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Here’s a terrible photo I took through the window of a ferry: There’s a weird concentric-circle effect to the buildings in much of lower Manhattan that you can see clearly here, that the buildings on the waterfront are new and bigger than the ones behind them. It’s a simple accident of history: when people started […]
12 months ago

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More from Old Structures Engineering

Top To Bottom

From Scientific American, December 8, 1894, an interesting view of two buildings: drawings that include both the above-ground portion of the buildings, more or less as you would see them, and the foundations as they could never be seen. The foundations are seen as if the earth had been turned transparent. The image of the […]

8 months ago 82 votes
Happy Christmas

I’m not so sure about that vest.

8 months ago 71 votes
Genteel

That’s the Hotel Marlborough at 36th Street and Broadway, shortly after 1900. The hotel opened in 1888 when the entertainment district on Broadway was further south; by the time it was demolished in 1922, that district had moved to Times Square, a few blocks to the north. It’s a story repeated for hundreds of buildings […]

8 months ago 72 votes
Once Again, In Plastic

The restoration of Notre Dame deserves all the praise that has been heaped upon it, but have I mentioned recently that my son and I have built the LEGO Notre Dame? We finished our small Notre Dame about a week after the official opening of the large one, but they had a head start on […]

8 months ago 66 votes
It Looked Familiar: Archetypical

From a graphic novel about art called Naked City: how do you capture the spirit of New York? A relentless grid and Old-Law tenements.

8 months ago 72 votes

More in architecture

How to Get a Job at DXA Studio

For our latest "How To Get A Job At ____" feature, Archinect connected with New York City-based architecture firm DXA Studio. Founded in 2011 by Jordan Rogove and Wayne Norbeck, the practice has built an impressive portfolio of projects that merge cutting-edge modern design with the preservation of NYC's existing historic built environment. Our conversation with members of the DXA Studio leadership team delves into their hiring process, preferred skills they look for in interested candidates, and how applicants can increase their chances of getting hired.

2 days ago 4 votes
An Engineering History of the Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project, the US program to build an atomic bomb during WWII, is one of the most famous and widely known major government projects: a survey in 1999 ranked the dropping of the atomic bomb as the top news story of the 20th century. Virtually everyone knows that the project built the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And most of us probably know that the bomb was built by some of the world’s best physicists, working under Robert Oppenheimer at Los Alamos in New Mexico. But the Manhattan Project was far more than just a science project: building the bombs required an enormous industrial effort of unprecedented scale and complexity. Enormous factory complexes were built using hundreds of millions of dollars worth of never-before-constructed equipment. Scores of new machines, analytical techniques, and methods of working with completely novel substances had to be invented. Materials which had never been produced at all, or only produced in tiny amounts, suddenly had to be manufactured in vast quantities.

2 days ago 4 votes
Creating Sacred Space Isn’t About Problem Solving

Communities of faith want their identity reflected in the places they gather.

2 days ago 4 votes
12 Tips for Architecture Students as the School Season Begins

As the academic year begins, architecture students are entering the next stage in their design education, be it starting a new undergraduate or postgraduate degree or beginning a new semester midway through their studies. If you are one of the many students embarking on this next chapter, we offer you not only our congratulations and best wishes but also a non-exhaustive collection of thoughts and advice to support your journey. Do you have advice for architecture students as the new school season begins, beyond those set out below? Let us know in the comments.

3 days ago 9 votes
AI “Can’t Draw a Damn Floor Plan With Any Degree of Coherence”

A conversation with architect, technologist, and Yale professor Phil Bernstein.

3 days ago 5 votes