we’re seeing more and more of,” says Apartment Therapy editor Danielle Blundell, is the addition of an outdoor tub or shower.

    “This feels a little more doable in a small space than maybe even a plunge pool,” she says.

    Cold plunge pools in particular have become popular with fitness fans, who find the water restorative. Among other examples, Redwood Outdoors makes a lozenge-shaped version, while The Pod Company makes a barrel-shaped one; both are portable, easy to assemble and off-grid -– just bring the water and a few bags of ice.

    And there are portable saunas that require just a hookup to electricity.

    GREENSPACES

    Romantic arbors, meandering paths and plantings can create a relaxing backyard retreat.

    “An outdoor sauna combined with the soothing nature of a sensory garden is a big favorite of ours,” says Popov, describing gardens “designed specifically to provide a tactile experience with scent and color, for adults and children.”

    Blundell cites interesting ways to create privacy, including salvaged shutters, wooden slats or greenery walls. With a tall planter of evergreens, microgreens, herbs or succulents, you’ve got privacy and added gardening possibilities.

    Plant lavender, herbs, jasmine and mock orange for a fragrant oasis; ornamental grasses, ferns and lambs’ ears add texture; wind chimes, a bird bath and feeder, a tabletop fountain and a gravel path will introduce gentle sound to your garden.

    “These little corners of calm are perfect spots for stargazing or starting your day off with a dose of nature,” says Blundell.

    —-

    New York-based writer Kim Cook covers design and decor topics regularly for The AP. Follow her on Instagram at @kimcookhome.

    For more AP Lifestyles stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/lifestyle.

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  • Once everywhere, Saddam’s image scrubbed from Baghdad

    Once everywhere, Saddam’s image scrubbed from Baghdad

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    BAGHDAD — Of his countless stories of his life as a hairdresser in Iraq, the one Qaiss al-Sharaa most enjoys retelling is about the day April 9, 2003, when he watched Iraqis and American Marines pull down the statue of Saddam Hussein in front of his salon in Baghdad’s Firdos Square.

    The 12-meter (39-foot) statue of the Iraqi dictator extending his right hand had been erected just a year earlier to celebrate his 65th birthday.

    “There were lots of younger Iraqis from around the country with the American troops topping the statue — who naturally wanted their freedom,” al-Sharaa told The Associated Press. “The statue showed the face of a man everyone feared.”

    For the world, it became an iconic moment of the U.S.-led invasion; live TV coverage as Marines tied the statue to a vehicle to pull the statue down inflated it into a symbol of the end of Saddam’s quarter century rule. In reality, the Firdos Square statue was a minor part of the huge number of monuments and palaces that Saddam erected to show off his power.

    All his statues and images are long gone now, 20 years after that day. Many of his palaces and buildings have been repurposed for a new Iraq. But much of the hope that came in wiping away Saddam’s oppressive visual presence has also evaporated, burned away first by years of brutal violence and now by a wrecked economy and rampant corruption by the new political elite of sectarian-based factions.

    Firdos Square has been refurbished as a small park, funded by private banks. On a building towering over the square is a large mural of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani — assassinated in a 2020 U.S. drone strike — and Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. It is the sort of Shiite imagery that proliferates around Baghdad because of the domination of Iran-backed Shiite parties in the government.

    “This new garden that replaced Saddam’s represents the widespread corruption in Iraq today, underneath the nice greenery and fountains,” said al-Sharaa. He said that while he doesn’t miss Saddam’s rule he does miss “the rule of the law.”

    “Families are too scared to take their kids there, because drug dealers hang out there at night,” he said of the square.

    It’s not known what happened to most of the Saddam statue, but pieces of it were taken away by souvenir hunters.

    A group of young U.S. Marines from Utah in 2003 said they sawed off the statue’s right hand and intended to sell it on eBay. But it disappeared from their cargo as they tried to smuggle it home on their military flight back. All they have is the photo they took of themselves holding it like a prized fish. In 2016, a German antiques dealer said he bought Hussein’s left leg and then resold it on eBay for over $100,000. British journalist Nigel Ely wrote a 2017 book about a chunk of Saddam’s left buttock that he pried off the statue. He tried to auction it off for charity but didn’t get a high enough bid.

    Saddam’s policy of filling Baghdad and other cities with palaces and statues and portraits of himself “created this image of this divine leader,” Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House Renad Mansour told the AP. Saddam “needed to project power in different ways to remind the people who was in charge.”

    Some of Saddam’s signature monuments remain in place, largely because they had a nationalist meaning that went beyond him. Still towering over the Tigris River, for example, are the Victory Arch, an arch formed by two giant hands holding crossed swords, and two large turquoise half-domes called the al-Shaheed Monument, or Martyrs’ Monument. They were opened in 1983 and 1989 to commemorate those killed in Iraq’s war with Iran in the 1980s.

    The al-Faw Palace was built on an island in the middle of an artificial lake by Saddam in the 1990s to mark the retaking of the peninsula of the same name during the war. It was first used post-2003 as a U.S. coalition military headquarters called Camp Victory. Later it was turned into the American University in Baghdad, through funding by influential Iraqi businessman Saadi Saihood.

    Saddam’s presence can still be found on campus. His initials are etched on the walls and ceilings. The artificial lake is still stocked with a breed of giant carp that U.S. soldiers called “Saddam bass.”

    AUB Vice President Dr. Dawn Dekle said it was important to preserve the university’s history. “This palace belongs to the future of Iraq,” she told the AP. She now hopes the university can be a tool to retain Iraq’s youth after years of Iraqis leaving the country. “The generation that went abroad are wanting to send their sons and daughters back to Iraq so they can experience it.”

    Anything directly reflecting Saddam was wiped away.

    A day after the Firdos Square statue was taken down, Kurds pulled down a Saddam statue in the northern city of Kirkuk. They hit its face with shoes and celebrated the fall of a man who had brutally repressed their population, including a vicious campaign in the 1980s that Human Rights Watch called a genocide. That and other statues were replaced with images of Kurdish leaders, particularly Massoud Barzani, who led the Kurdish autonomous area in the north from 2005 to 2017.

    In Baghdad, the biggest Shiite neighborhood had long been named Saddam City. Saddam, who brutally crushed any dissent among Iraq’s Shiites, intentionally put a giant, colorful mural of himself in a main part of the district.

