When they started to explain the capacity of these storage areas, designed to accomodate the 19-Billion-piece-per-year production, I realized the unbelievable scale of all this. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing.

Watch the video and multiple that vision by 32. Try to imagine a 65.6-square-mile area (170 square kilometers) distributed among thousands of shelves. Looking down one of the aisles—there are four per building—I realized I was looking at tens of thousands of boxes full of Lego bricks and pieces. All of them completely full: "There are approximately half a million boxes here," they told me. Later I found out that it was 162.240 boxes in each of the old cathedrals (which went up to 13 meters high) and 262.128 in the new ones (the 20 meter high ones).

Up in the distance I could see a robot working. I zoomed with my camera and saw how it took some boxes out, then put others in. "They are taking the boxes to packaging and decoration," Jan—one of the Lego PR guys in Billund—pointed out, "every time there's a production run, computers order the robots to retrieve whatever boxes are needed," according to the number of bricks necessary for a set. Everything is done on demand," he said with a big smile, proud of the efficiency of their system.

Then, without any warning, the robot started to move up there in Lego heaven, accelerating almost immediately as it descended from the top of the building to the bottom, at the end of one of the aisles. The speed was staggering for such a giant metal thing, and we all watched in silence as the gigantic crane moved the bot gracefully, like a male dancer would hold a ballerina in The Nutcracker.

We kept walking and one of them came towards us, stopping smoothly at the end of aisle. My first thought was about jumping into it and waiting for the next request from the production computers to feel the thrill of going up through that massive space, holding my breath and watching the multi-colored boxes blur in front of my eyes, like a Lego Silver Surfer on top of that yellow bot. Probably thinking the same, Jan turned to me: "you know, if you cross that line, the entire production process will stop. It's a security measure." Yeah, on second thought it was probably for the better. Later I learnt there were four robots per cathedral, one per aisle, moving at 2.5 meters per second in the new buildings, and 1.5 meters per second in the old ones. It doesn't seem a lot, but watching they zooming in every direction it didn't look very safe for humans.

But as we walked out of the storage, continuing with our visit to the factory, I just couldn't stop imagining myself flying on top of that bot in one of those long trenches, looking for the exhaust port on the Lego Death Star, probably with Jan and the Lego security chasing me like Darth Vader and his two TIE fighter wingmen. Lego Star Wars", I thought, at the end everything comes full circle. And then I said to myself: "Jesus, you are such a dork." I was. Albeit a very happy, smiling one. [Giz's Lego Trip]

Fisher was inspired to design the Dynamic Tower during a visit to a friend's top-floor Midtown Manhattan apartment. "I had a view of the Hudson River and East River at the same time, it was beautiful and I wanted to make that feeling accessible to more people." He loves the idea of seeing the sun rise and set in the same room, and considers the building to be four-dimensional. "Time is always changing the shape of the building," he told me.

The rotation takes up to 3 hours (so you're not always spilling your coffee), and gets power from photovoltaic solar cells and 79 wind turbines, one located between each floor. The system is meant to create enough energy to power to the entire tower and still have juice to spare for some surrounding buildings. According to Fisher, two of these $700 million futuristic scrapers are planned so far, one each in Dubai and Moscow. They will be built using a truly radical technique.

Construction on the Dynamic Tower will be unlike anything that preceded it. The only part of the tower built on site will be the skinny center core. It is strong enough to hold the floors in place, and will contain the building's elevators, which transport people and cars right to their door. Each floor will be made piece by piece in a factory in Italy—a throwback to Fisher's previous life in prefabricated bathroom design—and placed onto the core using a lift system. With this method, each story is completed in about six days. By comparison, traditional ground-up methods can take six weeks per floor.

Groundbreaking for Dynamic Towers in Dubai and Moscow is expected to happen in the fall, with construction reaching completion by the end of 2010. If you're game—and very, very loaded—you can sign up now for a villa or office space. The going rate is $3000/sq foot. [Dynamic Architecture]

The guy in the video keeps asking whether it's an earthquake, in case you were wondering.

