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What are the challenges faced by architects designing education buildings? From the huge selection of entries into the 2014 WAN Education Award, we found that there were a number of themes running through the projects in terms of context, location and scale. The jury reviewed each project on a number of factors such as innovation, sustainability, originality, form and special quality. But the main points of interest were how the challenges of the brief were overcome and how the buildings enhanced the learning environment.
Our panel was made up of seven top industry players: Madeline Burke-Vigeland, Principle at Gensler; Peter Clegg, Founder of Fielden Clegg Bradley Studios; Robert Hopkins, Global Education Lead at Aedas; Joseph Tattoni, Design Principal at ikon.5 architects; Sarah Williams, Founder of S Williams Architects Ltd; Steven Turkes, K-12 Education Global Market Leader at Perkins + Will; and Benedict Zucchi, Director at Building Design Partnership.
From the longlist of 47 projects, the jury were tasked with selecting just six to move forward to the next stage. From these six schemes, a single winner would be selected as there can only be one winner in each sub category (completed and future schemes).
In alphabetical order, the six projects selected for the 2014 WAN Education Award shortlist are:
Abedian School of Architecture, Gold Cost, Australia by CRAB Studio
Located at the existing Bond University campus, this school of architecture was drawn-up with a sense of theatre, an approach often found in CRAB Studio university schemes. Jurors Peter Clegg and Robert Hopkins both commented that it 'looks pretty amazing', with Hopkins adding 'it's very original; the work with concrete is brilliant'.
Children's Culture House in Ama'r, Copenhagen, Denmark by Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter
This scheme claimed a place on the shortlist and captured the attention of the jury for the challenges overcome by Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter. "It's very playful and the design handles scale very well," said Sarah Williams, noting that the interior and exterior were both very pleasing. Steve Turkes also backed the scheme, stating: "The project…does not fall into the trap of an adult's trite idea of what a learning environment for young children should look like." Part of a larger regeneration scheme, Children's Culture House has knitted the surrounding buildings together to form a 'special' building that offers flexible spaces to children from 0-18 years old.
Departments of Law and Central Administration, Vienna, Austria by CRAB Studio
This CRAB Studio scheme is built on the long-held belief of practice founders Sir Peter Cook & Gavin Robotham that a lively and successful college building should have generous and engaging internal spaces. The Departments of Law and Central Administration boast a profile inspired by landscape formation and brightly coloured fins to counter the often grey Vienna skies. The jury were quick to highlight this project for the shortlist, with Clegg noting that 'it's full of fun' and Zucchi describing the scheme as an 'extraordinary thing, a brand new campus that is this extraordinary collection of buildings'.
Health Sciences Education Building, Phoenix, United States by CO Architects
Part of a larger plan for the University of Arizona, the desert-inspired building in the Arizona landscape creates an on campus canyon and 'fascinating spaces' throughout, thought Tattoni. The jury wanted to bring this project to the final selection based on it being 'iconic' (Tattoni), with Hopkins adding: "The copper cladding in the evening sunshine would look fantastic." A new landmark for the area, the building provides new resources for its students and a new community for the university.
John Henry Brookes Building, Oxford, United Kingdom by Design Engine Architects
The site provided the cornerstone for a new campus development and the opportunity to build something new for Oxford Brookes University. Clegg describes this scheme as 'a calm piece of well-knitted architecture' with Zucchi adding that 'it looks very spatially intriguing from quite simplistic elements. I like it'. The spaces inside are student-focused, bending to the needs of the inhabitant to provide a more dynamic learning environment.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, United States by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
This huge scale project made it into the final six for a few key reasons. Firstly, as Tattoni remarked, 'to be able to draft an internal public courtyard is very difficult to do'. The 625,000 sq ft development, dedicated to 'educating for justice', catered for a much-needed expansion by the institution which forms part of The City University of New York. Zucchi also made the observation that 'the handling of the sheer scale is striking in an understated way, inside and out. It's got the energy of the street and the gardens'.
We'd like to thank all entrants for their fantastic submissions and of course the jurors for their dedicated and meticulous evaluation of each project. Congratulations to the final six! We will be announcing the overall winning project of both the completed and future scheme sub-categories in a few weeks.
Faye Chalmers
Awards Manager


