Santa Monica, Calif.–based prefabricated housing developer Living Homes has partnered with Philadelphia-based KieranTimberlake Associates to produce a new line of sustainable single- and multifamily housing units. The new LivingHomes Building System includes Smart Panels that integrate mechanical ductwork, electrical systems, and plumbing. The system for the “Expandable Single Family Residence” is already available in California, Arizona, and Florida for the low, low price of $215/square foot, not including transportation or foundation.
The George W. Bush presidential library and public policy institute, which is being designed by Robert A.M. Stern, will be located at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The project—which early estimates claim will cost nearly $200 million —will be financed by private donations.
A stone plaza recently unearthed in the Sechin Bajo ruins 230 miles north of Lima, Peru, dates back at least 5,500 years and is the oldest known urban settlement in the Americas. The nearly 40-footwide circular gathering site’s estimated age makes it nearly a millennium older than Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza.
The Italian newspaper La Stampa reports that Venice officials and engineers are planning to raise the city’s buildings as protection against rising sea levels. Piston poles will lift each structure up to 1 meter over the course of a month. Venice was flooded 50 times between 1993 and 2002.