Given that every material fails eventually from exposure to the elements, one way or another, the big question is “how difficult is it to repair?” followed in second place by “how difficult is it to maintain?” To put it another way, if you spend enough time with old buildings, pictures of pristine new buildings are …
Since the first iteration of New York’s facade inspection law was enacted in 1980, we’ve seen a lot of real-time data on how buildings age and how people deal with that aging process. The first couple of five-year cycles of the law were brutal, as masonry that had not been properly maintained or inspected was …
The Oculus at the World Trade Center has as its signature design element exposed truss work that – to me, anyway – greatly resembles the skeleton of a stegosaurus. Whether or not that design is good aesthetically is not really a topic I want to debate. But there’s a usability issue that I noticed the …
