With the pipeline of glitzy real estate projects slowing, star designers are branching out with new fashion items and other luxury goods.
"With the real estate boom all but over and skittish property developers breaking ground on fewer glitzy projects, architects from London to Los Angeles are finding creative ways to stay in the spotlight and extend their brands. The creative outlets of today's star designers are departures from the side projects undertaken by notable architects of the past like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright, who generally designed furnishings and home interiors when not creating buildings.
Norman Foster, the leading British architect who designed the Hearst Tower in New York, has added yachts to his résumé, recently creating a string of vessels for luxury boating company YachtPlus. Frank Gehry, mastermind of the titanium-covered Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, is employing materials such as black gold and oxidized silver to expand his already popular line of jewelry for Tiffany. And Zaha Hadid, the first woman to win a Pritzker Prize, has put her name on stainless-steel vases for Italian kitchenware company Alessi."
FULL STORY: Architects’ Designs on Fashion and Boating

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
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Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
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MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
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