ArchWeek Residential 2009.0319

Thu Mar 19 10:05:42 PDT 2009

Dear Designers, Builders, and Dwellers,

ArchWeek Residential brings you housing news and analysis weekly 
from the editors of ArchitectureWeek.

In the 1990s, I had the priviledge of traveling extensively in Japan
on business, working with key leaders in the housing industry, among
others.  I learned to love the country's amazing blends of old and
new and the profound (if not unlimited) dedication to quality.

Perhaps that makes this BBC economic story especially poignant for
me.  I hope you'll be intrigued enough by this excerpt to read the
whole story, which winds up to a powerful ending built around some
evocative housing-related images...

	Living in America one gets used to the exuberant despair of the 
	economic crisis.

	Entire neighbourhoods ravaged by the cancer of foreclosure, the
	feverish ructions of the stock market, the high-pitched protests
	of politicians channelling popular anger, the low-pitched moans
	of Wall Street titans who claim to be more sinned against than
	sinning.

	Japan, by contrast, suffers quietly, stoically. The land of the 
	rising sun has, after all, been in it for the long haul...

	Small companies employing less than 300 employees form the
	backbone of the Japanese economy. They employ 70% of the
	workforce and they have been going to the wall by the hundreds
	every week.

	We spent a day in the Ota ward in Tokyo. This warren of tiny
	factories, "mom and pop" workshops and miniature residential
	houses is typical of Japan.

	The narrow streets are meticulously clean. Beautifully manicured
	trees stand next to ubiquitous vending machines. The tofu seller
	pulls his cart through the ward every Wednesday blowing his
	trumpet.

	Despite flat-screen TVs, broadband wi-fi connectivity and
	cutting edge technology, the place feels like an ancient village
	steeped in conservative ritual. Flowerboxes with geraniums adorn
	workshop fronts humming to the sound of electronic chainsaws and
	hydro-hammers...

Washington diary: Japan's recession
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/7951800.stm

Discuss online:
http://www.designcommunity.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24529

Residential Design and Building News
------------------------------------
Owners Skulking Away from "Underwater" U.S. Homes - Reuters, 2009.0318
http://www.reuters.com/article/gc03/idUSTRE52H00Z20090318

U.S. Mortgage Applications Spike on Refinance Demand - Reuters, 2009.0318
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE52H2O220090318

Uptick Doesn't Mean Economy Has Reached Bottom - Chicago Tribune, 2009.0318
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-wed-housing-starts-commerce-mar18,0,2385002.story

Habitat Adds Demolition to Its Mission - New York Times, 2009.0318
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/us/19saginaw.html

AIG's Minority Racket - Op-Ed News, 2009.0317
http://www.opednews.com/articles/AIG-s-Minority-Racket-by-earl-ofari-hutchin-090317-154.html

Stocks Rise on Homebuilding Data, Oil Climbs - Bloomberg, 2009.0317
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=atjt1jiU8GCk&refer=home

Single-Family Permits Rise 11 Percent - Wall Street Journal, 2009.0317
http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2009/03/17/the-biggest-surprise-in-the-housing-data-single-family-permits/

A Promising Miami Revitalization Project Is Stalled - New York Times, 2009.0317
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/realestate/commercial/18miami.html

Chinese Banks Mark Down Home Mortgage Rates - Trading Markets, 2009.0317
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock News/2225874/

March Home Builder Index Unchanged - Boston Globe, 2009.0317
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/03/17/march_home_builder_index_unchanged/

Housing Starts Increase in February, but ... - Sun-Sentinel, 2009.0317
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2009/03/housing_starts_increase_in_feb.html

What You Get for... $130,000 - New York Times, 2009.0317
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/greathomesanddestinations/18gh-what-1.html

House Builders Must Prepare for HIPs, Says National House Building Council - Property Week, 2009.0317
http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=297&storycode=3136323&c=1

In Cambridge, an American Novelist Is House Proud - New York Times, 2009.0317
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/greathomesanddestinations/18gh-cambridge.html

Georgia Ranked Fourth in Nation for Mortgage Fraud - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2009.0317
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/03/17/fraud0317.html

Weyerhaeuser Closes Two More Lumber Mills on Demand Woes - CNN, 2009.0317
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200903170959DOWJONESDJONLINE000360_FORTUNE5.htm

