-
Tech News
Kids From 2009 Predict Jobs of the Future
Want to feel old? The year 2009 was 10 years ago. No, really. And if you want to feel really old, here’s a video where fourth-grade kids explain what jobs they think will exist in the future. What did these kids predict? We’ve pulled out some of the jobs below. Though, admittedly, we’re not sure … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
This Video of a Giant Dick Building Shooting Fireworks Is Too Good to Be Real
It’s all but impossible to keep phallic comparisons out of your head when staring up at a towering skyscraper, but residents of the Guangxi region in southeastern China have a new addition to their skyline that seems unmistakably penis-inspired—and a fake viral video isn’t helping to dissuade opinions. The Guangxi New Media Centre, which was … Continued
-
Tech News
Mansion from Blade Runner and House on Haunted Hill Goes Up For Sale in Los Angeles
One of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous mansions, known as the Ennis House, is up for sale in east Los Angeles. And even if you don’t know the house, you certainly know the movies that the famous building has appeared in, including Blade Runner (1982), The House on Haunted Hill (1959) and The Replacement Killers … Continued
By Matt Novak -
io9
A Deadpool Figure Fit for the Dance Floor, and More of the Greatest Toys of the Week
Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9’s weekly roundup of the neatest toys around. This week, Hot Toys gives us a Deadpool with killer footwear, the incredible Batman Ninja gets an equally worthy action figure, and more Harry Potter Lego than you can shake a whomping willow at. Check it out! Hot Toys Sixth-Scale Deadpool 2 … Continued
-
EartherConservation
Good Urban Planning Could Mean Hotter Cities
Growing up around Washington, D.C., it’s a relief to now live in a city laid out in a coherent fashion, with numbered streets increasing along a cardinal directional axis and being intersected at sensible right angles. Which is why it pains me to say that physics brings some bad news for my fellow gridded city-dwellers: … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
EartherConservation
‘End of the World Atlas’ Reveals Future Human-Nature Conflicts
The world is rapidly becoming more urban, but as cities grow in size, their impact on Earth’s biodiversity grows in step. As a new mapping effort led by landscape architects at the University of Pennsylvania shows, the conflict is far more dire than most of us appreciate. Of the 423 cities growing in one of … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
Why 9/11 Truthers Are Obsessed With the Plasco High-Rise Fire in Tehran
On January 19th, 2017, the Plasco building, a 17-story steel high-rise in Tehran, caught fire. The blaze began on one of the building’s upper floors and then spread quickly through the tower’s sprinkler-less garment workshops. As the Tehran fire department battled the nearly unreachable fire, the steel skyscraper collapsed in full view of Iranian state … Continued
Alex Weinberg -
Tech NewsSploid
This Architectural Kaleidoscope Is Melting My Brain, But Not in a Fun Way
If you’ve ever caught yourself mindlessly staring out of the window while driving through a big city filled with endless buildings, you’ll understand the appeal of Lauren Pedrosa’s short film, perspective ǝʌᴉʇɔǝdsɹǝԀ. But Pedrosa takes the repetitive monotony one step further by turning footage of random buildings into a complex kaleidoscope. The results will not … Continued
-
Earther
The Cities of the Future Could Be Built From Mushrooms
Nearly everything about the small block says “wood”: its texture, appearance, sturdiness, and color are like an especially high-quality piece of particle board. But it’s just a bit too dense for wood, which gives it away. The block is made of straw bound together by mycelium, the root-like tendrils of mushrooms. While many types of … Continued
Matthew Francis -
Tech News
Gin Wong, LA Architect Who Inspired The Jetsons, Dies at 94
You may not know the name Gin D. Wong, but you definitely know his work. He’s responsible for some of the most iconic buildings in Los Angeles, including the Theme Building at the Los Angeles Airport (pictured above), and he even inspired the designers of the legendary 1962 animated TV show The Jetsons. Wong died … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
