architecture – Page 4 – Geeky Girl Engineer

Hive DC

Posted on August 5, 2017 by geek

Every year during the summer, the National Building Museum has a summer block party. They have had the Big Maze, the Beach, and last year Icebergs. This year is Hive DC. They used nearly 3,000 wound paper tubes that are normally used for pouring concrete in construction. Unlike at any construction site I have ever seen, these tubes were painted metallic silver on the outside and hot pink on the inside. The tubes were stacked and notched to allow interlocking. In a few places at least, it was evident they needed some reinforcement with screws and nuts and some tension wires for the highest hive. There is a xylophone in a small hive which appears to be made almost exclusively with construction material like tubing, canisters, and pipes. If nothing else, Hive is fantastic to photograph. There were so many cool angles, lines, and perspectives that were just plain fun to photograph.

Hive DC

Second largest hive

Largest hive

Hive DC

Xylophone

Hive DC

Largest hive

Hive DC

DSNY Manhattan 1/2/5 Sanitation Garage

Posted on July 22, 2017 by geek

A few weeks ago, I got a chance to visit the brand new DSNY Manhattan 1/2/5 Sanitation Garage with Open House New York. The multilevel building houses three different garages, one each for Manhattan districts 1, 2, and 5. Each garage has its own floor, and there is a shared area for vehicle repairs. The building has LEED certification and includes many green features including a wonderful green roof also. Across the street is a salt shed built to resemble salt crystals. Both the garage and salt shed have really nice, innovative architecture.

DSNY Manhattan 1/2/5 Garage on left, salt shed on right, with Holland Tunnel ventilation tower in back

Salt shed

View of garage from salt shed, all floors of garage are different colors to emphasize different garages and functions

Slats in gate turned to spell DSNY

View from office area looking south, metal fins help let daylight in but keep building cool. The Statue of Liberty can barely be seen on the far right in far background.

View from garage office area of Hudson River and Holland Tunnel ventilation tower

Garage area

Shovel and broom storage (there must be a story for the front broom with the metallic confetti)

Ventilation and other mechanical structures in the repair area

Parking in the garage area

Mechanical penthouse

Green roof with Hudson River in background

Green roof

View from green roof of salt shed

Salt shed packed high with salt

Duquesne Incline

Posted on May 20, 2017 by geek

This is the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh. It is considered part of the public transportation system of Pittsburgh.
It is also a wonderful place to view Pittsburgh, especially downtown, and many of its bridges. If you are ever in Pittsburgh, go there. The ride is fun, and the view from the viewing platform at the top is amazing. As a side note, Pittsburgh has a lot of bridges, and they are all lovely.

PPG Place

Posted on May 19, 2017 by geek

It is probably a photographer thing, but sometimes I see something, and I just have to take a thousand photographs of it to capture how interesting it is or the cool way it looks. This is particularly true when I see really interesting architecture with interesting lines or reflections or curves or whatever. The Comcast Center in Philadelphia was one such building because of the way it almost disappeared into the sky. PPG Place in Pittsburgh is another such piece of architecture. It is not so much the shape of the buildings, but it is the way they reflect the buildings around them that I find so interesting. I love reflections. I love photographing reflections. I also love how somewhat similar to Comcast Center, it almost blends into the sky by reflecting the blue. So while in Pittsburgh, I took a huge number of photographs of PPG Place because I was just so intrigued and captivated by the way it reflected its surroundings.

Pittsburgh

Posted on May 19, 2017 by geek

I wanted to get away for a short vacation, so I went to Pittsburgh for a day. Why Pittsburgh? Well, why not? Also, getting to and from Pittsburgh involved two very pretty, long train rides, which was half the reason for the trip. Anyway, Pittsburgh is an amazingly walkable city, especially downtown. You can walk across all (I think) the bridges, and there are pedestrian and bike paths everywhere. Downtown has a lovely mix of old and new buildings. Basically I could wander around for a day taking photos, which was exactly what I wanted and what I did.

