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Architecture

printout homes

Concrete-Jet Printer Gets Caterpillar Funding: Print-Out Houses on the Way

Check out this lengthy vid: it shows how one day you may just call-in giant robots to print out a new home based on a CAD model. Research into the concrete-jet printer is being carried out by USC, and their technology can already build up complex concrete structures using technology that's half-CNC machine and half inkjet-like. They've just got funding from Caterpillar to further the research. Amazing stuff, especially when the team says it should be eventually be able to put together a 2,000-square-foot, two storey home in just a day, with all the wiring and plumbing automatically inserted too. Even NASA is interested, as this may be a good solution for building Moonbases. [The Register via Bot Junkie]

architecture

House With a Mini Golf Course On Its Roof

This modern house in Spain has a complex and industrial-looking mini golf course on its roof. [Archdaily]

dubai

City-In-a-Pyramid Could House a Million Dubaians, Power Itself

A particularly optimistic design firm in Dubai called Timelinks has proposed designs for the Ziggurat, a complete city to be layered inside of a massive pyramid that could serve as home for a million people at a time. Timelinks is currently seeking patents for a variety of technologies that would make such a building possible, including a three axis public transportation system that would run residents up, through and across the pyramid. They've also claimed that with a hybrid wind, solar and steam power the Ziggurat would be able to meet its own power needs, and that there would be enough room to allow for some minor agriculture in designated "green spaces." More »

architecture

Iceland's Ragnarokkin' New Opera House Designed To Be Elf-Friendly

Maybe you don't get over to Reykjavik very often, but the old Viking homestead is a crazy mix of old and modern architecture. Joining the skyline will be the Icelandic Opera House, an icy glass fortress that changes colors throughout the day. Designed by a man whose middle name is Thor, the transparent cube and enclosed 820-seat theater are situated upon a hill known for its magical elf population. What now? Elves, you say? More »

architecture

Enormous Artificial Sand Dune To House Museum of Modern Arab Art

If you happen to be driving through the desert near Doha, Qatar and notice an unusual number of Bentleys and Ferraris parked in front of a sand dune, you may find you're actually looking at the Museum of Modern Arab Art, a two-level, air-conditioned 350,000-square-foot facility celebrating over 10,000 works of art. More »

burj dubai

A Skyscraper So Tall Builders Can't Use Walkie-Talkies

If you want to build a skyscraper 2,275 feet tall, you will face engineering challenges comparable to those of the Space Shuttle just because its sheer size. One of them is communications. When the unbelievable Burj Dubai started to get really high, the construction workers discovered one problem that seems obvious now: their walkie-talkies stopped working as they climbed the structure. More »

architecture

Real Sim City Comes to Life in the Desert

Yesterday's images of the almost-finished Burj Dubai blew our minds with its scale and grandiosity. Today, reader David Hobcote zooms out his Canon 1Ds Mark III on board a Bell heli to show us the current state of some of Dubai's new landmarks, including the stunning New Atlantis Hotel and the first house constructed on one of The World's artificial islands. Yes, it looks like a new Sim City running in a PlayStation 3. More »

Burj Dubai

Tallest Skyscraper in the World Almost Completed, Defies Belief

The Burj Dubai tower, the tallest skyscraper in the world, is about to be completed. To celebrate it, David Hobcote has taken a series of amazing high resolution pictures from the air which give an exact impression of the breathtaking, massive scale of this building. Inside, it looks like a set from Blade Runner or the interior of the Death Star. Updated: David Hobcote told us how he did these great photos and gave us some amazing general shots that look like a next-gen SimCity. More »

architecture

Alien Secret Base Discovered in the Alps Is Actually Medical Center Concept

First an alien mothership stranded in the desert, and now a whole extraterrestrial homebase right in the heart of the Alps, where people love to have jacuzzi orgies at 15,000 feet and fly on jet wings. Fortunately for earthlings, it's just a concept for a medical center for rehabilitation of trauma surgery patients designed by Sarah Schneider. Seeing how outwordly it looks inside, I wish it was just apartments. More »

