The North Side Copse House is a country house in West Sussex, near London and was designed by the Ecologic firm. Since its inception, the project has been driven by the idea that a design of exceptional value may become a significant asset to the area where you are. The project therefore, has developed its entirety, from concept to manufacturing and technology systems and development of design solutions.
The symbiotic relationship with the site has been explored in the plane of the facade and structural design of the house. Passive design strategies have been applied to give the house a good potential for natural ventilation and lighting, solar access, and use of thermal mass and insulation. As a result, each lift has acquired a different setting, where the qualities of the façade varies in response to specific local stimuli. Read the rest of this entry »
So how did it all begin? Buffalo’s rise as an industrial metropolis has origins in the ambitious dreams of financier Reuben B. Heacock, who set out in 1827 to create on the banks of the now-buried Little Buffalo Creek an industrial precinct of prodigious scale, a water-powered mill district he hoped could rival the manufacturing areas of Lowell, Massachusetts, and Manchester, England.
The dreams did not come to pass, dashed by financial panic in 1837 and the progression of a new force about town: steam power, which made the canal’s power seem primitive and unreliable by comparison. But the effort was a spark setting off the development of large-scale manufacturing in the city. Heacock’s Buffalo Hydraulic Association, the private investment group that built the Hydraulic Canal from Big Buffalo Creek in Cheektowaga to Buffalo, furnished water power for a mill village the investors constructed that represents the seedlings of Buffalo’s industrial economy. Read the rest of this entry »
Did you know the largest manufacturer of small paper boxes in the world was in Buffalo? Consider yourself now in the know! The F. N. Burt Company, whose sprawling factory complex at Seneca and Hamburg streets churned out upwards of four million boxes a day, was one of the largest employers in the Hydraulics and one of the shining lights of Buffalo industry.
F. N. Burt, an innovator in graphic design, was one of the most respected box manufacturers on the planet. Renowned for the glamour and sophistication of its manufactures, the company experienced tremendous growth in the early 20th century that coincided with, as well as contributed to, the emergence of the stylized box as an advertising vehicle for mass-produced consumer goods. Its prodigious, 400,000 sq. ft. factory complex is entirely intact – every building it ever constructed on Seneca Street from 1901-1927 still stands, a miracle by any standard in industrial heritage preservation. Read the rest of this entry »
The history of the Hydraulics, Buffalo’s earliest manufacturing district, is about to get some national attention. Yesterday the New York State Historic Preservation Office recommended two applications, including the individual listing of the Kamman Building and a Multiple Property Documentation Form (MPDF) on the Hydraulics neighborhood, for nomination by the National Parks Service for the National Register of Historic Places.
With the recent passage of New York State’s Enhanced Historic Tax Credit Program, providing tax credits of up to 40% of the costs of rehabilitating heritage structures, the event is a watershed moment in the ongoing development and economic revitalization of the Hydraulics.
The Kamman Building, 755-757 Seneca, is now well on its way to listing on the National Register of Historic Places, making it eligible for historic tax credits being sought by Chaintreuil | Jensen | Stark to transform the structure into apartments and office space to the tune of $1 million. The Hydraulics MPDF (check it out here), prepared by Jennifer Walkowski of the Read the rest of this entry »
