A Pattern Language explores the living structure in good and bad buildings, human artifacts, and natural systems, discussing the presence of the same living order in all systems. [Christopher] Alexander proposes that the living order depends on features which make a close connection with the human self. The quality of works of art, artifacts, and buildings is defined not merely in terms of living structure, but also in their capacity to affect human growth and human well-being.
posted by Trurl
on Dec 15, 2011 -
38 comments
Many people have described the popular freeform game Minecraft as
"kind of like Lego", so a few enterprising stop-motion animators have decided to
jump on that idea.
posted by The Whelk
on Mar 26, 2011 -
27 comments
There are
Real Fake Buildings,
Real Fake Watches,
real fake books, and of course, "
The Internet's LARGEST Selection of Real Fake Rocks!"
But for truly high-end fakes -- the "realest" of the fakes -- there's the
Museum of Fakes in
Southern Italy, or even better, the
Museum of Art Fakes in Vienna, which includes etchings from "last living master forger from Germany."
"The Museum of Art Fakes, almost directly opposite the Hundertwasserhaus, is unique in Europe. It is filled with paintings from not only world famous forgers (such as van Meegeren, Tom Keating, David Stein, Konrad Kujau, Edgar Mrugalla, Lothar Malskat), but also so-called ‘identical-forgeries’ of Schiele, Klimt, Monet, Raffael and many more."
posted by not_the_water
on Jun 4, 2010 -
19 comments
Behold the
N Building, a new structure in a Tokyo shopping district that at first glance looks kind of like a giant Tetris screen until you realize that the fancy geometric design on its facade isn't merely ornamental: It's code—
QR code, to be exact. What that code allows passersby to do is quite unique. [
via,
via]
[more inside]
posted by netbros
on Jan 29, 2010 -
21 comments
Haven't we all, at one time or another, wanted to carve an enormous circle into an industrial building facade and have it rotate in three dimensions? Of course we have. But Richard Wilson
did it. That's right, he actually
did it.
[more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite
on Oct 30, 2009 -
76 comments
"As a great architect once said, 'Buildings should look like what they are'." John Jessop became so frustrated with the red tape required for his company to get permission to build a farm shed,
he submitted a sarcastic application . Read his full "Planning Application for Erection of Agricultural Implement Shed"
here [pdf, 3 pages]. No word yet on whether the shed was approved.
Via.
posted by amyms
on Apr 24, 2008 -
27 comments
It could have been the greatest disaster in US history. On January 18, 1978, 30 years ago today, the 1400 ton 2 1/2 acre roof of the
Hartford Civic Center, covered by a blanket of snow and ice, suddenly and completely
collapsed, damaging almost all of the seats underneath. Just four hours earlier there was a basketball game packed with 5000 fans. Had it collapsed then, many, if not most, of the fans and players could have died.
[more inside]
posted by eye of newt
on Jan 18, 2008 -
37 comments
This
house at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn has been replicated around the world to odd architectural effect:
Montreal,
Sao Paulo,
New Jersey,
Buenos Aires,
Milan,
Tel Aviv, and
seven other locations. Why? Because it was
the home of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. This sort of geographic dislocation is not unique to 770 Eastern Parkway, however, as photographers Andrea Robbins and Max Becher show:
German buildings in Namibia, the
Old West in Almeria Spain, the last
French colony off Newfoundland, the
town in Washington that was transformed into Bavaria, and
others.
posted by blahblahblah
on Nov 15, 2007 -
28 comments
"
This blog is intended to document our experience in creating a “green” home in the city of Chicago. We hope to share our experience, good and bad, in creating a place to live ecologically, happily and with minimal impact upon our world."
[more inside]
posted by Terminal Verbosity
on Oct 10, 2007 -
12 comments
The
Cooperative Extension Service, founded in 1914 in the US by the Smith-Lever Act, was established in concert with the
land-grant universities to develop practical applications of agricultural research, and spread them to farmers and others throughout the country. As part of this education program, the extension programs have produced and collected an extraordinary amount of practical advice, easily accessible to the layman...
[more inside]
posted by Upton O'Good
on Sep 18, 2007 -
12 comments
a Google Maps view of NYC, centered on Central Park Google Maps has started displaying subway stops (with the names of the lines that serve each each stop) in New York City. Clearly this is a work in progress (full building outlines are available only in some parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, and some subway stops currently list only one of the multiple trains that serve the stop). Still, this is excellent news not only for natives but also for tourists (whose only subway-map reference may be the significantly, sometimes radically "not to scale" version put out by the MTA).
posted by allterrainbrain
on Feb 9, 2007 -
46 comments
A growing crop of towers pushing 2,000 feet: though just shy itself, the
much-redesigned Freedom Tower is finally under construction for completion in 2011; but there is also the
stunning Fordham Spire,
approved in Chicago, that will rise to 2,000 feet by 2010. Moscow is planning
the tallest tower in Europe, while there are a number of
sightseeing and
radio towers under construction in Asia. In Dubai, two towers under construction (
despite worker protests) are
racing to be the world's tallest, both are keeping their final heights secret, but will likely be over half a mile in height -- the
Burj Dubai and the
Al Burj. As
previously discussed, there are great illustrations comparing buildings both
built and
under construction. Bring on Frank Lloyd Wright's
The Illinois!
posted by blahblahblah
on May 16, 2006 -
63 comments
The Brill Building , located at 1619 Broadway in the heart of New York's music district, is a name synonymous with an approach to songwriting that changed the course of music. Housing legendary songwriters like Carole King, Jerry Leiber, Neil Sedaka, and Burt Bacharach, the Brill Building created some of the
greatest hits of the
rock'n'roll era. [more inside]
posted by rocket88
on Dec 29, 2004 -
11 comments
Lego Master Builder search
"After kicking off at The Art Institute of California – San Diego on Thursday, Oct. 30, the official LEGO Master Model Builder Search will head to Art Institutes in Washington D.C., Boston, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Los Angeles before its final stop in Orange County, California. Winners from each city will be invited to travel to the LEGOLAND theme park in Carlsbad in 2004 to interview for the ultimate job – and the chance for the coveted spot as the seventh LEGO Master Model Builder." Ladies and gentlemen, start your brick building!
posted by Irontom
on Oct 15, 2003 -
6 comments
