Archinect - News

Estudio Atemporal completes tranquil home in Mexico forest to capture ‘grandeur of a woodland setting’

2024-10-31T10:15:00-04:00

Mexico City-based Estudio Atemporal has completed a tranquil home in San Simón el Alto, Mexico. Named Casa Cono, the home was designed for a young couple seeking refuge from city life, merging living, working, and leisure within the forest environment.

Image credit: LGM Studio

The design of the scheme was driven by a desire to integrate the home seamlessly with its natural surroundings. Each tree on the site was preserved, “elevating these natural elements as central figures within the architectural narrative,” according to the team.

Image credit: LGM Studio

As users approach the site from the access path, the home is designed to appear as resting lightly on the land. Visitors walk through a scenic path before arriving at the house’s entrance at the rear, which reveals sweeping views described by the team as “akin to an expansive observation deck.”

Image credit: LGM Studio

The home consists of two rectangular volum...

This modern, looping farmhouse seems to effortlessly grow from its natural surroundings

2024-09-29T08:00:00-04:00

The latest project by Polish firm Mobius Architekci is a contemporary farmhouse-style home, designed to have a harmonious relationship with its natural surroundings.

Image: Paweł Ulatowski

Taking the shape of a loop, in which the structure is seemingly both closed yet fluid, the home is aptly named the Loop House. It is situated on a large plot of land, appearing to naturally emerge from the landscape.

Image: Paweł Ulatowski

The main compositional axis is the nearby lake, which becomes a natural extension of the living space. The building’s form allows each of the rooms to open up to the surrounding environment through gentle folds.

Image: Paweł Ulatowski

Despite spanning over 8,600 square feet, the home appears to be very subtle and delicate. Looking from the street, the structure seems to disappear into the landscape. As one moves closer, the body of the building looks like it is levitating above the site. Its position above ground creat...

In rural Norway, four distinct buildings come together as one to form this unique cabin

2024-07-31T17:59:00-04:00

A cabin by Norwegian architectural office Rever & Drage takes a unique form as a single unit and the combination of four distinct buildings.

Called Cabin at Troll’s Peak, the roughly 1,500-square-foot structure features local craftsmanship and regional timber spread across a connecting row of different buildings. This composition recalls a traditional row farm, in which buildings with different functions and different construction techniques are arranged in a line corresponding with the dominant direction of the wind.

Photo: Tom Auger

As detailed by the architects, the furthest north section of the cabin comprises a late medieval notching technique with large, narrowing logs. The living room is built with 19th-century notched logs, while the kitchen has slim, more modern square logs with dovetail notches. The garage is built from a local timber frame technique and clad with transparent polycarbonate.

Photo: Tom Auger

Located in a high mountain valley in Sunndal, Norwa...

In rural Ontario, a timber cabin by Dubbeldam Architecture + Design creates a ‘quiet haven in the trees’

2024-05-03T15:03:00-04:00

Toronto-based Dubbeldam Architecture + Design has offered an insight into their completed cabin in rural Ontario, Canada. Named Bunkie on the Hill and described as a “quiet haven in the trees for family members to retreat and re-connect with nature,” the cabin sits at the top of a steep slope overlooking a collection of family cottages below.

Image credit: Riley Snelling

The 1,000-square-foot cabin by the Dubbeldam team, who was recently honored at the 2024 RAIC Annual Awards as the Architectural Practice winner, sees a contemporary interpretation of the traditional A-frame shape. Inspired by overlapping layers of shale rock in the surrounding landscape, the split roof features two intersecting gables that allow for window openings where the roof volumes split.

Image credit: Riley Snelling

“These geometric windows allow for curated views of the treetops on one side and lake below on the other and invite natural light to flood the...

A perfect cube chalet occupies a rural Canadian forest

2024-04-07T08:00:00-04:00

Montreal-based practice Maurice Martel architecte has completed a rural rustic home in Mandeville, Canada.

Set within a forest and bordered by a river, the Rustic Grade chalet is described as “the ideal mini-home to escape the hustle and bustle of daily life in the outside world.”

Image credit: Adrien Williams

The architecture of the chalet strikes a minimalist tone, taking a simplistic cube form.

The home is clad in a “meticulous choice of durable and maintenance-free materials,” with the form and lines of the cube contrasting with the organic nature of the forest.

