corporation street bridge :: photo source

there’s a sprawling shopping centre around the corner from my flat in manchester called the arndale centre and it’s generally a predictably horrible place, the one intriguing feature of the whole complex being the above bridge which acts as a decievingly attractive portal from shit-hole to shit-hole. as with most things that become a regular sight, i stopped even noticing it whenever i walked underneath, until last week when i snapped out of my trance and decided to find out the name given to its shape and why you don’t see more of them. thanks to cuil, turns out it’s called a hyperboloid structure and while there are a number of other such structures in the world, this happens to be the only known hyperboloid bridge/tunnel.

cottam power station: original photo source

the one hyperboloid structure everyone’s aware of is the cooling tower, seen above, but there are a number of more impressive examples across the globe, and i’m gonna show you some. to read more about the reasons behind this kind of shape for certain buildings, i’d recommend reading this. to summarise: hyperboloid lattice-frame structures (the most common application) offer a surprising amount of rigidity due to all the steel columns being straight, plus due to less materials being used they’re also a very economical construction technique, especially considering that resultant strength. and then there’s the visual aspect…

aspire tower, doha, qatar

photos’ source

during the 2006 asian games the top of this 1′050ft tower housed the olympic flame. see the protruding lip about 1/3 of the way up the tower? that’s an outdoor swimming pool.
more info here.

adziogol lighthouse, dneprovsky, ukraine

photo source

one of the oldest examples of a hyperboloid structure, this 230ft lighthouse was built in 1910 by vladimir shukhov, the engineer responsible for designing, amongst other things, the world’s first ever hyperboloid structure.

more info here.

kobe port tower, kobe, japan

photo sources: 1, 2

built in 1963, this beauty stands at kobe port and has a rotating observation deck at the top, 295ft from the ground, offering views across the bay. it’s also covered in lights, at night making this the area’s most famous landmark.

more info here.

jested tower, liberec, czech republic

photo sources: 1, 2

one of the world’s strangest looking television towers, jested tower also contains a hotel and restaurant at the base. the tower itself measures 308ft and sits on top of jested mountain, 3012ft above sea level.
more info here.

cathedral of brasilia, brasilia, brazil

photo sources: 1, 2

oscar niemeyer designed this cathedral, a striking building that was opened in 1970. apparently the 16 columns are meant to represent ‘two hands reaching up to heaven’.
more info here.

shabolovka radio tower, moscow, russia

photo sources: 1, 2

another tower built by shukhov, this one sits near the kremlin in russia and was completed in 1920.
more info here.

ciechanow water tower, ciechanow, poland

photos’ source

all i know about this incredible top-heavy water tower is that it was built in 1972 and designed by a guy called jan bogusławski.

more info, in polish, here.

guangzhou tv & sightseeing tower, guangzhou, china

photos’ source

when completed next year, this hyperboloid tower in china will measure 2′001ft from base to top of spire. that’s taller than every building in the world apart from the burj dubai. the photo on the right shows the tower’s the tower’s progress as of august 2008.
more info here.

sydney tower, sydney, australia

photos’ source

when this tower was opened in 1981 it was the world’s 4th tallest building at 1000ft (including spire) - nowadays it’s probably around the 30th mark. but it’s still an amazing looking tower supported by an incredibly thin hyperboloid lattice shell.

more info here.

shukhov tower on the oka river, nizhny, russia

photo source

the world’s only hyperboloid electricity pylon. back in 1927, when the pylon was built, it was one of 6 hyperboloid pylons in the area. approximately 20 years ago the 5th pylon was sold for scrap, leaving this one standing on its own.

more info here, in german.

that’s all folks.

there are a few more of these around, wikipedia has a list here worth checking out. also worth looking at is the shukhov tower foundation’s website here.

and the cuil thing was a joke.

i thought i’d offer some assistance to any supervillains who may be looking for a menacing building to call headquarters. admittedly they’re quite noticable so unless you have the necessary means to defend the building or are managing to operate under the radar, you may want to look for something underground. all chosen structures look either creepy as hell, flat-out brutal, or both, and as far as i know none or on the market at present so you may have to use underhand tactics to actually move in.