Dubai’s Unfortunately Named Torch Tower Won’t Stop Catching on Fire
Some Dubai residents woke up to a familiar sight early Friday morning: flames engulfing an enormous skyscraper. In fact, the fire that spanned 50 of the 86 stories of the massive Torch Tower was all too familiar. The same skyscraper burned in 2015, and the causes appear to be related. Luckily, there were no reported … Continued
-
Tech NewsSploid
This Photographer’s Shots of Real Buildings Look Just Like Optical Illusions
Serbian photographer Nikola Olic lives and works in Dallas, Texas, but he also travels the world with a keen eye that’s always looking for unusual angles on buildings and other structures. The result is a collection of architectural photographs that look more like impossible optical illusions. https://gizmodo.com/10-optical-illusion-architecture-photos-from-major-us-c-1699187431 Olic’s abstract shots make the world seem like … Continued
-
Tech News
Elevators of the Future Will Move Sideways Without a Single Cable
One of the biggest engineering challenges of building a towering skyscraper isn’t keeping the structure from falling over, it’s moving all the people around inside of it. To improve efficiency, and facilitate the construction of even taller buildings, Germany’s ThyssenKrupp has completely redesigned elevators so that they can move sideways now, too. The traditional design … Continued
-
Tech NewsSploid
This Endless Montage of Tunnels Somehow Makes Nightmarish Commutes Look Beautiful
The London underground and subway is made up of one of the most complex tunnel systems in the world. As a commuter, it’s hard to see the beauty of that complex maze racing through it every morning on the way to work, but this short film manages to paint those endless tunnels as a work … Continued
-
Tech NewsSploid
Watch a Reinforced Steel Rod Break Like a Weak Little Twig
Inside nearly everything made of concrete, you’ll find reinforced steel rods that compress the material, making buildings, bridges, and other structures even stronger. The rods aren’t designed to break easily, but when they do, the best way to watch the destructive results is through the lens of a slow motion camera. The Slow Mo Guys … Continued
-
Tech News
Custom Chess Sets Let You Play With Your Favorite City’s Famous Landmarks
For those who don’t live under a monarchy, memorizing the ranks of queens, kings, bishops, and other pieces makes learning chess that much harder. But swap out royalty and peasants with buildings from famous cities, and all you really need to know is that taller is better. Designed by Etsy seller AberuizDesign, these 3D-printed chess … Continued
-
Tech News
Unsellable 196-Foot Picnic Basket Marked Down to $5 Million
According to some, the future of architecture is wood, but in Newark, Ohio, the future has already arrived—in the form of big, dumb picnic basket that’s also an office building no one will buy. https://gizmodo.com/these-gorgeous-buildings-showcase-the-surprisingly-inno-1757398349 First put on the market 18 months ago for $7.5 million, the (sadly stucco-based) former headquarters of struggling basketmaker Longaberger … Continued
By Hudson Hongo -
Tech NewsSploid
Watch 116 Excavators Demolish a Massive Overpass In Just One Night
Finding 116 excavators to demolish an aging 24-year-old overpass in just one night is all but impossible—unless you live in China. In the city of Nanchang, contractors assembled an army of construction equipment to tear down the main part of this overpass in just one night, with the entire job requiring only a 56-hour disruption … Continued
-
Tech NewsSploid
Living in an Airplane Hangar Isn’t Such a Bad Idea
Adam Kalkin is an architect in New Jersey who found the smartest way to expand his home: cover it in a bigger house. From the outside it looks like a giant shipping container. And that’s pretty much what it is—a 27 foot high prefab structure of metal and waxed concrete. Inside, the original 130-year-old cottage … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
Tech News
You Can Finally Build the US Capitol Out of Lego
Almost every building in Washington DC is iconic and recognizable in its own way. But no structure in the city, or the country, serves as a more iconic symbol of America than the US Capitol building, with its soaring dome and imposing structure…one that’s now slightly less imposing as Lego’s newest Architecture set. The real … Continued