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The Twist Bridge in Vlaardingen, the Netherlands, was built for bicycles and pedestrians to cross the canal, but it’s also a work of art! Made of 400 steel tubes, the matrix that covers the bridge is eye-catching and also absorbs vibrations. See more pictures at Amusing Planet. Link -via the Presurfer
(Image credit: Flickr user Theo Lagendijk)
You would think that Japan’s overpopulation problems would force them to hang on to every bit of inhabitable land they own, but these images show otherwise. Hashima Island, nicknamed Ghost Island, was abandoned entirely after the mine which had been running for over 80 years was closed in 1974.
The black and white photos add a sense of despair to the abandoned cityscape, and although Hashima Island has been covered before here on Neatorama, I think the beautiful photographs in this gallery warrant a second look.
Villa Palagonia in Bagheria, Italy is famous for a flock of “monsters” on top of its garden walls.
The house was built in 1715, and immediately hailed as an architectural achievement, and one of the finest works of Sicilian Baroque on the island. But the Villa didn’t acquire the strange touch which made it world-famous until 1749, when the deranged Prince of Palagonia ordered a set of gargoyles to line its garden walls. Legions of dragons, soldiers, hunchbacks and freaks of nature look down on visitors from atop stony perches. According to legend, the most freakish faces are meant to caricature the many lovers of the prince’s promiscuous wife.
Get a closer look at these eccentric works and get a tour of the villa at For 91 Days. Link -Thanks, Juergen!
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John Diamond’s 1792 design for the Capitol was topped with a weathercock. Jim Allegro and Doug Michels wanted to build the National Sofa across the street from the White House so that hundreds of people could watch the President on an enormous television. John Russell Pope proposed that the Lincoln Memorial take the form of a step pyramid. Throughout the history of Washington, D.C., architects have proposed both grand and eccentric building ideas. View a slideshow at the link of some of these that were thankfully never built.
Link -via NotCot | Image: National Archives
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The site is in Italian, which I’ve run through Google Translate, but as I understand it, the LEAP (Living Ecological Alpine Pod) is a ski cabin design. Heavy-lift helicopters move prefabricated modules into position, which are then bolted together. The modules are interchangeable, so you can select which sections you need for your mountain cabin.
Link (Google Translate) -via American Digest | Photo: Fuoriserie Sas
The architects at AllesWirdGut Architektur took an old steel mill in Luxembourg and converted it into a public park while leaving some of the original infrastructure in place. The results have a lovely Brutalist feel.
I know: a lot of people despise Brutalism. But it’s an acquired taste that I’ve acquired. You can see eight pictures of the park at the link. I especially like this clever bench design — perfect for enjoying the outdoors while staying out of the rain.
Link -via Colossal | Photo: Roger Wagner
A monument to communism sits in the middle of Bulgaria in Buzludzha National Park. Like many oversize Soviet-era constructions, it is falling into ruin. But what’s amazing about this building is that it is only 30 years old! Kuriositas has a look inside at the once-glorious architecture with its massive propaganda artwork and the poor condition it has fallen into only ten years after its abandonment. Link
(Image credit: Wikipedia user Infobgv)
Photographers have taken pictures of Paris in every way imaginable, but photographer Philipp Klinger aims to show us all just how symmetrical and full of patterns the City of Light really is, if you see the city through his viewfinder.
There’s an optically pleasing gallery of images to be seen at the DesignTAXI link below, try to keep your eyeballs in your head!
Link –via DesignTAXI
Seven churches devoured by lava? Maybe someone is trying to tell them something! No, actually many more homes and businesses are devoured by lava, but churches are built to last forever, so often we still have the ruins after a volcanic eruption, whereas other buildings are totally destroyed. Shown is the church in San Juan Parangaricutiro, Mexico, that was half-buried by a volcanic eruption in 1943. See lots more at Environmental Graffiti. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user · YeahjaleaH ·)
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The Eh`häusl in Amberg, Germany bills itself as the smallest hotel in the world. It is only eight feet wide! The structure was built on a property of only 20 square meters, between two other houses. The history of the hotel is interesting, as told by Metafilter member woodblock100:
So here’s the story: it’s 1728 and you live in Amberg, a little Bavarian town somewhere north of Munich. You and your lady friend really, really want to get married, but there is a little snag; the council laws permit only homeowners to marry, and you’re still stuck renting a place. But all is not lost! You pick up a little strip of empty land between two other buildings – just 2.5 meters wide. You run up a quick wall on the front, another on the back, slap a roof on top, and presto – you’re a homeowner. The council falls for it, and allows you to get married.
