Does anyone know what used to be next door to the Barnes and Noble in Colma, Ca? [more inside]
posted by MattMangels on Jun 4, 2009 - 6 answers

I want to have a skill and the skill is this: when examining a building casually, I'd like to be able to tell, within a span of about thirty years, when it was built (or altered). [more inside]
posted by Countess Elena on Mar 30, 2009 - 8 answers

Looking for examples of creative, modern industrial architecture. [more inside]
posted by lou on Mar 28, 2009 - 9 answers

Ice falling from tall buildings filter. Help me lay to rest a question that has plagued my wife. We live in Chicago, with lots of tall buildings. Ice falls off of the buildings from time to time and about once a year, some poor bastard gets mushed. Where in terms of physics and I suppose statistics would be the safest place to walk down the sidewalk: as close to the building as possible? The middle of the sidewalk? The far edge? Does it depend on building height?
posted by Ponderance on Jan 7, 2009 - 16 answers

What is the building I saw while driving on the beltway around DC? [more inside]
posted by jefficator on Aug 14, 2008 - 7 answers

So what's inside areas that are closed off to the public, in buildings? [more inside]
posted by sixcolors on Jul 17, 2008 - 40 answers

Do people still live in The Sears tower in chicago? or any other skyscapers? [more inside]
posted by longsleeves on Jun 27, 2008 - 20 answers

Tell me what to call this topic I'm interested in, so that I know how to research it. It's somewhere within architecture and/or engineering. [more inside]
posted by Countess Elena on May 18, 2008 - 7 answers

New Yorkers, please advise me on appropriate holiday tip amounts for building staff. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Dec 31, 2007 - 7 answers

Besides this, this and these, what are some other examples of buildings that straddle state or international borders? [more inside]
posted by SisterHavana on Sep 20, 2007 - 23 answers

Let's say you want to build an extremely tall really tall building with giant metal rods supporting it. Would it be feasible to "forge" the rods in place with some sort of self-raising crane/steel mill? [more inside]
posted by delmoi on Mar 12, 2007 - 12 answers

San Franciscans! How safe/legal/easy would it be to record a band in an abandoned building in your city? [more inside]
posted by Bappy Lorenzo on Feb 13, 2007 - 6 answers

Say something medically catastrophic happened to human beings and most of them were wiped off the earth. The buildings and monuments and such remained, intact but uncared for. How long would the highrise buildings stand and be relatively livable? How long would it take for a building to come down? [more inside]
posted by ashbury on Jan 4, 2007 - 23 answers

What are these small prefab buildings that I see while traveling on the train (and elsewhere) every once and a while? [more inside]
posted by yellowbkpk on Oct 29, 2006 - 6 answers

Help me win a meal for two! Name our three office/classroom buildings. Details are [more inside]
posted by clh on Sep 14, 2006 - 33 answers

Can I grab the 3-D buildings from Google Earth and play with them in Google SketchUp? [more inside]
posted by pzarquon on Aug 2, 2006 - 3 answers

Recurring Dreamfilter: I am standing in a tall building - sometimes a hotel with friends or family, sometimes an office building with work colleagues. There is a noise - a shake - and suddenly the building starts to collapse. [more inside]
posted by Neale on Feb 12, 2006 - 17 answers

Where can I find a 3D scale model of Manhattan? [more inside]
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Oct 19, 2005 - 9 answers

Crap in a gap: how can I clean out a 6" wide and ~100' long space between two buildings? [more inside]
posted by fandango_matt on Jul 9, 2005 - 29 answers

I'm looking for a resource - online, book, DVD - that deals specifically in the architectural design from sci-fi films, preferably with lots of pictures. [more inside]
posted by Neale on Jun 16, 2005 - 4 answers

San Francisco Metafiltereans: I am looking for recommendations as to particular structures/buildings of importance in terms of modern/modernist architecture & design. I'm trying to put together a good-sized photo essay of under-appreciated or little-known modern sites and structures in the bay area for mocosanfrancisco.com, which I'm nominally editor of now, and if anyone could suggest places off the beaten path I'd be immensely appreciative. [more inside]
posted by luriete on Jun 10, 2004 - 4 answers

What does it mean for a building in California to be 'on rollers'? Several posters here mention that they are in a building on rollers, but Google doesn't seem to turn up much immediate information on how they work or how they are constructed.
posted by anastasiav on Dec 22, 2003 - 6 answers