Filed under: Scapes
The nature of mass transportation develops patterns and geometries unlike anything else in urban, suburban and rural environments. Today’s blog post takes a look at the patterns of large scale transportation via our “scape” series. These aren’t just photos of highway spaghetti, but rather the register of mass transportation -in some situations concrete isn’t even involved.
Los Angeles, CA 33°52’33.63″N, 118°11’28.75″W
Border between US and Mexico 32°32’31.14″N, 117° 1’43.42″W
Seattle, WA 47°35’37.76″N, 122°19’10.70″W
Manhatten, NY 40°45’25.64″N, 73°59’40.12″W
Houston, TX 29°45’59.00″N, 95°20’35.97″W
Libya, Appears to be mining operations 27°37’57.41″N, 21°16’11.26″E
Libya, Appears to be mining operations 28° 8’30.61″N, 21°13’51.63″E
Tokyo, 35°38’14.88″N, 139°45’27.78″E
Los Angeles, CA 33°55’41.61″N, 118°16’42.40″W
Berlin, 52°30’5.17″N, 13°16’49.51″E
Algeria, 27° 8’58.86″N, 2°31’45.15″E
Baltimore, Maryland 39°16’13.83″N, 76°37’38.86″W
Paris, 48°52’25.80″N, 2°17’44.14″E
San Antonio, TX 29°23’44.77″N, 98°30’39.01″W
Algeria, 28° 5’54.55″N, 2° 4’15.31″E
Minneapolis, 44°58’3.45″N, 93°15’4.56″W
Bejing, 39°59’23.44″N, 116°31’54.21″E
Bergen, Norway 60°23’2.83″N, 5°20’9.07″E
Iowa, 42° 3’48.62″N, 93°18’31.71″W
Los Angeles, CA 34° 9’12.64″N, 118°22’29.70″W
Peru, 7°25’22.20″S, 78° 7’12.37″W
Filed under: Architecture, Industrial Architecture, Rural Architecture, Scapes, Suburban Architecture
In our ongoing Google Earth series the Borderscapes theme covers some fascinating interfaces between built-form and nature. The plan view images of earth, captured from space, are becoming increasing indicative of how human-made landscapes are integrating (or not integrating) with natural contexts. The images, while only a snapshot of each occurrence, also begin to convey whether the development strategies are mindful or viral.
Farms in the United Arab Emerites at 10.5 miles
Battleship Graveyard in Benicia, CA at 6,000 ft
Jetties in San Lucido, Italy at 3,500 ft
Crater in San Salvador, Paraguay at 2,000 ft
Central Park in Manhattan at 1,500 ft
Florida Keys at 1,500 ft
Suburb in Muscoy, CA at 1,500 ft
Suburb in Palm Springs, CA at 1,500 ft
Suburbs in Salt Lake City, UT at 1,500 ft
Suburb in San Jose, CA at 1,500 ft
Umm-Durrman, Sudan at 1,500 ft
Windfarm in Copenhagen, Denmark at 1,500 ft
Swimming pool in Colares, Portugal at 400 ft
Leca swimming pools by Alvaro Siza in Portugal at 250 ft
Google Earth is now available for the iPhone – check it out here or app it on your iPhone.
Although not technically architecture, these images have some architectural qualities and make a strong visual statement about agriculture, economics and how societies function. In gathering information for a recent post on the density of cities we stumbled on a handful of fascinating agricultural landscapes and we couldn’t help but make correlations between the two. It brought to mind some of the literature from the late author Jane Jacobs, who made significant observations about the relationship of cities and their agricultural counterparts. As always, we’ve attempted to crop the images at common elevations for comparison sake – it was a bit more difficult with these landscapes, they are subsequently separated into three elevation groups. That the agricultural patterns are visualized at such different elevations says something about the nature of these farms and the economies the exist within. The intimacy and close relationship with the land is clear in the 7,000 ft series, while the volume and industrialized methods are apparent in the 50,000 ft series. Let us know about your faves…
Nahalal, Isreal 7,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
250 miles north of Shanghai, China 7,000 feet above the Earth’s surface.
Mexico City, Mexico, Fields contained within a crater 7,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
150 miles North of New Delhi, India, Terraced Farms 7,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
Pleasant Valley, Pennsylvania 15,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
The Netherlands 15,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
40 miles North of London 15,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
Bangkok, Thailand 15,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
The Nile River, 300 miles South of Cairo 15,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
Quincy, Washington State 50,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
The Palouse near Pullman, Washington State 50,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
250 miles south of Buenos Aires Argentina 50,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
90 miles west of Wichita, Kansas 50,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
150 miles east of Denver, Colorado 50,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
The Netherlands 50,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
180 miles west of Winnipeg, Canada 50,000 feet above the Earth’s surface
Same farm-scape at 7,000 ft. It appears as if the farmers have farmed around the thousands of tiny lakes throughout the landscape.
All images gathered via Google Earth, for the free download click here.
