Key Principles, Characteristics and Applications of Resilient Design

In the face of these devastating natural disasters, designing resilient buildings has become more important than ever, tasking architects and developers with incorporating innovative design and building techniques that improve resiliency. But let’s start at the beginning.

Renaissance Square (previously known as Las Gladiolas Community Development) wins Multi-Housing News Excellence Gold Award

In a recent event hosted by Multi-Housing News and Commercial Property Executive in New York City, AD&V was acknowledged for its application of traditional architecture, one that is both aesthetically pleasing and respectful of its surroundings.

Public housing has a decades-long reputation for concentrating poverty, increasing crime, encouraging welfare dependency and causing urban decline.

One way the U.S. has addressed the public housing problem and sought urban revitalization is to replace low-income housing with mixed-income housing developments.

Has it worked? It depends on whom you ask. 

Study: Low-Income Housing Does Not Lower Nearby Home Values

For years, a common and strong objection to affordable housing development has been that it lowers the real estate value of homes in the surrounding areas. That, it turns out, is a myth.

Research shows that affordable housing does not have a long-term negative impact on nearby property values.

Natural disasters are catastrophic events that cause loss of life, extensive property damage and environmental degradation.

Coming back from such devastation is extremely challenging. Events like Hurricanes Maria and Irma demand we put aside our differences and usual functions to do whatever it takes to help each other and recover as soon as possible.

Disasters like these remind us of our roles as human beings and citizens. But what is our role as architects? How can we help?

This year’s busy hurricane season reminds us of the importance of complying with building codes that promote the construction of safe and durable structures. 

Strict, uniform building codes protect lives and mitigate property damage caused by natural and man-made disasters.

The increasing popularity of eco-friendly or green tourism is driving sustainable design in the hospitality industry to new heights.

Green travelers want to stay in green hotels, and eco-friendly guests are not likely to be persuaded to act against their values. Sustainable design offers environmentally conscious travelers a place where they can feel comfortable spending their time and their hard-earned cash.

High technology is revolutionizing architectural design, altering both the process and end result of a new breed of innovative architecture that is disrupting the industry and heading in unexpected and exciting directions.

Technology in architecture—from computational design to apps—has architects doing more than designing and supervising the construction of buildings. They are pursuing new horizons in design, chasing algorithms, experimenting with adaptability, robotics, 3D printing and reality.

Housing affordability is one of the biggest problems affecting our society today.

Some industry experts claim the concept of affordable housing itself is flawed. Many maintain it has failed because of poor management. Others believe that government subsidies are ineffective and counterproductive. 

So how can we help solve the complex problem of housing affordability?

Eviction Vicious Cycle Crushes Families, Communities and Entire Neighborhoods.

Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City," written by Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond, put the spotlight on the extreme hardships and trauma that evictions inflict on low-income families.

A new study by real estate website Redfin estimates that 2.7 million renters in the U.S. faced in 2015. This number is likely to come short of reality because of the lack of eviction data and because many evictions happen outside the court system.

How Other Countries Are Tackling Their Affordable Housing Problem

While the U.S. continues to experience a stubborn housing crisis, it could learn a thing or two from other countries that are managing their affordable housing issues more effectively.

Unaffordability in the U.S.

An increasing number of Americans are struggling to pay the rent, an estimated 2.5 million of them getting evicted each year. Evidently, government programs designed to help low-income folks get adequate, affordable housing are failing or not doing enough to put a dent on the affordable housing crisis.

Millennials are shaping the hospitality industry (not to mention the world!)

It's the millennial revolution, and it's all about guest experience, technological conveniences, and social media.

Millennials are unlike traditional travelers. They don't travel; they explore. They crave new, unexpected, meaningful experiences. Still, why should the hospitality industry cater to them?

Interior design is the key to strengthening your brand and your hotel guest's experience

A physical space is an excellent place to create unique customer experiences, make a memorable impression and spark an emotional connection with customers that will elevate your brand and influence their behavior.

Good interior design may seem like a luxury, yet without it, hotels, restaurants and others in the hospitality industry are handicapped. Strategic interior design can accomplish the following and more:

How to Use Tech to Enhance the Guest Experience

Technology is shaping hospitality design as hotels find new ways to adapt to sociocultural changes and personalize the guest experience. Smart features and gadgets—from dimmer switches to multifunctional spaces—are showing up in hotel interior design and redefining what constitutes a good stay.

However, hotels should avoid getting carried away when creating tech-savvy interiors. Not every guest wants to "plug in" when traveling. Some actually seek to disconnect from their tech-dominated lives. As always, balance is the key.

There's no quick fix for the affordable housing crisis, but we can begin to change that.

Housing affordability is one of the biggest problems affecting our society today, one that is difficult to define and even more difficult to solve—hence our current affordable housing crisis.

There is not enough affordable housing in the United States. For every 100 low-income households in need of affordable housing, there are 29 adequate, available units, according to Mapping America, a project by the Urban Land Institute's Assisted Housing Initiative.

Students need affordable housing too.

As more Americans seek the opportunities provided by higher education, and debates continue over tuition costs and student loans, universities and colleges are finding themselves facing another challenging problem: student housing insecurity.

Today, more students are struggling to find housing, with many ending up homeless or having to drop out. Young adults typically lack the financial resources, rental history, and credit required to obtain decent housing.

7 Clever Tricks to Serve Guests What They Want: A Delectable Experience

Before they prepare and serve food, restaurants must persuade would-be dining guests to enter and choose to eat there. The secret to a full house is to use restaurant design psychology to cater to the senses of guests and provide a captivating, authentic and memorable experience.

Guests' feelings and experiences are influenced by their five senses. Good food is not enough to keep them coming back for more, just as nice decor is not enough to entice them to return if the food isn’t good. Most customers are not aware of how restaurant design affects their experience, but they know how they feel in that space.

Decent, affordable rental housing is crucial for the well-being of individuals, families and communities throughout the U.S. and the world.

Rental housing has always provided flexible and diverse housing options for people at all stages of life. The housing market crash and Great Recession that began in 2007, from which we are still recovering, highlighted the many advantages of renting and the obstacles to home ownership, triggering a surge in demand for rentals in the U.S.

It is not enough to fill a hotel with nice decor and seating options.

With careful curation of furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E), an interior designer can create a unique and authentic atmosphere that keeps customers coming back for more.

Today’s hotel guests are sensitive to good interior design. In addition to liking or not liking the look and feel of a space, they respond to design elements that make them feel comfortable, inspired, happy, relaxed or excited, often without being aware of it. They also expect to find the comforts and conveniences they have at home when they are on the road.

America's older population is about to explode, and the country is nowhere near ready to meet the evolving housing needs of its seniors.

Driven by the aging baby boom generation and increased longevity, the segment of the population aged 50 and over is projected to grow about 20 percent to 132 million in 2030, with those aged 65 to 74 nearly doubling from 21.7 million in 2010 to 38.6 million in 2030, an AARP-sponsored report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University concluded.