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ASCEND OF THE ROAD   Canadian soldiers searched inside a barn as they patrolled in the Panjwai district of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, Monday. Canada will end its combat role in Afghanistan by the end of July. (Photo: Baz Ratner / Reuters via the Wall St. Journal) I find the rudimentary architecture in this place fascinating: an (apparently) earthen construct, staircase encasing the entryway; storage for the tree branches possibly to be used as fuel; the punctured walls allowing light inside and air to ventilate.  I wonder what the holes are for.  Does anyone here know?
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ASCEND OF THE ROAD   Canadian soldiers searched inside a barn as they patrolled in the Panjwai district of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, Monday. Canada will end its combat role in Afghanistan by the end of July. (Photo: Baz Ratner / Reuters via the Wall St. Journal)

I find the rudimentary architecture in this place fascinating: an (apparently) earthen construct, staircase encasing the entryway; storage for the tree branches possibly to be used as fuel; the punctured walls allowing light inside and air to ventilate.  I wonder what the holes are for.  Does anyone here know?

THE STARCHITECT CHAMBER   Architect Frank Gehry now has two buildings in New York City: the first is IAC’s curvatured redoubt on West Street; the other is his first skyscraper — “the tallest residential building in Manhattan,” according to the Times — due south in lower Manhattan’s Civic Center.  I think it’s beautiful — a modern, futuristic counterpart to the century-plus-old Woolworth Building.  (Photo: Fred Conrad / The New York Times)
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THE STARCHITECT CHAMBER   Architect Frank Gehry now has two buildings in New York City: the first is IAC’s curvatured redoubt on West Street; the other is his first skyscraper — “the tallest residential building in Manhattan,” according to the Times — due south in lower Manhattan’s Civic Center.  I think it’s beautiful — a modern, futuristic counterpart to the century-plus-old Woolworth Building.  (Photo: Fred Conrad / The New York Times)

The folks who run the Empire State Building will tell you that they oppose the construction of 15 Penn Plaza (center) because it would ruin the “iconography of the New York skyline,” but really it’s because they don’t want to hurt their penises’ feelings. Hey, ESB: you know what ruined “the iconography of the New York skyline”?  Terrorists, when they flew planes into two buildings in Lower Manhattan.  After 9/11/01, y’all were too happy to have your building reclaim the title of New York City’s tallest.  And now, there’s a chance that another edifice will get in the way of your precious tourist sightlines - and that’s why you’re whining?  You’re complaining about a construction project that would add thousands of jobs to the city’s rolls, millions more in property tax revenue for the City, not to mention millions of square feet in office space where a shitty hotel now stands - because it’ll block your view? Give us a break. (Rendering by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects via the New York Times)
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The folks who run the Empire State Building will tell you that they oppose the construction of 15 Penn Plaza (center) because it would ruin the “iconography of the New York skyline,” but really it’s because they don’t want to hurt their penises’ feelings.

Hey, ESB: you know what ruined “the iconography of the New York skyline”?  Terrorists, when they flew planes into two buildings in Lower Manhattan.  After 9/11/01, y’all were too happy to have your building reclaim the title of New York City’s tallest.  And now, there’s a chance that another edifice will get in the way of your precious tourist sightlines - and that’s why you’re whining?  You’re complaining about a construction project that would add thousands of jobs to the city’s rolls, millions more in property tax revenue for the City, not to mention millions of square feet in office space where a shitty hotel now stands - because it’ll block your view?

Give us a break.

(Rendering by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects via the New York Times)

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