Encapsulate

Kisho Kurokawa‘s Capsule Tower, located in the Ginza District in Tokyo defies gravity on many levels. In terms of physical gravity, it’s attached rather precariously to a support core that frankly appears to the untrained eye somewhat under-engineered. Another ode to the building’s persistance is its ability to push back redevelopment efforts in what is ...

Thunder Thighs

As a crucial arterial road running through the heart of San Francisco, an earthquake prone city, Highway 280 tends to be on the heavier side when it comes to structural considerations. Like a voluptuous centipede, it snakes through various neighbourhoods, displaying a consistent rhythmic cadence that manifests a desire to counter a future tremblor. It’s a thing of ...

Car Park

Parking Structures are the ugly ducklings of architecture; often done in haste as an afterthought to the grand project, the ambitious masterplan, or unceremoniously dumped into the middle of a city. One of the unexpected results of this approach is the typically spare and minimal design, where the “form-follows-function” creed is most often executed in its purest ...

Mercy

My father worked for many years as a welder, one of thousands of workers at the Port of Durban, South Africa’s busiest harbour. I remember he would take the family there on Sunday drives, and as a child I would look out the window and stare at the massive cranes, or the moored container ships, ...

Passing By

Stacked

The economics of parking in Manhattan offers fascinating insights into land use in dense urban environments. With monthly parking rates in some neighborhoods rivaling average studio apartment rentals in most other major US cities, the tension between owning a car and using mass transit takes on a particular resonance in New York. Hence the rise ...

Japan, Big In

This image, taken on the PATH train to Newark International Airport, reminds me of a long time ambition to get myself to Japan. I’ve never been, but I’m certain I would make hay there, photographically speaking. Plus, I enjoy good ramen and sushi, a taste I picked up here in San Francisco, thanks to the ...

Bridge Surfing

Another week, another bout of inclement weather in Northern California. Despite the persistent rain, San Francisco fortunately has hardy residents who are always willing to make lemonade out of lemons. .

Weaned Off

Despite the US being far, far away from being weaned off fossil fuels, it was very encouraging to see the extensive wind turbine park near Palm Springs, the solar park in the Mojave Desert and the geothermal plants near Salton Sea. It has become increasingly clearer that the correct approach to moving beyond the pending ...

At 2000 Feet

The City of San Francisco enjoys a much deserved reputation as being a city on the cutting edge. The Gay Pride movement achieved important milestones in the city’s history, there is a strong emphasis on the Arts, which is avidly supported by a large and well-educated population, and the renowned high quality of the cuisine ...

2030, A Prediction

In the not too distant future your standard grade run-of-the mill highway will no longer be necessary, when the speculative “affordable mass teleportation system” is finally conceived, and renders the Trekkie vision as fact instead of fantasy. Think about it: what a wonderful playground cities (and designers) will have to explore – mile upon mile ...