But now what? Well, it’s not liveable, so you head back to the rental place to live, but you recoup your investment by selling the Eh’häusl (Little Wedding House) to the next couple with the same problem.
Link to story. Link to hotel site.
(Image: Google Street View)
Feast your eyes on some fantastic old architecture in New York City. The Trinity Building was built in 1904-1907. It is flanked by the U.S. Realty Building, constructed at the same time (making them the original “twin towers”) and the older Trinity Church, rebuilt in 1800. The Trinity Building has classic Art Deco detailing that gives it a timeless look. The three buildings have all been photographed extensively over the last 100 years, which you can see at Dark Roasted Blend. Link
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From the beaches of Thailand to the deserts of the U.S, for a variety of reasons, some very expensive vacation resorts were deemed a loss, and no longer worth the trouble of upkeep. Years later, the photographs fascinate by illustrating their falls from grace. Environmental Graffiti shows us places that were once luxurioius playgrounds for tourists and celebrities, but are now being reclaimed by nature. Shown is a resort in Famagusta, Cyprus, which was permanently emptied when Turkey invaded in 1974. Link
(Image credit: Julienbzh35)
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center may be gone, but they live on in film. Dan Meth put together this supercut of the buildings’ many appearances in movies. Here’s a list of the movies the towers were seen in. -via The Desonesto Doctrine
41-year old Gregory Kloehn lives in a dumpster. But it’s not that bad! This artist in Berkeley, California, has modified his dumpster with running water, electrical power, a stove, an oven, and a toilet. Kloehn’s home will be on display at San Francisco’s Fringe Festival through September 18.
Link -via Doobybrain | Festival Website
This is a real house in Portugal called Casa do Penedo, which means “house of stone.” Built in 1974, the current resident had to reinforce the house with security doors and window bars because of the many visitors and occasional vandals. Casa do Penedo is just one of a list of Ten Strange Places Where People Live, some of which may induce vertigo. Link -via J-Walk Blog
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On a hill called Teufelsberg (Devil’s Mountain) near Berlin, an abandoned facility complete with “radar domes” stands. It was once used as a listening station for the US to intercept Soviet communications, and then abandoned when West and East Berlin were reunited. It was built over top the remains of a Nazi war college. Exploring this station is difficult, as it is deteriorating. One of the dangers is an open 10-story elevator shaft! See a set of pictures at Environmental Graffiti. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user Nate Bolt)
It’s hard to believe that people once thought we’d all be living in domes by the year 2000, but this delightful retro article from Popular Science confirms that the future is a lot squarer than people in the 60s and 70s thought it would be. The geodesic dome was the brainchild of R. Buckminster Fuller, who felt that the simplicity of design and ease with which it could be built would catch on like wildfire across the country, and claimed rather ambitiously that it could replace all manner of traditional housing. However, Fuller hadn’t taken the cost of repairs into consideration, nor the problems that would be encountered bringing the dome up to code, and the awkward shape of the panels made replacing them a real pain, so the geodesic dome fad fell along the wayside, becoming nothing more than a vision of the future that was never meant to be. If you want to read more about the “dome of the future”, follow the link to PopSci, where you’ll find lots more info, and pages from past Popular Science articles detailing the rise and fall of the housing dome fad.
When George Bernard Shaw began designing his ideal writing hut, he decided to construct it on top of a rotating Lazy Susan. It was drawn as a simple 8′x8′ square with two large windows on one side for lighting and heat. With ascetic efficiency, the building’s windows could be turned towards the sun during the winter–allowing solar energy to warm up the room–and turned away for the summer. I would’ve guessed that the hut was built within moderate climate if it wasn’t for the fact that “it has a sloping roof to shed rain and snow build up.”
