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Old Structures...
Winding This 1952 photo by Angelo Rizzuto is titled “Bdwy winding all thru T-Sq.” and it definitely shows...
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This 1952 photo by Angelo Rizzuto is titled “Bdwy winding all thru T-Sq.” and it definitely shows Broadway and Times Square, although I have some quibbles about “winding.” This view is looking north and a little bit west, probably taken from a window on a high floor of 1450...
Construction Physics
The Katerra Team Rides Again: ONX Homes Regular readers of Construction Physics know that I formerly worked for the construction startup...
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a year ago
Regular readers of Construction Physics know that I formerly worked for the construction startup Katerra, which raised several billion dollars in venture capital in the hopes of revolutionizing the construction industry, and then went bankrupt. In fact, it was my experiences at...
Old Structures...
Fun With Telephoto Lenses A lot of times, when I’m discussing an old photo, I’ll talk about where the photographer was...
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A lot of times, when I’m discussing an old photo, I’ll talk about where the photographer was standing when he or she took the shot. It matters to understand exactly what you’re seeing, and figuring it out is usually not that difficult if you know some of the quirks of Manhattan...
99% Invisible
Anything’s Pastable: Eat Sauté Love [EPISODE] This week we’re featuring an episode from The Sporkful’s series on the creation of “Anything’s...
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This week we’re featuring an episode from The Sporkful’s series on the creation of “Anything’s Pastable,” Dan Pashman’s new pasta cookbook. In part two of “Anything’s Pastable,” Dan embarks on an epic trip across Italy in search of lesser-known pasta dishes — and to learn about...
CONTEMPORIST
A Tiny Public Library With A Roof Inspired By A Sheet Of Paper Ninja Stuudio has shared photos of “White Sheet”, a tiny public library and reading pavilion they...
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a year ago
Ninja Stuudio has shared photos of “White Sheet”, a tiny public library and reading pavilion they completed in Tallinn, Estonia. The design has been inspired by the image of a literary idea, with the pavilion’s roof hovering as a light sheet of paper in mid-air relying only on...
Old Structures...
The Pause Was About To End Another great photo from Angel Rizzuto, from August 1952. He was almost certainly looking from the...
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Another great photo from Angel Rizzuto, from August 1952. He was almost certainly looking from the Empire State Building; this is a view north past midtown, Central Park and the Upper East Side, and with Harlem and the Bronx in the distance. The east side of the park is Fifth...
Archinect - Features
AI is Good For Architects (For Now) In the final chapter of Archinect In-Depth: Artificial Intelligence, Niall Patrick Walsh reflects on...
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In the final chapter of Archinect In-Depth: Artificial Intelligence, Niall Patrick Walsh reflects on the historical relationship between architecture and technology, charting a trajectory for the potential impact of artificial intelligence on the future of the architectural...
CONTEMPORIST
272 Wood Slats Were Used To Create A Sculptural Element Inside This New Coffee Bar Design firm jones | haydu has shared photos of The Caffé by Mr. Espresso, a new coffee bar in...
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a year ago
Design firm jones | haydu has shared photos of The Caffé by Mr. Espresso, a new coffee bar in Oakland, California, that features curved birch slats. The design of the cafe is heavily inspired by Italian culture, using minimalism and contrast, with the designers explaining, “The...
Common Edge
Randy Fertel on the Power and Peril of Creative Improvisation A lively talk with the author about his new book, Winging It.
a year ago
Old Structures...
Lucy Moses Award: 486 Liberty Avenue You can read about the building in the awards program: here. The short version: this was a very...
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You can read about the building in the awards program: here. The short version: this was a very ornate police precinct house constructed in 1892, when Brooklyn was still an inexpedient city, and abandoned for quite some time. Here’s what the interior looked like the first time we...
SOCKS
“I called them Ghosts”. Visual Poems and Sequences by George Wylesol George Wylesol is a Baltimore-based artist who primarily produces illustrations and comic-like...
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George Wylesol is a Baltimore-based artist who primarily produces illustrations and comic-like sequences of drawings, often accompanied by written text in the form of short poems. His works blend mundane objects and settings with surreal plots and visual associations, resulting...
Old Structures...
It Looked Familiar: The Curve Before the Station Even without the Silvercup Bakery sign, I’d know this view, from an old Daredevil comic. The tracks...
