Archinect - News

Russia's historic wooden airports are still in use today

2018-09-12T14:47:00-04:00

This is the era of the glass and steel airport. As if made from the same mold, shiny, glittering terminals have become a status symbol for any city with aspirations. But all of this is a world away from the remoteness of Russia's Arctic regions and the Siberian wilderness [...] built in the mid-20th century when the Soviet Union saw in air transport a way to expand the state's reach to every corner of its territory, even if that meant little more than a dirt runway and a radio shack.

A collection of Russia's historic wooden airports are the antithesis of our current experience of most urban airports. Rather than immense glass and steel constructions, these old structures are made of simplistic wooden designs.

While many may look dilapidated, several are still in operation with regular airline service. Take a look at some of these unique transportation hubs below:

Mar-Kyuyel' Airport, located in Russia's Far East. Image: Russian Platinum.

Solovki Airport, located near Russia's Solovetsky Islands. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Seymchan Airport, located in Magadan Oblast, Russia. Image: Sever.Aero.

Mezen Airport, located in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. Image: Shutterstock.

Check out the full collection of Russia's wooden airports here.

Competition for America's Sorriest Bus Stop highlights America's very sorry public transit system

2017-08-29T17:19:00-04:00

For the past few years, the site Streetsblog has been shedding light on some of America's most dreadful public transit systems with their competition for the "Sorriest Bus Stop in America." The tournament takes user submissions for uncomfortable, inaccessible, and sometimes, outright dangerous bus stops and pits them against one another for a good, and necessary, public shaming.

Bus stop in San Juan nestled between two yellow concrete bollards. Image via Google Street View.

So far, in this years tournament a precariously balanced Pittsburgh bus stop located on the side of a four-lane highway beat out a Medford stop that lacks a sidewalk and pedestrian access. A pair of stops on the side of a state highway in Chapel Hill that require crossing the highway or going on a 1/2 mile roundabout to reach won against another shelterless stop in San Juan that is nestled between parked cars and marked by two yellow concrete bollards. Two Southern California stops, one in San Diego that requires ...

LA's Union Station is getting a multi-billion dollar makeover

2017-07-25T15:16:00-04:00

When built, Union Station was called the "Last of the Great Railway Stations." Designed by father and son team John and Donald B. Parkinson, the landmark opened in 1939 at a time when railway service was already beginning to wane. Combining Art Deco, Spanish Colonial, and Mission Revival styles, the site has perhaps become better known for its beauty as an architectural gem—it has starred in movies such as Blade Runner—than for being a site of major transport despite its designation as the largest railroad passenger terminal in the Western United States.

However, Los Angeles' population continues to grow, more and more people are ditching cars, and a high-speed rail line is potentially on the horizon, all of which are expected to cause patronage of the station to explode by 2040. In preparation for the expected growth, LA Metro has been working on a massive master plan alongside Gruen Associates and Grimshaw Architects for the 78-year old transit hub. Visions for its future include...

New York may finally get open subway cars

2016-01-28T18:21:00-05:00

Moving from one subway car to another is no easy task. There is the dart-and-hustle option, entailing a sprint between entrances before the doors close, and the perilous — and prohibited — passing between the doors at the end of the car. But the Metropolitan Transportation Authority wants to examine another route: a new generation of subway trains with open pathways between cars.

Similar designs already travel through cities like Paris and Toronto, where they have been reported to increase passenger capacity by 10%.

Currently, riders can face a steep fine for trying to move between subway cars.

Related:

A first look at the Hyperloop's real tubes and imagined winged terminals

2016-01-07T12:54:00-05:00

Elon Musk’s vision of the Hyperloop — a lightning-fast transportation system that would shuttle passengers at speeds nearing 700-mph using low pressure tubes and air compressors — is slowly coming to fruition in the Nevada desert. In fact, the first ever Hyperloop tubes are neatly lined up in a ditch, waiting to be assembled and then later tested by Hyperloop Technologies at a site in North Las Vegas.

The design of the Hyperloop—an iterative, multi-team process which Archinect investigated in-depth last year—will have another big leap forward during the "Hyperloop Design Weekend" this upcoming January 29-30th at Texas A&M University.

However, while CEO of Hyperloop Technologies Rob Lloyd describes the opaque, depressurized tubular architecture of the technology as being "actually very simple", the renderings in the video below feature some highly stylized, winged structural accompaniments, making one wonder what the winners of potential future design competitions for the Hyperloop's transit stations will look like.

Fancy $48M animal terminal to open in JFK Airport next year

2015-07-21T15:20:00-04:00

When a new terminal called The Ark opens next year, 178,000 sq.ft of posh amenities will include everything from a resort with suites that have large flat-screen TVs, to climate-controlled stalls, showers, massages, a private space especially set aside for penguin mating, a paw-shaped dog swimming pool, a jungle for cats made of live trees...and stables full of the finest hay a horse could hope for...But how much will this cost you? Don't expect flea motel rates.

What Can the French Teach Americans About Transit?

2014-10-29T17:15:00-04:00

...there's an awful lot that U.S. cities should learn as soon as possible about the way the French design their transit networks. Whereas American light rail systems have had modest success and modern streetcar lines have questionable transit value, France operates 57 tram lines in 33 cities that together carry some 3 million passengers a day and create a fantastic balance of mobility options for urban and suburban residents alike—all built in the last 30 years.