    In June 2003, Shiites thronged to a ceremony that formally renamed the district as Sadr City, after a family of prominent Shiite clerics. A replacement mural was revealed, showing Mohammed-Baqir al-Sadr and Mohammed-Sadiq al-Sadr, two clerics killed under Saddam’s regime for their opposition to his rule.

    They are also the father-in-law and father, respectively, of Muqtada al-Sadr, a firebrand cleric whose militia that battled the U.S. occupation after Saddam’s fall. Today, he is one of Iraq’s most powerful factional leaders, presenting himself as an outsider opposed to rival, Iran-backed Shiite parties that dominate government positions. Sadr City, home to millions of mainly impoverished Shiites, is his core stronghold.

    “Words cannot describe how I felt during that moment. It was like going from darkness to light,” Thalal Moussa said of the renaming ceremony, which he attended as a teenager. Now 37 and a contractor at the state electricity agency, he has seen those expectations of a better future frustrated.

    “Now unfortunately we have this corrupt junta that has controlled the country for the past 20 years.”

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  • No more room for vroom? Paris votes on banishing e-scooters

    No more room for vroom? Paris votes on banishing e-scooters

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    PARIS — The wheels may be about to come off Paris’ ubiquitous for-hire electric scooters.

    Zipping around the City of Light on one of them, wind in the hair, or romantically but naughtily e-scooting à deux on one machine when the gendarmes aren’t looking could soon be over if Parisians vote Sunday to do away with the 15,000 opinion-dividing micro-vehicles.

    The question City Hall is asking in a citywide mini-referendum is: “For or against self-service scooters in Paris?”

    The answer could doom a leading market for the swift two-wheelers that have expanded locomotion choices in the French capital and other urban centers and towns around the world.

    Scattered around Paris, easy to locate and hire with a downloadable app and relatively cheap, the scooters are a hit with tourists who love their speed and the help-yourself freedom they offer. In the five years since their introduction, following in the wake of shared cars and shared bicycles, for-hire scooters have also built a following among Parisians who don’t want or can’t afford their own but like the option to escape the Metro and other public transport.

    But amid complaints that e-scooters are an eyesore and a traffic menace, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and some of her deputies want to banish the “free floating” flotilla — so called because scooters are picked up and dropped off at their renters’ whim — on safety, public nuisance and cost-benefit grounds before the capital hosts the Olympic Games next year.

    Paris’ deputy mayor for transport, David Belliard, says the scooters have been involved in hundreds of accidents. He also says they are more environmentally damaging than walking or riding a bike or bus, and too speedy and anarchic in a crowded, compact and historic city where space is at a premium.

    They create “a feeling of overall insecurity in the public space, notably for the most vulnerable people, I’m thinking of seniors or people with disabilities,” he said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press. “There are a few benefits but what I see today is that the costs are greater.”

    Paris’ contracts with the three rental companies — Dott, Lime and TIER — expire at the end of August. Whether for-hire e-scooters survive in Paris beyond that will depend on Sunday’s poll that’s open to all of the city’s registered voters, including those from other European Union countries.

    “Whatever the result, we will respect it,” Belliard pledged. Hidalgo has promised likewise and said that she, too, hopes Parisians will vote against the scooters.

    Scooter critics say the machines are particularly dangerous in the hands of tourists who don’t know how to navigate Paris’ frenetic, honk-honk, get-out-of-my-way traffic and the many users who flout the rules and risk fines by riding two to a scooter and by mounting sidewalks, sometimes barreling through pedestrians.

    “I regularly, in fact pretty much all the time, see tourists riding them in pairs, people who often are oblivious to what they are doing, who aren’t in control of the scooter,” says Raphael Sicat, an IT manager who commutes on an electric monocycle to his Paris office. He says he often sees crashes involving for-hire scooters on his 40-kilometer (25-mile) round trip.

    Swiss tourist Ler Detelj loves the adrenaline rush.

    “It’s fast and it’s easy and it’s cool,” she said as she and two friends took scooters for a whirl from the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

    The three scooter operators say they transported nearly 2 million people in the city last year and that 71% of Parisian users are under 35. They’ve used social media influencers, some of them paid, and messages on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok in a get-out-the-vote drive targeting that age group. They are also offering a free round-trip ride Sunday on their scooters or electric bikes to users who enter the words “Je vote” — I vote in French — into their apps.

    Garance Lefèvre, a director of public policy for one of the operators, Lime, says women and LGBTQ+ people value the scooters as a safe mode of late-night travel and that the two-wheelers have generally become ingrained in Parisian habits. The city has “really raised the standards for the entire industry,” she said, and operators have created “durable and responsible jobs.”

    “Paris has been the pioneer in terms of welcoming shared micro-mobility,” she says. “Paris would really be an outlier if it decided to put an end to the service.”

    ___

    Masha Macpherson in Paris contributed.

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  • Biden creates national monuments in Nevada, Texas mountains

    Biden creates national monuments in Nevada, Texas mountains

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Tuesday he is establishing national monuments on more than half a million acres in Nevada and Texas and creating a marine sanctuary in U.S. waters near the Pacific Remote Islands southwest of Hawaii. The conservation measures are “protecting the heart and soul of our national pride,″ Biden said.

    Speaking at a White House summit on conservation action, Biden said the new monuments are among the “natural treasures” that “define our identity as a nation. They’re a birthright we have to pass down to generation after generation.″

    Biden designated Avi Kwa Ame, a desert mountain in southern Nevada that Native Americans consider sacred, as a national monument, along with the Castner Range in El Paso, Texas. He also moved to create a national marine sanctuary in U.S. waters around the Pacific Remote Islands.

    Conservation and tribal groups praised Biden’s actions, but Nevada’s new Republican governor slammed the monument designation as “federal confiscation” of Nevada land and “a historic mistake that will cost Nevadans for generations to come.”

    Gov. Joe Lombardo, who unseated the state’s Democratic governor in November, said the White House did not consult with his administration before moving to block clean-energy projects and other development in his state. “This kind of ‘Washington Knows Best’ policy might win plaudits from unaccountable special interests, but it’s going to cost our state jobs and economic opportunity,” Lombardo said in a statement.