Not only was he a literary visionary, but a clever engineer. (One might even say that he Shaw solutions…)
Link via Home Design Find
Dietrich Wegner made this 20-foot tall children’s playhouse out of polyfill, rope, wood, and steel. It’s entitled Homeland and is a convincing imitation of a nuclear detonation. Remember: your kids are never too young to start learning post-nuclear apocalypse survival skills. Link -via reddit | Photo: Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery
Photo Credit: Alexander Belenkiy
One of my favorite things is to come across abandoned buildings and do a little exploring–legally of course. If you like abandoned buildings, then English Russia has a good deal of items for you to peruse, from elaborate and abandoned houses in the Tagia to planetariums–this one in particular is being demolished–the last wooden planetarium in existence. It’s located in the city park of Penza, Russia and actually has some pretty nifty stuff in it, along with some pretty… um, shall we say interesting dioramas, plenty of cosmonaut history, and lots and lots of propaganda about Pluto being a planet and all (so last decade). Not somewhere I’d take the kiddies on a field trip, but interesting to rifle through.
As we previously covered Saudi Arabia has been planning the construction of the world’s tallest building on the out Now those plans have moved into the actual construction phase. The Kingdom Tower when completed will be two thirds of a mile tall at 3,280 feet and feature top of the line hotels, condominiums and premium office space. The whole project is in an effort to boost the Saudi’s economy.
If you want a really roomy place, you can live in a 90-square foot apartment. But Luke Clark Tyler, an architect in Manhattan, figured that he could do just fine with a cozier place. His apartment, which includes furniture that he designed and built for it, is only 78 square feet in floor space. Tyler has a murphy bed, a couch, a microwave, a refrigerator, and a closet.
Did I mention that Tyler works from home? That tiny space is also his office. -via Doobybrain
Abandoned places can be creepy. Morgues are always creepy to most people. Put them together, and you’ve got some really creepy places -and even more so when you know their history. Environmental Graffiti has a photo collection of abandoned morgues in hospitals, asylums, municipalities, military bases, and even this one from Ellis Island. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user Vilseskogen)
In 1975, Marcia Weber bought a caboose made in 1909. Over the past thirty-six years, she’s gradually turned it into a functional home with indoor heating and plumbing. There are beds, a full kitchen, and even a washer and dryer. See more photos of this amazing home conversion at the link. Link -via Craft | Photo: Marcia Weber
Castles on cliffs are the stuff of fairytales. And sure, it was a security measure, building the kingdom’s stronghold in the least accessible location, but that doesn’t make these seven beautiful castles located on cliffs any less impressive or fairytale-like. The one above is Alcazar in Segovia, Spain, built in the 12th century and now open to tourists year round and home to the Spanish General Military Archives. Link
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You may not be able to get (the impossibly proportioned) Barbie figure, but you can one day live in the house of little b.... londe that has everything.
The American Institute of Architects is holding a design competition where architects and designers are invited to submit their designs of the Barbie Dream House: Link
What kind of a house would you build for a pro skateboarder? A skateable one, of course!
Here's what Los Angeles-based architect Francois Perrin and designer Gil Lebon Delapointe did for Pierre Andre Senizergues, a former world skateboard champion:
The house is divided into three separate spaces. The first one includes the living room, dining area and kitchen, the second one includes a bedroom and bathroom and the third one a skateboard practice area. Each space is skateable as the ground becomes the wall then the ceiling in a continuous surface forming a tube of a 10ft diameter.
The furniture is also skateable, whether it is integrated in the curve like the sitting area, the kitchen or the bathroom or just as standing object like the dining table, the kitchen Island or the bed. Closets and drawers could be integrated in the curve too.
The PAS house is the first house to be entirely used for skateboarding as well as being a traditional dwelling. It is the ultimate dream for generations of skateboarders who wanted to bring their practice into their home.
Link - via The Awesomer
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The River Fleet in London is a tidal river that once provided water for many industries. Over the years, it became quite polluted, then was consigned to flow underneath the city as London grew, until it was eventually incorporated into the sewer system. But the river is still there, filling its tunnels at high tide and ebbing to a trickle at low tide. Read about what happened to the River Fleet and see plenty of pictures at Kuriositas. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user sub-urban.com)
While the Sistine Chapel is gorgeous, it’s not the only notable ceiling in the world. WebUrbanist has a great collection of stunning modern ceilings for your viewing pleasure.
This Japanese language video shows a house that is only 67 inches wide, yet is quite comfortable and equipped. The kitchen is tiny, but it has a full-size bath and one of those super high-tech toilets. It’s two stories tall and features a lovely skylight with rooftop access. -via Doobybrain
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