picture from postersplease.com

in the late 1920s, early 1930s, before radio navigation was widely used, pilots of small planes were forced to use familiar landmarks on the ground as a way to find the runway they would hopefully land safely on. there was even a campaign started by the 99s (a women’s pilot group) in the early 1930s, the objective being to paint directions to the nearest airport on buildings and structures across the u.s., the result being thousands of enormous ‘road-signs’ for pilots scattered across the nation.


photo from skyscraperpage.com

when i first saw the photo above i imagined/hoped it would be pretty easy to find other brilliant photos of similar airmarks but it turns out that in the early 40s the u.s. war department demanded that all coastal airmarks be wiped out, all those inland to be left to deteriorate naturally. the result of that seems to be a frustrating lack of photos. if you know of any other enormous airmarks on local libraries, cinemas etc, let me know and i’ll try and get some photos together of the world’s largest directional signs. i’ve seen a few painted by the 99s on airfields themselves but i’d be more interested to find some more painted on huge structures like the tank above.

any ideas?


photo from airspacemag.com

the rice terraces of the philippine cordilleras

photo source: ian iong

approximately 3′000 years ago the people of cordillera took on one of mankind’s most impressive landscape modification projects in order to farm effectively on the surrounding mountainsides and slowly transform the region into what some now call the eighth wonder of the world. due to the sheer scale of this farming system it’s hard to disagree: the rice terraces of the philippine cordilleras, if laid out end to end, would stretch halfway round the globe. if this ingenious feat had been accomplished in recent times the clearly enormous task would have seemed more than impressive, however the fact that it was completed thousands of years ago without the use of modern apparatus and machinery takes the terraces and integrated irrigation systems to a whole new level.

photo source: dudz torres

the idea behind field terracing is simple and something not unique to the philippines: carve horizontal ledges into hills, essentially creating thousands of small walled fields from base to peak in which to grow crops and retain much needed water. however, in the cordilleras region this has been applied to an area on an elsewhere unseen scale: approximately 10′360 square kilometres. entire mountains, sometimes thousands of feet high, sculpted like blocks of wood. that itself is incredible. then you have the irrigation system: the natural streams and rivers of each terraced mountain and its forests have been diverted using a huge and complex arrangement of canals, sluices and taps, the same water is then pushed to the highest terraces using miles of wooden piping. when the terraces fill up they overflow and start to fill the terraced field below, and the cycle continues until the entire mini-waterfall covered mountain is carrying an immense weight of water.

photo source: ian iong

the rice terraces are, understandably, a huge tourist attraction and have attracted attention and money from across the world. however the tourism is also thought to be responsible for the start of what could be a slow death of the terraces for a couple of reasons. firstly, the new generation of locals see the hospitality industry created by the terraces as a far more appealing line of work than the constant farming and attention needed to sustain the terraces themselves. secondly, water isn’t as readily available as in the past due to the effects of an earthquake in 1990 and the new demand for water itself from the tourist industry.

for that reason unesco has placed the terraces on a list of world heritage sites it believes to be ‘in danger’ in hope of starting a successful rehabilitation of the world’s most incredible agricultural engineering system.

sources: 1, 2, 3

the hollywood sign is undoubtedly one of the most well-known landmarks on earth and the fact that it exists, proudly sitting on hollywood hills advertising the world’s movie industry, has never seemed strange to most people. what is strange (to me at least) is the fact that the 50ft high sign was originally an advert of a different kind in a couple of ways. check out the photo above. up until 1949 the sign had an extra 4 letters and was created as an enormous marketing tool to help sell a housing development of the same name which sat in the hills above los angeles. eventually in 1949, after the properties were sold and the sign was redundant, control was assumed by the hollywood chamber of commerce who agreed to maintain the sign without the ‘l-a-n-d’ attached and minus the 4,000 power-hungry flashing lightbulbs.

what intrigues me more though are the numerous imitations of the structure across the globe. i managed to find a few (below) after seeing a list on wikipedia (see here), if you know of any other photos let me know. i won’t label the photos as i’m assuming you can all work out the locations from the signs.




(cheers to reader adam for this mammoth example in pennsylvania)

seeing these makes me wish that all communities were clearly labelled in a similar fashion, preferably at mid to high altitude using the same typeface. even better still, towns and cities should erect these gigantic adverts in neighbouring areas so as to advertise the place to outsiders.

here’s hoping.

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

if god was real and happened to be a sci-fi fan i reckon the cadet chapel at the air force academy in colorado would be his chapel of choice. it looks like no place of worship you’ve ever seen and from the outside resembles a row of 17 angular spacecraft sitting on their back-ends, ready to shoot off at any minute. the chapel and its surrounding complex was designed by walter netsch of architectural firm skidmore, owings & merrill and construction was completed in 1963. no sooner had the 150ft high spire-fest been announced than the public outcry began: as the chapel was a government-funded religious building, members of congress were opposed to the fact that more than $3m was to be spent on a chapel with so many spires when, ’surely’, only 1 was needed. they ultimately lost the battle but succeeded in cutting the amount of spires from the originally planned 19 to the still extravagant 17 you see today.



all things considered, this chapel is nuts, brilliant and ridiculously dramatic. the fact that it also sits amongst jets, helicopters and soldiers on a daily basis makes it all the more likeable and surreal. if you don’t feel the drama yet, watch the clip below: the soundtrack is an inspired choice that, at one point near the start, caused me to believe the building was about to launch. it also shows off the interior which wouldn’t look out of place on the starship enterprise.

incredible.

all photos from the united states air force academy’s official site.

