Architectural Trickery Used to Disguise Renovations!

The Architectural Trickery Used to Disguise D.C. Monument Renovations

Washington D.C. is getting old. To other countries, our nation's capital might seem like a spring chicken, but it's actually aging rapidly—a fact proven by the scaffolding that's draped around some of its most important monuments this year.

Smithsonian Mag's Jimmy Stamp points us in the fascinating direction of the unique art of scaffolding, which has flowered in DC thanks to several factors. For one thing, tourism is important in this town—making the Capitol building or the Washington Monument look halfway decent in your iPhone selfie is actually important to a city where visitors are an essential part of the economy. Then there's the issue of keeping up appearances, which is actually more important than it might seem. After all, these building serve as political symbols—and a symbol of power wrapped in protective scaffolding conflicts with that image (despite how appropriate it might seem, considering).

Take the facade of the Supreme Court, for example. The Architect of the Capitol—the office in charge of DC restoration and building work—recently completed a huge, 10-year modernization project that included work on the facade. To hide the scaffold, they hung a massive photographic replica of the building from the outside edge:

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It might look fake from this angle, but standing in front of it, it's actually fairly believable. Inside, a steel framework let workers clean and restore its columns:

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Images: USCapitol.

The Supreme Court is now back to its old 3D self. But nearby, another monument recently shrouded itself in protective netting, too: The Washington Monument, which has undergone more extreme work over the past two decades; first, in the 1990s, when a full restoration took place, and now, to repair damage sustained in the 2011 earthquake (remember that?!).

Its distinctive scaffolding was actually a project unto itself: architect Michael Graves was commissioned to design a structure that would make the best of the two-year restoration, in 1998.

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Image: Alex Wong/Getty.

Graves' design used strips of opaque netting to mimic the actual stonework beneath it, and an extensive lighting rig to make it pop. It's actually been a popular addition—in July, an architecture critic argued that it should be permanent in a controversial Washington Post op-ed.

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Image: Garen Meguerian.

Here's the scaffolding being replaced this year to make space for workers to carry out a new, $5 million project to repair the structural damage from the quake:

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Images: Mark Wilson/Getty.

Directly across the Mall, another iconic building is donning a veil to match the Monument: The dome of the 150-year-old Capitol building.

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This month, the AOC started a project to repair more than 1,000 cracks in the dome—an undertaking that will last for two years. It'll be encased in complex set of scaffolds, but at night, a lighting system will make the dome into a glowing beacon—rather than trying to conceal the work site. Here's a shot of the extensive rust damage:

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This actually isn't the first time the Capitol has been renovated.

Though the dome looks like it must be made out of the same stone as the rest of the building, it's made from cast iron—so it's especially sensitive to rust and water damage. In 1959, workers used pneumatic hammers to remove paint from its surface and replace it with protective chemicals and brand-new coat. Here's what it looked like without its white paint:

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Later, in the 1990s, workers removed 180,000 pounds of lead paint from the interior of the dome. And so as not to interrupt operations, they devised a tent-like canopy that would catch any paint chips and still allow visitors to see the dome's beautiful fresco:

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Image: USCapitol.

We tend to think of Washington D.C. as a city dedicated to architectural preservation, not production—it's cool to think that by attempting to maintain tradition, the architects behind these projects are actually inventing something new. [Smithsonian Mag]

For more information see Link below:
http://gizmodo.com/the-architectural-trickery-used-to-disguise-d-c-monume-1461018350

Your [Dutch] Environment of the Week

Where we're going, we don't need bike lanes.

In most cities, cycling infrastructure isn't much more than a few dotted lines on the road.  But that's not how it is in the Netherlands, one of the world's most cycle-friendly nations.  Dutch cities have dedicated lanes that separate cars and bikes, making cycling an activity for the young and old, male and female, no longer just the adventurous few.

One of the newest examples of this is the elegant circular bridge in Eindhoven, located in southern Holland.Called the Hovernring, it lets cyclists completely avoid vehicular traffic and cross the busy A2 highway with minimal fuss.  It also makes for better road flow, according to Gerhard Nijenhuis, an employee at IPV Delft, the firm that designed it.

"This way you avoid congestion, because the other traffic doesn't wait for the cyclists to pass" he says.

The Hovenring is 236 feet in diameter and is suspended off the ground using a 230-foot central pylon and 24 thick cables.  It opened in the summer of 2012 and at the cost of about $16 million dollars, it isn't cheap.  But it is already a well-known landmark.  The city argues that it is the sort of project that helps broaden cycling's appeal.  "If you give cyclists ways to go long distances, then you pull people out of their cars, and stimulate cycling," Nijenhuis says.

Photo Credits and More information at the following:

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3020915/a-stunning-elevated-biking-track-keeps-cyclists-far-away-from-careening-cars#9

http://hovenring.com/

The Volcano Project



Scale model of building elements

The Volcano Project
By Kieren Jones
Welsh designer Kieren Jones has devised a concept for harnessing the destructive power of erupting volcanoes by using lava flows to cast components for buildings.
Having discovered that the current method for controlling lava from the world's most volatile volcanoes is to redirect it using huge concrete barriers or cool it with sea water, Kieren Jones developed an alternative scenario in which the lava pours into casting beds excavated in the shape of structural building blocks.
"Not only would these casting beds protect the population at the base of the volcanoes but they will also provide them with a constructive material in which to aid the recovery of a community post eruption," Jones explained.
The designer believes that the accuracy with which volcanic activity can be predicted using sophisticated geological data could enable the casting beds to be positioned at the most effective points to capture the molten rock.
"Lava as a material is naturally light and thermally insulating and has the potential to be a strong building block," said Jones.


Models of 16 of the world's most active and researched volcanoes, known as the Decade Volcanoes, were presented alongside drawings and scale models at an exhibition called Blanks in Between, curated by Workshop for Potential Design during this year's London Design Festival.





Drawing showing the casting process

Go here for more information:
http://www.dezeen.com/2013/10/27/the-volcano-project-by-kieren-jones/