Image credit: Adrien Williams

The number of openings is limited to improve energy efficiency, with the orientation of each window carefully chosen to maximize natural light while taking advantage of river views.

Image credit: Adrien Williams

The footprint of the home itself was also deliberately restricted, “embodying the quintessence of an economical dwelling wit...

Coastal Nova Scotia home ‘emerges from rocky terrain,’ designed by Omar Gandhi Architects

2024-02-23T12:26:00-05:00

Omar Gandhi Architects has completed a house on Canada’s Atlantic coastline that “emerges from rocky terrain.” Named Rockbound, and located in Musquodoboit Harbour, Nova Scotia, the home was commissioned as a place of refuge for a busy client.

Image credit: Ema Peter Photography

Situated atop a rocky shoreline, the building was shaped to capture views of the ocean while sheltering the interior from winds and storms. A steel and wood frame was shaped to resist hurricane-force winds, while a material palette with naturally weathering characteristics is intended to “age gracefully” and “tell the story of its place in the landscape.”

Image credit: Ema Peter Photography

“The structure emerges from the rocky terrain, mirroring the coastline's contours, and its primary living spaces run parallel to the water, offering breathtaking panoramic views along the coast and across the bay to the iconic Peggy's Cove Lighthouse,” th...

‘Intimacy, minimalism, and immersion’ define Atelier L’Abri’s rural Canadian camping shelters

2024-02-19T14:24:00-05:00

Montreal-based Atelier L’Abri has completed an experimental camping concept project in the Canadian wilderness. Named Territoire Charlevoix, and located in a forest between La Malbaie and Baie-Saint-Paul, the scheme is described as “a series of structures that are simple, yet varied; familiar, yet unusual.”

Image credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

The various modules comprising the project include camping shelters, viewing platforms with communal kitchens, and a visitor center. The five shelters function as small, autonomous buildings offering “an intimate encounter with nature in complete comfort, both in summer and in winter.” Sitting on slender legs, the cabins were designed to fuse rusticity and modernity, with a single-slope roof to suit the natural topography of the site.

Image credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

“This bold form is reminiscent of the shape of large dormers, or old cameras,” the designers say about the shelters. “Like th...

LIN architecture designs a pumping station in rural China as a ‘paintbrush in the field’

2023-12-12T14:28:00-05:00

Chinese practice LIN architecture has completed a pumping house in the Yunnan Province village of Botou. Named the 'Concrete Pavilion,' the structure seeks to both meet the needs of locals’ water and electricity needs and give an architectural “breath of new life” to the rural landscape.

Photo credit: zhuo hongduo

Photo credit: chen zhitong

The pavilion is defined by sloping roofs, high and low windows, multiple external platforms, and a series of skylights. The elements incorporated into the scheme take their inspiration from those of the nearby village in a process the team calls “the extreme abstraction of cultural elements.” While incorporating the many viewing elements, the team sought to create different observation experiences, whether inside the pavilion, observing the countryside, or looking at the pavilion from different surrounding angles.

Photo credit: zhuo hongduo

“Although the constituent elements are common to architecture, they are organized in...

StudioAC completes coastal Canadian home embedded into a steep ridge

2023-10-26T11:51:00-04:00

Toronto-based StudioAC has completed a residence east of the city, in a landscape characterized by an “intricate coastline and a bourgeoning wine-making industry.” The home, named Cherry Valley House, sits on a steep ridge that descends to the lakeshore.

Image credit: Felix Michaud

The house is sunken into the ridge, “protected at its back and providing a vantage point below the trees,” according to the team. Large windows on the shore-facing facade frame views of the lake, while panoramic windows at ground level face an adjacent meadow. Above, large dormer windows bring additional natural light into the space.

Image credit: Felix Michaud

The home’s contemporary spatial sequencing is contrasted by materiality drawing inspiration from the area’s agrarian architecture. Outside, brick and cedar “celebrate the duality of the site,” with brick used on the solid wall holding back the hillside, and a cedar roof wrapping down the facade fa...

Five mountain residences by Dynia Architects: Your Next Employer?

2023-10-23T17:36:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to Santa Barbara-based ANACAPA, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Jackson, Wyoming to explore the work of Dynia Architects.

