Open Thread

[statler]

Originally Posted by TheRifleman

I actually miss the 1970's and 80's character of North Station and Kenmore Square.
Tough, hungry and unique.
Coming in on the Green-L Train. I miss the upper deck portion of the Train in the area.

Going to the Garden for old Celts or Bruins games you knew the battles were brewing.
Walking to Fenway Park all the sidewalk deals and vendors trying to sell you stuff was awesome.

Yeah, there has been a lot of talk here over the years about good grit vs bad grit, gentrification vs crime & rot, 'realness' vs soullessness, etc.

I really haven't worked out all my feelings on the subject to be honest. Probably never will.

[Beton Brut]

^ I've come to believe that society's ever-growing addiction/dependence on mobile technology has bled off the vitality from our streets. Think I'm crazy? Take a walk through downtown at rush hour, or Kenmore an hour before a Sox game. Count the people wearing earbuds, count the people looking at their phones. What does "being present" even mean anymore?

Over a quarter century ago, Wim Wenders made a fabulous mess of a sci-fi movie called Until the End of the World; in it, he coins the term "a disease of images." Though the plot devices are different, what ails the characters at the end of the film isn't so different from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter...

[statler]

Do you think that we will see or are seeing a reaction to this new behavior in the built environment?

Be brighter/louder can't be the remedy because I'm sure that you will see the same behavior in places like Times Sq.

Perhaps, buildings need to be more interactive/engaging? What will that look like? How will architects respond to this challenge? (If they do at all)

[Beton Brut]

^^ Someone a whole lot smarter than me will write a dissertation on this; maybe someone already has...

My back-of-the-napkin thoughts have nothing to do with architecture or urbanism, and everything to do with the way that we've rewired ourselves into semi-random, non-linear consumers (of information and goods). We've allowed our senses to be subjugated by algorithms, driven by advertising and sales forecasts.

On the face of it, technology can extend our senses, enhance our productivity, and lengthen our reach to build a "smaller," better world. But has it? And if it hasn't, who thinks it will?

I'm no Luddite. I love that there's a wealth of information available to me when I type a few disjointed search-terms into my phone. I love that I can instantaneously listen to an obscure Sugarcubes remix (that I never had the money to purchase in 1988) on YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, or AmazonMusic. But I also know how to use a library card catalog, or dive in the bins at Nuggets.

I was in San Diego a couple of weeks ago, and spent the day with an old friend; we had lunch, talked about our lives, and I got to meet her kids for the first time. A few hours after we'd went our separate ways, I got a message that we "forgot to take a picture." As if our failure to "document the experience" in some way invalidates its reality...

[odurandina]

though i think brutalist structures are nearly universally ghastly, i appreciate your posts; as they help me see things from the point of view of a genius.

Originally Posted by statler

Do you think that we will see or are seeing a reaction to this new behavior in the built environment?

Be brighter/louder can't be the remedy because I'm sure that you will see the same behavior in places like Times Sq.

dunno but there's a few parcels screaming for flatiron's.

that would add a nice touch.

[kz1000ps]

What the fuck is going on in the Merrimac Valley? 25+ gas fires?

http://www.eagletribune.com/news/upd...ad08331b4.html

[JumboBuc]

Originally Posted by kz1000ps

What the fuck is going on in the Merrimac Valley? 25+ gas fires?

http://www.eagletribune.com/news/upd...ad08331b4.html

Now at "60-100." Crazy...

[datadyne007]

Overpressurized main. Main line regulator likely failed, overpressurized the system and then the old pipes & valves at various homes couldn't handle the pressure. Just an epic catastrophe.

People reported hearing gas "sizzling" out of their appliances & meter assemblies. That would be consistent with pressure so high it was leaking out joints and eventually blowing out the valves. Some houses exploded but didn't catch fire, others exploded with fires.

Columbia Gas is currently replacing about 700 miles of their natural gas mains in their service area throughout the Commonwealth.

[Jouhou]

Originally Posted by datadyne007

Overpressurized main. Main line regulator likely failed, overpressurized the system and then the old pipes & valves at various homes couldn't handle the pressure. Just an epic catastrophe.

People reported hearing gas "sizzling" out of their appliances & meter assemblies. That would be consistent with pressure so high it was leaking out joints and eventually blowing out the valves. Some houses exploded but didn't catch fire, others exploded with fires.

Columbia Gas is currently replacing about 700 miles of their natural gas mains in their service area throughout the Commonwealth.

How the hell is there not a series of relief valves preventing this from happening?!!! Is natural gas pipeline safety THAT poorly regulated?

[tysmith95]

Originally Posted by Jouhou

How the hell is there not a series of relief valves preventing this from happening?!!! Is natural gas pipeline safety THAT poorly regulated?

Well Columbias response was so shitty that Baker basically fired them on live TV.

[tobyjug]

Be interesting to get the technical details of this fire: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...er-Kuwait.html

[datadyne007]

Originally Posted by tobyjug

Be interesting to get the technical details of this fire: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...er-Kuwait.html

Buildings are most vulnerable while they are being constructed. Also, this looks like, yet again, another case of flammable facade materials plus possibly being installed in a manner that accelerates fires (with an air gap behind the material).

[mass88]

Is there a free tool, or map application, where you can draw on a map to see how big a parcel of land would look in a given area. Example, I want to draw a 50 acre plot and see how much space it would take up in Boston.

[stefalarchitect]

Originally Posted by mass88

Is there a free tool, or map application, where you can draw on a map to see how big a parcel of land would look in a given area. Example, I want to draw a 50 acre plot and see how much space it would take up in Boston.

Scribblemaps.com