U.S. Housing Offers Hope for Economy - Reuters, 2009.0317
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1742106520090317

Apartment-Building Surges 22% in February - Market Watch, 2009.0317
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/housing-starts-surge-22-apartment/story.aspx?guid={80F733A0-B553-4D73-80C4-BA67E07CFBAF}&dist=msr_35

Getting Something Started in U.S. Housing - Forbes, 2009.0317
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/17/housing-building-ppi-markets-economy-inflation-auto.html

Canada's February Home Sales Rise as Prices Decline - Bloomberg, 2009.0316
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=akZuVLjf7cOs&refer=canada

Mortgage Deduction Loss Stirs Debate - San Jose Mercury News, 2009.0316
http://www.mercurynews.com/realestatenews/ci_11926282

S.F. Cottage's Demise Spurs Calls for New Rules - San Francisco Chronicle, 2009.0316
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/16/MN9F16F2IJ.DTL

Home Builders Remain Gloomy - Market Watch, 2009.0316
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/home-builders-remain-gloomy-march/story.aspx?guid={7C7A7C3B-6050-4803-874E-A81D33AFF326}&dist=msr_2

New-Home Construction Logs Unexpected Gain - Associated Press, 2009.0316
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hR39t6No8iR1-y3sNcYe3effD78wD96VR0LG0

Sustainable Mortgage Modifications - Center for American Progress, 2009.0316
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/03/mortgage_modifications.html

House on a Boat Now a New Yorker - Philadelphia Inquirer, 2009.0314
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20090314_House_on_a_boat_now_a_New_Yorker.html

Burlingame 'McMansion' Baffles Neighbors - San Jose Mercury News, 2009.0313
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11903803

Radiant Cities: Living in Your Car - Grist, 2009.0312
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/3/10/14135/3664

Late Frank Lloyd Wright House Up for Sale - ArtInfo, 2009.0312
http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/30798/late-frank-lloyd-wright-house-up-for-sale/

Palladio Awards 2009 - ArchitectureWeek, 2009.0311
http://www.archweek.com/2009/0311/index.html
	Victoria Commons at Sherwood Place is a small multifamily
	development just north of the Greenwich Avenue Historic District
	in Greenwich, Connecticut. Gardiner Larson Homes designed the
	five-unit townhouse project in Victorian and post-Victorian
	styles to fit into a neighborhood of modest single-family homes
	built in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Saving the Barns, before They Vanish - New York Times, 2009.0308
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/nyregion/connecticut/08barnsct.html

People and Places by Nancy Novitski
    http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2009/0311/news_2-1.html
	Kyu Sung Woo Architects in Gwangju, South Korea - USGBC in
	Washington, D.C., USA - TVA Architects and GBD Architects in
	Los Angeles, California - CUH2A in Atlanta, Georgia - Sverre
	Fehn in Oslo, Norway...

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Product News - Photovoltaic Cool Roofs
	 http://www.archweek.com/2009/0311/products_update.html

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Sun Microsystems Unveils Open Cloud Platform - Sun Press Release, 2009.0318
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090318005374&newsLang=en

Rekindling the Book - Metropolis, 2009.0318
http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20090318/rekindling-the-book

Autodesk Labs Releases Project Draw 0.7.9 - Autodesk Labs Blog, 2009.0312
http://labs.blogs.com/its_alive_in_the_lab/2009/03/project-draw-079-now-available.html

Autodesk Settles German Copyright Infringement Case - Business Courier, 2009.0312
http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/prnewswire/press_releases/national/Germany/2009/03/12/SF83008
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This Week's Quiz -	
	Imagine that you knew nothing about electricity and,
	when visiting your new home under construction, you
	asked your electrician to explain to you the term
	"electrical current." How would she describe this term?
     http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2009/0311/quiz.html

Architecture Answer - for last issue's quiz...
	How would you define "thermal lag factor"?
     http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2009/0311/answer.html

Classic Home 047 - Two-story brick house with by Olsen & Urbain
     http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2009/0311/classic_home.html

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Contents, RSS, and Surface of the Week - 
     Curved metal roofing (CR-022)
     http://www.ArchitectureWeek.com/2009/0311/contents.html

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	Home in Stockholm, by Daniel Golling
	http://www.architectureweek.com/2004/0317/index.html

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