Posted on Tuesday October 13th by The Infrastructurist | 114
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- The US electrical grid exists in three major, separate pieces. A proposed $1 billion substation in Clovis, NM, would change that — using state-of-the art technology (superconductors!) to tie the grids together and allow solar and wind energy to find a national market. (WSJ)
- The “bridge in a backpack” is looking like it might spark a revolution in highway bridge building. The first example–a two-lane, 34-foot span in Maine–saved the government lots of money and is holding up well. A second one was built in only 9 days. Meanwhile the inventor has his eye on much bigger projects. (NYT)
- Streetlights consume 2 percent of America’s energy. Irving, TX, is using $2m in stimulus funds to install solar lamps. The project will save the city $760,000 in the first year alone. (Dallas Morning News)
- What’s this–a list on the Internet? Why, yes. Travel + Leisure names the world’s 15 ugliest buildings. They aren’t ranked but our favorite (for ugliness) is this picnic basket building in Ohio. Also shamed: The Experience Music Project in Seattle and some ugly thing in Portland, OR. Pics after the jump. (T+L)
- In Oregon, a dam on the Rogue River has been demolished by bulldozers, allowing the waterway to flow free for the first time through the area since 1921. Dam removal has been gathering momentum out west. (LAT)
- Ray LaHood is in Detroit to cheer a $7 million stimulus project that will create a passenger terminal and public dock. It will make Motor City the “Midwest cruise ship capital,” he says. Which is quite a name to live up to. (AP)
- Some writer-guy from New York really, really hates bike lanes. Why? We’re really not sure. But it seems to have something to do with yellow bracelets and cupcake shops and “faux piazzas.” Okay, mister! (NYT - City Room)
The Portland Building, Portland, OR
The Experience Music Project, Seattle
National Library, Belarus. All pics via T+L
October 13th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
The Ryugyong Hotel is my favorite ugly building, both atrocious and utterly pointless.
October 13th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
EMP wins.
October 13th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
give the portland building 15-20 years and it will be appreciated just like some people are starting to appreciate the glass boxes of the 1950s and 1960s now.
October 13th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
You guys haven’t experienced Rob Anderson yet - he’s the guy who successfully sued San Francisco to stop all bike lanes for 3 years on the grounds that they might have negative, yes negative, environmental effects. Google it!
October 13th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
The Longaberger Building (a medium market basket writ large,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Longaberger_Company
) steps outside of the usual frameworks. Yes, there’s an element of Mad King Ludwig about it but like quite a few other American buildings it does double duty as both an office place and as a 3-D corporate logo.
In San Francisco the Transamerica Pyramid was derided for its appearance. There have also been reports of noticeable (to the office workers) swaying in high winds. Yet, it has become an accepted part of San Francisco’s skyline.
Sometimes you’ve got to turn the architects loose and let seemingly crazy ideas get built. Quite a few have become iconic (e.g. Golden Gate Bridge, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, World Trade Center [gone, but not forgotten], etc.).
October 13th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
I like that bridge in a backpack. Sounds like a viable solution to some of our infrastructure worries. Also the time it takes to erect the structure would go some ways to cut overall costs on a project that might require multiple crossings. Time is money.
I’d like to see a larger scale version and maybe a rail bridge version for good measure. This could be a good way to get rid of level crossings with road-over-rail designs.
I watched on the Science channel, I think it was, where they took down a dam that had been there for about 70 odd years or so. It was powerful stuff to see the conversion from dam back to free flowing river. I think more should be done away with in time. It would save on costs for one and also be a public safety issue that could be prevented.
Just for interests sake:
In the USA there are 82 645 dams under regulation, full time staff tending to these dams, 602. With some states like Alabama that have no one tending to their 2 218 dams and South Carolina similarly with no one tending to their 2 419 dams. Shocking but true. The following PDF makes for some interesting reading.
http://www.damsafety.org/media/Documents/PRESS/NationalDamSafetyOverview_ASDSO2008.pdf
October 13th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Most of the buildings are not as ugly as Boston City Hall / Government Center:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/800px-Boston_City_Hall.JPG
October 13th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Yeah, I’d have to vote for Boston City Hall as the ugliest building I’ve ever seen
Jebediah
October 13th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
It’s even worse when you see pictures of the area they tore down.
October 13th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Another vote for that Boston abomination. Ugh.
October 13th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Re : Boston City Hall
Let me guess - the back of the ID cards for the workers in that concrete travesty isn’t blank. Instead, they got permission from Parker Bros. to use one of their cards. Which one ? Why, the “Go to Jail” one of course. Hell, Alcatraz and San Quentin both are better looking than that turkey.
Before - Scollay Square
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scollay_Square
After - DDR Comparison
http://www.yelp.com/biz/boston-city-hall-boston
==================================
FYI - Other Buildings
http://www.instantshift.com/2009/02/26/50-more-unusual-buildings-architecture/
October 13th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
The EMP is definitely controversial, but I think it’s really cool. It’s completely unconventional and eye-catching, but not ugly. And what’s ugly about the basket building? It’s awesome.
October 13th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Some of those buildings definitely look ugly, without question, but the Harold Washington Library and the Fang Yuan Building probably do not belong on that list. The Harold Washington is pretty much beloved, as I understand it. Very cool building.
And what about all the incredibly ugly concrete 60s prefab? Here in Montreal, nearly any building between St. Laurent and Atwater could have made this list easily. And a lot of the bombed parts of London were built up with even uglier prefab. There wasn’t even a single example of that.
At least someone brought up the topic with the Boston City Hall.
October 14th, 2009 at 12:29 am
If you guys don’t get what that guy in the NYTimes was talking about, you’ve obviously never ridden in a New York bike lane.
What he assumed his audience understood (and which you obviously did not) is that bike lanes in Manhattan are pretty much a joke. That is what the article is about. The fact that anyone actually riding a bike in a bike lane is deluding themselves that they have a right-of-way. As someone with a bike parked right outside on Avenue C I can assure you that there is no difference whatsoever between being in a NY bike lane and not being in one, particularly in Midtown.
October 14th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Anything by Daniel Libeskind should qualify.
December 25th, 2009 at 1:58 am
Thanks for sharing this. There are many structures in the world that can be stated as the most ugliest structures. some of them are Ryogyong Hotel, Royal Ontario Musuem, Petrobras Headquarters, Markel Building, Zizkov Television Tower, Beehive, National Library of Pristina, Center Georges Pompidou, Federation Square, Morris A. Mechanic Theater for more details on this structure visit http://www.travelworth.com/die-before-you-visit-these-top-10-worlds-ugliest-structures.html/