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Towards the end of last month we noticed the usual late winter/early spring build-up of Gadwall into the valley, following the rather low numbers present in the height of the floods. Gadwall are attractive ducks although they can be easily overlooked among larger flocks of Mallard, but seen well and at close range, the finely patterned plumage is quite beautiful. Gadwall feed mainly by dabbling on aquatic vegetation in their favoured haunts of open wetlands such as marshes, wet grasslands and gravel pits which have dense fringing vegetation in which they can seek shelter and refuge. They are often found in close proximity to Coots, which are able to drive more easily and access plant material from greater depths – whilst ripping up submerged vegetation they often stir up the bottom and release bits of vegetation that Gadwall can take advantage of – whilst doing so they have also been observed stealing food from Coots – known as kleptoparasitism. Coot numbers in the valley are also now starting to build up with spring passage and the return of local breeding birds, which may have also attracted the Gadwall back onto the site.
As well as Gadwall, Pintail are arguably one of the most attractive ducks to visit the winter floods in the valley, coming from their summer breeding grounds in Western Europe and the Russian tundra. They are slightly larger than the Mallard, and are much longer necked and quite small headed, they also have a long, distinctive tapering tail from which they get their name. With the advantage of a longer neck, they are able to exploit areas of slightly deeper water as they reach down to dabble for plant material, often in small groups or mixed in with larger flocks of other species. With a British breeding population of fewer than 30 pairs, up to 30,000 birds arrive in the UK each winter from late September, departing again from Late February and into March.
Numbers in the valley often peak from now into early March, as our resident wintering birds are joined by birds returning from wintering sites further south on the first leg of their return journey, which can see numbers increase from the usual 2-300 to up to 600, so it's a good time of year to get out and look for them. We have just one ringing recovery of a Pintail, a bird which was ringed on the 28th December 2004 near Ely, Cambridgeshire was re-caught at Thorganby Ings on the 18th February 2005, which reinforces this theory.
Lets not forget about the commoner species as well...with the LDV in the top three sites in the UK for its wintering Mallard population, it's been rather worrying lately that we haven't seen many so far this winter. However, on a trip to Wheldrake Ings recently we were faced with the sudden appearance of large numbers loafing on the recently formed ice, and huddled into the few remaining areas of open water. Around 1500 were present with a further 300 at Bank Island – we can only presume that birds had been widely scattered throughout the wider area during the extensive flooding, and now that much of the other flood water has receded birds have once again concentrated back into the valley.
The freezing conditions which formed ice on many of the smaller and shallower areas of water may have also concentrated the birds into more open areas of deeper water. Either way it was pleasing to see so many back in the valley, and the males were looking particularly splendid in the early spring sunshine. Mallard are one of the earlier nesters - some females will be starting to lay their clutches, with the first broods appearing on the Ings in late March and early April. However, with the extensive and ongoing flooding in the valley at the moment suitable nesting sites will unfortunately be limited.

subset: commoncrawl


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A cross-country move is not the same as moving to nearby town or state. A cross-country move requires a lot of planning in order to make it easier for you and your family. If you plan on moving, you need to start planning as soon as possible to ensure that things go smoothly. Here are
Author: admino
Despite the wealth of auto transport companies available to use, choosing the ideal company can be a complex procedure. To ensure that the company used is suitable to your needs, there are certain considerations that need to be taken into account. This article will provide information on the top factors to take into account when
Before you ship anything, it's wise to get a shipping quote. That way, you can find out what you're going to have to pay overall to ship something to someone else or to have something shipped to where you are located. There are a lot of websites that shipping companies have where you can get
You may have heard how easy it is to have your car shipped, but how much does it actually cost you? It really does of course depend on the distance. You would think that is the factor that would cause the biggest difference in cost. Of course, there are other factors, such as the type


text: So, I know that you ought to keep some of your hard drive clear to keep the computer running at top speed, and my 17" PB ain't got hd space or optimal speed by any means, at the moment. If I get space back, by deleting stuff, do I get that speed back? I'm thinking no, because the reason drives get problematic without free space is that they get fragmented beyond belief, and getting rid of pieces of data here and there isn't going to clean it up in that way. Not to mention, I've heard nothing good about defrag apps... anybody have any suggestions? Thanks. Now, I have to get a new drive, b/c I couldn't do with less than my current 40 gigs of music, now could I?


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Festival Guide
The 2016 Upstate NY Food Truck Festival is happening on Saturday, June 11th from 11am to 7pm in Ballston Sap NY at the Saratoga County Fairgrounds. We have a great lineup of trucks joining us for the event. Admission is free but there are a few rules. Beer is good and we'll have that too; beer tickets are available for purchase at the event. Food prices are set by the individual food truck vendors.