    “Our national wonders are literally the envy of the world,″ Biden said in a speech at the Interior Department. “They’ve always been and always will be central to our heritage as a people and essential to our identity as a nation.″

    The Nevada site spans more than 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) and includes Spirit Mountain, a peak northwest of Laughlin called Avi Kwa Ame (ah-VEE’ kwa-meh) by the Fort Mojave Tribe and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The rugged landscape near the Arizona and California state lines is home to bighorn sheep, desert tortoises and a large concentration of Joshua trees, some of which are more than 900 years old.

    In Texas, the Castner Range designation will protect cultural, scientific and historic objects, honor U.S. veterans and tribal nations, and expand access to outdoor recreation on public lands, Biden said. Located on Fort Bliss, Castner Range served as a training and testing site for the U.S. Army during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The Army ceased training at the site and closed Castner Range in 1966.

    Together, the two new national monuments protect nearly 514,000 acres (208,000 hectares) of public lands. The Avi Kwa Ame landscape is sacred to 12 tribes and is home to rare wildlife and plants, while Castner Range is the ancestral homeland of the Comanche and Apache people, and its cultural ecology is considered sacred to several Indigenous communities.

    “To the native people who point to Avi Kwa Ame as their spiritual birthplace, and every Nevadan who knows the value of our cherished public lands: Today is for you,″ tweeted Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nevada, who sponsored a bill to protect the rugged region near the Mojave National Preserve from development, including solar farms and a proposed wind farm.

    “Spirit Mountain will now be protected for future generations,″ Titus said.

    Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said Avi Kwa Ame “holds deep spiritual, sacred and historic significance to the Native people who have lived on these lands for generations,″ adding that she was grateful to Biden “for taking this important step in recognition of the decades of advocacy from tribes and the scientific community.″

    In the Pacific, Biden directed the Commerce Department to initiate a marine sanctuary designation to protect 777,000 square miles around the Pacific Remote Islands. If completed, the new sanctuary would help ensure the U.S. reaches Biden’s goal to conserve at least 30% of ocean waters under U.S. jurisdiction by 2030, the White House said.

    The area to be protected is “larger than Alaska and Colorado put together,″ Biden said.

    Biden’s actions come as he faces sharp criticism from environmental groups and youth activists over his approval of the huge Willow oil drilling project in Alaska.

    Biden has made fighting global warming a central part of his agenda and has pledged to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. But the decision on Willow has alienated supporters, particularly young activists skeptical about political compromise at the same time Biden is planning to announce his reelection campaign.

    Climate activists gathered outside the Interior Department on Tuesday to condemn what they call Biden’s “climate hypocrisy” and demand the administration change course on Willow. Protesters hung a large yellow banner that said, “Stop the Willow oil project” and chanted “no more drilling, no more drilling, no more drilling on federal land.”

    In Texas, the Castner Range monument “will preserve fragile lands already surrounded on three sides by development,″ help ensure access to clean water and protect rare and endangered species, said Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar.

    Fort Mojave Tribe Chairman Timothy Williams, who attended the conservation summit, said tribes throughout the Southwest consider Avi Kwa Ame to be sacred land. Biden’s creation of a new monument demonstrated his “commitment to respect tribal nations and our nation-to-nation relationship.″

    Under the leadership of Biden and Haaland, the first Native American Cabinet member, “We have a seat at the table and we have seen an unprecedented era and opportunity for our tribal communities,″ Williams said.

    The Honor Avi Kwa Ame coalition, which includes tribes, local residents, state lawmakers and conservation groups, said its members were “overjoyed” at the new monument.

    Biden designated his first national monument, in Colorado, last year. In 2021, he restored the boundaries for Bears Ears National Monument in Utah after they were significantly narrowed by President Donald Trump, a Republican.

    Biden announced other steps Tuesday to conserve, restore and expand access to public lands and waters, promote tribal conservation and reduce wildfire risk. The proposals seek to modernize management of America’s public lands, better harness the ocean to help fight climate change and better conserve wildlife corridors, the White House said.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Washington and Ken Ritter and Rio Yamat in Las Vegas contributed to this story.

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  • Design Association’s Top 2023 Trends Feature Wellness Design

    Design Association’s Top 2023 Trends Feature Wellness Design

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    The American Society of Interior Designers released its 2023 Trend Outlook and it’s clear that wellness design is not fading from the industry, even as most of us have fully emerged from our Covid home cocoons.

    Designers’ focus on wellness is also tying into client concerns about the planet’s well-being – which has an impact on resilience and comfort – and particular concerns about mental health.

    “Designers are responding to changing needs in their communities by creating new spaces or adapting existing ones to make a positive impact on places where people live, work, play, heal, or learn,” stated said Khoi Vo in the report’s press announcement. A quick round of emailed replies from designers and architects across the country shared their own professional experiences with these top-line trends.

    1. Mental Health Needs

    “Modifications can make interior environments more suitable and supportive for persons with mental health issues and can help aid in reducing environmental factors that can contribute to feelings of stress and unease,” wrote the association in its report.

    “Physical surroundings have a profound effect on one’s mental health,” declared Anna Popov, a Seattle-based interior designer. “It can look amazing, be glamorous, and cost a fortune, but how does it make you feel?” She asked. Popov cited the importance of maximizing natural light in the sometimes gloomy Pacific Northwest. “It is common practice in our firm to evaluate every design early on against very simple criteria: Does this solution allow us to maximize the amount of natural light in the space? If the answer is no, we pretty much automatically drop the idea because there is a better solution out there,” she added.

    Popov’s designs incorporate strategic window styles and placement, extensive skylights and accordion door styles, she explained. “This approach not only provides us with brighter and ‘happier’ interiors but also deepens our relationship with the outdoors. Which is another essential element for a person’s mental health.”

    2. Health and wellness remain top priorities in the built environment

    “ASID’s report identified a growing trend towards holistic healthy living, and interior design that addresses both the mind and body. New design choices can range from the choice of colors, lighting and daylighting, and the use of plants and natural materials to adding spa-like bathrooms and retreat spaces for exercise and meditation,” the announcement noted.