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Even without the Silvercup Bakery sign, I’d know this view, from an old Daredevil comic. The tracks are the 7 train, Flushing-bound, just west of the Queensboro Plaza station. This is the view you’d see looking off the west end of the platform, or from the rear window of an...
devonzuegel.com
Part 6: Is the proposed new city in California climate resilient? A new city has been proposed in California, and I’ve never been more captivated by a vision for the...
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A new city has been proposed in California, and I’ve never been more captivated by a vision for the future of my home state in my lifetime. This post is part of a series I’m writing about this bold proposal. One of the biggest questions I had when I first learned about this...
Old Structures...
The Black Tower For all you Lord of the Rings fans, remember: Brooklyn is not Mordor. No matter what similarities...
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For all you Lord of the Rings fans, remember: Brooklyn is not Mordor. No matter what similarities may exist.
CONTEMPORIST
Elevated Elegance: A Unique Home In The Forest With A Trio Of Tile-Clad Gables Exterio Architectural Studio, together with interior design firm Hola Design, has shared photos of a...
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a year ago
Exterio Architectural Studio, together with interior design firm Hola Design, has shared photos of a contemporary home they have completed near Warsaw, Poland, that’s surrounded by a pine forest. The home is designed to bring a large family together, with the form taking shape...
Old Structures...
It Can Go Either Way Much like the photo from Monday, this April 1959 photo by Angelo Rizzuto could be either demolition...
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Much like the photo from Monday, this April 1959 photo by Angelo Rizzuto could be either demolition or construction. The steel frame on the left is on the site of 350 Park Avenue, between 51st and 52nd Streets on the west side of Park Avenue. The ornate masonry box just north of...
Common Edge
The Time-Defying Nature of Living Architectural Traditions Mere repetition is lifeless, a focus on design exploration creates nothing lasting, but living...
a year ago
Old Structures...
A Generational Change A view of Park Avenue by Angelo Rizzuto from June 1959m looking south. The big tower on the left is...
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A view of Park Avenue by Angelo Rizzuto from June 1959m looking south. The big tower on the left is the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, with St. Bart’s in front of it; the ornate tower that seemingly ends the avenue is the New York Central Building, not yet sold by the railroad and...
99% Invisible
The Society of Ambiance Makers and Elegant Persons [EPISODE] Hailing from central African cities of Brazzaville and Kinshasa, sapeurs have become increasingly...
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Hailing from central African cities of Brazzaville and Kinshasa, sapeurs have become increasingly recognizable around the world. Since the 1970s, sapeurs (from: le sape, short for “Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes”) have been known for donning technicolored...
Construction Physics
What Progress Has Icon Made on 3D-Printed Homes? We last looked at 3D-printed buildings about three years ago. At the time, the technology was still...
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We last looked at 3D-printed buildings about three years ago. At the time, the technology was still nascent. Although there was a lot of enthusiasm, many efforts were academic, with little commercial deployment, and practitioners were experimenting with a wide range of...
Old Structures...
The Personal Connection A 1958 or 59 view of 200 East 42nd Street under construction: It’s a fairly boring steel-frame,...
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A 1958 or 59 view of 200 East 42nd Street under construction: It’s a fairly boring steel-frame, glass-facade office building, remarkable to me for the simple reason that I had my first more-or-less real engineering job there. Tippetts-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton, later known as TAMS...
CONTEMPORIST
A House Built Into The Ground And Covered In Flowers Photography by Architectuurfotograaf – Rob van Esch Architecture firm WillemsenU has shared photos...
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Photography by Architectuurfotograaf – Rob van Esch Architecture firm WillemsenU has shared photos of a home they completed in a meadow in The Netherlands, that has been built into the ground. The home is tucked away in the landscape, surrounded by flowers and trees, and hidden...
Coffee with an...
Design explained using venn diagrams Design is hard. If only the process could be explained using simple venn diagrams. Unfortunately,...
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Design is hard. If only the process could be explained using simple venn diagrams. Unfortunately, this isn’t that: More Design in charts – HERE, and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE
Common Edge
Mass Timber Construction Is Evolving Rapidly With owners and developers warming up to plyscrapers, wood-based projects are on an upward...
a year ago
Old Structures...
More Over-Thinking This photograph, taken in May 1959 by Angelo Rizzuto, is titled “View of building construction” on...
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This photograph, taken in May 1959 by Angelo Rizzuto, is titled “View of building construction” on the Library of Congress website. I’m not entirely convinced, although I have to admit that my doubts are based on squinting at the photo and nothing stronger. First, even for a...