Founded in 1994, and with offices in Jackson, WY and Denver, CO, the firm describes its mission as to “elevate all aspects of the built environment to exceptional experiences through a process of rigorous design exploration that choreographs site and program into the making of meaningful architecture.” Over the past three decades, the firm’s portfolio has grown to encompass private residences, multi-family housing, hospitality, and cultural buildings.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a Designer to join their Jackson office. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up five mountain residences by Dynia Architects that exemplify the studio’s ethos.

Stone Creek Residence. Image credit: David Agnello

Stone Cre...

Five rural California retreats by ANACAPA: Your Next Employer?

2023-10-16T13:10:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to Portland, MA-based Woodhull, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Santa Barbara this week to explore the work of ANACAPA.

From their studios across Santa Barbara, CA and Portland, OR, the firm has built a portfolio spanning hospitality, custom residential, creative offices, and urban infill mixed-use projects. The studio operates along three core values, namely ‘community’ (including improving the quality of life for current and future citizens), ‘innovation’ (including an open exchange of ideas, insights, and expertise), and ‘sustainability’ (including optimizing the social, cultural, and environmental impacts of space).

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for an architectural designer. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up five rural retreats by ANACAPA that exemplify the studio’s ethos.

Off-Grid Guesthouse. Image credit: Er...

This oceanside Nova Scotia home is designed as a ‘prototype for modest living’

2023-10-10T11:22:00-04:00

MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects has completed an oceanside home on Nova Scotia’s South Shore described as “a prototype for modest living.” The Chester House measures 1,350 square feet and was designed to be “culturally and economically appropriate to its setting.”

Image credit: James Brittain

Externally, the home features minimally detailed eaves, corners, and openings to “underscore and elevate the architectural simplicity.” In contrast to the wooden base, the upper story is clad in a weathered steel sleeve which “appears to slide over” the base. The top floor facade is surrounded by glass to create panoramic views of the forest, while small punch windows create vignettes of the landscape features.

Image credit: James Brittain

The ground floor contains two bedrooms and a staircase constructed of an origami-like folded perforated steel plate. The decision to place bedrooms on the ground floor was driven by a desire to create a sheltered, quiet environmen...

Tetro’s new residence floats and weaves through the Brazilian rainforest

2023-06-12T11:49:00-04:00

Brazilian architecture studio Tetro has offered a look inside their completed residential project in the Atlantic Rainforest. Named Casa Açucena, the development was constructed on a steep slope amidst a landscape of dense trees and shrubs.

Photo credit: Jomar Bragança

The scheme was designed to occupy the space between existing trees without removing or altering the topography. The design team’s dedication to preserving the existing landscape also saw the house elevated off the ground to allow animal and plant life to develop underneath.

Photo credit: Jomar Bragança

“The project is a response to a sensitive reading of the terrain, where first contact dictated the need to maintain its natural characteristics,” the team explained. “The act of looking upwards, from the ground to the fifteen-meter canopy of the trees, was decisive for the creation of a concept addressing the challenge of building in a place with such steep topograph...

Five rural retreats by Mork-Ulnes Architects: Your Next Employer?

2022-12-19T12:21:00-05:00

Following last week’s visit to Los Angeles-based Walker Workshop, we are keeping our Meet Your Next Employer series in California this week, where we find San Francisco-based Mork-Ulnes Architects.

Founded in 2005 by Casper Mork-Ulnes, the nimble 10-person practice operates in both San Francisco and Oslo, Norway, resulting in a portfolio that blends a “Scandinavian practicality and a Californian can-do spirit of innovation.”

The firm’s ethos and culture was further explored back in late 2020 when we sat down with Casper Mork-Ulnes as part of our Studio Snapshot series. Describing the practice as “pared-back, resourceful, and playful,” Mork-Ulnes reflected on the importance of striking a positive life-work balance in architecture.

“We encourage everyone to take time to recharge their batteries, prioritize their private lives, and spend time with their friends and families,” Mork-Ulnes t...

This studio creates rural getaways, from land sourcing to construction — and they are hiring

2022-07-20T13:57:00-04:00

In late 2021, we covered the emergence of HOKO Design, a UK-based startup that seeks to become “the first household name for residential architecture.”

