Tag: Architecture
Photo You Must See: Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles
by World Hum | 10.27.09 | 11:43 AM ET
REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson A view of the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
Email to friend
del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Mixx
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Yahoo! BuzzAthens: A New Look for an Old City
by Rick Steves | 10.20.09 | 11:37 AM ET
Exploring Europe, exploring travel as a political act
Behind the Eiffel Tower’s Beauty Regimen
by Eva Holland | 10.13.09 | 10:15 AM ET
As the120th birthday celebrations for the Paris landmark continue, EuroCheapo’s Theadora Brack shares “some riveting facts” (har) about the tower’s maintenance regimen.
Introducing the ‘Walkway Over the Hudson’
by Eva Holland | 10.02.09 | 2:28 PM ET
It seems pedestrian park-bridge hybrids are really catching on. After Manhattan’s High Line opened to rave reviews this summer, Poughkeepsie, NY, has followed up with its own offering, transforming a 1.25-mile railway bridge into a state park/walkway running more than 200 feet above the Hudson River. This Just In has the details on the grand opening.
What if the Burj Dubai was in Manhattan?
by Eva Holland | 09.24.09 | 4:26 PM ET
Kottke posts an altered version of the Midtown skyline. Puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?
Americans Fight Tourist Kitsch in China
by Michael Yessis | 09.09.09 | 11:00 AM ET
In China, “‘ancient’ villages are being redeveloped in a kitschy, gift-shop-heavy way,” James Fallows writes in the Atlantic. Americans Brian and Jeanee Linden are fighting the trend. They’ve “worked with party officials to secure something rarely accorded foreigners: the right to use a ‘Class A’ historical relic and restore it—its tiling, wooden arches and fretwork, painted murals.”
The Haunting Houses of New Orleans
by Allison Chipak | 08.27.09 | 10:23 AM ET
Photo by Allison Fay Four years later, the city still reels from Hurricane Katrina. Allison Chipak captures some of the destruction and decay that still remains.
See the full photo slideshow »
Why Are There no Moving Sidewalks in New York City?
by Michael Yessis | 08.12.09 | 12:30 PM ET
It’s not as bizarre of a question as you may think. Paul Collins looks at plans for moving walkways—the “endless-travelling sidewalk,” in the words of one inventor—in New York and other world cities that never came to be. (Via Kottke)
Brunel-Spotting in Southern England
by Eva Holland | 07.30.09 | 12:16 PM ET
If you’ve taken a train in London or southwestern England, chances are you’ve passed through or across one of Isembard Kingdom Brunel’s bridges, tunnels or railway stations. The Victorian engineer arguably did more than anyone to shape public transit in Britain, and his creations are hard to avoid.
I’ve been a Brunel fan ever since I accidentally wound up at his 200th birthday party at the foot of Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge in 2006, so I was pleased to come across this excellent slideshow from the Telegraph, mixing paintings and photographs to depict Brunel’s greatest surviving structures. I’ve made it to four of them—how about you?
R.I.P. Sandy van Ginkel, Montreal Architect
by Eva Holland | 07.27.09 | 10:36 AM ET
The Dutch-born architect and city planner, who is credited with saving the Old Montreal we know today from development, died earlier this month at 89. In the late 1950s, van Ginkel “almost single-handedly persuaded the good burghers of Montreal to abandon plans for an expressway that would have cut through the old city, destroying much of its heritage and the ambience that still draws tourists and visitors,” writes the Globe and Mail’s Sandra Martin.
‘The History and Future of Airport Design’
by Alicia Imbody | 07.23.09 | 9:18 AM ET
Slate has a great slideshow essay on the history of airport architecture. It shows how the evolution has come full circle, from the early days when all you needed was a grassy field, through innovative and artful designs that reflected the bygone days when air travel was still glamorous, to the glorified bus stations we’ve come to expect today.
R.I.P. Julius Shulman
by Jim Benning | 07.16.09 | 5:37 PM ET
REUTERS/Fred Prouser/Files The famed Los Angeles architectural photographer died yesterday at his home in Laurel Canyon at the age of 98. Among his most iconic photographs: a shot of Pierre Koenig’ Case Study House #22—the photo within the photo here.
Dwell magazine put it well: “His photography helped define mid-century modernism and no one can claim more credit for documenting, and in some ways inventing, what post-war California cool looked and felt like.”
