Zaha Hadid has died suddenly at age 65 from a heart attack. As the first woman architect to achieve notable celebrity, Hadid’s prolific and geographically diverse commissions mean that she will likely remain the best-known woman architect on the planet for many years. But her work was also incredibly controversial—…
In 1966, England was ramping up to host the World Cup — which it would eventually win. But months before any players set foot on the field, the iconic gold Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen from its well-guarded display case. A week later, it was recovered ... with a little help from a four-legged Londoner.
FIFA is getting it from all sides right now, and for good reason. Last night the US Justice Department reportedly arrested officials for fraud related to the upcoming World Cups in Qatar and Russia. And even before the arrests, fans were protesting the use of forced labor at World Cup construction sites by hitting the…
Last year, the Qatari government promised to, uh, get better about using forced labor to build the stadiums and infrastructure it needs to host the World Cup in 2020. But according to a new report from Amnesty International, nothing has changed.
The life of most migrant workers in Qatar is bleak—so bleak, it's a human rights violation. The latest report from Doha reveals a new twist in the sad story. When they're not toiling away at building stadiums for the 2022 World Cup, many workers are being paid impossibly small wages to be fake sports fans. It doesn't…
Thousands of immigrant workers have died over the past year as they labored at the sprawling construction sites for Qatar's World Cup in what Amnesty International calls "modern-day slavery." Now a pair of architects have shared a proposal for a memorial to the workers—and it's a horrible reminder of just how many…
Qatar, the 2022 host of the World Cup, is not a large country, with a population just over 2.1 million. So to prepare for the millions who'll descend on the country eight years from now, it's going to great lengths—including building an entire new city from scratch.
The Panama Canal opened 100 years ago this month, one of the greatest engineering achievements in history. It was also one of the greatest sacrifices of human life in the name of construction, but tragically, it was far from the most deadly project in modern history.
Germany went blitzkrieg on the entire UN of soccer and took the 2014 World Cup. Here are your views of the festivities—ranging from your quiet kitchens to Brazil's insane parties.
Tiresome TSA security lines may be a thing of the past as a new, self-managed security device successfully passed its real world debut at an Australia-Spain World Cup match in Curitiba, Brazil last month. The only folks not excited about the new security measure are die hard fans of the Socceroos.
After four weeks of well-placed headers and acrobatic kicks and whatever was going on with Ronaldo's hair, the World Cup finally draws to a close today. But while you're holding your breath during the Germany-Argentina nail-biter, take a moment to appreciate the most astonishing feat that happens during these 90…
The World Cup ends this weekend, leaving Brazil with the heady task of deciding what, exactly, to do with the 12 stadiums that were built or converted for games. Two architects have published a proposal to convert the stadiums into something Brazil desperately needs: Affordable housing.
If you're having trouble understanding what happened in the World Cup today, then perhaps this highly scientific Pokémon image of Mega 'mon versus baby Pokémon can break it down for you.
You're probably seeing a lot of this picture being tweeted right now. People are saying it's a riot unfolding in response to today's World Cup game. It's not—the picture is from 2013. You can see the original here. [H/T Conz Preti]
A petition with tens of thousands of signatures. Protestors in the streets. Fiery op-eds. All this public unrest in Tokyo isn't over an election or divisive political issue. It's about the design of the city's 2020 Olympic Stadium. And the people are winning.
The semi-finals of the World Cup begin today, and soccer, er, football fever—though slightly dimmer now Stateside—is ramping back up for the rest of the world. Which makes it a perfect time to check in with one superfan-slash-designer, who redesigned each official World Cup poster for fun.
World Cup madness is sweeping the internet—even the little yellow guy on Google Maps is wearing his soccer gear. And according to commenters, he's wearing the uniform of whatever nation you view him in. Commenter toschlebelge shows us Google Guy's German outfit; what's he wearing in your lands?
Everyone knows you should drink plenty of fluids when playing sports, but hydration actually becomes an exact science when the pride of your nation is at stake during something like the World Cup. That's why at this year's tournament, Brazil's soccer team is using specially-designed Gatorade bottles that track how…
What's the bigger security crime: having your Wi-Fi password displayed on a big screen, or using tired old internet speak to have "b5a2112014" as the password for the Brazil 2014 event security team network?
With World Cup fever in full swing, people have finally found a use for the flags tucked in the far corners of emoji keyboards. But patriotic tweeters can only fit at most 70 little flag icons in a 140-character tweet. What gives? Turns out, each flag emoji counts as two characters—and there's a clever reason why, as…
