New Exhibit: Patriots All-Dynasty Team →

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The Patriots Hall of Fame presented by Raytheon Technologies will officially launch the Patriots All-Dynasty Team exhibit on Friday, Oct. 23, as part of its two-year celebration of New England’s dominant two decades from 2001 to 2019. Throughout the last year, the Hall celebrated the team’s amazing run of success with an exhibit titled, Yes, It’s Still A Dynasty, that delved into the Patriots dominance relative to the rest of the NFL and compared the best dynasties from the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL.

Now, the Patriots Hall of Fame presented by Raytheon Technologies transitions from celebrating team success to honoring the individuals that helped make it happen with the Patriots All-Dynasty Team, which was selected by a combination of fan voting and a panel of experts knowledgeable about the Patriots over the last two decades.

What the Four Seasons' opening means to New Orleans: a key milestone in its recovery →

A decade after it was vacated and taken over by New Orleans government, the landmark skyscraper where Canal Street meets the Mississippi River is set for a spring unveiling as a top-of-the-line Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences.

The $530 million renovation of the former World Trade Center, which will have taken three years to complete after decades of false starts, was targeted by former Mayor Mitch Landrieu as one of the city's most significant developments after Hurricane Katrina. Transforming the building from an unoccupied shell to a model of chic opulence, it was argued, would be a key milestone in New Orleans' progress and continued recovery from the 2005 storm.

Conservancy announces Dalton Discovery Center expansion, adding new interactive exhibits, galleries →

The Conservancy of Southwest Florida has announced a monumental $4.5 million renovation and expansion of its Susan and William Dalton Discovery Center, which will add new interactive exhibits and galleries exploring areas of critical importance to the region.

The Dalton Discovery Center, which opened in 2012, is an interactive learning center featuring live animals and exhibits that showcase Southwest Florida’s diverse ecosystems.

“Sue Dalton has inspired and enabled us to dramatically expand the Dalton Discovery Center with a second leadership commitment, and she is being joined by other generous benefactors, including John and Carol Walter, in helping to bring this dream to life,” said Conservancy President and CEO Rob Moher. “As part of the Conservancy’s Vision 2025 roadmap addressing key priorities facing Southwest Florida’s land, water, wildlife and future, we are enhancing our Nature Center and guest experience with new exhibits and activities that will further the educational mission of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida.”

Food Resilience Pod Opens in Miami →

Dive Brief:

  • The Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center unveiled the first of its Community Resilience Pods this weekend in Miami-Dade County, FL, to help residents who are struggling with food insecurity.

  • The center and its local partners distributed 1,300 food boxes at two events Saturday, as well as mango fruit trees and potted kitchen gardens with information on the importance of becoming resilient and helping residents learn about planting their own food and community gardens.

  • The pod, the first to be deployed in the nation by the resilience center, can have its content changed to highlight different issues, including climate change, extreme heat and natural disasters. It is made up of a 40-foot shipping container donated by the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) Foundation. Officials said they expect to deploy more in the Miami area before expanding to the rest of Florida and around the world.

South Florida Officials, Resilience Experts Deploy First-Ever Mobile Resilience Pod for Rising Seas, Increased Temperatures and Pandemic Relief Efforts →

MIAMI, FL

Today, the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, with Miami-Dade County and City of Miami leaders, deployed the first-of-its-kind Community Resilience Pod. The pod—which will play a critical role addressing local food insecurity—was debuted at a major food distribution drive in Coconut Grove to raise awareness of the issue.
 
Transformed from a 40-foot shipping container donated by the MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company) Foundation, this highly versatile, interactive, and mobile space will meet residents of Miami-Dade County with resilience solutions to local threats like extreme heat, flooding sea-level rise, food security, and pandemics. The Community Resilience Pod will build awareness of individual and community risks and emergency and disaster preparedness acumen for neighborhoods in Miami-Dade County. Visitors of the Pod will find – through physical and digital displays – location-specific risks and guidance, resources, and tools to Be Prepared, Get Connected and Take Action. The Community Resilience Pod is a prototype and represents the potential for critical risk and resilience actionable information for communities across the country and around the world facing storms, floods, wildfires, food insecurity and the health and economic impacts of Covid-19.

Four Seasons Project Defies Hurdles, Decades of Delays →

By Autumn Cafiero Giusti

The transformation of one of downtown New Orleans’ most visible but long-vacant skyscrapers into a Four Seasons Hotel and private residences is one of the most anticipated projects in the city’s recent history. Formerly the World Trade Center tower, the 33-story building at 2 Canal Street has been targeted for redevelopment for more than two decades, and stakeholders are eager to reach the finish line.

With plans for completion by December 2020, the construction team on the $530-million project had to reengineer the building’s spine, accommodate trains going through the site and work next to a rising river that forced months-long shutdowns of underground work. As of ENR press time, news of community spread of the coronavirus in Louisiana added another layer of uncertainty for construction projects across the state.

Basketball Hall of Fame’s high-tech updates already holding court with visitors →

SPRINGFIELD — To the college students who first played a new sport called “basket ball” here in the early 1890s, the game would be scarcely recognizable today. For one thing, when James Naismith, an instructor at the school that would become Springfield College, took it upon himself to create a safe indoor game for his restless gym class during wintertime, players could not run with the ball.

The new game was flat-footed. No one had yet conceived of dribbling, the art of advancing with the ball by bouncing it. The goal was to throw the ball into a peach basket mounted high overhead. The first contest ended when a player named William Chase scored its only basket.

Simmons University Dedicates Gwen Ifill College →

Designed by Ellenzweig

Boston – Ellenzweig has designed renovations to the Simmons University Main Campus Building’s East Wing to house the Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts, and Humanities. The new college is named for the Peabody Award-winning Simmons graduate who broke gender and color barriers to report for major newspapers and networks as well as moderate vice-presidential and presidential debates, among other achievements.

The challenge for the Boston-based architecture firm was to reposition space in the 1904-1929 building as an interactive high-tech network of teaching and learning facilities and support spaces where students, faculty, and others could experience a panoply of media and communication channels that record and interpret the human experience. The program includes an upgraded auditorium with new digital and audiovisual technology, a computer learning laboratory, computer-equipped classrooms and boardrooms, a graphic design studio, the dean’s suite, and faculty/staff spaces.

WBUR unveils new space for the city →

By Max Reyes, Globe Correspondent

CitySpace, WBUR radio’s new cultural events venue on Commonwealth Avenue, has a modern, almost futuristic feel. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows frame a sleek interior that combines traditional hardwood floors with walls decorated with metallic panels.

The studio at the heart of the venue is laden with high-tech gadgetry, from robotic cameras operated from a control center to a super high-resolution LED screen.

But Charlie Kravetz, the station’s general manager, said in remarks delivered Wednesday evening at a ribbon-cutting event for CitySpace that it all represents a return to an age-old art form: conversation.

A Pier Gift →

The unveiling of the new Roundhouse Aquarium

by Mark McDermott

Thirteen hundred and eight days since the passing of his 19-year-old son Harrison, Michael Greenberg on Tuesday stood before a podium at the end of the Manhattan Beach pier and looked out into the crowd.

“The skies opened up for us today,” said Greenberg.

Behind him, light spilled from the Roundhouse Aquarium as the sun lowered over the Pacific near the end of a sky blue day. Several hundred people were gathered for the reopening of the Aquarium, but this was no ribbon cutting.