jin mao tower, pudong, shanghai

photo sources: 1, 2, 3

jim mao tower is absolutely huge at 1380ft, a feature which will enable you to survey the surrounding area for miles assuming cloud cover is minimal. as for sturdiness, it’s been designed by hardcore architects/engineers and as a result can withstand winds up to 200km/h and earthquakes to a maximum of 7 on the richter scale. inside, the building is home to one of the tallest atriums on planet earth (375ft), a perfect place for henchmen to dispose of unwanted guests.

moser tower, naperville, illinois

photo sources: 1, 2, 3

moser tower is basically a belltower and as such doesn’t contain a huge amount of habitable space for evil operations. the reason for its inclusion here is purely an aesthetic one - of all the structures here, it looks the best in terms of badassness - so i’d suggest maybe building a lair underneath and using the tower itself solely as a front. one potential positive is that, as it’s essentially an enormous musical instrument, you could adapt it to play any villainous music at will. alternatively, the giant bells could surely be used as some kind of torture device if a pesky human were attached.

fernsehturm berlin, berlin

photo sources: 1, 2

the fernsehturm is a tv tower in berlin and it’s extremely tall at 1207ft. it could easily serve as a european headquarters and would be pretty difficult for non-airborne enemies to infiltrate as all the prime living space is located 669ft up in a sphere, its only point of entry located at the bottom of the tower’s shaft on ground level. also, within the sphere is a revolving restaurant, a feature which could easily be transformed into a revolving control centre / spinning turret, although you may have to speed up the mechanism as it’s currently making just one revolution per 30 minutes.

oriental pearl tower, pudong, shanghai

photo sources: 1, 2

as with the fernsehturm, pearl tower is a tv tower, but this one is located in shanghai and looks far more menacing and sturdy. it’s basically a fernsehturm on steroids: instead of one supporting vertical column, it has 3. instead of one large sphere, this one has 2. plus it’s also taller at 1535ft. another benefit is that it’s located just supercharged spitting distance from jin mao tower (see above), meaning a firmer grasp over shanghai could be quickly attained providing both towers were comandeered.

taipei 101, xinyi district, taipei

photo sources: 1, 2, 3

taipei 101 has a lot going for it in terms of evil hq suitability. it’s height is a staggering 1670ft. it can withstand practically all natural disasters and presumably a few of the attacks you’ll likely be subject to. visually, it resembles a giant evil robot and completely dominates the surrounding area, instantly sending out an intimidating message before you’ve even settled in. it’s also the only tall structure to be seen in that particular area meaning attacks from all sides will be visible providing you have all corners manned.

žižkov television tower, žižkov, prague

photo sources:1, 2, 3, 4

there’s not much that needs to be said about this one. it’s an enormous, intimidating tower, and it’s supporting legs are covered with faceless babies. if you’re the kind of supervillain who’s obsessed with image, look no further.

this is a guest post courtesy of been seen, a great site that ‘approaches travel from a creative and visually artistic point of view’. as an indication, if i was a thief and wanted to start a travel blog i’d definitely steal a lot of their posts - that’s how good it is (i’m not condoning theft). check out their site here, have a lovely weekend and remember: i love you all.

the term ‘eco-friendly’ is on everybody’s lips at the moment and thankfully it’s not going to disappear any time soon. let’s take a quick look into the near future and find out what we may be driving 20 years from now, in a time when, hopefully, gas-guzzlers are a thing of the past and our robotic butlers will have to plug our cars into the mains overnight.

the aptera

a car that gets 230 miles per gallon? don’t be daft. that would blow the trusty toyota prius out of the water, and turn the rising cost of gasoline into only a minor concern. right? which is why we should all rush out and preorder an aptera. the vision of steve fambro, who wanted to create a car that was safe, comfortable, and more fuel-efficient than anything ever produced, the aptera (from greek for ‘flight without wings’) draws much of its design from aircraft and aerodynamics. it seats two, has three wheels, and its first operating protype achieved an amazing 230 miles per gallon.
interesting specs: it can reach 85mph; it’ll take 2 to 4 hours to charge; it’ll cost about $2 to charge it overnight; it can accommodate drivers up to 6′5″ in height; there’s room for an infant seat; it’s only available in white; and it’ll cost under $30k. the aptera typ-1 is now available for reservations (only in california for now), and will start production in late 2008.