Deputy Dog dug up this clip, which I then found via DVICE. It reminded me of my own visit to the Taipei 101 last year (see my photos in the gallery above). The ginormous ball, of which the Burj Dubai has nine, was installed on in-place from 41 discrete steel plates because the combined weight of 730 tons would have been too heavy to lift by crane. The people even came up with a nickname for it: the Damper Baby. Don't look at me. The best I could come up with is some combination of "stabilizer" and "testicle".

The architects were forced to install it because of high winds and the fact that the Taipei 101 is only 600 feet from a fault line. In order to get up to the observation floor where you can see the top of the ball, you have to ride in the world's fastest elevator. I actually might have my own video of my ride up somewhere, but it's possible that it was deleted shortly after the world's fastest elevator ride turned into the world's stinkiest elevator ride. I had a lot of good food.

One of the commenters on Deputy Dog wondered why there haven't been reports of people climbing over the barrier and trying to sit on it or swing it manually. To which another commenter responded, "perhaps it just says that the Chinese are able to restrain themselves from such boneheaded acts, while too many Brits just go crazy and can’t act with appropriate restraint." No, I don't think it's that, although Brits are pretty nutty. I think it's because nobody wants to be crushed to death by a 730 ton ball. [Deputy Dog via DVice]

[Flickr Credit for lead photo]

The DWP consists of 3,000 digitally controlled solenoid valves, several dozen pumps, 12 hydraulic stainless steel pistons, and a digital control system that uses open source software. The roof, 400-mm thick, is the only solid part of the building, and it moves up and down on pistons, depending on the weather conditions.
This is the opening ceremony. Very son et lumière, doncha think? Despite the cameraman's best efforts, you can see the time and effort put into the pavilion. I only wish I was still in Spain, then I could check it out for you all. [Building Design and YouTube]

It'll be a bit short, however, of the tallest tower in the world, despite some news sources calling it that, with the Burj Dubai already at 2,087 feet and expected to grow to an insane total of over 2,600 feet. But still, 2000 feet is nothing to scoff at, putting it higher than the CN Tower, the Taipei 101 and the Sears Tower.

The top of the tower will feature a restaurant and the requisite broadcast antennae, but it's not known what'll be in the rest of the building. The cost is expected to be around 60 billion yen, or $555 million, and it should be completed in 2011. [Mainichi via Japanite]

Its 13 floors are far lighter on columns that conventional buildings since the structure supported by its exterior. And rooftop green space dissipates heat while the building harnesses solar and wind power.

But the most impressive part of the Cybertecture Egg may be for its daily inhabitants. Office workers are treated to customizable workspaces that will apparently alter their "view" with the world locale of their choice—so much for all those gorgeous windows. In addition, bathrooms will monitor worker health by measuring weight and blood pressure. And a doctor will be alerted to any drastic changes. [WAN via Inhabitat]

The stadium is to have a permanent 25,000 seat main structure, but for the Olympics they'll also install a 55,000 seat upper tier. When the games are over, it can be (relatively) easily taken down and, if needed, shipped to another Olympic city for the next games. In fact, London is currently talking to Chicago, a possible host of the 2016 games, about sending the stadium their way.

Chicago is making a low-impact games a big part of their bid, proposing holding events in existing structures like Soldier Field and the Bulls Arena rather than the earth-raping clusterfuck that's happened in Beijing where they had to build all sorts of crazy stuff to prepare for the influx of people.

