Japandoned

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Japan has some abandoned places. Anybody know how to get in touch with Japan? I’d love to do a residency at any of these structures.

My favs,

the pink chair warehouse:

where green thrives:

the snow factory:

prefab shantytown:

and lastly the mostamazingawesomemodernism:

Roller Coaster Tokyo

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

this one’s for my Dad.

I bet they didn’t have this in Tokyo when you were there! (he loves these things)

Whereas most American roller coasters are in theme parks that are outside of some nearby city, surrounded by rural or wooded terrain, it seems the Japanese have a fascination with their theme parks being situation in urban environments, to the degree that at one point this roller coaster even goes through a building. Watch for yourself:

architecture receptor

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

the just-mentioned and increasingly searched (according to my stats) Burj Dubai building struck by lighting:

On an aside my webhost is really fukhing with me these days. I can’t auto-create thumbnails of the above images anymore because suddenly they’ve dropped some PHP library support. I guess with the new month they rolled out some new code and for anybody unwilling or unable to pay $50/month for the primo-package you get left in the dust. Even though everything worked before they don’t simply drop support they remove the code entirely! So I’ll have to be moving webhosts again soon in the next month I reckon. Yeah I’m really looking forward to that.

afraid of heights?

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

I originally thought this might by the KLVY-TV mast in North Dakota but I was wrong. Appears to be some guy-wired radio mast in Russia originally taken by Victor Professor (some great photos of high-altitude icing there!). His stuff is in Russian so don’t worry you won’t be able to read anything, but the photos are marvelous! Now imagine the radio mast in North Dakota is 2.3 times taller than the radio mast his images come from! And imagine furthermore that the Burj Dubai recently surpassed the KLVY-TV mast as the tallest structure in the world and will double as the tallest building upon its completion later this year.

And a video about high voltage cable repairmen that remains one of my favorite videos on the nets:

I hope more people who work these jobs, window washing the Burj Dubai or scaling the KLVY-TV tower to replace a light bulb take their becoming-ubiquitous digital cameras with them because this stuffs is amazings!

NYC green roofs

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

I’m thinking a lot lately about green roofs (not only green in terms of sustainability and renewal but simply color also!) and I’ve always been confused by how parts of Manhattan have always been considered ‘undesireable’ simply because they’re more than two whole blocks from a subway or aren’t pre-existing dense residential neighborhoods like Greenwich Village or Murray Hill. Sure it would suck having to hunt for food and you’d always have to go ‘back there’ to get home but you’d still be on the island and it’s all within walking distance from my experiences (I used to walk from SoHo to Bryant Park from spring to fall because the walk was pleasant, the weather nice, and I preferred taking the 7 train to the R or V to get to where I used to live in Queens, and the lost time walking was worth the reward of sights, people and adventures). Those days will one day be over and the west side of Manhattan completely redone, rezoned and re-bought, thanks to impressive architectural projects like Clinton Park designed by TenArquitectos slated for construction in Hell’s Kitchen. More impressive than their inclusion of a uniformed southpaw baseball player in their render is of course the green stepped roof atop a zig-zag building. I’d love to know what’s going in the courtyard areas below too but the roof itself is pretty genius. Lots of space there for catching and running water to feed the garden, and to absorb and convert solar heat. I hope they do it right.

 

[from TenArquitectos - I hate flash popup websites though!]

a megapost in the making

Sunday, November 23rd, 2008

I realize I’ve been loosing valuable blogging time as of late. In the one hand I have all of this valuable content, in the form of my experiences, images, stories and lessons learned while I’m in St. Louis for the holidays and attempting to re-order the World As It Is according to my parents; in the other hand, oh shit the World As It Is consists of a vaccuum, or as my friend John might say a vortex, don’t get sucked in! I’ve found myself getting distracted by the activity of non-activity, by the nothingness of existence here, by the slow pace and hum-drum attitude of interaction here, which I both admire and love, and struggle to cope with and fight against.

As I mulled over this dilemma half-asleep last night, I simply concluded that it would be best for me to start a post, and then to add to it with sub-entries, rather than attempting to compile one single megapost which can’t actually be done as my experiences here are on-going and never cease. Day in and day out there’s something new. And I’m already over a week behind schedule.

So in unordered list and no particular arrangement:

My parents and stuff:

• my parents own, or possess rather, nearly if not more than 30 pairs of scissors. Nearly if not more… as in, while I’m sorting through their house and attempting to downsize their lives, I’ve really only penetrated and can account for the contents of two rooms. Add to that the other rooms (namely the computer room and my mom’s office areas) and in passing I’ve counted well over 20 pairs, and nearing 30. And I haven’t even spent time in the toolshop area. Could they own 50 scissors? Is this possible?