nmg

so you thought the aptera was a cool alternative to gas guzzlers? check these little guys out. nmg (standing for ‘no more gas’) personal electric vehicles are smaller than smart cars and use no gasoline at all. none. in fact, you can run them for one or two cents a mile.

nmgs are really small - so small that you can fit four of them into one parking space (see picture, below), which means this probably isn’t a car for long road journeys, or for piling the family into. in fact, it only seats one, so that wouldn’t even be a possibility. but it is the car for popping out to buy groceries, picking up a dvd, and - most importantly - driving to work.

charge it for eight hours and you’ll get about 30 miles of driving, which is more than the average driver does in a day. plus, you can drive it in the car pool lane, and park it in a motorcycle space between two cars. with gas hitting record highs every day and its consumption contributing so heavily to global warming, surely the nmg is a no-brainer? and if, as many suggest, the oil companies are suppressing information about electric cars left, right and center - then surely the spread of information by internet is the ideal way of counteracting that (blogging being quite possibly the ultimate freedom of speech)? Just a thought.

puyo

last october at the tokyo motor show, honda unveiled puyo. this little bubble car is another futuristic concept that threatens to blow gas guzzlers out of the water - or at least off our streets.

apparently the word ‘puyo’ is japanese onomatopoeia for the sensation of touching the vehicle’s soft body - though I’m not entirely sure what that means. the car itself was designed to bring together clean, safe and fun functionality in a minimalist, environmentally-friendly way.on the outside it’s a seamless, curvy box that’s supposed to remind you of a favorite pet. it has a soft gel body and is luminescent to reflect the vehicle’s state of being, thereby promoting a more intimate relationship between car and owner (does this mean it turns green when it’s sick?). and you’ve got to love those glowy headlights.

the interior is designed to be people-friendly. driving is controlled by a joystick, the control panels rise up when the vehicle starts, and the roof is transparent. sounds like r2d2 with interior seating and power steering, or hamtaro with an engine.

nissan pivo 2

talk about a cute concept car. the nissan pivo 2 almost makes wall-e look dull - almost… this environmentally-friendly electric urban commuter vehicle has a built-in robotic interface and rotates 360 degrees on its axis. by getting rid of traditional mechanical linkages like shafts and hydraulic cylinders and using drive by wire electrical technology instead, it’s infinitely more flexible than most cars we’re used to.

in addition to looking adorable and fitting into small spaces, it also does what so many electric cars seem incapable of doing - sits three. if this isn’t the car of the future, i’ll be so disappointed.

the magnet car

this car overcomes the force of gravity through the strategic use of an electric engine…and magnets. winner of the unseen technology award at the interior motives design awards 2007, the mag magnetic vehicle concept (designed by matúš procháczka) finds an unusual solution to the problem of, expending fuel to get somewhere. rather than finding a different fuel source, or building a smaller car, procháczka ingeniously reduces the weight of the car by using an electric engine with magnets the same polarity as the roads. the resulting upward force lightens the vehicle’s weight by 50%. another innovative touch is the desing of the seats: two outer layers, pile yarn, and a soft construction foam make it possible to adjust the final hardness and spring characteristics of the seat. this lightweight, adaptable seating not only cuts down on waste during construction and the overall weight of the vehicle while being driven, it also sounds pretty darn comfy.

of course, the biggest caveat to mag’s road dominance is the very crux of it’s construction: in order for the magnetic engine to properly polarize, the roads on which it’s driven also have to be magnetized. magnetic roads not being yet readily available, um, anywhere, the design for right now remains purely theoretical. but the day they are, you’ll see me sitting on my adjustable foam seat cushion, zipping around on my magnet car.

solar rickshaw

most people associate rickshaws with images of third-world poverty, or fleeting tourist novelty: how quaint, to have someone else peddle you around! however, the new solar-powered rickshaw by solarlab is about to change the image of the rickshaw to something decidedly more twenty-first century.

