Category:
Architecture
Architecture
Upside-Down House
British artist Alex Chinneck does strange things with buildings. His latest project involved flipping a London building upside-down so that the front door is now at the top. (He didn't actually turn it upside-down. He attached a brick veneer to the outside to make it look that way.)
In an earlier project, a building's brick veneer appears to be sliding off the house.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jan 18, 2014 -
Comments (9)
Category: Architecture, Art
The Real Geo
(Flickr source.)
A reader known as "Pat@[email protected]" recently wrote in with some good info on an old WU topic:
" I have been a fan of Buckminster Fuller's writings for many years and just recently found out that he actually didn't invent the geodesic dome. It was invented by Walther Bauersfeld, a German engineer, some 30 years earlier for use as the first projection planetarium. Fuller did, however, apply for and was granted the U.S. patents. He took it's design and construction further and is credited with popularizing it. We have one in Fairbanks built in 1966 at a site originally called "Alaskaland" which was built to commemorate the centenial of the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. It's called the Gold Dome and now houses an aviation museum. Also, there were many "golf balls" in the state during the Cold War which were used for radar."
Posted By: Paul - Tue Oct 29, 2013 -
Comments (5)
Category: Architecture, Inventions, 1920s
Busmobile
A architectural student at University of Minnesota decided on a rather interesting thesis project. Hank Butitta transformed an old school bus into a cool mobile home. Its the Busmobile!
Posted By: Alex - Wed Sep 25, 2013 -
Comments (6)
Category: Architecture
Didn’t Think It Through
If you're going to build a multi million dollar (or Euro) skyscraper you might want to be sure the glass in it will not reflect sunlight strongly enough to melt cars on the street.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Sep 03, 2013 -
Comments (6)
Category: Architecture
World’s Thinnest House
What's less than four feet wide, thirty-feet tall and thirty-three feet deep? And has a ladder entrance ten feet off the ground?
This 3D visualization gives you an idea what can be done when an old building and a newer building leave four feet between them. It's meant as a statement about the war destruction in Poland and the rebuilding being connected. The Keret home is named for the writer who will be living there.
He moves in Saturday, and says the narrow house is a "a kind of a memorial to my family," says Etgar Keret, whose mother's and father's families died in the Holocaust. His paternal grandfather died in Warsaw's uprising against the Nazis in 1944.
Here's the link for the whole story and more pictures.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/19/narrow-house-opening-as-a_0_n_1987050.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news&ir=Weird%20News
Toilet and shower included, plus an "almost" double bed.
Not living large -- living thin!!
Posted By: gdanea - Mon Oct 22, 2012 -
Comments (10)
Category: Architecture
Jack Fletcher’s House of the Future
In 1954, 23-year-old Jack Fletcher showed off his new home to the media. Reporters called it the "house of the future" because of all the unique features he had designed into it. The windows closed by themselves when sensors felt rain. Lights came on automatically when someone entered a room. The phone had a speed-dial feature. The lamps didn't need cords. Instead you just placed them over induction coils installed in the floor. And strangest of all, electromagnets caused pots and pans to float over the stove (which also used induction coils to heat the food).The house was in West Covina, CA (in the LA area). I wonder if it's still standing? I don't see why it wouldn't be, but I haven't been able to find an address for it. Read more about it here and here.
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jul 06, 2012 -
Comments (9)
Category: Architecture, Buildings and Other Structures, Futurism
Why do evil people live in modernist homes?
The book blurb:
Printed in a tabloid format in red and yellow ink Evil People in Modernist Homes in Popular Films offers a serious but lighthearted investigation of the representation of Modernist architecture in popular film, reflecting on the convention of associating evil characters and events with Modern buildings, and also, more generally, on the relation between cinema and architecture. A series of texts point to examples in the James Bond films, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm, and many others, accompanied by plentiful film stills.
(via weareprivate.net)
Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 20, 2012 -
Comments (3)
Category: Architecture, Movies
House of the Future
Here's your weekend viewing!
Posted By: Paul - Fri Jan 28, 2011 -
Comments (2)
Category: Architecture, 1950s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows
The Triangular Lodge
No, it's not the Vatican!
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jan 26, 2011 -
Comments (5)
Category: Architecture, Eccentrics, Religion, Sixteenth Century
More Weird Shorts
And if you fancy taking a trip to Tickle Cock Bridge, why not make a grand tour of it and take in some more of Britain’s rudest place names (Telegraph).
It’s always worth making sure you have plenty of the local currency on holiday, but for one German tourist this became more of a life-saver than a simple convenience. Dominik Podolsky was just riding the ski-lift back down in Hochzillertal in Austria as darkness fell when it was suddenly switched off, as it is every dusk, leaving him stranded. As temperatures dropped to minus 18° Celcius (0° F) Mr. Podolsky began to set light to whatever was to hand to attract attention, starting with paper napkins and some business cards before in desperation he was forced to set fire to his money. He had just burned his last euro when he was finally spotted by a cleaning crew and rescued (Orange).
Perhaps he would have done better to visit the Swiss side of the Alps instead. If not on the mountains, at the very least he would have been better looked after in that country's brothels. Principally because, with an increasing number of elderly clients packing a well-known anti-impotence treatment, Swiss brothels are training their staff in the use of defibrillators in an effort to stop the pill-popping pensioners become clog-popping corpses. "Having customers die on us isn't exactly good publicity" said one sex-club owner. Funny, I would have thought the opposite was true (Telegraph).
But trained as they may be, Swiss working girls will never have the edge on their American competitors. At least that’d be the conclusion you might draw from the results of a recent poll which placed America at number one on the list of countries with the most attractive people (Switzerland didn’t even make the top 20). So rejoice America, from the wild and wanton women of Walmart to the sultry street-girl sirens of Chattanooga, your beauty is unsurpassed (Herald Sun).
Posted By: Dumbfounded - Thu Feb 18, 2010 -
Comments (5)
Category: Architecture, Government, Officials, Money, Odd Names, Political Correctness, Goofs and Screw-ups
| Who We Are |
|---|
| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |