Architecture

Home at last

SAUSALITO, Calif.--At last, I'm home. After 25 days, 4,891 miles and a huge number of motels, Road Trip 2007 is over.

I can barely type at this point, but it has been an amazing run. I was in six states (California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado--even if the latter was only for about 30 seconds at Four Corners), several national parks, some great museums, and I got to look at a heck of a lot of airplanes.

Along the way, I went to three hot springs, ate a whole lot of really bad food, listened … Read more

Could earthships be the future of housing?

TAOS, N.M.--I really want one of these.

These are earthships, a form of entirely off-the-grid, fully sustainable houses that are made from natural and recycled materials, and which can provide a family with a steady, comfortable interior temperature regardless of how hot or cold it is outside.

I've come to visit the Earthship Biotecture world headquarters near Taos, and have come ready to be impressed. I'm as into green technology and architecture as the next guy, and what I'd read had me expecting an introduction to a form of housing that is self-sufficient, affordable and … Read more

Rio Grand Gorge: Water 1, Rock 0

TAOS, N.M.--Wow. That's almost all I had to say after walking across the Rio Grand Gorge Bridge near this popular city.

And why? Well, the bridge is suspended over the river, which is 650 feet below, and what you see from the span is the outrageously beautiful effects of one of America's most powerful waterways having carved its way into walls of the basalt flows from the Taos Plateau volcanic fields over the centuries and millenia.

The rock looks like it was just chipped away, and the view almost trivializes the scale of what you're … Read more

A quick taste of the tunnels under Vegas

LAS VEGAS--I just got back from a tour of the storm drainage tunnels under Las Vegas. I was given the tour by Matt O'Brien, whose recent book, Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnel of Las Vegas, chronicles his experiences there.

I will put up a full story and photo gallery later, but I thought it would be good to post a little taste now to whet your appetite.

Enjoy, and make sure your shoes are sturdy and dry.