If you live in a sufficiently old city in the U.S.,Canada, or the UK you've probably seen
these set into concrete sidewalks or the panels of cast iron steps. Termed
vault lights in the U.S., pavement lights in the UK, and sidewalk prisms in Canada, the glass insets were originally clear and intended to produce
daylighting in subterranean spaces. The
ethereal purple color results from the glass's
manganese content being exposed to ultraviolet light over time. Many vault lights or sidewalk prisms are in
poor condition, but some are being
repaired.
posted by bad grammar
on Jan 19, 2010 -
46 comments
When you think of
Hinduism, you probably don't think of suburban
Lilburn, Georgia, yet it is home to
BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, at over 30,000 square feet the
largest Hindu
temple in the world outside of India. The
beautiful temple was assembled from 34,000 pieces of Turkish limestone, Indian pink sandstone, and Italian Carrara marble hand-carved by some 1500 craftsmen in India, then shipped to Georgia, where about 900 volunteers put in over a million man-hours to bring the architects' vision to
fruition (YT), at a cost of about US$19m.
[more inside]
posted by notashroom
on Aug 12, 2009 -
36 comments
High Tec Shadow Play 'In Rotterdam, Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer used two 7000 watt lamps to create 1200 square metres of projected images which were overlayed by the shadows of passer-by's. A computer based tracking system monitored the shadows. Once the shadows matched the projected image, a new image (or "scene") was triggered. ' An impressive (if extravagant) bit of public art (QuickTime)
posted by rolo
on Jan 31, 2003 -
15 comments
