When MVRDV begins a project, it starts by assembling information on all the conceivable factors that could play a role in the site's design and construction — everything from zoning laws, building regulations and technical requirements to client wishes, climatic conditions and the political and legal history of the site.
At of the end of 2001, the company had 39 new projects either under construction or zoned for development.
Concrete means construction, and construction means building permits and zoning disputes and endless opportunities for government meddling.
The head of the meal replacement startup weirdly named after a movie where they ground up and served people in drink form was charged with unpermitted construction, grading and zoning code violations in Los Angeles court today for a structure he dubbed on social media sites an "eco-living experiment".
Once loaded with all the available raw data associated with construction -- zoning laws, height regulations, safety codes, open space, natural light -- the program juggles the numbers to show the optimal building shape for any given set of priorities.
It limits its searches to "high barrier to entry" areas, where developers encounter obstacles to construction, strict zoning limitations or community resistance.
Mr. Calderón's government at first dismissed the bribery as a local problem, arguing that construction and zoning permits of the sort described in The Times's investigation are the responsibility of state and municipal authorities.
What they can't quite bring themselves to say is that the measure itself is an expression of mourning for an L.A. that is already dead, a city of single-family subdivisions, highway construction, discriminatory zoning and free parking that worked (to the degree that it ever did) only as long as the region continued to sprawl voraciously at the edges.
No master plan, urban design, zoning ordinance, construction law or expert knowledge can claim any stake in the prosperity of Dharavi.
Zoning for new construction is six acres per house, and most subdivisions consist of fewer than a dozen houses.
An administrative judge ruled last year that Mr. Scarano had made numerous false statements to the city to avoid zoning laws in construction projects.