    Drew Lang, principal of Lang Architecture in New York agreed. “Using natural materials creates a tangible relationship between people and nature through design, which in turn enhances wellbeing. Materials like wood foster this physical connectivity, and we find our clients respond to the familiar warmth and comfort it brings to a home.” This concept ties into biophilia, which is the use of nature in the built environment, and is very much a feature of wellness design.

    Jessica Shaw, interior design director at The Turett Collaborative, also in New York, is glad to see wellness becoming a major talking point in interiors, she said. “It is also nice to see the conversation around the effects of color on mood. I tend to avoid any colors or color combinations that produce anxiety. Steering away from clashing colors and looking for cooler colors that complement each other are more likely to create a calmer, and more relaxing frequency in the space. While it can sound minor, these considerations can have major effects on the health and wellness properties of interiors,” she pointed out.

    3. Consumers want to protect the planet and are making sustainable choices

    “Consumers, including home buyers, are placing increasing emphasis on sustainability as a value guiding their purchasing choices, with increasing numbers of consumers saying they are willing to pay a purchase premium for sustainability,’ according to the report.

    “Clients are willing to pay for well designed, sustainable homes— we saw this firsthand in our Hudson Woods development, an eco-friendly community in New York’s Catskills, commented Lang. “The Hudson Woods’ sustainability story compelled buyers to purchase homes, and we’ve begun working on similar models across the country thanks to this reaction.”

    Shaw is seeing this in her practice too, she commented. “Clients have become more proactive in inquiring about materials’ ethical sourcing, manufacturing process, and negative traits such as off-gassing. While these were always considerations on the design side, seeing clients become more engaged in the conversation is evidence of an increased interest in being responsible consumers.”

    Sustainability and wellness design overlap in choices like induction over gas cooktops, LED lighting, and materials that don’t release toxins in the home to preserve indoor air quality.

    4. Designing in and for the metaverse is gaining momentum as a design specialty

    “Forward-thinking companies are already exploring how they might use the metaverse to engage with customers. Recent articles from design publications have urged interior designers to “get on board,” even going so far as to creating Metaverse design awards for interior and architectural firms to showcase their work done within the digital space,” ASID commented on this trend report conclusion.

    How does this relate to wellness design? For the millions of Americans who work from home, the metaverse provides an opportunity for more dynamic interaction with others around the firm and around the world. It also calls for a workspace that feels more personal and creative, enhancing the user’s enjoyment of being there both off-camera and on.

    Popov is seeing the trend in her practice, she shared. “The majority of our clients work at a computer, have virtual meetings, and want to have a lovely background which reflects their personality, interests, and hobbies. We are always taking into consideration the digital world we live in.”

    This means providing optimal lighting and factoring in the wall that will be seen on camera. “Having a background that reflects your personality and interests can be a great opportunity for connection and socialization especially in our remote work environments,” the designer noted.

    Conclusions

    The 25,000 member association’s trend report also noted an increase in office spaces being designed for neurodivergent users to be more inclusive and accessible. This trend is also extending to homes, as more Americans are diagnosed as being on the spectrum and people are rethinking their spaces to be more inclusive for neurodivergent members of their households.

    The report also noted more older adults ‘un-retiring’ and seeking hybrid work arrangements. “Workplaces are adapting to support a multigenerational workforce,” it noted. The same is true for many households as well.

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    Jamie Gold, Contributor

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  • New law allows anti-abortion monument at Arkansas Capitol

    New law allows anti-abortion monument at Arkansas Capitol

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    Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed a new law that will allow an anti-abortion monument to be built near the state Capitol

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed a new law that will allow a monument near the state Capitol marking the number of abortions performed in Arkansas before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

    Sanders’ office said Friday night that the Republican governor signed the bill that will allow the creation of a privately funded “monument to the unborn” on the Capitol grounds. The bill, approved by lawmakers last week, requires the secretary of state to permit and arrange the placement of the monument.

    It also requires the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission to oversee the selection of the artist and the design of the monument, with input from anti-abortion groups.

    A law Arkansas approved in 2019 banning nearly all abortions took effect last year when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the 1973 Roe decision. Arkansas’ ban only allows abortions to save the life of the mother in a medical emergency.

    Tennessee lawmakers approved legislation in 2018 allowing a similar privately funded monument on its Capitol grounds. The monument has not yet been installed.

    Arkansas’ proposal faced opposition from some anti-abortion Republicans who said it was counterproductive, and Democrats who said the monument proposal was divisive.

    Other monuments on the state Capitol grounds include a sculpture of the nine Black students who integrated Little Rock Central High School. A Ten Commandments monument was installed on the Capitol grounds in 2018.

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  • Lights out for Philly’s famous Boathouse Row, for now

    Lights out for Philly’s famous Boathouse Row, for now

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    The bright lights of Philadelphia’s famous Boathouse Row — long one of the city’s signature nighttime sights — are going dark, at least for now.

    Outlining a cluster of historic boathouses along the Schuylkill River near the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the twinkly lights reflect off the water and give definition to the unique architecture of each building. “It’s in some ways our postcard shot of Philadelphia,” explained Tara Rasheed of Fairmount Park Conservancy, as indelible as the Liberty Bell or the art museum steps in “Rocky.”

    Starting Monday, though, the lights will be switched off and taken down as work gets underway on a $2.1 million replacement project. If all goes to plan, a new, upgraded lighting system should be ready for the winter holiday season.

    The buildings store the long, slender boats used by rowing crews, and have wide garage-door-like bays that open onto ramps that slope down to the water’s edge. Many have steep roofs or Tudor or Victorian-influenced architecture, which are accentuated by the lights.

    Strings of lights were first installed along Boathouse Row in 1979 ahead of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Philadelphia. LED replacements arrived in 2005. Since then, time, weather and wildlife have taken their toll, leading to regular outages.

    “Wholesale replacement to a more robust and durable system made sense in terms of the budget,” said Rasheed, the director of capital projects at Fairmount Park Conservancy, a nonprofit that works with the city to support the public park system.

    Boathouse Row traces its history to the 1800s as Philadelphians flocked to the river for recreation and the city emerged as a major center of rowing. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

    Bonnie Mueller, commodore of the Schuylkill Navy, an association of amateur rowing clubs in Philadelphia, said Boathouse Row occupies a unique place in the city — while its buildings are individually maintained by the clubs that own and use them, collectively they form “a very iconic and important public landscape.”

