Maunsell Towers

Some amazing images of the abandoned WWII era Maunsell Sea Forts over at BLD BLOG.

“Thin-Film Solar Startup Debuts With $4 Billion in Contracts”

Of interest for a few groups, Wired magazine reports a new paper-thin solar energy generator.

New York

Per our discussion today, some amazing imagery from NYC.

“In Kennedy, the Last Roar of the New Deal Liberal”

Via the New York Times.

Reurbia Competition Finalists

A few months ago the “Reurbia” competition was launched:

Dwell Magazine and Inhabitat.com are pleased to announce the first ever Reburbia competition: a design competition dedicated to re-envisioning the suburbs.

Today the finalists and notable entries were posted. Have a look, some interesting ideas floating about. My favorite:

The New Deal in Tennessee

Close to home:

New York Times: “To Create Jobs, Tennessee Looks To New Deal Model”

“Many Failing Roads, Little Repair Money”

The “Encapsulations” Studio has ended (long live encapsulations!), but the battles rage on. This semester I will be leading a small group of Master of Architecture students as they enter the WPA 2.0 competition being sponsored by UCLA’s cityLAB.

So, the posts continue. As if on cue, Kazys Varnelis of Columbia University’s Network Architecture Lab alerts us to an interesting article about the political struggles surrounding infrastructure improvements in the United States:

New York Times: Many Failing Roads, Little Repair Money

“Ruins of the Present”

Bruce Sterling coins a term for what we had been calling future ruins.

“When the ruins begin to sing”

The studio has officially ended, but the discussion has not. An interesting brief post by BLDG BLOG.

Katrina Victims Will Not Have to Vacate Trailers

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/04trailers.html?src=twt&twt=nytimes