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Welcome to TSTC Forecasting DataViz
Sep 14, 2012 Print Article
Welcome to the new Data Visualization blog at TSTC Forecasting. The purpose of this blog is to share new work we are doing in data visualization and business analytics related to higher education performance and forecasting assessments. Some of the things we plan to touch on include data visualizations on performance outcomes (such as our first post), real-time job demand and supply dynamics, and discussion about both data sources and analysis related to workforce and economic development–the core focus of the Texas State Technical College System.
In our first post we will look at the student outcome performance metrics. While there are inherent data limitations in current records linkage methodologies, the data presented in these charts represents the most accurate publicly available source of first year earnings and placement rate data accessible today. TSTC is now working with the TWC to develop more sophisticated, accurate, and timely business analytics like these to better understand and manage program outcomes. The principle driver on this work is TSTC's new value-based funding model in coordination with the THECB by which a significant percentage of the TSTC's state appropriations will be based on the actual earnings outcomes of students.
We look forward to exploring this new field with our readers and fostering new collaborations with the data viz community.
Michael Bettersworth


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Peacocks (solid chocolate)
These are beautiful chocolates for special gatherings.
Milk, Dark, White chocolate.
Chocolates packaged with 12 disks (¼ pound).
Eiffel Towers
(6 inches high) - Towers are solid dark chocolate (64% cocoa), milk chocolate (38% cocoa), and white chocolate (30% cocoa).
Hedgehog Truffle
Our cute milk/dark chocolate hedgehogs with creamy smooth peanut butter are favorites with children and adults. They rest in a box for two.
Our caramel is covered with Belgian chocolate in a box of 4.
There is fudge and there is fudge...then there is de Rochonnet delights' fudge. Enjoy our fudge made with the rich European chocolates.
Chocolate Dipped Oranges and Apricots
Dark chocolate dipped orange zest and apricots (1/4 pound).
Bark Chocolate & Nuts
Layered dark and White chocolate with toasted almonds, cashews, pistachios and pecans (1/4 pound).
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Milk or Dark Chocolate (1/2 pound).
Chocolate Nut Clusters
Choose between:
Milk Chocolate Virginia peanut clusters (1/4 pound)
Dark Chocolate toasted almond clusters (1/4 pound)
White Chocolate Macadamia clusters (1/4 pound)
Candied Pecans
This is great for pecan lovers to eat. You can add them to your ice cream or other desserts.
Chocolate Almond Toffee
If you are a toffee lover then you will enjoy eating our freshly made toffee.
Chocolate Turtles
Our turtles are made with our rich caramel over pecans then drenched with milk or dark chocolate. We offer four turtles in a box.
Chocolate Tortoise
For the love of chocolate, caramel and pecans, we offer the tortoise (over 1 1/2 pounds) packaged in its own gift box. The tortoise is made with our rich caramel over pecans then drenched with milk or dark chocolate. Tortoise made on request. Allow 3 days prior to shipping.
Signature Chocolate Bars
Our Belgian chocolate bars are available in dark, milk, or white chocolate. Also try the dark chocolate orange and dark raspberry chocolate bars. Great for wine/beer chocolate pairing. Packaged with 8 bars.
Origin Organic Chocolate Bars
We offer chocolates for the true chocolate lover:
Tanzanie Dark Chocolate - 75%
Tanzanie Dark Valrhona Nips - 75%
Alto el Sol Perou Dark Chocolate - 65%
Packaged with 8 bars.
Chocolate Dipped Espresso Beans
A coffee lover's dream comes true with ¼ pound of Espresso beans dipped in dark Belgian chocolate (64% cocoa). Try our Espresso beans packaged with dark and white chocolate beans. The white chocolate tames the flavor, but still gives you that espresso taste.
Dessert Apples (Granny Smith)
Our Granny Smith apples are hand-dipped with our rich creamy caramel, smothered with dark/milk chocolate. Go nutty with the apples rolled in large flavorful nuts. NET WT. approximately 1 - 2 lbs. Serves 4-6. Pure delicious decadence for dessert.
Dark Chocolate with pecans, $12.00
Milk Chocolate with Virginia Peanuts, $12.00
Dark Chocolate plain, $10.00
Milk Chocolate plain, $10.00
Aztec Chocolate Spicy Rub
Aztec Chocolate Spicy Rub created by our Executive Chef Eric. Take your grilling up a notch! Chocolate infused with spices that will tantalize your taste buds. Great for chicken, pork, beef and even add the rub to your chilli.
European Hot Cocoa
This is a rich European chocolate cocoa drink, especially designed by deRochonnet delights' chocolatier for true chocolate lovers. This rich cocoa will satisfy your taste buds. The cocoa is eloquently packaged in a gold sealed pouch and you only need to add is cream or milk. The de Rochonnet delights' hot cocoa mix can be ordered with or without sugar (Splenda). The 4 oz. of cocoa mix will serve around 5 cups of the wonderful drink.
Cocoa with Sugar, $8.00
Cocoa with Splenda, $8.50


