August 30, 2009 @ 10:40 pm
Time Lapse Test: Station Fire from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.
Eric Spiegelman created these two time-lapse videos showing a day and night during the Station Fire in Los Angeles County. I have friends in the area and reading their tweets is both exciting and scary. I hope you all on the West Coast remain safe!
Time Lapse Test: The Station Fire from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.
August 13, 2009 @ 12:36 pm
In a move I can hardly understand, the Customs and Border Protection agency is choosing to dismantle a brand-new, beautifully designed sign at the United States-Canada border because they believe it attracts “undue attention” and risks the lives of the employees working at the border station.
The sign in question, consisting of large yellow letters that spell out “UNITED STATES”, are hidden partially by the architecture of the border station which was designed by Smith-Miller & Hawkinson. The building itself will remain standing and serve as the border station between Canada and the U.S. and it is just the large signage that will be taken down. I don’t understand how this is going to make it safer for employees and less conspicuous to terrorists. I mean, could this building be anything other than a border station?
Fast Company has a few more words with the designer of the sign, Michael Bierut, and why he thinks it’s being dismantled by the government.
May 26, 2009 @ 8:28 am
This is a pretty hilarious comedy sketch from the TV show “A Bit of Fry and Laurie” (featuring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie) in which Laurie has to give his name and address to an officer at the police station. [via]
January 28, 2009 @ 1:49 pm
The new South Ferry Station that was set to open sometime this month is reportedly delayed because the gap between the platform and the train car is 1-inch too wide according to federal safety regulations. The MTA has no alternative date for the opening of the new South Ferry Station, but they do expect the 1-inch platform repair to cost approximately $200,000.
Aren’t all Subway stations required to have the same clearance between the train car and the platform? I mean, it’s not like the Subway car suddenly became fatter, so how did this mistake slip by inspectors and MTA officials?
January 2, 2009 @ 9:26 pm
I’ve always thought this about the Subway station at Lexington Ave and 63rd Street along the F line, and this video confirms it. It really is the deepest platform below street level. I’d love to know what’s behind those walls in between the street and the platform. I always imagine that there would be hidden secrets or something behind there.
December 12, 2008 @ 9:43 am
Photo: Ben Yankee on Flickr
Sometime next month, a new South Ferry Subway station will open in Lower Manhattan directly beneath the current South Ferry station. The new Subway station is larger and does away with the curved platform at the current South Ferry Subway stop. In addition, the new station will also be long enough to accommodate an entire Subway train, thus rendering the need to be in the first 5 cars a thing of the past (for those who don’t know, the current South Ferry station can only fit the first 5 cars of a Subway train).
As you can see in the illustration below from the NYT, the new station will not require Subway trains to make a big loop around Lower Manhattan in order to go back uptown. Instead trains will simply just head uptown and switch tracks in the tunnel.
And probably the best thing about this new station is the ability to transfer to the R/W trains!
If you want to get a glimpse of the shiny new station, you can check out this Flickr photoset. If I were you, I’d head down to the current South Ferry Subway station to snap some pictures before they close the station down for good next month!
