San Francisco

The 5 Most Impressive Infrastructure Projects of the Year

Each year, the American Society of Civil Engineers gives out an award to celebrate the sheer size and complexity and awesomeness of infrastructure projects built by Americans. From an Antarctic research station on hydraulic stilts to an flyover railroad crossing, this year’s five finalistsare truly remarkable. Building gigantic structures is not usually glamorous, but the…

The Skyscraper Boom That’s Going To Make American Cities Way Taller

It seems like most of the architectural zeitgeist in the U.S. is dominated by news of supertalls sprouting in Manhattan. But that has not been the case in many American cities. Even with widespread housing shortages and proof that density is better for residents, most American cities have had a fear of heights—until now. Thanks…

Share the Best Drone Video You’ve Ever Shot (And Tell Us How You Did It)

Last week, a man pushed a drone out his Seattle hotel window and conducted a fly-by of the nearby Space Needle. Police got a report that the drone had hit the Needle, and confiscated the video he had shot as evidence. But there was no collision, just this dramatic sunset footage, with tiny tourists waving…

Nothing says summer more than this giant Slip ‘n Slide on a city street

Now this is how you enjoy summer. You go to San Francisco, you lay out blue tarp on a city street, you bust open a fire hydrant and you create one of the biggest Slip ‘n Slides ever. Oh and you ride that thing down while screaming out of your mind. It’s absolutely perfect for…

Epic battle between Imperial forces and the Enterprise: Who will win?

The Star Wars vs Star Treknerdbate is as old as the Universe itself and it’s been way too long since the last time we had it. Here’s an old video of a classic battle between Imperial Forces and the Enterprise over the skies of San Francisco to start the fire. Who would win a battle…

A Refurbished Bus Will Bring Showers to the Homeless in San Francisco

An old MUNI bus in San Francisco is getting a second life with a noble cause. Outfitted with toilets and showers, Lava Mae‘s refurbished bus will bring mobile bathrooms to homeless people around the city. The long-awaited bus will make its first rounds this weekend. Homelessness in San Francisco is famously (and infamously) a growing…

Train Strikes, Airbnb, Homogeneity: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

A train strike has paralyzed France, Airbnb has screwed San Francisco’s housing market, a lack of diversity has wrecked Austin, and two Southern California mayors fucked up, in two very different ways. It’s our joyously optimistic look at What’s Ruining Our Cities! A train strike is ruining France Called the worst strike in 13 years,…

Futurism from 1878: A Panoramic Photograph of San Francisco

Eadweard Muybridge was a Victorian photographer whose work transformed our understanding of the natural world. He was the first to show that horses gallop with all their hooves off the ground — and in this incredible photographic panorama, he reveals San Francisco in its infancy. To understand how incredible this is, you have to visit…

Watch San Francisco’s Rapid Gentrification Unfold on Google Street View

These days, it’s rare to find a piece of San Francisco news that doesn’t at least make a passing reference to the city’s rapid-fire gentrification. And while numbers like the 115 percent increase in evictions over the past year are certainly astounding, nothing drives the point home quite like seeing the city evolve right before…

Transit Strikes and Corruption: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

Another crippling transit strike for San Francisco! A mayor stealing the money that Venice should be using to save itself from flooding! It’s a depressing look at What’s Ruining Our Cities. The mayor of Venice is not only ruining the city, HE COULD BE THE REASON IT DROWNS As thousands of artists and architects from…

San Francisco’s Sights Reflected Upside-Down In Perfectly Clear Puddles

San Francisco’s got a beautiful skyline, but Angela May Chen prefers looking towards the pavement for a crystal clear view. The designer and photographer captured some of the city’s iconic (and lovably hyper-local) sights reflected perfectly in puddles after good hard rains then flipped the pics, resulting in a series that is a delightfully funky…

See the Towering Future of San Francisco’s Skyline In a 3D-Printed Model

San Francisco’s skyline is a-changing a lot, with massive new developments going up all over Market Street’s main drag and squeezing in downtown. The pace is fast enough that it’s tough to imagine what it will look like next week, much less next year, but a close look at this oversized 3D-printed model is like…

A wall of fog invades the Golden Gate bridge at sunrise

Today is the 77th anniversary of the Golden Gate and, to celebrate, the Department of Interior posted this stunning image of the fog invading the bridge at sunrise. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Vacant Hotels and Unemployed Teens: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

An empty hotel that’s symbolic of Vegas’s bust. A parking app that’s about to turn San Francisco into one big $20/hour parking lot. And why it’s really, really important that you spend your formative years working at a Dairy Queen. Let’s look at What’s Ruining Our Cities. A lack of working teens is ruining the…

Why a Raleigh neighborhood wants to tear down a modern house. How a suburb in Cleveland eradicated the school bus. Where Millennials are moving (hint: wherever the transit is). Plus Los Angeles’s Instagramming mayor and Vegas’s quest to legalize weed, all in this week’s Urban Reads. Neighborhood politics at their worst: A halfway constructed home…

What burrowing owls have to do with San Francisco’s housing protests, a luxury apartment for horses in Manhattan, and Boston looks back on the transformation of its civic identity, one year later. Plus, a recap of Gizmodo’s Utopia Week. Climb aboard this week’s Urban Reads. “If you’re wondering why people are protesting you, how we…

108 Years Since the Great Quake

The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco spawned fires that nearly destroyed the city, and defied all scientific theories of the day. You know the broad story; now here’s the science to fill in the details. Blended image of 1906 post-quake damage, and present-day San Francisco. Photography credit: Shawn Clover The 1906 earthquake isn’t one of…

The Plan to Keep People From Jumping Off the Golden Gate Bridge

More people have committed suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge than on any other structure in the world—someone jumps from the bridge to their death about every two weeks. But those figures could be dramatically reduced if a proposed suicide-prevention barrier is installed later this year, as advocates hope. If you’ve walked over the bridge,…

How San Francisco Sacrificed a Valley in Yosemite for Water and Power

The electricity that powers San Francisco’s streetlights, schools, and international airport begins as a torrent of water inside—of all places—the supposed natural sanctuary that is Yosemite National Park. A century ago, a pristine valley was sacrificed so that San Francisco could continue to exist. The Hetch Hetchy Power System is still responsible for San Francisco’s…

Smart Car Tipping and Thom Mayne: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

Someone’s doing dumb stuff with Smart cars in the Bay Area. A report says Los Angeles is beyond help. And did architect Thom Mayne’s new building damage a school’s legacy and the neighborhood it calls home? It’s all this week in What’s Ruining Our Cities. Smart car tipping is ruining San Francisco Little cars have…