photo sources: (clockwise from top) 1, 2, 3

the enormous 34m ( not ft as i previously put. excuse my ignorance) diameter shiny ball pictured above goes by the name of ‘la géode’. this stunning metallic structure houses a 1000m² hemispheric imax screen at the ‘cité des sciences et de l’industrie’ in paris. it was designed in 1983 by french architect adrien fainsilber and then realised by engineer gérard chamaillou. it’s apparently one of the largest geodesic domes on earth.

seeing this beauty brings to mind what must surely be the most aesthetically incredible planetarium in the world: l’hemisfèric in valencia…



photo sources: (clockwise from top) 1, 2, 3

known by many as ‘the eye of knowledge’, l’hemisfèric planetarium was the first building to be finished as part of valencia’s city of arts and science, a complex designed by super-architect santiago calatrava who is the genius also responsible for, amongst others, the turning torso in sweden and chicago’s upcoming supertall skyscraper, the chicago spire. ‘the eye’ even blinks (albeit quite slowly) by way of hydraulics to reveal the spherical planetarium inside, the reflection of this in the surrounding pool of water cleverly resulting in the illusion you see above.



photo source

photo source

huge steel structures similar to the one photographed above are a common sight here in the uk and can usually be found rusting next to busy, permanently jammed roads, the location seemingly picked purely to confuse kids in the back of slow-moving cars. when i was even smaller than i am now it never dawned on me to even question the existence of these massive cylindrical beasts - maybe i was so used to seeing them that they were simply part of the landscape - and i only discovered their ‘raison d’etre’ a few years ago when a story told by my girlfriend made me realise that i didn’t already know.

anyway, they’re called gasometers and, as you may have guessed, are basically enormous gas containers. there’s a simple diagram here illustrating the method by which gasometers store the gas and a fairly decent explanation of all things gasometer at wikipedia here.

the reason for this post though is to show you 2 incredible converted gasometers that resemble structures from another world and illustrate that demolition shouldn’t always be the answer when industrial structures come to the end of their career. with a bit of imagination even an enormous disused gas container can look incredibly inviting whilst also serving a new purpose.

oberhausen gasometer, germany

website - googlemaps

photo sources: (clockwise from top left) 1, 2, 3

now resembling something straight from the set of a sci-fi film, this 117.5m tall structure in germany was once the world’s 2nd largest active gasometer. obviously it lost that title when it stopped containing gas and then, following renovation, became europe’s tallest exhibition hall. since then it’s become a major attraction and has a constant stream of visitors eager to check out the interior and the exhibitions, concerts and seminars it plays host to. the lighting in this place is incredible and compliments the industrial architecture so effectively as to briefly transport you to another world.

gasometer city, austria

website - googlemaps

photo source


before the early 1980s these 4 delicate monsters helped to supply vienna with gas. then in 1995, following the gasometers’ retirement in 1984, a competition of sorts was announced by local authorities in order to gain an outside opinion of the future of the structures. 4 architects’ design entries were chosen, 1 for each gasometer, and over the next few years they were transformed into what some residents now call ‘gasometer city’. each is divided into sections with apartments at the top, offices in the middle and shopping / entertainment venues at the base, the result being a slightly bizarre mini-city that’s absolutely full of character.

if you know of any other stunning, brilliant or just fantastic gasometer conversions let me know in the comments section.

one of the places i’d refuse to set up home would have to be at the bottom of a mountain with a history of avalanche activity. unfortunately for some that choice doesn’t seem to exist and after reading a post over at the highly recommended blog pruned yesterday the frightening world of avalanche survival systems nearly became an obsession, for a couple of reasons.

firstly, the fact that they exist at all was news to me. i naively assumed that avalanches of any substance were pretty much uncontrollable on our part (unless explosives are used), especially when the relatively miniscule and fragile community you’re attempting to defend sits at the base of the mountain in question. so the thought of humans battling angry mountains the world over using fences and angled walls was always going to be a winner for me. secondly, they look great. i’m a sucker for enormous man-made structures anyway and these beasts are fairly huge, the dams especially as they sometimes span the width of entire villages.

so, here a 3 different types of structure actively being used in various regions in the defense against rapid walls of snow. i’m not even going to pretend to be knowledgeable about the subject so if you want any more depth i suggest you follow the links after these photos.

the deflecting dam



deflecting dams exist with one objective in mind: to divert the flow of an oncoming avalanche away from the populated area beneath the shifting snow. this is done using angled walls and one of the most successful examples can be found at flateyri in iceland (see above) where a triangular deflecting dam can be clearly seen above the village. the dam was built following a fatal avalanche in 1995 and since its construction the dam has successfully diverted at least 2 more large avalanches.

the catching dam



in areas where a diversion isn’t possible you will often find a catching dam, a structure built purely to stop an avalanche in its tracks, hopefully preventing any major movement beyond that point. the main part of a catching dam is the long, curved wall immediately above the community. further up you’ll sometimes find a series of huge earth mounds, strategically placed in order to suck some energy from the flow before it hits the main wall and renders it useless. the photos above show the catching dam protecting drangagil, also in iceland.
below is video of a simulation of the taconnaz catching dam in action, the yellow areas being the part of the flow with highest energy…



supporting structures



steel supporting structures are the most common type of avalanche control system and can be found at the top of avalanche-prone mountains. huge horizontal lines of (usually) steel angled supports are built into the side of avalanche starting zones for a number of reasons: 1. to give support to the snow, therefore reducing the likelihood of an avalanche in the first place, 2. to remove the momentum of any small avalanches, 3. to prevent ’slab formation’ by divding the snow into sections.

for more info, check out the source links below. you can also go here to read parts of the extremely interesting and useful (if you live or holiday amongst unstable mountains) ‘avalanche handbook’ - not all of it is readable through google books but it can be bought through amazon here.

sources: 1, 2, 3 (pdf), 4