National Register Photostream — Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the
U.S. National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect our historic and archeological resources. Properties listed in the Register include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture.
posted by netbros
on Dec 23, 2011 -
6 comments
Clarke Quay Singapore,
The Cement Factory,
Takasugi-an,
Nobis House,
Kew House,
Rolex Learning Centre,
Central Park,
Walt Disney Concert Hall,
Containers of Hope,
Museum of Liverpool,
Busan Opera House,
The Meera House,
Nakahouse
OpenBuildings is an collaboration community dedicated to architecture where you can
browse buildings by
collections,
people/firms,
city guides or their
vicinity to you.
posted by Foci for Analysis
on Sep 12, 2011 -
2 comments
In 1972, Washington, DC
opened the doors to the HD Woodson Senior High School. It was the city's first new school in twelve years, and the first to be constructed after riots
devastated the city in 1968. Like its sister school across town, it had been
built to withstand another riot, and protect its students within its fortress-like walls. For a time, it stood as the pride and joy of the city's school system, featuring a diverse range of academic and vocational programs in a state of the art 8-story building complete with escalators, science labs, and a six-lane pool; a symbol of hope for a downtrodden community.
By 2008, however, things had gone horribly, horribly wrong. The building was literally crumbling, many of its original facilities had closed due to neglect, only 13% of sophomores were proficient in reading or mathematics, and violence was a daily concern. Facing no other choice, the city closed the school in 2008, and
demolished the brutalist structure shortly thereafter.
After a three year
series of delays, next week,
students will begin classes in the
newly reconstructed HD Woodson High School; a 3-story state of the art building complete with elevators, science labs, and an eight-lane pool; a symbol of hope for a downtrodden community -- leading many to question: Will it work this time? The correlation between architecture and academic performance is not well-studied, and
previous efforts have been inconclusive at best.
posted by schmod
on Aug 18, 2011 -
49 comments
Scaffoldage. If you like construction, with particular reference to terrifyingly lashed-together metal or bamboo rods reaching dizzyingly up into the sky, then you've come to the right thread.
posted by The Discredited Ape
on Apr 5, 2011 -
23 comments
Stephen Biesty is an award-winning British illustrator famous for his bestselling "Incredible" series of engineering art books:
Incredible Cross-Sections,
Incredible Explosions,
Incredible Body, and
many more. A master draftsman, Biesty
does not use computers or even rulers in composing his intricate and imaginative drawings, relying on nothing more than pen and ink, watercolor, and a steady hand. Over the years, he's adapted his work to many other mediums, including
pop-up books,
educational games (
video),
interactive history sites, and
animation. You can view much of his work in
the zoomable galleries on his professional page, or click inside for a full listing of direct links to high-resolution, desktop-quality copies from his and other sites, including several with written commentary from collaborator
Richard Platt [site, .mp3 chat].
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Feb 4, 2011 -
24 comments
Tiny Buildings - "a collection of tiny buildings handcrafted from business cards, packaging and other nice papers."
posted by dobbs
on Dec 25, 2007 -
10 comments
Illicit Ohio has a wide range of photos and essays of
abandoned places in Ohio, from the
Cincinnati subway system (yes, there really
is was one, and it's been
discussed here before), to
various and
sundry prisons,
government installations,
hotels,
hosiptals,
houses and more. And don't miss the
old vs. new galleries, either.
posted by dersins
on Aug 29, 2007 -
20 comments
Helix — a 1D skyscraper with a single corridor. The principle is a cylindrical building with a helical shape for the floor. The slope of the floor is 1.5% (it rises by 1.5 cm every meter), thus hardly noticeable. The height of each ’storey’ is 3 meters, so that when you walk 200 meters along the corridor, you have walked a full circle, but you end up one ’storey’ above or below your starting point.
posted by psmealey
on May 21, 2007 -
50 comments
Americas Favorite Architecture - The American Institute of Architecture lists its 150 most favorite buildings as ranked by its members. Zoom-able photos and building information herein. You can also rate your top five.
posted by Burhanistan
on May 3, 2007 -
65 comments
Unintelligent Design. The History Images of
Sze Tsung Leong.
"Then there's the other type of history that is recorded in the fabric of cities. This includes the houses that are being destroyed; it has to do with the history of quotidian things, really, the layers of history that have slowly accumulated. The loss of this fabric the spaces and histories particular to different cities means that the particular cultural value and artistic qualities they contain, are lost." also
here and
here.
posted by arse_hat
on Feb 6, 2007 -
8 comments
Kirkbride Buildings.
Once state-of-the-art mental healthcare facilities, Kirkbride buildings have long been relics of an obsolete therapeutic method known as Moral Treatment. These massive structures were conceived as ideal sanctuaries for the mentally ill in the latter half of the nineteenth century. AKA:
The Kirkbride Plan. [more stuff inside]
posted by KevinSkomsvold
on Dec 29, 2005 -
21 comments
Action Squad – Urban Adventurers
"In a nutshell, Action Squad explores. This generally occurs late at night, to aid in avoiding other people, particularly those with badges and funny blue uniforms. We climb buildings, sneak into factories, crawl through all kinds of tunnels, spelunk old brewery caves, poke around abandoned buildings, and run across the rooftops."
Missions of the Action Squad are fully documented with descriptions, photographs (historical & intraoperative) and sometimes maps but always with a sense of wonder at the urban flotsam they enjoy exploring.
This is my particular favourite but poke around, there's a fair bit in this gem of a site worth exploring from the armchair.
[via]
posted by peacay
on May 24, 2005 -
27 comments
Future of Sky Scrapers? Is this the future of sky scrapers, or are they now irrelevant with the current threats that are presented? Would you work in this building?
posted by npost
on Jan 29, 2003 -
15 comments
The New Yorker wonders whether the new
Westin hotel at Times Square is the ugliest
building in NYC. What do New Yorkers think? Is ugly architecture anything more than just poor business? What is the state of architecture in this country? (more)
posted by pejamo
on Oct 8, 2002 -
45 comments
A Fruit Has Been Built. A
unique architectural piece that pokes your senses in creative ways, is also good-humouredly called the "
Durians" by local Singaporeans. Durians, or otherwise titled King of fruits, are beloved by millions of South East Asians. The spiky building, officially known as "
Esplanade-theatres on the bay", started construction in 1996 and will
open (flash) to the world on the 12th October 2002.
posted by taratan
on Oct 6, 2002 -
12 comments
A Tale of Two Cities: Chicago and New York This exhibition of more than 150 black-and-white photographs represents a cross-section of the thousands of significant buildings that are protected by local landmark designation in Chicago and New York City. The story of how this came to pass is both as similar and as different as the cities themselves.
posted by vacapinta
on Sep 7, 2002 -
3 comments
Sacred Commerce? Funny, I walked daily to work past the World Trade Center, and have been in the Middle East more than once, but it never occured to me to connect the WTC with Islamic architecture until I read this.
posted by MidasMulligan
on Dec 31, 2001 -
1 comment
Samuel Mockbee is my new hero. As the creator of Auburn University's
Rural Studio and winner of a
MacArthur Fellowship, he has his undergraduate students design and construct buildings. Not only are the structures they build attractive and functional, they are built in one of the poorest areas of the country, using discarded and recycled materials.
posted by Aaaugh!
on Nov 29, 2000 -
2 comments
Capitol Idea: Matt believes "all government capitols look phallic to somehow signify that the most important 'man'
lives here." Having lived in the shadow of Florida's capitol for a few years, I have a better theory. These buildings are phallic because government's primary function is to screw people.
posted by mikewas
on Mar 22, 2000 -
3 comments
