interessant
10 annoyingly brilliant office interiors
in an ideal world all company directors would invest in their workforce to the point where the office didn’t resemble a huge ice cube filled with back-breaking plastic chairs, mdf tables and computers less powerful than my old commodore plus-4. the sad fact is, for the majority of the world’s office-dwelling workers at least, company offices are some of the most inhospitable places on earth…
the world of bizarre sound recordings
As I imagine is the case for many deputydog readers, I’m fascinated by anything that goes above and beyond the norm. Having hosted experimental radio for nearly a decade, I’ve had opportunities to hear many truly strange sounds. These are a few standouts of the unlikely and just plain odd recordings I’ve come across. All are beautiful in their own ways– I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
airmarks: road-signs for planes
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 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.
an unlikely hollywood export
the hollywood sign is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the world.
unsurprisingly, this kind of exposure was always going to lead to imitations of the 50ft high structure all over the world…
2 stunning and surreal gasometer conversions
the reason for this post is to show you 2 incredible converted gasometers 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.
aerial geometry: 5 circular communities from the sky
following the star forts post a couple of weeks ago i became immersed in a world of aerial geometry due to the fact that i find it hard to research a topic for this site and not explore everything related to it. to be honest, star forts are pretty impossible to beat for impressiveness but the circular communities below are still quite stunning. as always, leave any other examples of similar communities in the comments.
the most organised shanty town on earth
pre-2001, the residents of dignity village in portland, oregon, were part of a mobile ‘tent city’ founded by 8 local homeless people desperate to find some kind of semi-permanent shelter. in 2001, following much campaigning and media support, portland city council agreed to allow the camp legal campground status on the basis that they move to an area called sunderland yard, thus securing dignity village’s short-term future.
the grand shaft - amazing military engineering
here’s an incredible piece of wartime engineering - the grand shaft in dover. built between 1806 and 1809 during the napoleonic wars, this triple spiral staircase was used as a rapid route for soldiers making their way from the clifftop barracks to the town of dover and it’s harbour below. without it the troops had to navigate badly maintained winding roads from top to bottom.
hamburg’s unique elevator tunnel
running under the river elbe in hamburg is a beautiful tunnel like no other. this 1/2 kilometre ‘technical marvel’, known as the ‘old river elbe tunnel’, was built in 1911, sits 24 metres below the river and connects central hamburg with the shipyard island of steinwerder. what makes the tunnel unique are the entry points on each side of the river: rather than just driving straight into the tunnel, vehicles enter a freight elevator which slowly descends to the tunnel below, the tunnel then taking traffic to a similar elevator on the opposite side which lifts them back to ground level.
5 fascinating ‘alternative’ school premises
the majority of tourists who visit vietnam (around 90%) will end up at halong bay, a huge stretch of coastline containing nearly 2′000 islands of varying size. surrounding many of the islands are floating villages - small communities of locals who have probably never lived on solid ground. above is one of many floating schools to be found dotted around the shores, flanked by school boats, the floating village’s equivalent to a school bus. in case you can’t read the sign…
deputydog favourites
- adaptive reuse
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- dark roasted blend
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- grow-a-brain
- look at this
- matt gilluley photography
- metube
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- neatorama
- plastique monkey
- pruned
- startling moniker
- super colossal
- things
- think or thwim
- unique daily
- videosift
- web urbanist
