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An Innovative Staffing Company Helps An Overlooked Labor Pool Fill Construction Needs MaineWorks links people who face barriers to employment with construction companies that need ... [+] Joanne Arnold Margo Walsh knows the power of connections. She saw it for years in her work as a recruiter for a New York investment firm, a competitive field that had her visiting Ivy League schools and helping students envision their professional success. Now, she sees it as the leader of MaineWorks, an innovative staffing agency located in Portland, Maine. MaineWorks links people in recovery from substance abuse and reentry from jail or...

Wuchazi Bridge creates "infinite meandering path" over river in Chengdu Berlin-based architects Tom Wünschmann, Achim Kaufer, Wei Cai and Philipp Buschmeyer and Chinese design institutes SADI and JDTM have created a bridge that offers a variety of routes across a river in Chengdu, China. The design team created a continual walkable path within the Wuchazi Bridge as part of its aim to make the structure a recreational destination rather than a purely functional piece of engineering. "Our aim was to develop a bridge that is more than a monofunctional infrastructural element," Kaufer told Dezeen. "Together with the connecting shortcuts, an...

ABIBOO envisions cliff-face city as "future capital of Mars" Architecture studio ABIBOO has designed the concept for a self-sufficient city on Mars named Nüwa that could be built in 2054. Its architect explains the project to Dezeen. Set within a cliff on Mars, Nüwa was designed for non-profit organisation the Mars Society to be the first permanent settlement on Mars. The vertical settlement, which could eventually house 250,000 people, would be embedded into the side of a cliff and built using materials available on the planet. Mars city Nüwa would be built into a cliff ABIBOO founder Alfredo Munoz believes that building a permanent,...

Ten bright kitchens that are flooded with natural light In the first of a trio of spring lookbooks this Easter weekend, we've selected ten bright kitchens that are flooded with light from wide windows, skylights and full-height glass doors. This is the latest roundup in our Dezeen Lookbooks series providing visual inspiration for the home. Previous articles in the series feature inspiring outdoor living spaces, calming green kitchens, and living rooms with beautiful statement shelving. Tibur House, UK, by Paul Archer Design This 15-square-metre addition to the rear of a house in north London contains a bright, open-plan kitchen and dining area. Architecture studio Paul...

Building with Mushrooms Along with our research on wool and cardboard insulation we turn towards investigating the constructional potential of living organisms, in the frame of our research on sustainable insulation. Our aim is to explore natural solutions that could replace conventional materials while being equally efficient, more ecologically responsible and cost competitive. In our latest research we have been focusing on the insulation properties of fungal mycelium and developing different kinds of prototypes to be tested and compared. The major role of fungi in nature is to act as a decomposer. They grow on dead organic matter, disassembling and...