Archinect - News

Billions of dollars headed towards US port projects in 2022

2022-01-31T15:46:00-05:00

Ports from coast to coast are eyeing improvement projects to help alleviate supply chain issues that have plagued businesses since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus on port projects in the recently enacted Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is part of an overall push from the Biden administration to help alleviate the clogged supply chain in the U.S

As reported by Construction Dive, an additional $241 million in grants through the United States Maritime Administration Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) will join the $17 billion being directed towards seaports. The additional funds will go toward 25 projects in 19 states. And, that’s not all. The PIDP will nearly double this amount to $450 million in grants annually for the next five years through funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Construction Dive also notes that port and waterway construction market activity is expected to grow 6% in 2022, according to a 2022–2026 market analysis by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).

Hyperloop One announces 35 semifinalists in 17 countries for its global challenge

2017-01-10T12:58:00-05:00

Whether you envisioned Hyperloop One as an overhyped pneumatic tube or an inventive way to transport cargo and/or passengers, 35 teams from 17 countries around the world have just been announced as semifinalists in the contest to create working transit corridors for the technology. The 35 proposed routes are sited in countries including Argentina, Poland, Australia, India, the U.K. and the U.S. (the full list is below). Finalists will be announced in May after three global showcase events where each team has the chance to demonstrate how their proposal will economically benefit their region. The showcases will be held in New Delhi on February 28th, Washington D.C. on April 6th, and London on April 27th. Twenty of the proposals currently have governmental or other funding sources already lined up.

Corridors in the semifinalist round include:
AR Buenos Aires-Cordoba
AU Sydney-Melbourne
CA Ontario (cargo)
CA Toronto-Montreal
CA Vancouver (cargo)
CH Shanghai-Hangzhou
DE Autobahn
EE Tallin-Helsi...

Rubber Duckie, you make globalization so much fun

2014-08-21T14:32:00-04:00

A six-story-tall floating "Rubber Duck" is making its West Coast debut at the Port of Los Angeles, where it will lead more than a dozen battleships and sailboats in the Tall Ships Festival L.A. parade [...] Dubbed the world's largest rubber duck, the giant inflatable was created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. "The friendly, floating Rubber Duck has healing properties," Hofman said on the event's website. "It can relieve the world's tensions as well as define them."

Adorable? Certainly. Humorous? Obviously. Architecture? Maybe.

According to Hofman's website, the Rubber Duck "doesn't discriminate people and doesn't have a political connotation... The Rubber duck is soft, friendly and suitable for all ages!" This description accounts for all rubber duckies ever. What distinguishes this Rubber Duck is where its been. The giant inflatable has appeared on the shores of Beijing, Pittsburgh, Sydney, Osaka, São Paulo and others, to delight folks around the world. The ocean is the globalized world's bathtub, and this giant duck its bath toy.

Hofman claims the duck "doesn't have a political connotation", but its difficult to not see it as a symbol for globalized commerce. With the same universal cuteness the world-over, it visits ports (such as in Los Angeles) that support global shipping infrastructures, networking economies and cultures with a universally accessible cuteness. The duck's path is paved by human, economic forces, not natural ocean ones — un...