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Tech NewsThis High-Altitude Overlook Perfectly Frames a Volcano
It takes some work to get to Ecuador’s Quilotoa Lake. Visiting the collapsed volcano requires hiring a bus or truck to navigate the steep roads, and a hardy constitution to endure its 12,000-foot altitude. Now a simple yet elegant platform allows a moment of meditative respite on the precipitous edge of the electric blue caldera … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
Bureaucracy and Bad Design Killed the World Trade Center’s Green Dream
Once upon a time, One World Trade was a trumpeted as the future greenest skyscraper in the world. It turned out to be anything but, and today, Mother Jones has obtained documentsexplaining what the hell happened. The short answer is money, bureaucracy, bad design. Oh, and Hurricane Sandy. It’s a story that would have gone … Continued
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io9
The Wonderful Geometry Of Budapest’s Spiral Staircases
There’s just something magical and mysterious about a staircase that goes around and around, letting you glimpse all the levels above or below. Whether they’re perfectly round or other shapes, spiral staircases are beautiful. And Budapest is full of Modernist architecture that includes some stairways to wonder. Here are our favorites. The Ca’d’Oro (Palazzo Santa … Continued
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Tech News
This Lego Lake Point Tower needs to be an architecture set
Great enough to slot right into the Architecture line, this set designed by Jens Ohrndorf is a fantastic thing. The building is a wonderful tribute to the luxury condos on Lakeshore drive in Chicago, IL. I’m really impressed with the use of minifigure hair and Medusa headpieces for the trees, that is super clever. This … Continued
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io9
The Historic American Monument That Was Never Built
This is how one painter imagined the perfect American monument, in the 1860s. He called it “Historical Monument of the American Republic.” Erastus Salisbury Field (1805-1900) was a portrait artist and painter in the United States. Though he was famous for painting portraits at top speed, he worked on this particular painting for 21 years, … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
There’s an Entire House Crammed Into This Tiny 98-Year-Old Boiler Room
There’s residential design, and then there’s jigsaw puzzle design. This elegant project by the San Francisco architect Christi Azevedo, who wedged a full guest house into a laundry and boiler room from 1916, falls somewhere in between the two. Azevedo got her start building custom furniture, fabricating wood and steel pieces herself, which clearly gave … Continued
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Tech News
Zaha Hadid Has Designed the World’s Worst Billboard
Well, here it is: the world’s worst billboard. Not that billboards are ever, like, especially great. And that’s why for the most part, cities don’t put up new ones. Or commission one by an architect known for her tone-deaf hubris. It’s like Zaha Hadid swept up some of the trash from her vagina stadium in … Continued
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Tech News
The 9 Most Expensive Buildings Ever Aren’t What You’d Expect
Buildings are expensive but they’re nowhere near as expensive as incompetence, as we learned this week thanks to new revelations about the $4 billion price tag of the World Trade Center transit hub. In the process,we uncovered a list of the most expensive structures ever built—and some of them might surprise you. The building data … Continued
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io9
The Hypnotic Power Of Repetitive Architecture
Do not adjust your screen. What you are looking at is not a glitch, not an alien experiment, and not a broadcast test pattern. It’s just a handful examples of extremely repetitive architectural patterns in buildings from around the world. Welcome to my round apartment, The Hague, The Netherlands, by Manuel Mira Godinho My green … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
This Is the Largest Stone Block Ever Carved By Human Hands
This may look like a modern civil engineering marvel—but in fact you’re looking at the largest known stone block to be tirelessly carved by human hands. Discovered in a stone quarry in Baalbek, Lebanon, by German archaeologists, the perfectly hewn chunk of stone measures 64 feet by 19.6 feet and is 18 feet tall. It’s … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
London’s Crazy Stupid Garden Bridge Is Actually Going Ahead
Let’s say, right, you’re the council for a giant city with a rising population, serious housing problems and a centuries-old public transit system. And you’ve got $300 million to spend on a new infrastructure project. Do you think you should a) spend that money on a garden footbridge that’s only open during the day, or … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
A Memorial to Qatar’s World Cup Worker Deaths That Will Never Be Built
Thousands of immigrant workers have died over the past year as they labored at the sprawling construction sites for Qatar’s World Cup in what Amnesty International calls “modern-day slavery.” Now a pair of architects have shared a proposal for a memorial to the workers—and it’s a horrible reminder of just how many people have died … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
How the Buildings We Work in Affect Our Moods
Anything that changes how we feel emotionally can have an impact on our physical health too, according to the science of psychoneuroimmunology. There are three main systems in the body that are involved in maintaining health: the nervous system, the hormone (endocrine) system and the immune system. These are in a triangle of communication, each … Continued
Lucy Maddox - Mosaic -
io9
12 Ways Airports Are Actually Getting Better
Airports are coming full circle. Back in the golden age of air travel, flying was a luxurious experience. And then, after 9/11, the industry sank to its lowest. Tightened security and the rising cost of fuel made air travel almost excruciating. But it’s getting better, especially at airports. Top image: Robert Churchill/Getty Images Although wait … Continued
Tracy Staedter - Discovery News -
Tech NewsDesign
Beautiful Warming Huts Are Proof That Canada Does Winter Better Than Us
The average temperature in Winnipeg during the winter hovers around 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit—a number most of would consider cause for hunkering down for the season. In Canada, it’s cause for parties. Winnipeg keeps up a busy schedule of outdoor activities, including a four mile skating trail on the frozen Red River, which is often called … Continued
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Tech NewsFuture Elevators Will Use Maglev to Go Up, Down—and Sideways
Is only going up in the elevator getting you down? Not for much longer: ThyssenKrupp, the German steel and engineering company, has announced that it’s building the next generation of elevators that will use magnetic levitation to travel up, down and side-to-side at speed in the buildings of the future. Maglev technology, used by some … Continued
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Tech News
Humble Rest Stops Are Endangered Monuments of America’s Highways
All along America’s open highways are the sight of rest stops—lonesome, and often odd, miniature roadside parks that dot the landscape. Photographer Ryann Ford is on a mission to document these architectural emblems. Ford was captivated by the sight of the rest stops while moving from California to Texas. After learning that many of these … Continued
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Tech NewsDesign
Adults Who Live in Treehouses Aren’t as Weird as You Might Think
Before I was born, my mom lived in a treehouse in the Smoky Mountains and had a pet goat with one ear. His name was Van Goat. This was the late 70s, and even then, it was a unique lifestyle. But my how treehouse culture has evolved. The Atlantic just offered a glimpse into the … Continued