"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 on Apr 24, 2008 - View this thread

The George W. Bush Presidential Library : visualizations
posted on Mar 4, 2008 - View this thread

One Wall Away: Hidden Spaces. Jan Theun van Rees photographs secret spaces in Chicago landmarks to allow us to access to what we normally never get to see. My favorites: the old heating ducts for Unity Temple, and inside the Bean. He other series explore Amsterdam's disused theaters, galleries and museums and various personal looks at public spaces.
posted on Nov 6, 2007 - View this thread

Clip/Stamp/Fold. The current show at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York City explores an era when architecture was actually interesting. We go from "an elephant attacking the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan to a skyscraper made of Swiss cheese." On the way, we visit astronauts, bunkers, walking cities, and robots fucking – and it's all waiting for you inside these little magazines.
posted on Feb 7, 2007 - View this thread

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 on May 16, 2006 - View this thread

Liquid Stone: New Architecture in Concrete (Flash). A nice round-up of contemporary concrete architecture, with some stunning pictures, from the National Building Museum. Be sure to follow the "Featured Projects" link on the right.
posted on Dec 14, 2005 - View this thread

Buildings that never were: Unrealized Moscow - grand scale architectural projects from the mid 1930s to the early 1950s.
posted on Jun 22, 2005 - View this thread

The Blur Building. Now you can spend your day in a literal fog.
posted on Sep 28, 2003 - View this thread

Cranespotting (Geocities) ... is the compulsion, upon seeing a long crane boom reaching skyward in the distance, to drive over and see what's holding it up. The crane capital of the world is Germany, where Demag, Gottwald, Krupp, Liebherr and others make some cranes with eye-opening numbers: more than 60 feet long, with 10 axles, and able to lift 1,000 tons. Now sometimes cranes tip over, touch power lines and so on; and there's a website for that too.
posted on Jun 12, 2003 - View this thread

New Plans for the World Trade Center. Call Frank Gehry, and keep Eric Owen Moss far, far away.
posted on Nov 20, 2002 - View this thread

Urban Exploration, Japanese-style: lavishly beautiful site documenting Japan's modern ruins, via gmtPlus9.
posted on Jan 31, 2002 - View this thread

Why is American architecture so bad? "American architecture is, as a rule, conventional, bland, and dull. This is true almost across the board: from public buildings sponsored by federal or state governments to commercial buildings; from privately sponsored civic institutions, such as museums and concert halls, to local community centers and religious sanctuaries; from public-housing projects to private housing."
posted on Dec 24, 2001 - View this thread

The Skyscraper Museum is a very educational site about high-rise buildings and offers some great information about the history of the skyscraper. But the most interesting part of this site is the Manhattan Timeformations, which offers a series of well done Flash animations that are both interesting to watch and educational. I hope this post won't be deemed too touchy of a subject for this time, because this site gives some real insight into a subject that is very American...the skyscraper.
posted on Oct 16, 2001 - View this thread