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Office manager Cora Kirkpatrick moved to Orlando three years ago, and she said she has been searching for a steady baby sitter ever since. She once paid a teen-age girl almost $5 an hour -- high even by today's standards -- to encourage her to become a regular sitter for the two Kirkpatrick children. But the strategy didn't work.
It's tough finding a sitter when you need one, Kirkpatrick said. Consequently, she has little time to herself. ''Socially, you just have to write that off,'' said Kirkpatrick, who added that she knows ''a lot of women who cannot get out'' for the same reason.


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The devolution of country music is nowhere more apparent than the Country Music Awards. What happened to country? What happened to the sound of the southern soul? All answers to these questions can be found in watching the Country Music Awards. There is so much more to watch and support in terms of quality television. Do yourself a favor and change the channel.
No, I don't think the Country Music Awards is the best awards show around. There are so many more shows, I mean even if the category was just awards shows, they wouldn't be the best show. Other award shows have Jennifer Lawrence in them, so obviously those are a lot better.
The Country Music Awards are not the best award shows around. By far the MTV Music Awards in my opinion take that title. The CMA's are good, just not the best. The genre of Country is an acquired taste. Not everyone finds them enjoyable, so to ask if they are the best, the answer would be no.
While the Country Music Awards put on quite an impressive show, country music in general is still plagued by a highly limited range of public appeal. Granted, the country music industry has done much in recent years to increase its appeal to a broader range of audiences, and this shows in the composition of the awards show. But ultimately the industry is still somewhat of a niche industry, and for this reason it can't possibly be the best awards show around.


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There are numerous reasons people put in the time to completely restore 1969 ford mach mustangs for vehicle shows and individual pleasure. Among the primary factors people spend a lot time, energy, and money bring back 1969 ford mach mustangs is the power that is consisted of in that specific mustang design. The engine upgrades that were available throughout the launch of the 1969 ford mach mustang for sale in Brownton MN changed the mach mustang from the average household automobile into a racing enthusiasts dream.
Production of the Mustang began in Dearborn, Michigan on March 9, 1964 and the car was introduced to the general public on April 17, 1964 at the New york city World's Fair. It is Ford's third earliest nameplate presently in production. After it was seen on television and in print it was wanted by every blue blooded American. Everyone wanted to be the first to buy A mustang in Brownton MN.Initial sales forecasts predicted less than 100,000 units for the very first year. This mark was exceeded in three months from rollout. Another 318,000 would be offered during the model year (a record), and in its first eighteen months, more than one million Mustangs were constructed.
Buy Vintage Ford Mustangs
All these were VIN-identified as 1965 designs, however several changes were made at the conventional opening of the brand-new design year (start August 1964), consisting of the addition of back-up lights on some models, the intro of generators to replace generators, and an upgrade of the V8 engine from 260 cu into 289 cu in. When it comes to a minimum of some six-cylinder Mustangs fitted with the 101 hp 170 cu in Falcon engine, the rush into production included some unusual quirks, such as a horn ring bearing the 'Ford Falcon' logo underneath a trim ring emblazoned with 'Ford Mustang.' These qualities made adequate distinction to warrant classification of the 121,538 earlier ones as "1964 1/2" model-year Mustangs, a difference that has endured with purists. Mustangs For Sale in Brownton MN are easy to find now with online shopping.
The 1973 OPEC oil embargo brought with it more stringent pollution laws and the desire for fuel-efficiency. This was also the first time in vehicle history that the Big 3 were needing to compete with imports. The new Mustang II was smaller sized than the very first variation however, due to the added devices required to meet new United States emission and safety policies, was much heavier than the very first design. Performance was reduced and in the first year only 385,993 cars were offered.
Second generation Mustangs for sale in Brownton MN were offered in between 1974 and 1978 and offered in a coupe and hatchback variation. 1979 the Mustang was redesigned a third time. This time it was based on the larger Fox platform and the interior was truly huge enough for four people. The trunk was larger and so was the engine bay. The body designs available consisted of a coupe, hatchback and in 1983 a convertible. In 1979 the Third generation Mustang acted as an Indianapolis 500 rate vehicle and Ford developed 10,478 commemorative reproductions. The 3rd generation Mustangs were produced from 1979 to 1982.