    “We recognize the lights of Boathouse Row mean something to people, and we see that as a gift and a responsibility,” she said. “”We are incredibly confident and excited to get the project going and are looking forward to celebrating its completion by the end of the year.”

    The new, programmable lighting system will have 6,400 individual LED lights with 16 million color combinations — think Eagles green on game day — mounted to a custom track that will help protect them against the elements.

    A private donor supplied most of the funding for the lighting project, while the City of Philadelphia, which is responsible for maintaining and operating the lights, is contributing $600,000.

    While the lights are dark, clubs will be able to do building repairs on areas that were previously inaccessible. One club is planning a roof replacement, according to Rasheed,

    “It is so important for Philadelphians and for visitors alike to have this beautiful landscape,” said Philadelphia Parks and Recreation Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell. “It’s the image we think about when we think about Philadelphia. … We have to take great care to put our best foot forward and make sure the physical beauty of our city reflects the passions of our residents.”

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  • Taiwan chip pioneer warns US plans will boost costs

    Taiwan chip pioneer warns US plans will boost costs

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    TAIPEI, Taiwan — U.S. government efforts to shift production of processor chips from Asia to the United States will double their cost and slow the spread of their use in phones, cars and other products, the billionaire founder of the global industry’s biggest manufacturer warned Thursday.

    Morris Chang of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. said he supports U.S. efforts to slow China’s development of chip technology on security grounds. But Chang said he can’t understand why Washington wants to move so much manufacturing from efficient Asian sites to the United States.

    The Biden administration is promising tens of billions of dollars to support construction of U.S. chip foundries and reduce reliance on Asian suppliers, which Washington sees as a security weakness. TSMC is building an Arizona facility and plans a second for a total investment of $40 billion.

    TSMC has estimated chip costs in Arizona at 50% above its flagship production line in Taiwan, but the real level looks closer to double, said Chang. The veteran of Texas Instruments Inc. founded the company in 1987 and was its chairman until 2018.

    “Maybe it’s double the cost,” Chang said. “When the cost goes up, the pervasiveness of chips will either stop or slow down considerably.”

    TSMC said in 2021 that it planned to invest $100 billion over three years in expanding its manufacturing capacity and supporting research and development. It also is building a $7 billion computer chip plant in southern Japan with Japanese entertainment and electronics giant Sony Corp.

    Chang, 91, is regarded as the founder of the semiconductor industry that made Taiwan, with 22 million people, a global tech center.

    Processor chips are a sore point in U.S.-Chinese relations that increasingly are strained by conflicts over security, technology, human rights and territorial disputes.

    China’s ruling Communist Party is spending billions of dollars to develop its own chip vendors and reduce reliance on imports. Washington has tried to slow that by restricting access to chips, manufacturing equipment and design technology on security grounds.

    U.S. unease about relying on Asian chip suppliers has increased as the government of Chinese President Xi Jinping stepped up efforts to intimidate Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.

    The self-ruled island democracy split with the mainland in 1949 and never has been part of the People’s Republic of China. Beijing says Taiwan is obliged to unite with the mainland, by force if necessary. Xi’s government has flown fighter planes and fired missiles into the sea near the island.

    U.S. policy is “to slow down China’s progress in chips,” Chang said. “I really have no quarrel with that. In fact, I might say, I support it.”

    However, Chang said he didn’t understand why Washington wants to move so much manufacturing from Taiwan to the United States. He said U.S. officials don’t see Taiwan as a site for “friend shoring,” or using manufacturing in allied countries to reduce exposure to global supply risks.

    The United States accounts for about 11% of global chip manufacturing, according to Chang. He said that should be more than enough for military needs.

    “If it’s just for national security, it doesn’t have to be that high,” Chang said. “National security, defense (need) maybe only a couple of percent of chip manufacturing.”

    TSMC was the first foundry to produce chips only for customers without designing its own. That allowed smaller designers to compete with industry giants without spending billions of dollars to build a factory.

    TSMC has grown into the biggest chip producer, supplying Apple Inc., Qualcomm Inc. and other customers. TSMC-produced chips are in millions of smartphones, automobiles and high-end computers.

    ___

    AP Business Writer Joe McDonald in Beijing contributed.

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  • Roman shrine uncovered beneath graveyard in central England

    Roman shrine uncovered beneath graveyard in central England

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    Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be a Roman shrine beneath a former graveyard in the grounds of a cathedral in central England

    LONDON — Archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be a Roman shrine beneath a former graveyard in the grounds of a cathedral in central England.

    Experts from the University of Leicester said Tuesday that they found what appears to be the cellar of a Roman building and a fragment of a 1,800-year-old altar stone during excavations in the grounds of Leicester Cathedral.

    “There’s always been this folk tale that there was a Roman temple underneath the cathedral,” said Mathew Morris, excavation director for the University of Leicester’s Archaeological Services.

    “Until now, there’s been no way of being able to say whether there was or not,” he added, but the new findings reveal that “there is definitely a Roman place of worship underneath the cathedral.”

    Morris and his team believe the cellar, nearly 10 feet (3 meters) below the ground, was built in the second century. Several pieces of Roman pottery and coins were also found at the site.

    The Romans built a fort around A.D. 50 in Leicester, a settlement known as Ratae Corieltauvorum.

    The dig was part of a multi-million-pound project to restore Leicester Cathedral, thought to have first been built in the 11th century. The cathedral is now home to the tomb of Richard III, England’s last Plantagenet king and the last English monarch to have died in battle. He died in 1485.

    The University of Leicester’s archaeological team found the medieval king’s remains a decade ago in a Leicester city center parking lot. He was reinterred in the cathedral in 2015.

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  • Hidden corridor discovered in Great Pyramid of Giza

    Hidden corridor discovered in Great Pyramid of Giza

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    A hidden corridor nine meters (30 feet) long has been discovered close to the main entrance of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza, and this could lead to further findings, Egyptian antiquities officials said on Thursday.
    The discovery within the pyramid, the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing, was made under the Scan Pyramids project that since 2015 has been using non-invasive technology including infrared thermography, 3D simulations and cosmic-ray imaging to peer inside the structure.