Part of HOKO’s thesis to become “the homeowner’s architect” is to streamline the client experience of residential design and construction as much as possible. For the company, this means becoming a ‘one stop shop’ for clients, generating VR flythroughs, cost analyses, construction drawings, contract administration, project management, snagging, completion documentation, and catalogs of interior products.

Honesdale Bar House by HUTS

HOKO is not alone in its attempt to build a business model based on client convenience. For this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series, we are shining a spotlight on Brooklyn-based HUTS, who share HOKO’s approach to simplifying the customer experience for residential architecture.

Aimed at prospective clients seeking to build a rural country getaway in the New York state area, HUTS offers a comprehe...

Two Midwesterners on the quest to document the untapped potential of America's rural architecture

2022-06-22T13:34:00-04:00

It's fascinating to document how architectural and cultural trends are deployed across the country, but we've seen that widespread disinvestment — as well as patterns of renovation and repurposing — add to an already palpable sense of impermanence.

Chicagoans Zach Huelsing and Jon Lehman’s Rural Indexing Project was first launched during the Obama administration and has grown to an archive of more than 1,200 locations spread across 25 different states. Huelsing and Lehman both studied architecture and urban planning respectively, and their backgrounds have been useful in guiding their realization that the built environment in many cases, offers more than suburbanites and city dwellers are exposed to in the easily repeatable, clickbait-laden news cycle.

“So many of the images that are propagated from rural parts of the country focus on decay or on destruction or abandonment, and we're very interested in the ways that buildings, in particular, continue to serve and continue to be adapted in ways that meet the needs of communities," he said. "I think we can actually learn some lessons ... the stories that our photographs tell are stories of adaptive reuse."

U.S. Census Bureau changes its definition of an urban area, impacting 1,300 former cities and towns

2022-05-03T11:41:00-04:00

The U.S. Census Bureau has changed its definition of an urban area, which will cause hundreds of existing urban areas to be reclassified as rural. The change is centered on a new methodology for how urban areas are calculated, with the number of housing units being used as the key metric, rather than the number of inhabitants.

Under the century-old definition used prior to now, an urban area was classed as one with at least 2,500 people. Now, a place will need 2,000 housing units before being classed as urban, equivalent to around 5,000 people. In addition, the previous distinction between an “urbanized area” (50,000 residents or more) and an “urban cluster” (2,500 to 50,000 residents) will be removed, with all qualifying areas simply referred to as “urban areas.”

In addition, the Census Bureau has created three levels of definition for census blocks, the smallest geographic unit in the United States. Census blocks will be considered urban if they contain a density of 425 housing u...

Prefab cabins that 'disappear among the trees' designed by Canadian architects

2022-04-14T09:00:00-04:00

Québec City-based architects Bourgeois Lechasseur have completed a set of contemporary cabins in the woods near the Canadian metropolis. Titled Reflection, the two identical cabins sit on a flat clearing close to Massif Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, a popular ski resort.

Photography by Adrien Williams + Maxime Brouillet

Despite the far-reaching scenic views, the cabins seek to engage guests with a close, intimate relationship with nature, creating lodgings that would “almost disappear among the trees.” This disappearing act is centered on a completely mirror-glazed main façade reflecting the surrounding woodlands, with darkened wooden slats covering the other three sides.

Photography by Adrien Williams + Maxime Brouillet

Several design moves were made to create continuity between the interior and exterior. The entrance to each cabin has been pushed inwards, with a light pine used to clad the ceiling of both the external patio and internal spaces. The dark wood cladding from the ext...

Countryside: The Future and the Past

2021-01-26T20:48:00-05:00

It is no exaggeration to say that our present is the future that Dorothea Lange’s images foretold. The crisis of agriculture in the face of toxic capitalism and climatic disaster that is at the center of her famous photographs might also have served to focus and sharpen "Countryside: The Future," where it is occasionally a subject but more often merely an unstated subtext.

In "Countryside: The Future and the Past," Deborah Gans reviews Countryside: The Future, at the Guggenheim Museum, the multimedia culmination of years of interdisciplinary, globe-spanning research led by OMA's Rem Koolhaas and Samir Bantal, director of its think tank, AMO, alongside Dorothea Lange: Words and Pictures, curated by Sarah Hermanson Meister at the Museum of Modern Art, the first solo show devoted to the celebrated documentary photographer in more than half a century.