according to solarlab, 75% of the total power needed to drive the vehicle will come from the photovoltaic solar generator on the roof, while the remaining 25% will be provided by the driver’s own pedal power. with the addition of solar power, you don’t have have to be a superhero on steroids to drive yourself around. the modular design of the rickshaw makes it easy to convert to load-bearing vehicles required for inner city logistics, and supply chain requirements. in other words, not only can you cart yourself around, you can also add in a couple of tourists, and all their groceries too.

launching next year, solarlab hopes to reduce CO2 emissions in london by up to 2 tons per rickshaw. from prehistoric transportation, to the transportation of the future: making transportation eco-friendly is closer to the past then we think. then again, there’s always walking.

remember the fantastic ‘sultan’s elephant‘ (above) that paraded through london in 2006, instantly astounding all who were lucky enough to witness its walk around the city? well the creative geniuses behind that phenomenal piece of street theatre have just started to unveil their new piece of work in liverpool, entitled ‘la machine‘, and it looks to be an equally creepy affair….



during the past 24hrs this gigantic, mechanical, 37ton, 50ft tall spider, complete with 50 hydraulic axes of movement, appeared on the side of a soon-to-be demolished building near the heart of the city, instantly creating a buzz in the area. there’s been talk for the past few weeks about the show’s main star and until the spider appeared last night very few people knew of the form it would take. here are some more images from earlier today. check out the mechanics and seating areas on its back…



i was contacted by 2 people today about this project, one of whom sent across a photo of what she believes to be the same spider with legs extended from a previous date. i have no way of verifying it but it definitely looks similar. i also have no idea where this was taken but i’m presuming it was during either practice or testing prior to the extremely secretive event as the guy behind these animals, françois delarozière, has never before unveiled a spider like this to the public…



according to the liverpool08 website (click here to see a schedule), this incredible beast will be waking up, descending to street level and then causing havoc around liverpool until sunday. from the looks of it we should be in for a good show - as and when it happens i’ll try and get some more pics and hopefully video up.

thanks to paul and naomi for the tip

photo sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

hey people, the past couple of weeks have been a bit hectic round here, hence the lack of posts. everything’s now back to normal so things should pick up. glad to see everyone enjoying and linking to the bridges post - seems you can never get too much of ‘em. 

a quick slice of awesome to begin the comeback. can you guess what’s going on with the trees in the photos below?



yep, they’re revolving. it’s an installation by diller, scofidio and renfro, the geniuses behind the blur building, and goes by the name of arbores laetae (joyful trees). to be found in a roadside park in liverpool, the installation consists of 17 trees, the middle 3 of which slowly rotate throughout the day, confusing the unsuspecting public in the process.



it’s one of 30 installations that make up the city’s biennial arts festival and i think it’s brilliant. there’s something spookily satisfying about seeing your surroundings behaving unnaturally. the festival’s other projects can be seen here.

[above] the stockholm globe arena / the sun :: photo source

to be found in stockholm, sweden, this enormous building holds 2 records, one far more interesting than the other - to me at least.

the less interesting but still impressive record? it’s the largest hemispherical building in the world with a diameter of 361ft and volume of 21′188′800 cubic ft.

the best of its records? the building represents the sun in what is the world’s largest scale model of the solar system (1:20,000,000). that’s to say, all other planets of the solar system are represented by other precisely sized and distanced objects throughout sweden. as an example of the distances between these models, the dwarf planet of pluto can be found 300km from the stockholm globe arena and has a diameter of 12cm.

maybe i’m easily impressed but i find the idea of this really interesting, especially considering the size of the globe arena. hopefully kids learning about astronomy these days, those who get to visit these ‘planets’ in person, are as susceptive as i am.

anyway, a few of the other planets scattered around sweden:


[above] clockwise from top left (click for sources): venus, jupiter, earth, mercury

there’s a webpage for sweden’s solar system here. you can also find all the planets’ locations through google earth here and google maps here.


of course, this isn’t the only scale model of the solar system on earth. there’s actually a larger model that spans the uk (website here), the sun sitting 393km from pluto, but there’s a problem that could’ve, and should’ve, been avoided: the planets aren’t to scale. i lost interest as soon as i found out that fact.

for a list of all the largest ones in the world, check out this wikipedia page. none contain a sun as impressive as sweden’s but they’re all good efforts.