Archinect - News

China and US compete to invest in a newly-opened Cuba

2016-03-17T15:39:00-04:00

The American government’s relaxation of its 56-year embargo against Cuba and the inauguration of direct flights from China has triggered a race to invest in the island’s tourist infrastructure [...] There are reports that China’s Suntime International Economic Trading Company will go ahead with a luxury hotel in Havana, in a joint venture Cuba’s state tourism agency, Cubanacán. The size of the hotel is reported variously at 600 to 650 rooms, with Suntime investing up to $150m

While diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US have thawed during the Obama administration, the embargo still remains in place effectively. But companies like Marriott International (whose chief executive will accompany the President on his historic visit to the island later this month) are optimistic that Cuba will soon be a major investment opportunity.

China, meanwhile, also has it's eyes on the (Raúl) Castro-ruled country as well. For the sake of Havana and other Cuban cities' remarkable architectural heritage, here's hoping Cuba doesn't become the site for an ersatz-hotel-arms-race.

For related news, take a look at some other Cuba-specific Archinect content:

It's Money March here on Archinect! Have you ...

The hedge fundification of American universities

2016-03-11T14:27:00-05:00

Have you heard the latest wisecrack about Harvard? People are calling it a hedge fund with a university attached [...] Though the exact figure is hard to determine, experts I consulted estimate that over $100 billion of educational endowment money nationwide is invested in hedge funds, costing them approximately $2.5 billion in fees in 2015 alone. The problems with hedge funds managing college endowments are manifold, going well beyond the exorbitant...fees they charge for their services.

"The time has come for students to connect the dots between ballooning student debt, the poor treatment of campus workers, and the obscene wealth of hedge fund oligarchs."

A rallying cry for a divestment movement to oppose hedge funds and their involvement with academia, the article discusses the relatively new relationship between universities and high risk investing. Not only are money managers – and often university trustees – making off with obscene profits, the finance industry has actively lobbied against policies "designed to curb inequality."

For more on the implications and ramifications of academia's historically-unprecedented flirtations with finance, check out these links:

Open Call for Submissions: Architectural Survival

2016-03-01T19:29:00-05:00

Even more than the laws of physics and building codes, money rules everything in architecture. The architect is the canary in the recession's coal mine; skyscrapers and starchitectural gems stand as allegories for wealth; descriptors like "quality" and "affordable" at times seem mutually exclusive. But whatever the economic reality, there are always stories of architects that manage to make things work.

As Archinect turns to issues of Money in architecture this month, we want to hear your stories of how architects can survive, and thrive, when money is tight – how to make more, from less.

》Editorial Submissions: Stories from the Recession
What sustained, or broke, you? What advice do you have for weathering the next recession? How did your practice change? Stories can be from the perspective of firms, individual architects, recent grads or nervous students during the latest recession.

》Project Submissions: Tightly-Budgeted Work
Show off your small-budget built projects that didn’t compro...