    An article published in the journal Nature on Thursday said the discovery could contribute to knowledge about the construction of the pyramid and the purpose of a gabled limestone structure that sits in front of the corridor.

    Tourists ride camels in front of the Great Pyramids plateau in Giza, Egypt, in December. Credit: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters

    The Great Pyramid was constructed as a monumental tomb around 2560 BC during the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu, or Cheops. Built to a height of 146 meters (479 feet), it now stands at 139 meters and was the tallest structure made by humans until the Eiffel Tower in Paris in 1889.

    The unfinished corridor was likely created to redistribute the pyramid’s weight around either the main entrance now used by tourists, almost seven meters away, or around another as yet undiscovered chamber or space, said Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

    “We’re going to continue our scanning so we will see what we can do … to figure out what we can find out beneath it, or just by the end of this corridor,” he told reporters after a press conference in front of the pyramid.

    Tourists at the Giza Pyramids necropolis on the southwestern outskirts of Cairo on Thursday.

    Tourists at the Giza Pyramids necropolis on the southwestern outskirts of Cairo on Thursday. Credit: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

    Five rooms atop the king’s burial chamber in another part of the pyramid are also thought to have been built to redistribute the weight of the massive structure. It was possible the pharaoh had more than one burial chamber, Waziri added.

    Scientists detected the corridor through cosmic-ray muon radiography, before retrieving images of it by feeding a 6mm-thick endoscope from Japan through a tiny joint in the pyramid’s stones.

    In 2017, Scan Pyramids researchers announced the discovery of a void at least 30 meters long inside the Great Pyramid, the first major inner structure found since the 19th century.

    Art installation creates optical illusions at Giza Pyramids

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  • Paris Fashion Week highlights Renaissance art, eco-tanning

    Paris Fashion Week highlights Renaissance art, eco-tanning

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    PARIS — From Renaissance art to couture and celebrity interruptions, Paris Fashion Week shows continued in vibrant form — presenting the French capital’s final trends for fall-winter 2023-2024.

    Here are some highlights of ready-to-wear collections Thursday:

    GIVENCHY GETS FEMININE

    The once-street and urban Matthew M. Williams uttered a word not often heard describing his designs: Elegant.

    “Yes, I love elegance and the house is a very elegant house. It’s easy to find that way when you’re here,” he said following his fall show for the Parisian stalwart.

    Find it this season he did. Williams went back to Hubert de Givenchy’s DNA and moved in a more fluid, gentle and feminine direction than previous seasons. It was a fresh, welcome evolution from his harder-edged aesthetic.

    Menswear tailoring in black angular shouldered gowns and coats provided subtle contrasts against feminine touches, such as sheer chiffon that poked out underneath caressing a naked leg.

    Another sheer gown in pink chiffon with long fluttering train exposed hints of nipples and buttocks.

    “I love that breath of air and skin and fluidity,” he said. “There’s always a dialogue with both, but the women’s is much more feminine (this season).”

    Pieces were taken direct from the archive, such as a fish motif that the house founder once created, and Givenchy’s famed atelier made multiple couture garments including shimmering metal dresses, as well as evening gowns with off-kilter dropped or raised waists.

    Beyond the fashion, Williams — an erstwhile collaborator with Kanye West and Lady Gaga — brings with him the razzmatazz that likely helped him get the job.

    Jared Leto interrupted an interview with The Associated Press, exuberantly exclaiming: “Genius! Parfait! Beautiful. The best! And you can quote me.”

    CHLOE’S HISTORY

    Fall saw Gabriela Hearst growing in creative confidence with her beautiful and thoughtful Chloe display that riffed on the Renaissance.

    Inspired by Artemisia Gentileschi, the pioneering 17th-century female painter, flattering scooped out shoulder details, long thick statement coats and flared textured pants were among standout garments that felt at once modern and historic — emanating a quiet feminist power.

    The baroque musing was handled with subtlety. A giant A-line puffer cape in ruffled Elizabethan segments came in restrained and contemporary black. While harlequin-style gowns came in just three colors — black, white and muted red – toying with color blocking.

    The piece de resistance?

    An eye-popping multicolored tapestry dress with sporty straps that was constructed of fabulous paneled images. The tapestry was inspired by Gentileschi’s painting “Esther before Ahasuerus,” the house said, and made by Mumbai’s Chanakya International embroidery studio that provides hand embroidery training for women from low-income communities. Its vibrancy also evoked the Modernist paintings hanging above the venue at the Pompidou Center’s National Museum of Modern Art.

    Champagne-sipping stars such as Emma Roberts applauded from the front row.

    RICK OWENS’ DOUGHNUT

    For fall, Rick Owens traveled again to the ancient world, specifically to the former pharaonic stronghold in the modern Egyptian city of Luxor. Yet the lauded American designer-cum-philosopher said the misery of the Ukraine war also influenced his collection.

    “Times like these might call for a respectful formality and sobriety, with moments of delicacy as reminders of what is at risk and at stake,” he explained. Therefore, “clothes have been reduced to the simplest of shapes,” he added.

    Fall proved that there’s simple, and then there’s Rick Owens simple. There was indeed an ancient rawness to slashed gowns, draped asymmetrically to reveal bare skin, in the collection of black and disco sheen.

    A gargantuan inflated doughnut shape ticked the creative box and almost defied descriptions. It appeared in heavy rotation across the shoulder or on the front like a mouth devouring the chest. The shape also appeared doubled up in complex form in sequined violet and tan.

    It was an effective and eclectic fusion of contemporary art and ready-to-wear.

    Owens also deserves praise for his eco-efforts. The leather in this collection was prepared through “veg tanning,” meaning that only vegetal and natural tannins were used in the process of tanning and preserving the leather.

    VALENTINO PERFUME LAUNCH

    And where would Paris Fashion Week be without its parties?

    Thursday’s installment was for the launch of Valentino’s Born In Roma Intense fragrance, which saw armies of VIPs descend on the ornate Gaite Lyrique in Paris’ Marais.

    Under a décor of real forest branches, guests took photos of themselves in kaleidoscope contraptions, posed by giant strobe V staging, drank champagne and got made up by professional make up artists in preparation for a performance by Christine and the Queens.

