Swedish train gets officially named "Trainy McTrainface"

2017-10-19T17:11:00-04:00

It’s happened again. A public vote to name four trains running between the Swedish cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg has resulted in one of the four being called Trainy McTrainface in an echo of the name chosen by the British public for the new polar research vessel.

Last year, the British public voted to name its new polar research vessel "Boaty McBoatface"—a decision that the British government quickly overturned in favor of the less comical name "RRS Sir David Attenborough."

Hopefully, Boaty McBoatface's legacy will live on in Sweden, where the public voted to name one of its trains, running between Stockholm and Gothenburg, "Trainy McTrainface"

"We saw pretty quickly that Trainy McTrainface was in the lead in the popular option. There was a bit of international attention on the vote, and I imagine that some people were quite delighted to get some revenge for the Boaty McBoatface thing," said Swedish rail company MTR marketing chief Peter Nasfi.

Proving to have a better sense of British humor than the UK government, neither the train company, nor the Swedish government, repealed the popular vote.

Ten years after opening, Morphosis' San Francisco Federal Building is not a crowd pleaser

2017-07-18T13:02:00-04:00

Neighbors have complained about the plaza for years, calling it an unsafe blight. The frustration is shared by Maria Ciprazo, the federal architect who oversaw the process that in 1999 awarded the project to Mayne and his Southern California firm, Morphosis.

In this article, the San Francisco Chronicle takes issue with Morphosis' Federal Building, noting that its plaza has not become the cultural hotspot much hyped by developers at its opening in 2007:

But when we view the complex in hindsight, it didn’t transform the local architectural scene. It’s a flash of isolated drama. Look no further than the three residential slabs that have been built on the block since then, each a box with no higher aspiration than to satisfy the developer’s bottom line.

As for the social agenda — to create a neighborhood haven — the plaza and its corner cafe have come up short on all fronts.

Archinect - News

Swedish train gets officially named "Trainy McTrainface"

Ten years after opening, Morphosis' San Francisco Federal Building is not a crowd pleaser