I recently mentioned that it would be nice to be able to buy a five-storey building in Soho (New York) for $70,000. Yes, that was in 1968 dollars. But even in today’s dollars, we’re talking less than $600,000. I would gladly buy a cast-iron five-storey… Read More
All posts tagged “soho”
1970s New York, through the lens of a taxi driver
Even if you never experienced it yourself, we have all heard the lore of 1970s New York City. It was a raw, dangerous, and unpolished city that was simultaneously teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and providing fertile ground for artists and many other forms… Read More
In real life in New York City
This past weekend Bright Moments opened up their NFT art gallery in New York’s Soho. This is the company’s second gallery. The first was in Venice, California. And there are plans for eight more cities, with Berlin being the next one. (When is Toronto?!) Bright… Read More
Beer over water and the contributions of John Snow
The work of John Snow is instrumental to the field of epidemiology. In the mid-19th century, during what was the third major outbreak of cholera, he created the following map showing the clusters of cholera cases in London’s Soho neighborhood. Stacked rectangles were used to… Read More
Inside-outside
Take a look at this photo from Central in Hong Kong and note the MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) systems running up the cutout in the middle of the tower. Also note the bamboo scaffolding next door and the epic terrace on top of the… Read More
Late-stage gentrification on Bleecker Street
The New York Times ran an interesting piece this past week about the rise and fall of Bleecker Street in the West Village. The synopsis of the story is as follows: Bleecker was once a quaint West Village street. Then the yuppy cupcake shop and… Read More
Architecture bike tour
I am in New York right now and I spent the day riding around on a Citi Bike looking at architecture. Atop two wheels is such a fast way to get around. The first stop was the new transportation hub at the World Trade Center.… Read More
New urban planning buzzword: Lean Urbanism
The term “lean” is well known in technology and startup circles. Thanks to people like Eric Ries and Steve Blank, it’s become all about starting up lean and not investing a lot of time and money before you’ve really tested your business assumptions in the… Read More