Building reflections downtown

Old tiled building juxtaposed with PPG glass building

Rather unique old building tower

Art deco (?) building

Fort Pitt Bridge over Monongahela River

Point State Park

Heinz Field

Fort Pitt Bridge over Monongahela River with downtown in background

North Shore Riverwalk with Fort Duquesne Bridge in background

Downtown viewed from across the Allegheny River

Robert Clemente Bridge and downtown

The white in the background is the convention center roof, which I assume was designed to have the same catenary curve as the suspension bridges seen in foreground

Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge

Posted on May 14, 2017 by geek

I have this thing for bridges. I love them. However, I have a particular thing for cable-stayed bridges. They are my favorite. I love the simplicity of them. They are modern, sleek, functional, graceful, and gorgeous, all at the same time. Boston has a cable-stayed bridge right next to downtown, the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, by which I-93 crosses the Charles River. So naturally, while in Boston, I took a lot of photos of this bridge. Here are just a few.

Boston’s Freedom Trail

Posted on May 14, 2017 by geek

While in Boston, I walked the entire 2.5-mile Freedom Trail. It is a nice walk except for avoiding all the street construction. I have to admit also, as a tourist, it is nice not to really have to check a map, but rather just follow a red brick path in the sidewalks. I previously posted photos of the Massachusetts State House and the Bunker Hill Monument. Here are a few more photos from sites and just views along the Freedom Trail.

USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”)

Winthrop Square

Copp’s Hill Burying Ground

Old North Church

Inside of Old North Church

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway above I-93

Faneuil Hall

Old State House

A brief explanation of why I am posting the below photo. There is a T (subway) train station right below the Old State House, with an entrance through the building. As an engineer, I find this amazing. Consider how old the building is and the studies of the building that must have occurred to determine it could handle both the space being dug out of its foundation and also the ability to take vibrations from the subway and people going in and out of it.

T Station below Old State House

Old South Meeting House wedged between old and new office buildings

Old City Hall

Granary Burying Ground, where Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, Mother Goose, and others are buried

Massachusetts State House

Posted on May 13, 2017 by geek

I have a goal to visit all 50 state houses. I am in Boston for a few days, so I was able to visit the Massachusetts State House. The State House is very pretty with a whole lot of marble. There is a definite sea theme in it, with waves and fish in many different areas. There is a large fish in both the House of Representatives and the Senate Chamber. The main portion (or pretty area as one worker there called it), is smaller than I originally thought it would be. However I guess the actual working area is generally more functional, not as pretty.

Massachusetts State House

Nurses Hall

Memorial Hall

Glass ceiling of Memorial Hall

Main Staircase

House of Representatives

Viewing balcony of House of Representatives with large fish hanging

Senate Chamber

Lowline Lab

Posted on March 13, 2017 by geek

Many people are familiar with New York City’s Highline, which has become a really popular spot with tourists and residents. It it is really cool, and beautiful all year round, in the dead of winter and in bloom. Because of the Highline’s success, some people came up with the idea of the Lowline. The Lowline would make use of of the abandoned Williamsburg Bridge trolley terminal under Delancey Street, which is right next to the Essex Street subway station. However, the somewhat radical idea for the Lowline is that it would make use of sunlight to light the space, which is completely underground. To help design and work out issues with this idea, the Lowline Lab was created. It is now closed, but luckily about a month ago I got to tour it.

I encourage your to click the hyperlink to my photos of the Williamsburg Bridge trolley terminal under Delancey Street because in order to comprehend the challenge of this project, you really need to see the space as it is now.

Delancey Street with Williamsburg Bridge in background. Essex Street subway station entrance can be seen on left. Abandoned trolley terminal is right below street.

Sunlight collectors on roof

Sunlight brought in from smaller vertical tube and reflected into sideways tube

Sunlight brought in vertically from roof collector and then reflected in sideways tube

Ceiling with tubes outputting sunlight and reflectors below

Display of plants and ceiling reflecting sunlight

Display of plants, including vertical plant elements, and ceiling reflecting sunlight

Display of plants and ceiling reflecting sunlight

Plants that may be used

Icebergs DC

Posted on August 19, 2016 by geek

In what is now an annual tradition, the National Building Museum creates a fun, exhibit or installation in which children and adults can play. Last year it was The Beach, and the year before it was The Big Maze. This year, it is Icebergs. The museum’s great hall is filled with structures resembling icebergs, and blue mesh surrounds them to denote the water. The “water line” is about two stories high with the tops of many icebergs popping above it, like real icebergs. The exhibit is complete with an underwater bridge between two icebergs, which leads to two slides. White bean bags are scattered about, so you can sit down and relax.

Under the water

Gorgeous giant iceberg

Outside the exhibit, looking through the blue mesh

Ice shoots

On observation pier looking down to water

Under the water