Archive for August, 2006
Steel Yards

This almost transparent but massive structure is very close to Chernobyl but it is not related with the nuclear power plant. It is called OTH (Over the Horizon) or Steel Yard, a military radar facility which is capable of transmitting the radar signals far beyond the conventional radars. Since electromagnetic signals travel in straight lines, large scale radar facilities had to be developed to set up early warning systems.
More pictures are on this Pripyat website
1 commentLargest structures destroyed

This might look like an image shot from a fantastic science fiction film but it is not. It is taken by Edward Burtynsky in one of the world’s longest beaches, Chittagong
, Bangladesh’s biggest port. Half of the large ships in the world came here at the end of their last journey to be dismantled. The other half goes to Alang in India
. These largest manmade structures are destoreyed here by over 20.000 people in Bangladesh and India.
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Tokyo in Silence

Sato Shintaro shows us Tokyo with its Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty in total silence. Magnifient photos of this crazy city took place in the gallery section of ArkiBlog.
No commentsGillette’s Utopian City
Few people know that the founder of the famous razor blade company, Gillette, had utopian visions to build mega cities. Paul Maliszewski in his article printed in the Cabinet magazine’s 19th issue, explains this vision in detail.

King Camp Gillette, born in 1855, became very rich when he invented the first disposable razor blades. However, he had bigger ideals in mind. He published a book called The Human Drift in 1894, seven years before he founded his razor blade company.
No commentsEnergy harvesting from footsteps

The Facility Architects director Claire Price says that they can produce energy from the sidewalks, streets etc. According to him, a lot of energy is wasted in the crowded urban areas. The movement and vibration created by thousands of footsteps in crowded streets or metro stations can be used to produce energy.
According to Wired, where this article is featured, “Price has charged Jim Gilbert, an engineering lecturer at the University of Hull, with developing the prototype system for capturing footfall. Gilbert is working with hydraulic-powered heel-strike generators, which he believes could be installed in the floors of busy public places like subway stations. Those stations typically capture the footfall of 20,000 commuters an hour during peak usage — multiplied by 5 to 7 watts a person, that’s more than enough to power a building’s lights for the day.”