architecture

City Gateway Looks Like Stranded Alien Mothership

The United Arab Emirates keep building their Blade Runner-ish cities in the middle of the desert, with buildings like the Ras Al-Khaimah Gateway, a 2.9 million square feet hotel, conference and exhibition complex that looks like some kind of alien mothership from outer space. Construction will start later this year and Norwegian architects Snøhetta say they found their inspiration in the desert itself: More »

architecture

Styrofoam Homes Are Typhoon-Resistant, Refillable with People or Coffee

Styrofoam homes may sound like a recipient for disaster, but Japan Dome House Co., Ltd. thinks they're the future. A future in which all of us will be hobbits or smurfs. Made with 7-inch-thick 100% expanded polystyrene foam modules, the company says that they don't have the maintenance problems of wood or metal structures, and they are "highly resistant" to earthquakes, fires, and typhoons. Still, the 480 domes at Aso Farm Land resort village in Kyushu look like a suburban community on Mos Eisley's outskirts or a world from Myst. More »

architecture

China Television HQ Done, Looks as Crazy as the Renderings

The facade of China Central Television Headquarters is now complete, just in time to look pretty tomorrow, when the world turns its eyes on Beijing's Olympic Games. The 6.45 million-square-feet complex looks as amazing as the original renderings, defying gravity with its two leaning towers connected by two massive sections floating in midair. Still, the process of how they got connected is even more impressive: More »

architecture

Biggest City Model in the World Waiting for Guy in Godzilla Costume

This is a model of Shanghai as projected for 2020 by Chinese authorities. At 1,000 square feet, it's perhaps the biggest model of a city in the world, and—for sure—the best place ever for two grown men to wear their Gamera and Godzilla latex costumes and fight to death. The gigantic dimensions and the detail shown in the photographs are just mind-blowing. More »

architecture

15 Blade Runner Style Animated Buildings

A few months ago an LA real estate mogul revealed his plans to light up the LA skyline with giant animated bilboards. Love it or hate it, that was not the first time someone had the idea of creating building facades like those found in Blade Runner. OObect has put together a list of 15 of these architectural marvels—and the best part is that there are plenty of designs that are not all about advertising. [OObject]

architecture

Honeycomb Skyscraper Has No Internal Structure, Attracts Giant Killer Wasps

Design goodness hunters Dezeen got this pictures of the 1,174-feet-high Sinosteel International Plaza in Tianjin, China, designed by architects MAD—or just mad architects. The external white honeycomb structure, with huge hexagonal windows that vary slightly in size, is not just for the pretty looks: it will sustain the whole building without the need for any internal structure. And make it look like a huge wasp nest to me. From the inside, however, each room looks like a space station. More »

architecture

Cutting Edge Algorithmic Architecture

Architecture has always been a mixture of art and engineering, but as we press on through the 21st century, the role of computers in the design process is becoming more and more integral. Algorithmic architecture is on the cutting edge of this movement, and the complex, rhythmic designs can be truly breathtaking. With that in mind, OObject has collected a list of 15 schemes that portray this emerging field at its best. [OObject]

nanotechnology

Invisible, Near-Weightless Nanotubes Could Support Humans, Buildings, Space Elevators

In what sounds like the result of the lamest Truth or Dare party ever, scientists have calculated how many nanotubes it would take to support the weight of one human. The discovery unto itself isn't that impressive—a nanotube rope that's one centimeter in diameter could do the trick. But when you realize that the rope is absurdly lightweight and invisible, the prospect gets a lot more exciting. More »

future fun

The Stadium of the FUTURE...Future...future

Where will we be going to enjoy our sporting events in the future? What kind of amenities and features will the stadiums have to cater to our needs as fans? PopSci has investigated some of the up-and-coming technologies that we can expect to find in the stadium of tomorrow and compiled all of these innovations into a composite that includes the best design and technology features from a dozen cutting-edge stadium plans. More »