Embassy Architecture: Can the U.S. Build More Than Bunkers?
by Jim Benning | 07.10.09 | 3:08 PM ET
Our recent troubles with terrorists have wrought many changes, including the rise of American embassies designed with such a strong emphasis on security—at the expense of everything else—that they’ve become, as L.A. Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne puts it, “one-size-fits-all bunkers.”
But a new report issued this week entitled “Design for Diplomacy” from the American Institute of Architects suggests that, while security must be at the forefront of embassy design:
U.S. embassies can, and must, reflect American values and ideals. U.S. embassies should symbolize America’s vitality, enduring strength, decency, and innovation. These essential qualities contribute to the conduct of American diplomacy, encourage international commerce, and enhance cultural exchange.
What’s Become of the World’s Red-Light Districts?
by Michael Yessis | 06.18.09 | 3:50 PM ET
A Wallpaper slideshow looks at how red-light districts in Amsterdam, Singapore, Sydney and seven other major world cities have been cleaned up. Or, as the story’s intro describes the transformation of Times Square in New York City, how they’ve reacted after after being given an “urban colonic.”
Is This What the Next Generation Airport Will Look Like?
by Michael Yessis | 06.18.09 | 3:24 PM ET
This blurb from the New York Times Infrastructure! issue suggests it’ll be “a superhub constructed offshore on a man-made island,” with undersea high-speed train access and gardens on top of the buildings.
It’ll allegedly be efficient and green. Here’s a graphic.
For Sale: Fabulous Hotel, Needs Work
by Sophia Dembling | 06.12.09 | 11:26 AM ET
Photo by Sophia Dembling While we’re on the subject of kitsch, here’s a story about lottery winnings well-spent: After winning $49 million in the Texas state lottery, Byron and Barbara Woods bought the decrepit Tee Pee Motel in Wharton, Texas, about 50 miles from Houston, and made it crepit with a $1.6 million buff-‘n’-puff.
24 Hours in Airworld: Terminal 5, Old and New
by Rob Verger | 06.09.09 | 3:11 PM ET
It was raining this morning in New York City as I made my way to J.F.K. to spend 24 hours hanging out in JetBlue’s Terminal 5. Every time I come to this airport, I’m reminded how far away it is from Manhattan. I took the 1 Train to the 2 Train to the E Train to the AirTrain to get here—a trip longer than some short flights.
On the elevated walkway from the AirTrain to T5, I was able to look out on the old Eero Saarinen TWA terminal—JetBlue’s new terminal sits in front of the beautiful, soaring old building, which is currently closed for renovations and is under the management of the Port Authority. Once it opens, JetBlue will have two self-service kiosks in there, and there’s a rumor that the building could one day become a museum—or a pod hotel. Today the building sat there closed, under gray skies, a landmark from another era, connected to the new building through the old tubes.
A Vertical Tour of Hong Kong
by Julia Ross | 04.20.09 | 10:14 AM ET
I read the current New Yorker profile of urban climber Alain Robert—aka “Spiderman”—expecting to learn the whys and wherefores of the Frenchman’s quirky obsession with scaling the world’s skyscrapers. There was plenty of that, but what surprised me was the extensive description of Hong Kong’s built environment, a kind of vertical canvas for Robert’s peculiar talent.
Writer Lauren Collins does a wonderful job describing how Hong Kong’s residents interact with their surroundings:
Read more of A Vertical Tour of Hong Kong »
Berlin, Germany: The Reichstag
by World Hum | 04.08.09 | 11:17 AM ET
REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch Tourists study a map in front of Berlin's Reichstag during a sunny spring day.
Empire State Building Goes Green
by Joanna Kakissis | 04.08.09 | 10:35 AM ET
The trendsters have spoken: Either you’re a greenvolutionary or you’re just another energy-sucking monument. So the Empire State Building, helped by $20 million from the Clinton Climate Initiative, aims to become the Art Deco landmark with a LEED rating, according to Reuters. The eco-makeover will include upgrading the building’s 6,500 windows and adding eco-friendly heating and air conditioning systems, insulation and energy-efficient lighting. The whole project is expected to cost about $100 million and is intended to cut energy consumption in the 102-story skyscraper by 38 percent.
- « Prev Page
- Next Page »