• In the light of the scissors complex, I went back and counted the number of staplers they own. Currently accounted for: 8.

e.g.:

many, many more to come!

STL corner architecture:
I’ve always had a fondness for corner buildings in St. Louis city. They’re always slightly more visually complex than the buildings surrounding them (which are usually domiciles, with the corner buildings operating commercial ventures); accented with architectural features and decorative elements; usually “wrap” the corner physically, and provide multiple entrances or window displays; and are usually more substantial – at times gargantuan – in comparison to the surrounding area. (I’ll add more examples as I take them) If one was to purchase or develop a property in the city for an arts center or housing co-op, this would be the way to go:

STL alley architecture:

Likewise I’ve always had a fondness for the alleys of St. Louis, and they’re an urban development feature that I’ve missed in larger cities I’ve lived in like London or NYC or which other cities I just don’t think employ the nature and uses of the alley as well as St. Louis city. In my earlier days I played basketball and stickball in them; used them to cut through neighborhoods while avoiding the car-traffic streets; and often used them as entrances to peoples’ homes through their back doors because the front door is so formal and proper, whereas the back door usually leads immediately into the kitchen which is where people congregate to eat and drink.

More recently I’ve found myself attracted to their narrow and sharp vantage points, especially at the moment when one rides past an alley quickly and is given a glimpse down the canyon of garages and sheds, trash cans, and debris. Those moments are quick as the alleys here are only 11 ft. wide or so. Wheres some neighboring streets can appear the same, the alleyways are always different and unique:

Delphi hats:

Word is this kid can’t get enough hats. Things on head in general:

Obama woz ere:

view image larger

Stumbling around the intertubes looking for STL entertainment, I came upon Bill Streeter’s website and flickr account, which included one of the more honest images shot from within the crowd for President Obama’s (not -elect, he’s my bloody President already damnit!) rally in St. Louis in mid-October. Most press images published from that record-turnout speech were wide shots from above or a press-box area (see scissor lifts) that overwhelmed the eye and whose composition was strategically designed to include the old courthouse in the background (again, for mass media). This shot however shows the back heads of the crowd as they face forward, cheering. That is Illinois in the background; also to the right of the white tent was a jumbotron television. I think Obama can be seen between the bleachers stand and the scissor lifts, in white.

I don’t know Bill but he seems like an all-right guy, his name being penned on some of the websites I’ve been perusing as I re-explore the city, including The Royale, one of the finer pubs in town that I’ve visited before and was trying to remember the name of, and thankfully came across their site. Bill codes with WordPress (the same software I employ), which is good to know open-source is running a fair portion of STL’s cultural production.

arts in town:

It’s as difficult as the original NES TMNT game to find art listings in this town however.

Jesus if you know of some openings, or one even, let me know. I found this blog: gallery openings in st. louis.

I was also introduced to this page at the Kemper Museum’s site which discreetely hides a map to STL non-profit visual art sites. Still, there must be more?

architecture blended:

Did they paint the building to blend in with the tree? Or did the tree chameleonize to blend in with the building?

zombie entertainment:

It’s a shame I just missed this (by a month). Subscribe to their feed for updates ahead of time.

More STL architecture:

I guess architecture, especially domiciles and housing structures, features prominently in this post because St. Louis has so much that is abandoned or not living up to its potential. It’s amazing, coming from New York City where realtors can and do literally sit on pieces of real estate, and end up not leasing them out figuring they can loose money now by not leasing a property in exchange for banking on that same property in a couple months or years even, when a specific neighborhood “blows up” and prices skyrocket. Yet here pieces of property sit abandoned for decades and there’s no assistance from the city to move people into them in exchange for fixing them up or developing a program (non-profit or otherwise) within the structure.

Here are some prime examples of abandoned or derelict or simply vapid structures:

a cutie two-part house thing. I don’t even know how to describe this place. It’s odd. It’s lovely. It has a No Trespassing No Loitering sign. It’s about 50ft. from the Antique Row area (Cherokee Street).

I didn’t walk over the hill but this building appeared partiallly – if not entirely – abandoned. Hard to tell. Still, it’s surrounded by land that at one point surely was loaded with other buildings and structures. Where did they all go? Who took the bricks?

Don’t remember the location. Great double garage door access, with ghost sign on side. All windows boarded up. Red plywood.

This one both confuses and upsets me. Such a beatiful structure, and the colorful rooftop facade is incomplete. Did the owner attempt to fix it up and then simply flee? the spraypaint on the road hoarding says “2900″ for the address.