utilitarian buildings designed by famous architects - Page 2

Bedhead · #21 Posted **Jul 2, 2009, 8:22 AM**

Blimey. Do you think the tower is designed to harness the force of lightening bolts, so it can be converted into the life force of some unsuspecting cadaver?

Zerton · #22 Posted **Jul 2, 2009, 1:35 PM**

Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn
Polshek and Partners

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...a-hue-of-blue/

illuminated blue at night

http://www.ominy.org/project/newtown...tment_facility

Zerton · #23 Posted **Jul 2, 2009, 1:40 PM**

Oh and this one came to mind also:

Seaholm Power Plant in Austin

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wattsbw2004/3606549481/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fordprefectajt/2305402468/

The lit up deco font makes it doubly badass.

vandelay · #24 Posted **Jul 2, 2009, 2:48 PM**

Torre Calatrava communications tower built for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, designed by Santiago Calatrava:

alextamayo

maytevidri

campru

amor de cosmos · #25 Posted **Jul 2, 2009, 5:19 PM**

another by wright, his romeo & juliet windmill:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22241479@N05/2911380882/

CGII · #26 Posted **Jul 7, 2009, 12:09 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zerton

Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Brooklyn
Polshek and Partners

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...a-hue-of-blue/

This thing smells like shit.

huggkruka · #27 Posted **Jul 7, 2009, 6:28 PM**

The Calatrava Comm Tower is scifi without being overdone or flashy. Love it. My favourite so far has to be the Austin Power Station. The neon sign makes is perfect!

Bedhead · #28 Posted **Jul 7, 2009, 9:42 PM**

I like the water treatment plant, even though it stinks. Looks like some sort of bizarre scientific experiment.

Here a water tower by Jørn Utzon, who designed the Sydney Opera House (bit of stair porn in there as well).

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/11980670
Maryla P~, Panoramio.com

amor de cosmos · #29 Posted **Sep 2, 2009, 3:38 PM**

kfc somewhere in iceland, design by pk arkitektar:

http://www.pk.is/project/18

wrab · #30 Posted **Sep 2, 2009, 4:35 PM**

The Test Cell (AKA "Gunnery") building at Mies' IIT campus here in Chicago, endangered by a Metra station expansion:

From Ed Lifson's Hello Beautiful! blog:

http://edwardlifson.blogspot.com/200...n-another.html

scalziand · #31 Posted **Sep 2, 2009, 4:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bedhead

Blimey. Do you think the tower is designed to harness the force of lightening bolts, so it can be converted into the life force of some unsuspecting cadaver?

Actually, just the opposite. Tesla planned to use it for wireless power transmission. When he tested it, it effectively created lightning.

Warehouse designed by Cass Gilbert:

http://www.gothamgazette.com/article...51130/203/1667

Nowhereman1280 · #32 Posted **Sep 2, 2009, 5:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bedhead

Blimey. Do you think the tower is designed to harness the force of lightening bolts, so it can be converted into the life force of some unsuspecting cadaver?

It was actually built for a similar use. Tesla was the archetypal mad scientist. At the same time, he invented many useful technologies that we still use today. He was one of the earliest experimenters with radio waves and invented the first remote control. He also invented Alternating Current (AC) power which we now use to power our entire electric grid.

The Wardenclyffe facility was designed as a station to attempt the first cross-atlantic radio communications and to demonstrate Tesla's concept of "wireless energy transfer". Telsa believed the upper atmosphere could be electrified and that the energy could then be tapped into, through similar towers to the one at Wardenclyffe, from anywhere in the world. What ended up happening is the giant tower acted as a Tesla Coil (another thing he invented) and would attract lightening out of the clouds, even on non-stormy days.

He also built another similar facility to this outside of Colorado Springs which some believe to be the origins of the "Mad Scientist" myth and archetype. The facility there was built on a hill over looking the city and had a similar huge tower. During lightening storms and cloudy days, Tesla would fire of the tower with huge static electricity generators and generate huge quantities of lightening strikes. Then he would also hold demonstrations of his Tesla Coils which involved him sitting within feet of electric arcs without being injured to the public:

wikipedia

He also thought he could hear alien communications through his arrays of radio recievers, these signals turned out to be EMP signals from Jupiter and perhaps also pulses from deep space objects such as pulsars.

Now take into account that nearly all of this happened in the late 1800's and very early 1900's, you can see why people thought he was mad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

wrab · #33 Posted **Sep 2, 2009, 6:32 PM**

Morphosis, NOAA Satellite Operations Facility, Maryland:

http://www.arcspace.com/architects/m...noaa/noaa.html

[URL="http://www.arcspace.com/architects/morphosis/noaa/noaa.html"]http://www.arcspace.com/architects/morphosis/noaa/noaa.html[/URL]

Bedhead · #34 Posted **Sep 3, 2009, 8:05 PM**

Thanks, Scalziand and Nowhereman, it's great to know that the first mad scientist was actually a mad scientist!

Bedhead · #35 Posted **Sep 15, 2009, 7:04 PM**

Adrian Pingstone, Wikipedia, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mo...llview.arp.jpg

At first sight, the most non-utilitairian building you could imagine - London's monument to the Great Fire in 1666 - just a big, fat, useless neoclassical column
BUT its designers - Wren and Hooke, both brilliant mathematicians - made the shaft hollow so it could double up as a telescope, with a lens in the flame at the top and a small room underground. It was also designed to triple up as a giant barometer, with the steps to the top being carved to an equal height of 6 inches, so they could act as markers.

However, there were problems, like the vibrations from the traffic nearby, and the fact that the telescope wasn't much use for looking at anything other than stuff straight above it. So maybe not so utilitarian after all.

hammersklavier · #36 Posted **Sep 15, 2009, 7:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bedhead

Adrian Pingstone, Wikipedia, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mo...llview.arp.jpg

At first sight, the most non-utilitairian building you could imagine - London's monument to the Great Fire in 1666 - just a big, fat, useless neoclassical column
BUT its designers - Wren and Hooke, both brilliant mathematicians - made the shaft hollow so it could double up as a telescope, with a lens in the flame at the top and a small room underground. It was also designed to triple up as a giant barometer, with the steps to the top being carved to an equal height of 6 inches, so they could act as markers.

However, there were problems, like the vibrations from the traffic nearby, and the fact that the telescope wasn't much use for looking at anything other than stuff straight above it. So maybe not so utilitarian after all.

If you look at the stuff straight up above you there's no telling what you can find out...