Although the exhibitions are very different in scale, ambition, and emotional tenor, each is propelled by the efforts of vastly different urban artists and professionals to document and comprehend historical transformations in rural life. Together they offer an intriguing counterpoint: one body of work is determined to remain detached; the other is driven by political commitment.

The 2019 AR Emerging Architecture Award goes to Comunal Taller de Arquitectura of Mexico

2019-12-06T19:03:00-05:00

With 16 architects announced as shortlist winners back in October, the Architectural Review has announced Comunal Taller de Arquitectura as the winner of Architectural Review's 2019 Emerging Architecture Award.

The Mexico-based architecture firm was applauded for a project submission that focused on their community-driven work within the rural village of Tepetzintán in Mexico. According to this year's AR judging panel, the practice was recognized for its "fight against a political lobby that is vastly supportive of replicable, commercial housing development over housing seen as a human right."

Comunal Taller de Arquitectura recieving the award for 2019 AR Emerging Architect Award. Image courtesy of WAF via/Twitter

Founded in 2015 in Mexico City by Mariana Ordóñez Grajales, who was later joined by Jesica Amescua Carrera, Comunal Taller de Arquitectura focuses on building in Mexico's rural and indigenous communities. The duo explained to AR during an interview that "architecture is n...

Irish Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale will explore important role of markets for rural communities

2018-04-13T13:48:00-04:00

The Irish Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, opening May 26th, will explore the importance of the rural marketplace. Once the economic and social hubs of the countryside, many of these marketplaces have seen their roles diminished as rural regions experience accelerating change. Focusing on small towns with a population less that 5,000 people, the exhibition "aims to reassert the declining rural market square as a public place of social, political and cultural exchange, central to community cohesion."

Curated by a team of six young Irish architects and designers, Free Market will "act as a real market square, offering an engaging place to meet, to pause, to interact with the exhibits and openly exchange ideas. Evoking the character of the market space through the use of texture, proportion, color and sound, the pavilion will also include architectural models and drawings describing both the historic and contemporary conditions of these t...

Framework Awarded $6M from City of Portland “Fast Starts” Program to Support Affordable Housing

2017-11-12T09:00:00-05:00

"By investing in Framework, our city will now be home to the first skyscraper made from wood in the United States. This project not only reflects Oregon’s leadership in the newly emerging wood products industry of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), it also demonstrates our city’s commitment to finding innovative ways to quickly deliver affordable units during our housing crisis,” said Portland Mayor, Ted Wheeler.

LEVER Architecture's project, Framework, has been awarded 6M from the city of Portland as a recipient of the City's "Fast Starts" Affordable Housing Program. The program aims at providing financial and city level assistance in the development and deployment of affordable housing projects that aim to deliver on both the means and methods of relieving the city's housing crisis.

Off-centred Considerations in the Urban Age: Review of MONU #26 by Federico Ortiz

2017-06-01T14:02:00-04:00

Since 2004, MONU has been working towards the disentanglement and collective understanding of the process of global urbanization. With its latest issue, the magazine seems to demonstrate, and at the same time question, the nature of this process, characterizing it primarily as one of decentralizing urbanization. By Federico Ortiz

In a world undergoing a process of constant urbanization, which appears to cover the entirety of our planet’s surface, we have become familiar with the idea of living in the “Urban Age” and with statistics that predict, for example, that by 2030 60% of the world’s population will live in cities. Since 2004, MONU has been working towards the disentanglement and collective understanding of the process of global urbanization. With its latest issue, the magazine seems to demonstrate, and at the same time question, the nature of this process, characterizing it primarily as one of decentralizing urbanization.

With as many diverse perspectives as collaborators, MONU #26 DECENTRALISED URBANISM probably originated in a triggering question: Are cities like London, New York and Paris, with their centralizing power, the ones to blame for Brexit, Trump, and Marine Le Pen? These elections revealed the power of the underestimated peripheral (suburban, rurban and rural) populations, as well as expos...

