MetaFilter posts tagged with building

A really big circular slice of a building that moves. Yes.

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:17:35 -0800

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. Wiki page on sculptor Richard Wilson, who also happened to be a founding member of the Bow Gamelan Ensemble.

"America's Imaginary Medieval Period"

Miko — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 06:00:39 -0800

NPR: American Castles. With interactive map. Previously. Also, on Flickr.

Make It, Fly It

exogenous — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:58:46 -0800

It has lately been popular to make stuff. But few have made an airplane. A great variety of homebuilt/amateur experimental aircraft can be made, some speedy, some aerobatic, some quite popular. Some folks have even made a blimp. Before building, it would be wise to consult a professional. Powerplant options include an air cooled Volkswagen engine, diesel, and conventional small aircraft engines. As an alternative to starting from scratch, there is restoration. Plus, airplanes can be a fun way to fly somewhere (though some routes require advance preparation).

That’s just a scroll in his hand!

Robin Kestrel — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:20:40 -0800

The source of a recently-broken curse, the tallest statue to adorn the top of any building surmounts the tallest masonry building in the world. A bit of perspective. Too much perspective? [previously]

Big Bad Wolves Need Not Apply

5MeoCMP — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:07:01 -0800

The first little pig built his house out of straw [previously]. The second little pig built his house out of sticks. The third little pig built his house out of bricks; but the relatively unknown fourth little pig built several structures of all sizes out of mud (and straw), and he wasn't a hippy. Cob building is relatively simple, inexpensive, sturdy and beautiful. It allows you to create free-form structures, it doesn't require a lot of knowledge and, best of all, everyone (including the kids) can get involved. The canonical resource for cob building is probably The Cob Builders Handbook, available directly from the author, or via Amazon if you're so inclined.

Telescope making

Upton O'Good — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:59:45 -0800

Mark VandeWettering makes telescopes, and has written a set of guides for those who would like to build their own. Francis O'Reilly has made a similar set of guides, except as a series of videos.

A Shed By Any Other Name...

amyms — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:55:41 -0800

"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.

Unclassified Dubya library designs

Gyan — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:39:27 -0800

The George W. Bush Presidential Library : visualizations

Building big buildings. And knocking others down.

flapjax at midnite — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:59:14 -0800

The new terminal at Beijing airport is big. No, wait, I mean it's REALLY BIG. That is, REALLY FUCKING BIG. And there's plenty of other massive construction projects underway in Beijing, many designed by European architects. Like they say, though, if you wanna make an omelette, you gotta break some eggs. And well, they seem to be doing a better job of that than these guys. And hey, what the hell, while we're at it: demolition montage.

Hartford Civic Center Collapse

eye of newt — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:43:47 -0800

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. The roof was designed with help from some of the best civil engineering consultants, universities, and professors in the industry and had a special computer analyzed 'space frame' design--meant to equally balance the load so that lighter and cheaper material could be used. (Three days later, the space-frame roof of the Long Island University C.W. Post Dome Auditorium (pdf) collapsed "like a giant cracked eggshell".) Lessons learned.

Displaced places

blahblahblah — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 07:00:14 -0800

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.

Photos of the secret interiors of buildings.

hydrophonic — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:54:42 -0800

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.

Green Grumbles

Terminal Verbosity — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 13:50:14 -0800

"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." [Via]

Extended extension post

Upton O'Good — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 20:20:40 -0800

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... As it supports the farming community, much of this information concerns things important mostly to farmers: crop and livestock information, pest control, diseases. A lot of the publications also concern issues in people's personal lives: dealing with money, proper nutrition, food safety, overcoming hardship. There are plenty of articles useful for gardeners and cooks, and plenty of unusual topics to interest the curious. Below are some of the more interesting/useful ones I've found. (Warning: many PDF files below.) Raising alligators Raising all sorts of fish, including tropical ones Raising chickens at home for eggs Raising bees Raising pheasants Growing shiitake mushrooms Growing Christmas trees Growing rhubarb Growing coffee (hint: live in Hawaii) Growing citrus trees (you should start here) Growing pretty much every other kind of fruit Growing chile peppers Growing hydroponic tomatoes Growing herbs Making maple syrup (especially this one) Pressing your own apple cider Drying corn for Plains Indian dishes Cleaning and preparing a deer Practicing the art of sausage-making (with recipes!) Organizing a Southern barbecue (also with recipes) Curing a Virginia ham Making pickles and sauerkraut Making your own wine Canning fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, salsas, etc. Drying fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts, and seeds Smoking poultry and fish Deep-fat-frying your Thanksgiving turkey Making your own jams and jellies (with or without cooking them) Cooking ferns and other wild greens Making fruit syrup Making homemade cheese Making homemade yogurt Starting a worm farm Composting correctly Making hay Controlling your beavers Building a root cellar Building a greenhouse (with a few additional considerations) Building bird and bat houses Harvesting wood (and how to use a chainsaw) Refinishing wood furniture Making clothes and Creaing bonsai You can find links to nearby extensions here; Wikipedia also has a list.

Google Maps to include NYC subway stops and building outlines

allterrainbrain — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 01:49:39 -0800

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).

"The crazy notion that design not only was important but could also change the world"

BLDGBLOG — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 23:58:58 -0800

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.

Moving an 100 year old church - via the power of rock

skylar — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:52:24 -0800

Moving an 100 year old church - via the power of rock (YouTube page) Watching a show about buildings being moved by truck, my attention drifted towards the captivating music, from composer Daniel Pemberton. One of the gems on his MySpace page is this clip in which a 40-strong choir leads an 100-year old church as it is moved down a road, to a soundtrack akin to the Beatles or Polyphonic Spree. It's bizarre and certainly not your normal documentary fare.

Men in (glass) suit?

myopicman — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 20:25:19 -0800

"Dear Tokyo, why don't you have a building like this yet?" There are a lot of other ideas found on Ironic Sans.

Building with cargo containers

SteveInMaine — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 11:14:00 -0800

Building with the Intermodal Steel Building Unit: It's cheaper for overseas shippers to dump the containers in the United States rather than return them to their place of origin. Tampa Armature Works with St. Petersburg Neighborhood Housing Services Inc. have started recycling them into affordable, hurricane-resistant housing in St. Petersburg, Florida. Bob Vila was there to document it (flash video). Previously on MetaFilter, a brief history of the steel boxes.

Half-mile high buildings...

blahblahblah — Tue, 16 May 2006 08:23:50 -0800

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!

You know, man is the only animal clever enough to build the Empire State Building and stupid enough to jump off it!

Smart Dalek — Mon, 01 May 2006 07:23:57 -0800

She's she's been pawed by apes, strafed by a bomber, and snubbed by the daleks. But today, at 75, the Empire State Building still looks great.

Liquid Stone

OmieWise — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 10:38:38 -0800

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.

a nice counterpiece to abandoned Russian buildings

iconomy — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 11:07:26 -0800

Buildings that never were: Unrealized Moscow - grand scale architectural projects from the mid 1930s to the early 1950s.

Because it hurts more than cards or matches

Orange Goblin — Mon, 11 Apr 2005 11:05:35 -0800

Penny stacking - build pillars, bridges and domes from your worthless change.

The Music Factory

rocket88 — Wed, 29 Dec 2004 00:10:23 -0800

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]