    SHANG XIA’S SIMPLICITY

    The brand sometimes known as the “Chinese Hermes” among fashion insiders put out a wearable and loose collection for fall in pastels with flashes of black.

    Creative director Yang Li of the brand launched in 2009, which also boasts Hermes investment, has a simple and effective approach.

    Ties and knots created dynamic but gentle ruching in fabrics, alongside oversize red sweater-skirts that sported another skirt nonchalantly flapping out from underneath.

    Backless and heel-less pointed leather stilettos were one of many fashion forward moments in a collection that gained power from not trying too hard.

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  • Genos Center Foundation Announces Campaign for Genocide Art Gallery & Gardens

    Genos Center Foundation Announces Campaign for Genocide Art Gallery & Gardens

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    New Genos Center will use art to raise awareness, promote healing, and offer new perspectives on past and present issues, serving as a voice for marginalized communities.

    Press Release
    –

    Feb 22, 2023


    MALIBU, Calif., February 22, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    The Genos Center Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is proud to announce a capital campaign for the development of a multi-cultural art gallery, non-denominational chapel, and reflective gardens focused on eradicating genocides worldwide by founder and architectural designer Douglas Isaac Busch.

    Designed to raise awareness and education for genocides not only of the past but those occurring today in areas such as Myanmar (also known as Burma), China, Ethiopia, Iraq, Syria and South Sudan, Genos Center will serve as a space of remembrance and education. Curated exhibits will rotate on a six-month basis utilizing art as a powerful medium for storytelling. The center will collaborate with artists, scholars, and educators to create meaningful and impactful experiences for audiences of all ages.

    Utilizing eco-sustainable architecture, the building will incorporate sustainable design principles and cutting-edge green technologies, making it a model of energy efficiency and environmental responsibility. The non-denominational chapel and reflective gardens extend the open-air feeling of the architecture, allowing for spaces of calm reflection with drought-tolerant landscaping that create an enriching and enduring experience for all.

    Upon completion, The Genos Center Foundation will donate the complete project to an institution, foundation, or city at an agreed time along with an endowment that will maintain the building, staff it, cover taxes and other expenses where it can be sited in perpetuity, to maintain evolving exhibitions and offer a public park destination via the gardens. This plan allows the exhibit space to be continually changing and evolving as a destination for the public from around the world to seek out and observe the evolution of art, architecture, and landscaping.

    “Art has the unique ability to humanize the victims of genocide and bring their stories to life in a way that mere words cannot. We hope that by using art as a tool for education, we can help people understand the gravity of genocide and inspire them to take action to prevent it,” said Douglas Isaac Busch, founder, and architectural designer of Genos Center.

    With an initial commitment of over $1 Million, Douglas Isaac Busch and The Genos Center Foundation understand that every genocide matters. The first phase of the project will require $2M in seed capital of which 50% has been raised with a total of $30M needed for full construction and project completion. Funding opportunities are available at all levels, including capital and endowment. Additional involvement opportunities exist at multiple levels.

    Genocide, one of the most heinous crimes against humanity, has been a tragic reality throughout history. The Genos Center Foundation believes that through art and education, we can work towards preventing future genocides and promoting a culture of tolerance and understanding.

    “Genos Center will be a place for people to learn about the effects of genocide and its impact on humanity,” said Busch. “Through reflection, I hope that this museum will help to raise awareness and promote understanding and healing.”

    With full design plans in place, Genos Center is currently seeking a final location along with initial founding partner support from individuals, organizations, and foundations to help fund its mission. 

    To learn more about the Genos Center Foundation and how you can get involved, visit www.GenosCenter.org

    Source: Genos Center Foundation

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  • Why Pizza Hut’s red roofs and McDonald’s play places have disappeared | CNN Business

    Why Pizza Hut’s red roofs and McDonald’s play places have disappeared | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN Business
     — 

    For decades, bright, playful and oddly-shaped fast-food restaurants dotted the roadside along America’s highways.

    You’d drive by Howard Johnson’s with its orange roofs and then pass Pizza Hut’s red-topped huts. A few more miles and there was the roadside White Castle with its turrets. Arby’s roof was shaped like a wagon and Denny’s resembled a boomerang. And then McDonald’s, with its neon golden arches towering above its restaurants.

    These quirky designs were an early form of brand advertising, gimmicks meant to grab drivers’ attention and get them to stop in.

    As fast-food chains spread across the US after World War II, new roadside restaurant brands needed to stand out. Television was new media not yet beamed into every single home, newspapers were still ascendant and social media unimaginable.

    So restaurant chains turned to architecture as a key tool to promote their brand and help create their corporate identity.

    But the fast-food architecture of today has lost its quirky charm and distinctive features. Shifts in the restaurant industry, advertising and technology have made fast-food exteriors bland and spiritless, critics say.

    Goodbye bright colors and unusual shapes. Today, the design is minimal and sleek. Most fast-food restaurants are built to maximize efficiency, not catch motorists’ attention. Many are shaped like boxes, decorated with fake wooden paneling, imitation stone or brick exteriors, and flat roofs. One critic has called this trend “faux five-star restaurants” intended to make customers forget they are eating greasy fries and burgers.

    The chains now sport nearly identical looks. Call it the gentrification of fast-food design.

    “They’re soulless little boxes,” said Glen Coben, an architect who has designed boutique hotels, restaurants and stores. “They’re like Monopoly homes.”

    Fast-food restaurants developed and expanded in the mid-twentieth century with the explosion of car culture and the development of interstate highways.

    Large companies came to dominate highway restaurants through a strategy known as “place-product-packaging” – the coordination of building design, decor, menu, service and pricing, according to John Jakle, the author of “Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age.”

    Fast-food chains’ buildings were designed to catch the eye of potential customers driving by at high speeds and get them to slow down.

    “The buildings had to be visually strong and bold,” said Alan Hess, an architecture critic and historian. “That included neon signs and the shape of the building.”

    A leading example: McDonald’s design, with its two golden arches sloping over the roof of its restaurant, a style known as Googie.

    A historic 1950's McDonald's restaurant in Downey, California, shown in 2015. It's the oldest McDonald's still in existence.

    Introduced in California in 1953, McDonald’s design was influenced by ultra-modern coffee shops and roadside stands of Southern California, then the heart of budding fast-food chains.

