I spent a good chunk of this morning talking and thinking about underground building details that most people (unless you're in the industry) would never think to consider. This is not a criticism on most people. I mean, I don't know how iPhones are made. I just use and enjoy them. But when it comes to buildings, I'm paid to ask questions and understand how things work.

There's a lot of risk in the ground.

You have to think about things like bearing capacity, environmental contamination (usually), hydrostatic pressure and, generally, how you're going to manage water, particularly if you have a high groundwater table. Usually this last one is about making sure you're keeping the water out. A pretty important detail both below and above grade.

So when I came home tonight and saw the below tweet, I felt obligated to write about it.

If you read the reply from NYC's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, you'll see that this is them testing something they call a "flex gate." It is a flood barrier that allows them to seal off subway entrances in the case of a storm surge and they run these tests (shown above) for 4 hours at a time to make sure they're installed property. This one was.

Managing water is a big part of city building. New York City, Miami, Venice, and countless others know this all too well right now.

The above photo was taken on a walk up to the Castillo de Gibralfaro in Malaga, Spain. It was built by the Moors during their occupation of the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages. It is located on Mount Gibralfaro (~130m up) in the center of the city, overlooking the historic core, the waterfront, and its lower elevation sibling -- the Alcazaba (or citadel). In the Middle Ages, this is what it meant for a city to be defensible. High ground. Formidable double walls. And places to shoot from. Thankfully, today, I think one could easily argue that "urban defensibility" tends to instead rely on things like knowledge, innovation, and diversity. Here are a couple of photos from inside the fortress. It is always amazing to see what labor was able to build without the technologies that we have today.

Portions of it were built using a very elegant and elongated brick. Above is the bar area at the top. Presumably this was a later addition, though, supposedly the Moors did make and sell wine from the Andalucia region. If you ever find yourself in Malaga, this complex is a must visit.

Phaidon has a new architectural book out that surveys 55 homes, all of which have some sort of connection to water, whether that be an ocean, lake, river, or pool. It’s called Living on Water. I don’t (yet) have a copy, but it looks like the perfect coffee table book for a cottage, summer home, or studio apartment with zero connection to water. Monocle on Design recently interviewed the editor of the book (podcast episode here). So if beautiful homes on the water are your thing, maybe check it, and the book, out.