Category: Architecture
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Visions of Winter, Melted Away…
A recent presentation to the Scottish-American History Club about the Firth of Forth Rail Bridge would not have been complete in historical context without mention of the Firth of Tay Bridge Disaster. One in the audience chuckled, and mentioned a poem composed about the disaster written by William McGonagall. “…On the last Sabbath day of […]
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It’s Winter
The omni-present whitish glow quietens all.
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Happy New Decade!
Happy New Year. It’s surprising to see that we’re already a decade into the new century. Previous posts have spoken about vacant storefronts and even vacant buildings, all from the aftermath of the latest economic turn. There is so much vacant space out there that based on current absorption rates, some markets have several years […]
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One Final Note about the Hanna Roundhouse
The “Roundhouses of the World” exhibit that has been on display at the Hanna Public Library is closing this week. In a way, it still lives on. The Oak Park Architectural League is having its Bi-Annual Members Show this month at the Oak Park Public Library in Oak Park, Illinois. Being a member, my contribution […]
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Tall Buildings Fall Short
A recent news report from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat cites fifty major, tall building projects worldwide that have been halted by a global economic downturn. Last Friday, the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s “Chicago Model City” exhibit temporarily included the scale model of Santiago Calatrava’s “Spire” condominium project, the real one being on […]
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It’s Biggar than LinkedIn
Suddenly, my interest in the abandoned railway roundhouse in Hanna, Alberta and electronic social media meet. Kind of. I’m helping the effort to restore the Hanna Roundhouse by donating a slideshow exhibit production describing the history roundhouses. It’s all being produced through a part of my practice called Babuk Presentations, or for the 21st Century, www.learnaboutchicago.com […]
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The Hanna Roundhouse, and Memories from One’s Past
Many years ago, having just arrived in Washington, DC for my tenure but realizing that I was a long ways from home; an issue of the Minnesota Architect crossed my desk. The feature story was a photo essay about wooden grain elevators; the front cover photograph was of the “nine in a line” grain elevators […]
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The Abandoned Railway Roundhouse in Hanna, Alberta
This blog has written at length about early industrial age buildings that go up and down, and turn round, and do all sorts of neat things. One of those buildings from my youth is the abandoned railway roundhouse in Hanna, Alberta, Canada. Abandoned Railway Roundhouse, Hanna, Alberta, used as a set for Nickelback’s “Photograph” Video For years, […]
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One Last Burnham Reception
The Centennial of the Chicago Plan of 1909 – the Burnham Plan – provided for a season of great networking this year. One of the last Burnham events – a reception to honour the entrants of the Burnham Memorial Competition was held last night at the Field Museum. Nice group, but didn’t have the previous […]
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Convenient Access by Car
While early industrialists had grand visions of mechanized buildings and cities that walked, many of those ideas were whimsical at face value. Mind you, when applied as small parts, they were very useful – like the passenger elevator. One of those side concepts probably came to be applied to personal transportation – the automobile – […]