I'm wanting to do a project similar to
this, but for Astoria (specifically, if possible) or Queens (generally, if that works out better). So basically, I'm looking for suggestions of iconic people/places/things that represent the neighborhood and/or borough, and would evoke fond memories for folks who have lived there. I'm not going to be taking photos, so I'm not limited to things that currently exist or that are concrete (as a terrible example of this, I mean that an apple could represent "the Big Apple"). I've already thought of Shea Stadium and the World's Fair stuff in Flushing Meadows (QMA, Unisphere, NYState buildings, etc.) What am I missing, Queens-folk?
posted by unknowncommand
on May 21, 2013 -
8 answers
I've recently become fascinated by (a) long-forgotten "hidden" rooms in houses and other buildings and (b) "dead space" in houses, e.g., large unfinished areas behind walls that are only perhaps discovered years later. Help me find more examples of this sort of thing -- preferably examples with pictures!
[more inside]
posted by aecorwin
on Jan 13, 2012 -
71 answers
What is the webcomic whose characters are depictions of buildings? Or ... something like that. I'm sure this exists. For some reason I'm convinced that Khrushchev is a character.
posted by kenko
on Jul 22, 2011 -
3 answers
Why did they stop posting street signs on the sides of buildings in the U.S.? Everywhere I've been in western Europe, at least anywhere marginally urban, street names are posted on the sides of buildings. In the U.S., though, they're pretty much universally stuck on a post or hung over an intersection on wires. There are still
remnants of the side-of-the-building practice throughout NYC, so the switch must have been relatively recent. Why did this happen? Does it have something to do with American conceptions of property rights? NOMBism (Not On My Building)? Legibility for motorists? Any idea?
posted by dixiecupdrinking
on Feb 7, 2011 -
21 answers
Does anyone know the story of
this odd building in west Houston, TX? It seems to have been vacant for years, there's not been any signage, and it is up for sale. Was it the headquarters of a sect? A failed commune? No one I know seems to know what the heck it was. Thanks!
posted by Burhanistan
on Jun 17, 2010 -
5 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 -
9 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
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
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
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