One could imagine a movable set of stadiums, moving from city to city and being set up for each games. It's a cool idea, one that I could see grabbing hold as the real impact of having to build a megastadium every four years in a different city becomes more apparent. [Guardian via Treehugger]

• As mentioned above, the Door Close button is there mostly to give passengers the illusion of control. In elevators built since the early '90s. The button is only enabled in emergency situations with a key held by an authority.
• The only known occurence of an elevator car free falling due to a snapped cable (barring fire or structural collapse), was in 1945. A B25 Bomber crashed into the Empire State Building, severing the cables of two elevators. The elevator car on the 75th floor had a woman on it, but she survived due to the 1000 feet of coiled cable of fallen cable below, which lessened the impact.
• Elevators are twenty times safer than escalators. There are twenty times more elevators than escalators, but only 1/3 more accidents.
• Elevators are also safer than cars. An average of 26 people die in elevators each year in the U.S. There are 26 car deaths every five hours.
• Most people who die in elevators are elevator technicians.
• The Otis Elevator Company carries the equivalent of the world's population in their elevators every five days.
• The New York Marriott was the first to introduce a smart elevator system that assigned passengers to elevators depending on what floor they were heading to.
• Elevators used to require a two-man dispatcher/operator team to function. The advent of navigational buttons rendered those jobs obsolete.
• The area required for personal space is 2.3 feet. The average amount on elevators is generally 2 feet.
• Elevator hatches are generally bolted shut for safety reasons. In times of elevator crisis, the safest place is inside the elevator.
• The myth about jumping just before impact in a falling elevator is just that — myth. You can't jump fast enough to counteract the speed of falling. And you wouldn't know when to jump.
• Due to the laws of physics, elevators can't be any taller than 1700 feet. Hoist ropes become too heavy after that, snapping at 3200 feet.
• 
  

And as an interesting closing note, Nicholas White, the man trapped in the elevator, received a low six-figure settlement after filing a $25 million lawsuit against the building. But in the process, he lost his job, his money and his apartment. He is now unemployed. [The New Yorker]

[Inhabitat]

Though experts say it's unlikely such a situation would arise, a lack of protection against such a wind could cause feelings of motion sickness and discomfort in residents. The nearly-completed building is the largest structure built in SF in over 30 years. [SF Chronicle via Curbed SF]

The concrete can be cast in just about any way possible: bricks; fa ade plates or paving stones, and you can even incorporate logos in them. The fiber-optics come in different diameters as well—from 2 micro- to 2 mm.

Even colors can be detected through the walls, which can be as thick as you like, as it is only at 20 meters you start to see a loss in light. Expect to see this at the top of many architects' shopping lists in the next decade. [Dezeen]

Adjoining the site for Shuttleworth's "pleated" structure is the 202-foot-high Monument to the Great Fire of London. When its shadow falls across the roof garden's dial, you will be able to tell the time.

The monument, currently undergoing restoration, was erected in 1677 by Sir Christopher Wren, the architect who redesigned London following the 1666 fire which destroyed most of the Medieval-era city. [Daily Mail]

No stranger to museums, the French architect is the man behind the Fondation Cartier in Paris, the extension to the Reina Sofia gallery in Madrid and the Mus e Quai Branly, also in the French capital. [Dezeen]

There's more than just a train station in this building. It also houses a posh, 539-room hotel, a theater, two malls, a bus station, a museum, and over two dozen restaurants. It has so many restaurants, that an entire floor is dedicated to ramen restaurants. Yes, all different ramen restaurants in one place. It's just as awesome as it sounds, and I need to continually stop myself from eating every meal there in order to try them all before I leave.

One of the things that makes Kyoto Station so unique is that you can climb up to the top of it using stairs and escalators, with different things to see on most floors (the 10th floor is the ramen floor, for example). At the top is the grassy "Happy Terrace" sitting area and panoramic views of the city. You can then look down into the station from 12 stories up, feeling like you're on ground level, and the station itself is dug into the ground. There's a skyway that you can use to walk from one end of the station to the other 10 floors up, providing views of Southern Kyoto all along the way.

It's a great place to base a trip to Kyoto, with the buses that leave from here going to every temple and major sightseeing destination in town. The best part? If you're coming to Kyoto, it's tough to miss, as most people will arrive by train and have it be the first place they see when they get here.