CONTEMPORIST
A Home That Delivers A Rustic Symphony Of Exposed Wood Beams FINNE Architects has shared photos of a Pacific Northwest house they designed on Bainbridge Island,...
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FINNE Architects has shared photos of a Pacific Northwest house they designed on Bainbridge Island, Washington. A 500-ft driveway winds through the woods up to the house, located in a clearing at the top of a gentle hill. The house was designed to be sustainable from the start,...
Old Structures...
Very Local Requirements Below, a construction fence of typical New York design. Such fences here have had windows of some...
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Below, a construction fence of typical New York design. Such fences here have had windows of some kind going back at least to the mid-1900s. Per the current NYC building code, section 3307.7.3, “Viewing panels shall be provided in solid fences erected on or after July 1, 2013, at...
THE ARCHITECTURAL...
New academic dissertation questions architects’ taste Many architects look down upon residential areas built with the small town as a model, with new...
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Many architects look down upon residential areas built with the small town as a model, with new houses made in a traditional style. But this is exactly what the average person appreciates. “Why do many architects dislike the very thing that residents often enjoy?” asks architect...
Old Structures...
Adelaide House, Part 4 – The Context Part 1, General: here. Part 2, Structure: here. Part 3, Facades: here. Skyscrapers only make sense...
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Part 1, General: here. Part 2, Structure: here. Part 3, Facades: here. Skyscrapers only make sense as an urban phenomenon. (Keep in mind that a lot of inner-ring US suburbs are at urban density.) Putting aside the obvious economic argument that land is cheap in rural areas so...
The Wandering...
Constructing the Pattern on the Sala de la Barca Ceiling I was flipping through Owen Jones’s Grammar of Ornament a couple months ago, and my eye was caught...
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I was flipping through Owen Jones’s Grammar of Ornament a couple months ago, and my eye was caught by this handsome pattern I had not noticed before. This is Jones’s Plate XLII, in the chapter on designs from the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. He calls it, “Part of the ceiling of...
CONTEMPORIST
Before & After – An Old Warehouse Was Turned Into A Contemporary Home Brengues Le Pavec architects have shared photos of a modern warehouse conversion they completed in...
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Brengues Le Pavec architects have shared photos of a modern warehouse conversion they completed in the south of France, between Montpellier and the sea. The ‘Before’…the run-down warehouse, which was still being used to store products, was dark and filled with shelves. The...
Common Edge
What Happened to New York City Public Housing, and How Can We Fix It? The former chief architect for NYCHA on what ails the the system.
a year ago
Old Structures...
Adelaide House, Part 3 – Facades Part 1, General: here. Part 2, Structure: here. So on Tuesday I effectively said that Adelaide House...
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Part 1, General: here. Part 2, Structure: here. So on Tuesday I effectively said that Adelaide House was either small for a skyscraper or forty years behind the times, and yesterday I said that the steel was pretty familiar for an old skyscraper but maybe a little old-fashioned....
CONTEMPORIST
This Lakehouse Hovers Above The Natural Sloped Terrain Building Arts Architects has shared photos of a contemporary home they recently completed in Dorset,...
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Building Arts Architects has shared photos of a contemporary home they recently completed in Dorset, Ontario, that hovers above the natural sloped terrain close to the water’s edge of Kawagama Lake. The building, which sits lightly on the rugged site, invites expansive sky and...
Old Structures...
Adelaide House, Part 2 – Structure Continuing my discussion (part 1 is here) of London’s maybe-first skyscraper, the Adelaide House,...
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Continuing my discussion (part 1 is here) of London’s maybe-first skyscraper, the Adelaide House, let’s talk about structure. There’s a big difference between trying to build the first skyscraper in your city in the 1870s or 80s or 90s (depending on how you want to define...
99% Invisible
Chambre de Bonne [EPISODE] For many young people in Paris, it’s a right of passage to live in a very small, very French type of...
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For many young people in Paris, it’s a right of passage to live in a very small, very French type of apartment, called a “chambre de bonne.” Literally, a maid’s room. A chambre de bonne is usually one small room, on the top floor of a five- or six-story apartment building, and...
devonzuegel.com
IVF egg retrieval notes I’ve now done two egg retrieval cycles. Given that I had a zillion questions before I started, I...
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I’ve now done two egg retrieval cycles. Given that I had a zillion questions before I started, I thought I’d share my notes for others who might have similar questions. Things I would’ve loved to know beforehand Overall the process was way easier and less intense than I...
CONTEMPORIST
Brass-Lined Arches Connect The Kitchen With The Dining Room Inside This Home Architecture and art studio Svima has shared photos of a kitchen and living room they updated, with...
