Over thousands of years, the building science of timber framing developed independently in both Northern Europe and China. But one big difference between the regions is that China, by virtue of its size and geological traits, is prone to devastating earthquakes. Ancient Chinese builders thus needed a way to create wooden structures that could not be shaken apart, and that were not so stiff that its support members would shatter. — Core 77
Known as dougong, these earthquake-resistant series of brackets were designed and engineered roughly 500 B.C. When interlocked together, the joints transfer weight to supporting columns, containing so many redundancies they can not be shaken apart. By spreading their tolerances over multiple... View full entry
To shift our focus from innovation to maintenance would also create an opportunity for greater political consensus. Maintenance is an area of public policy where conservatives and progressives should see eye to eye. — The NY Times
As Andrew Russell and Lee Vinseljuly of NY Times point out, officials in federal, state and local government do not allocate the resources necessary for preventive maintenance. The authors argue that American conception of technology is narrow and immature—obsessing over gadgets and... View full entry
[P]erhaps enticed by predictions of a $7 trillion autonomous driving industry, Lyft is saying it wants a build its own technology stack so it can operate its own self-driving cars.
To accomplish this, Lyft is opening a new 50,000-square-foot engineering facility in Palo Alto, California, that it’s calling the “Level 5” center in reference to the most advanced level of autonomous driving. Kapoor said the goal is to have “hundreds” of engineers working out of the facility by the end of 2018.
— The Verge
According to The Verge, Lyft is yet to release more concrete details of their plan, including which components of a self-driving car they will build themselves or how much money they plan to spend. Last month, Lyft announced their partnership with self-driving car startup NuTonomy to launch a test... View full entry
...So today's engineers battle not only the force of gravity but the the whirling pockets of wind, known as vortices, that can cause towers to shake or vibrate. Failure to do so would make the motion of the building — or "acceleration," as engineers call it — uncomfortably noticeable. — Chicago Tribune
Tunnel tests for Chicago's future third-tallest skyscraper showed that the plan for the building—three thin, interconnected high-rises designed by Studio Gang—would not be able to withstand high winds. According to the engineers, the design for the Vista tower "would result in building... View full entry
As any American who tuned into the last British election realized, UK placenames are a bit out there (at least to American ears, that is), from Droop in Dorset to Westward Ho! in Devon. So Dan Ho decided to train a (quirky) AI to generate its own. Here are some of the ones the computer crafted... View full entry
Just received verbal govt approval for The Boring Company to build an underground NY-Phil-Balt-DC Hyperloop. — Elon Musk, Twitter
NY-DC in 29 mins?... View full entry
“One time I had a group of furious housewives on my doorstep, telling me I was doing them out of a job and that if they didn’t have to clean their houses, their husbands wouldn’t need them anymore, and I said, ‘Well, if you had more time to spend with your husbands, don’t you think they would like that better?’ ” — NYT
"For decades, Frances Gabe did not clean her house, nor did anyone clean it for her. Yet for all that time, it was spotless. Ms. Gabe, a once-celebrated inventor who died in obscurity late last year, was the creator, and long the sole inhabitant, of the world’s only self-cleaning house. In... View full entry
In each room, Ms. Gabe, tucked safely under an umbrella, could press a button that activated a sprinkler in the ceiling. The first spray sent a mist of sudsy water over walls and floor. A second spray rinsed everything. Jets of warm air blew it all dry. The full cycle took less than an hour. Runoff escaped through drains in Ms. Gabe’s almost imperceptibly sloping floors. It was channeled outside and straight through her doghouse, where the dog was washed in the bargain. — The New York Times
More than half a century ago, incensed by the housecleaning that was a woman’s chronic lot, Ms. Gabe began to dream of a house that would see to its own hygiene: tenderly washing, rinsing and drying itself at the touch of a button. Ms. Gabe built the self-cleaning house with her own hands and... View full entry
Construction of ODA's 251 1st Street residential complex in Park Slope is now reaching completion, demonstrating fragmented massing which the firm believes imbues the structure with a "living facade." As the architects explain, "ODA’s inflected the building’s upper massing with a cascade of... View full entry
Permissive building codes, industry inertia, and market demands — like clients clamoring for floor-to-ceiling views — have widened the discrepancy between the kind of buildings cities say they want and what they actually allow. So while the industry inches towards better environmental performance, buildings in Boston and other cities still fall short of the sustainability goals that everyone claims to embrace. — The Boston Globe
Courtney Humphries of Boston Globe argues that the current trend for extensive use of glass in buildings contradicts today's strive for sustainability and "green building." When New York started tracking energy use by skyscrapers, the gleaming 7 World Trade Center — one of that city’s more... View full entry
A pair of USB ports on a console on the front of the bench provides juice from the solar panel mounted at lap level between the seats. Who wouldn’t want to hang out at a bench like this? It certainly catches the eye of passersby. What these kids might not realize, however, is that this bench is watching them back. — Landscape Architecture Magazine
"Smart" benches are spreading—recently a series of them, manufactured by Soofa, was installed in a tiny neighborhood park next to I-77 on the north end of Charlotte, North Carolina with the intent of the neighborhood's analysis and redevelopment. Soofa, founded in 2014 by three graduates of... View full entry
American e-commerce giant Amazon has filed a patent with the US patents office for a system for storing and retrieving goods in an underwater facility.
When an item is ordered for delivery, a sonic signal is transmitted from a buoy to the warehouse, which activates an air canister that inflates a balloon, allowing the chosen product to float to the surface where it would be dispatched to the customer.
— globalconstructionreview.com
Just last month, Amazon made headlines when it filed a patent for a drone tower design, essentially a multi-level fulfillment center for unmanned aerial vehicles in densely populated areas. Now a recent Amazon patent for "Aquatic Storage Facilities" has surfaced, allowing us a glimpse into the... View full entry
Full-time creative positions, like architects and sound engineers, come with considerable salaries and benefits. “We have 20-year-olds making $50,000 a year with us,” remarks Everett. — Artsy.net
Meow Wolf may have put the starving artist trope to rest in the form of a magnificent new business/installation model. Photo by Kate Russell. Courtesy of Meow Wolf.As this article explains: Since the Santa Fe-based art collective Meow Wolf opened its permanent installation, the House of Eternal... View full entry
This is the second and likely final time construction will be halted on the one million square foot plant, which according to The Verge, was going to be Faraday Future's way of competing with fellow electric car manufacturer Tesla. Faraday Future's "FFZero1 Concept Prototype." Image: WikipediaAs... View full entry
Until now, architects have had to design around the elevator shafts, which can comprise 40 percent of a building's core. Multi could allow them to install elevators almost anywhere, including the perimeter.
Strong magnets on every Multi car work with a magnetized coil running along the elevator hoistway’s guide rails to make the cars float. Turning these coils on and off creates magnetic fields strong enough to pull the car in various directions.
— Wired
After three years of work, ThyssenKrupp, a company synonymous with elevators, is testing the Multi in a German tower and finalizing the safety certification. Zooming up, down, left, right, and diagonally the new elevator was just sold to a residential building under construction in Berlin, and is... View full entry