    The two 25-foot bright yellow sheet-metal arches that rose through the McDonald’s buildings were tall enough to attract drivers amid the clutter of other roadside buildings, their neon trim gleaming day and night. McDonald’s design set off a wave of similar Googie-style architecture at fast-food chains nationwide.

    Well into the 1970s, the designs were a prominent fixture of the American roadside, “imprinting the image of fast-food drive-in architecture in the popular consciousness,” Hess wrote in a journal article.

    But there was a backlash to this aesthetic. As the environmental movement developed in the 1960s, opposition to the conspicuous Googie style grew. Critics called it “visual pollution.”

    “Critics hated this populist, roadside commercial California architecture,” Hess said. Googie style fell out of fashion in the 1970s as fast-food style favored dark colors, brick and mansard roofs.

    McDonald’s new prototype became a low-profile mansard roof and brick design with shingle texture. Its arches moved from atop the building to signposts and became McDonald’s corporate logo.

    Opposition grew to garish structures like this Jack in the Box in 1970.

    “McDonald’s and Jack in the Box unfurled their neon and Day Glo banners and architectural containers against the endless sky,” the New York Times said in 1978. They have been “toned down with the changing taste of the 60’s and 70’s.” And with the growth of mass communications advertising campaigns, brands no longer relied on architectural features to stand out –they could simply flood the television airwaves.

    In the 1980s and 1990s, companies began introducing children’s play areas and party rooms to draw families – additions to existing “brown” structures, Hess said.

    The rise of mobile ordering and cost concerns since then altered modern fast-food design.

    With fewer people sitting down for full meals at fast-food restaurants, companies didn’t need elaborate dining areas. So today they’re expanding drive-thru lanes, increasing the number of pickup windows and adding digital kiosks in stores.

    A Wendy's in 2020, an example of the modernization of fast-food design.

    “We have a lot of red-roof restaurants” that “clearly need to go away,” a Pizza Hut executive said in 2018 of its classic design. The company’s new prototype, “Hut Lanes,” helps to speed up wait times at drive-thru locations.

    The new fast-food box designs with their flat roofs are more efficient to heat and cool than older structures, said John Gordon, a restaurant consultant. Kitchens have been reconfigured to speed up food preparation. They’re also cheaper to build, maintain and staff a smaller store.

    But in the effort to modernize, some say fast-food design has became homogenized and lost its creative purpose.

    “I don’t know if you’d be able to identify what they were if they had a different name on the front,” said Addison Del Mastro, an urbanist writer who documents the history of commercial landscapes. “There’s nothing to engage the wandering imagination.”

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  • Visitors can see Florence Baptistry mosaics up close

    Visitors can see Florence Baptistry mosaics up close

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    FLORENCE, Italy — Visitors to one of Florence’s most iconic monuments — the Baptistry of San Giovanni, opposite the city’s Duomo — are getting a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see its ceiling mosaics up close thanks to an innovative approach to a planned restoration effort.

    Rather than limit the public’s access during the six-year cleaning of the vault, officials have built a scaffolding platform for the art restorers that will also allow small numbers of visitors to see the ceiling mosaics at eye level.

    “We had to turn this occasion into an opportunity to make it even more accessible and usable by the public through special routes that would bring visitors into direct contact with the mosaics,” said Samuele Caciagli, architect in charge of the restoration site.

    In an interview with The Associated Press, he called the new scaffolding tour of the Baptistry vault “a unique opportunity that is unlikely to be repeated in the coming decades.”

    Visits to the scaffolding platform, which sprouts like a mushroom from the floor of the Baptistry and reaches a height of 32 meters (105 feet) from the ground, begin Feb. 24 and must be reserved in advance.

    The octagonal-shaped baptistry is one of the most visible monuments of Florence, known perhaps more for its exterior, with its alternating geometric pattern of white Carrara and green Prato marble and its three great bronze doors depicting biblical scenes.

    Inside, however, are spectacular mosaic scenes of The Last Judgment and John the Baptist, dating from the 13th century and using some 10 million pieces of stone and glass over 1,000 square meters of dome and wall.

    The six-year restoration effort, the first in over a century, involves conducting diagnostic studies on the current state of the mosaics and intervening where necessary. Planned works include addressing water infiltration from the roof, removing decades of grime and re-affixing the stones to prevent them from detaching.

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  • UK man admits treason over crossbow plot against queen

    UK man admits treason over crossbow plot against queen

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    LONDON — A man who was arrested on the grounds of Windsor Castle with a loaded crossbow pleaded guilty to treason on Friday for planning to attack Queen Elizabeth II.

    Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, admitted to a charge under the Treason Act of intending to “injure the person of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, or to alarm her Majesty.” He also pleaded guilty to making threats to kill and possessing an offensive weapon.

    Chail appeared at London’s Central Criminal Court by video link from Broadmoor, a secure psychiatric hospital where he is detained. He is due to be sentenced on March 31 after the judge assesses psychiatric reports.

    Chail was arrested at the royal residence west of London on Dec. 25, 2021, when the queen was staying there. The monarch died in September 2022 at age 96.

    Prosecutors say the former supermarket worker from the southern English city of Southampton scaled a wall with a rope ladder and entered the castle grounds, wearing a metal mask and carrying a loaded crossbow with the safety catch off.

    They say he told a police officer “I am here to kill the queen,” before he was handcuffed and arrested.

    Police say Chail wanted revenge on the British establishment for its treatment of Indians and sent a video to a group of contacts “stating his desire to harm the late queen.”

    He had previously tried to join the British Army and the Ministry of Defense Police to get close to the royal family, prosecutors allege.

    Commander Richard Smith of the Metropolitan Police Counterterrorism Command said “this was an extremely serious incident.”

    He said officers patrolling the castle grounds “showed tremendous bravery to confront a masked man who was armed with a loaded crossbow, and then detain him without anyone coming to harm.”

    Charges under the Treason Act of 1842 are rare. In 1981, Marcus Sarjeant was charged under the act after firing blank shots at the queen as she rode on horseback in the Trooping the Color parade in London. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison.

    The last person to be convicted under the separate and more serious Treason Act of 1351 was William Joyce, a World War II Nazi propaganda broadcaster known as Lord Haw-Haw. He was hanged for high treason in 1946.

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