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Architecture and art studio Svima has shared photos of a kitchen and living room they updated, with the kitchen featuring brass design accents. Their clients, a Toronto couple, has opposite tastes: he is an enthusiast of tenebrous minimalism, and she is a lover of bright French...
McMansion Hell
ode to a faux grecian urn Howdy everyone, Today’s house, built in 2001, comes to you from, you guessed it, the Chicago...
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Howdy everyone, Today’s house, built in 2001, comes to you from, you guessed it, the Chicago suburbs. The house is a testimony to traditional craftsmanship and traditional values (having lots of money.) The cost of painting this house greige is approximately the GDP of Slovenia...
Construction Physics
What makes housing so expensive? Buying a home is by far the largest purchase most of us will make, and paying the rent or mortgage...
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Buying a home is by far the largest purchase most of us will make, and paying the rent or mortgage will be our largest monthly expense. In the post-pandemic home-buying boom, the median sale price of a new home peaked at almost $500,000 dollars, just under
Old Structures...
Adelaide House, Part 1 – Overall When I was in London a few weeks ago, David Kelly and Chris Tucker of Fortis Facades were kind...
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When I was in London a few weeks ago, David Kelly and Chris Tucker of Fortis Facades were kind enough to give me a thorough tour of Adelaide House, a 1925 landmark building currently in renovation. They’re working on the facade, but the tour included both the facade and the...
Coffee with an...
Design explained using pie charts again Design is hard. If only the process could be explained using simple pie charts again. Unfortunately,...
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Design is hard. If only the process could be explained using simple pie charts again. Unfortunately, this still isn’t that: More Design in charts – HERE, and HERE and HERE and HERE
Old Structures...
In The Background The photo from the Bain News Service is titled “Post Office, New York” and the Library of Congress...
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The photo from the Bain News Service is titled “Post Office, New York” and the Library of Congress dates it as “between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915.” I think we can do better: that’s the Municpal Building in the background under construction. The building took longer than usual to...
SOCKS
90-Degree Axonometric’s by Auguste Merle (Late 19th – Early 20th C.) Auguste Merle was an Art Brut artist living in France at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries....
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Auguste Merle was an Art Brut artist living in France at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. His works depict imaginary buildings with meticulous detailing, using graphite on notebook paper. The rigorous yet inventive forms are depicted in 90-degree axonometric projections,...
Old Structures...
Onec You See It The current round of repair work on the Manhattan Bridge has reached the stage of painting the...
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The current round of repair work on the Manhattan Bridge has reached the stage of painting the towers. It has, to my eye, the unfortunate effect of making the bridge look like it’s wearing shorts.
99% Invisible
Roman Mars Describes Athens GA As It Is [EPISODE] This is the third and final episode in a three-part series of Roman Mars recording on-location...
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This is the third and final episode in a three-part series of Roman Mars recording on-location guides to the design features and interesting spots in cities he loves. Roman moved to Athens, Georgia, to pursue a PhD in plant genetics, but dropped out and got into the local music...
devonzuegel.com
Traveling neighborhoods: a different kind of group trip I've discovered a group trip format that I really love, and I wanted to share it with others because...
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I've discovered a group trip format that I really love, and I wanted to share it with others because (a) you might find it fun to host or join something like this in the future and (b) selfishly, I would like more people to organize trips like this so that I can join them! The...
Old Structures...
Skyscraperiness As I’ve said many times, in many venues, there really isn’t an objective description of...
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As I’ve said many times, in many venues, there really isn’t an objective description of “skyscraper.” That said, nearly everyone’s subjective definition contains a version of the idea that a skyscraper is tall for its context. Here’s an Irving Underhill photo centered on the...
CONTEMPORIST
Steel Symphony: A Madrid Home’s Unique Design With Weathered Elegance Borja Lomas of Voluar Arquitectura has designed a new home in Madrid, Spain, that’s covered in...
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Borja Lomas of Voluar Arquitectura has designed a new home in Madrid, Spain, that’s covered in weathering steel and has a uniquely shaped design. The shape of the home showcases various areas that branch out in different directions, some of which are cantilevered away from the...
Old Structures...
Slow Death Of An Unneeded Building A lot of rail was built in and around New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,...
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A lot of rail was built in and around New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, much of it overlapping. Railroad as such had been around for a long time, but the idea of tailoring stations and schedules to fit huge masses of commuters was relatively new;...