U.S. House approves bill that will make it easier for smaller communities to get FEMA relief

2016-03-01T17:14:00-05:00

the federal government’s disaster declaration formula has been broken for years, making it nearly impossible for smaller communities to get help. [...] The FEMA Disaster Assistance Reform Act requires the feds give greater consideration to the localized impact of a disaster [...] rural parts of the state ... must meet an arbitrarily high threshold in order to qualify for a disaster declaration. Enacting this language into law will level the playing field

Known as HR 1471, the FEMA Disaster Assistance Reform Act of 2015 (passed by the House on February 29 of 2016) includes input from architects and members of the building industry to review and update FEMA's policies. In a press release issued earlier today, AIA President Russell Davidson FAIA expressed his gratification that legislation included architects: "HR 1471 represents a major opportunity for our profession to have a say in developing proposals which could have an immediate impact on federal resilience policy.”

More on the difficulties of disaster relief funding:

University of Kansas alumnus launches architecture scholarship for students from rural areas

2016-01-12T17:51:00-05:00

[University of Kansas alumnus + architect Michael Cummings] and his wife have donated $1.6 million to establish the Michael A. Cummings Scholarship for architecture students at KU, with a preference for those from rural communities...'I’m hoping this scholarship will help some people who will have a similar experience to what I have had, which is to find a career that wasn’t on their radar and from there to end up with a wonderful and fulfilling career.'

Read the University of Kansas' full press statement here.

Suicide rates are higher in rural areas than in cities, but why?

2015-11-03T13:59:00-05:00

Rural adolescents commit suicide at roughly twice the rate of their urban peers, according to a study published in the May issue of the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Although imbalances between city and country have long persisted, “we weren’t expecting that the disparities would be increasing over time,” said the study’s lead author, Cynthia Fontanella, a psychologist at Ohio State University. “The rates are higher, and the gap is getting wider.”

"Suicide is a threat not just to the young. Rates over all rose 7 percent in metropolitan counties from 2004 to 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In rural counties, the increase was 20 percent."

Hello Wood's "Project Village" shifts architectural focus from urban to rural

2015-10-07T13:41:00-04:00

What is a village? More importantly, how rapidly can one be formed? The 150 academics, students and practicing architects participating in Project Village set out to answer these questions by constructing an entire community in a week, including a stage, a pub, and a residential building.

Because the team, led by Hello Wood, was assembled from a group of multi-national participants, there was no pre-existing notion of one national architectural heritage. The resulting installations therefore reflected a globalized 21st century cultural context within the sparse infrastructure of a rural setting, and correspondingly referenced issues such as private property, immigration, and multi-faith communities.

Project Village, which debuted in Hungary, is the first stage of a three year process. According to a press release, "During the first phase the creators have established a Village that’s primarily focusing on engaging with communities, generating social interactions and testing it ...

Rural Japanese town applies "creative depopulation" to attract millennials in aging population

2015-06-03T13:45:00-04:00

As rural Japan battles the twin afflictions of a population that is getting smaller almost as quickly as it’s getting older, Kamiyama is one of a handful of towns that is bucking the trend. It’s practicing 'creative depopulation' — trying to make sure it gets younger and more innovative, even as it shrinks, by attracting youthful newcomers who are weary of big-city life to work in new rural industries.

Find your ideal neighborhood with this new 'Livability Index' online tool

Revisiting Sharon Zukin's "Loft Living" and NYC gentrification

Renzo Piano: the future of European architecture lies in the suburbs

Designing for Seniors and Soldiers, Toward a "Silver" Architecture

Why Apple's Suburban Spaceship Could Lose the War for Tech Talent

2013-12-23T13:04:00-05:00

Increasingly, young tech talent wants to live and work in cities. As a result, the hottest tech companies, from Google to Twitter to Uber, are setting up shop in San Francisco, a long drive north of Silicon Valley, the traditional stronghold of the computer game. In the cutthroat world of tech recruiting, catering to the demands of the talent is everything, and even Apple isn’t immune to the first rule of real estate: location, location, location.

Twist! Proposal to turn Catskills into "China City"

2013-12-13T15:09:00-05:00

[The Catskills] could become a lot flashier, thanks to [Sherry Li's] proposal for the area: a multibillion-dollar "China City of America," complete with an amusement park, mansions, a casino, retail centers, a college, and more. [...] The Center for Immigration Studies wrote a comprehensive take-down of "China City," criticizing the project's potential for environmental disruption, dubious promise of job creation, and possible role as a stalking horse for the Chinese government.