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I have been working with engineers and architects for about 18 years now and one thing I’ve learn is that designing a project can be fun (especially when you’re the designer) but getting your project approved by a planning, or zoning, or review board can really knock that creative wind out of ya! In the United States planning and review boards can be quite picky depending on where you’re building. Large/densely populated/older cities tend to have strictest of boards. You gotta give it to them…they are trying to preserve what makes that city great. In New York, it take more time to get a sports arena approved & built than it did to gain independence* from Britain (mind you the colonies were fighting an empire).

Another city that has picky planning boards is San Francisco and with good reason…it’s a beautiful city. Recently, someone decided they wanted to build a garage for their home. PROBLEM??? The boards do not allow major modifications to any house in a historical district and this one is part of one. The solution??? Checkout this YouTube video…is so cooolllll!!!!

*wikipedia…information you take with a grain of salt

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What your seeing is an underwater restaurant with a view to a coral reef in the city of Eilat, Israel. How did they grow that coral reef? They used an iron mesh and transplanted different species of coral.

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This is something else. What you see here is a house build in Trassenheide, Germany. It’s purpose is obviously not to be inhabited but for entertainment. It was designed by Polish partners Klaudiusz Golos and Sebastion Mikuciuk for Edutainment exhibition company.

[via Impact Lab]

 

 

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The pictures you are about to see are from the building of the 1916 Beekman Street subway line in NYC. Yes they are old but they give you an idea of how hard and expensive it is to build a metro system in any city. Just imaging being the person that had survey for utilities by hand or the laborer who dug and found an unmapped high-voltage power line.

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Ever tried using a public toilet? DON’T!!! Unless you really have to go…but if you do have to go get some advice from your girlie (mom and/or sister are fine) on how to avoid the whole sitting thing ;-). Well, the future of the public toilet looks bright…really! Check out this new concept being considered as a replacement for the infamous public toilet.

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[via Tuvie.com]

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By design, bridges are made to sway a certain amount to disperse stress thru the structure. But, what's too much? Well, too much would be The Tacoma-Narrows bridge collapse. Not enough is an asphalt road. Well, just watch and judge for yourself!

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Office space in the park? The concept looks pretty cool!
[via Dvice thru Coolest Gadgets]

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Opened in 1955 and with a total length of 16,013 feet (about 3 miles), the Tappan Zee Bridge is one of the longest bridges in the United States. As far as traffic, the bridge handles a daily average of 135,000 vehicles. The current bridge will be replaced by a new span with space for mass-transit. What form of mass transit will be built? Well, as of now a few options are being considered. They are as follows:

• Alternative 1
  “No Build”, maintain the existing bridge and highway.

• Alternative 2
  Bridge Rehabilitation with Travel Demand Management and Transportation Systems Management measures, would rehabilitate the Tappan Zee Bridge, including improvements to ensure that it would comply with seismic guidelines, and implement travel demand management/transportation system management measures.

   

• Alternative 3
  Full Corridor Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), would replace the existing Tappan Zee Bridge with a new bridge. The new bridge would have eight general-purpose and two high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes that would carry a cross-corridor, exclusive-lane bus rapid transit system between Suffern and Port Chester.
  • Option A
    This enhanced version of Alternative 3 includes a more robust BRT service plan and shows the BRT operating along the corridor along a trunk route that is intended to operate like a rail system.
  • Option B
    This option includes the enhanced BRT service plan/trunk route of Option 3A and replaces the combination of dedicated bus lanes on local arterials and bus-way sections in Westchester County (from Alternative 3) with a high-speed bus-way along I-287 between the Tappan Zee Bridge and Port Chester.
• Alternative 4A, 4B, and 4C
  Commuter Rail Transit (CRT) system in Rockland County in addition to a new bridge and the same highway improvements (climbing lanes, HOT lanes) in Rockland County described above.
  • Alternative 4D
    full corridor BRT and Manhattan-bound CRT service. It includes the BRT system of Option 3A and CRT between Suffern and Tarrytown, with a direct CRT connection to the Hudson Line.

[read more @ tzbsite.com & NYTimes.com]

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Alright!!! No more “Hey I broke my ankle when I tripped on the sidewalk so now I get to sue the city” nonsense.
[via DVICE]

0 Odd looking house in Manhattan. I saw this when I was stopped at the light at the 185th street and Audobon Avenue. Not your typical NYC building. It kinda' looks like a Haverstraw building.








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0 The City of Chicago has begun its final review of Santiago Calatrava's Chicago Spire design. And it may be a go.

• WorldArchitectureNews.com
  

0 From ArchitecturalNews.com:

"A private house based on idea of spiral space. As the basis of the planning and realization process has been the themes of the everyday and festive, holy and profane in the lives of a human.; the life is an emotion."
read more...

0 Is it me or is architecture getting a little too bizarre<-----my favorite word for today.

• World Architecture Today