The building is north of Osaka proper, near the Umeda station on the Osaka subway system, which connects three different subway lines as well as the JR commuter rail (although the bullet train connects to the Shin-Osaka station, two stops north). It's a huge, confusing place (at least if you don't speak Japanese) that had me wandering around looking for my train line back for a good half an hour. There's an underground tunnel near the central exit to the station that'll scoot you under the nearby railyards and right over to the base of the Umeda Sky Building.

Once inside, you pay 700 yen (a little under $6) for a ticket to take the glass elevator up to nearly the top. Once up there, there's a small restaurant, gimmicky gift shop and a scale model of the building. Then you take the famous escalator to the top, which is surprisingly underwhelming. It's not all that scary as your view is really blocked quite a bit going up, so you don't really get a great sense of being suspended 550 feet in the air on a moving staircase.

At the top, it's your standard observation deck, with binoculars that let you zoom in on places of interest. The Osaka skyline isn't exactly legendary, but it was cool to get a bird's-eye view of where I'd been wandering around. Overall, I'd say that if you're in Osaka, the Umeda Sky Building might not be worth the trek unless you're really into strange architecture or observation decks. These photos should give you a good enough idea of what it's all about.

They've somehow scraped up a few Euros for the idea, but no one is saying just how much money they've put together or how much this colossus will eventually cost. They are planning to take 30 years to build this monster, but we're thinking their size estimates of the structure are overly optimistic.

Check out that Sizemodo illustration above, comparing the proposed Great Pyramid with those that have come before. We're especially amused by the inclusion of the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas.

There's a business plan involved, too. These pyramid builders actually plan to make money building the giant structure, charging people $960 for each burial spot. The trick is, they'll start with a very small structure, and as burial spots are added, they plan to build out the pyramid to its final gigantic size. Optimistic, indeed. Have any of these people ever heard of cremation?

There's already been a feasibility study that says it's possible to build such a pyramid, but we're just wondering how much design it really takes to put together the timeless shape that buried the pharaohs of Egypt millennia ago. Most importantly, who will want to have his or her body transported to Germany for such a burial? By 30 years from now, it'll probably be cheaper to have your ashes shot into space, anyway. [Great Pyramid, via CNET]

Built on just three acres of land, (most single-story storage facilities need 10 times that amount) Portland City Storage will be the largest solar facility in the Northwest. Excess power will be sold on to Portland General Electric, and there is a rainwater collection area on the roof.

There will also be a giant mechanical arm capable of lifting 40,000 pounds in order to further conserve the waterfront, which will be rehabilitated to make it more wild-life friendly. Cycle paths, walkways and boathouses will all make it more people friendly than your average storage warehouse.
[Portland City Storage via MetaEfficient]

When the P&O building was constructed in 1965, each floor was hung from a huge beam at the top of the tower and supported by the central core. According to Matthew White, project director, the weight has to be removed from the structure from the bottom up. "Eventually the beam will be deconstructed at roof level, leaving the core, which will be demolished from the top down."

And this is what will replace the '60s block—a 735-ft sliver of skinniness from Richard (now Lord) Rogers.

I think I prefer the current look. [Daily Mail]

It's flat on one side and looks like a ship's bow on the other, and in the thickest part of the middle there's an atrium area that brings light into the interior portions of the building.

This is a great-looking building, but look how it sticks out like a sore thumb among its surroundings. Mexico City will just need to start building a lot more tall buildings to accompany this one.

To put this building's height into context, even though it'll be the tallest building in Latin America, it's dwarfed by the tallest building in the U.S., the Sears Tower at 1450 feet, which is itself dwarfed by the Burj Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, to be completed next year, and whose height will be over 2000 feet (its exact height is still a secret). [Yanko Design]

The tower's designed by architects at Foster+Partners, and is planned to be built next to Khanty Mansiysk in Siberia. If the plans are accurate, the tower sits on top of a hill and looks down upon the city like Zeus upon Olympus. That is, Zeus upon Olympus before Kratos comes up and tears him a new one with the Blades of Chaos.

Project Page [Foster and Partners via Sci Fi]

Granted, it's horrible for preserving ground real estate. But it looks neat.

– Mark Wilson

Euroscraper [inhabitat]