Horrendous Failures in Architecture: Pre-Ruined Mall

Here is another example of an ambitious project gone wrong. It is a mall designed to hold 1,500 shops. The problem is that only 12 have ever been occupied. Yikes.

blank urban canvas

Sometimes buildings find themselves in precarious situations.  The "Blank Urban Canvas" building is one of those.

Situated in the harshest of urban territories, the Blank Canvas Building has no friends...only enemies.


A shimmering white cube hides behind the grandest of clear glass curtain walls...waiting to be discovered by the "community" of rogue villains and graffiti artists.

A 5-step process from pristine beauty to chaotic ruins parallels the journey of the American city - from birth to death.

Brutalism meets Beach Town

Biking around Hilton Head, I saw perhaps the most out of place building I have ever seen in my life.  The remnants of a past era.  A monument to the architectural styles of yesteryear.  However, this building was no typical call-it-what-you-will post war modernist building.  It is said that every building tells a story and this example is no different.  Like a parasite invading its host, the brutalist style certainly invaded even the most serene of places.  However, this virus was met with an anti-viral cure: the Hilton Head planning department.  The result? A sleek new building, half brutalist, half beach/resort style.  


A virus, by definition, cannot multiply until it is inside the body's cells.  By restraining trendy, stylish architectural design as it was invading the town, Hilton Head's government effectively restrained the virus, preventing its spread outward into the rest of the beach-resort town. 

Microsoft iPod

Goofy Imagery

Here is the Untitled Flower Pot form Alessandro Beda. This may be Mockitecture Light, but it proves that imagery and literal references can look good. [more...]

Teleporting Waterslides

What would happen if everyone could teleport? This article describes teleportation as:

"...the name given by science fiction writers to the feat of making an object or person disintegrate in one place while a perfect replica appears somewhere else." 

First of all, urban sprawl would increase exponentially. When commuting times are zero, it doesnt matter where you live. Also, public transportation would be obsolete. Maybe the stations could be used as teleporting centers, until personal teleporting is invented, of course. What could we use those pesky roads and traintracks for? There's a thesis waiting to happen.
However, upon further review, I've realized that there is a way to teleport, or at least experience the feeling of teleporting. It is called a waterslide. You are (almost) instantly transported from 50 metres in the air to the ground, some 50 metres away. This is like teleporting because you do not see see the journey. It is kind of like in Being John Malkovich. Which by the way was directed by Spike Jonze, the award-winning co-creator of Jackass.

Ambassadors of Fun

I heard a story recently about some people who had a party in their front yard. It was on the day of graduation, when parents and grandparents would be out and about. This is a very festive and busy day. They rented a champagne fountain and really just acted like jackasses while most of their peers walked to have lunch with their families. It was a spectacle from the very beginning. My first inclination was that these self-proclaimed "Ambassadors of Fun" were bumbling fools seeking attention. But when they explained to me why they did this, I realize now that they are mockitects.

Mockitecture is Sex

Not sure why, but Im 100% positive this video is mockitecture.

Mockitecture of the Near East Vol. 2: Falcon City

I think that these image-based buildings are funny. This is an example of how people want familiar images in their buildings. Its so direct that people think its stupid, but really, it's awesome.