Minneapolis Architecture

Starting with Philip Johnson's acclaimed IDS Tower in 1972 (which is still, perhaps, one of the best looking skyscrapers in the country) Minneapolis has seen architecture play an increasingly important role in the fabric of the city.

Recent buildings by Jean Nouvel, James Dayton, Frank Gehry, Cesar Pelli and Herzog & de Meuron, as well as classics by Minoru Yamasaki & Associates, Gunnar Birkerts and Ralph Rapson, are making the City of Lakes also the City of Architecture. This video surveys some of the buildings that have transformed the cityscape as a result of the city's considerable investment in its skyline.

John Comazzi, a University of Minnesota Architecture professor, guides us around these Minneapolis landmarks, revealing some of the more interesting architectural details, facts and marvels. We start at the Walker Art Center's new addition by Herzog & de Meuron and conclude, fittingly, backstage at the new Guthrie Theatre building designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel, who had this to say about the project: "At the heart of the city, the Guthrie is a machine for capturing and radiating the enveloping vistas. It condenses the landscape that unfolds around it." LINK: Youtube

'Pretty' Pollution Photos Show Depths of Minnesota Lake's Environmental Distress

Mary Taffe lake pollution hades photo
Lifelong Minnesota resident Mary Taffe turned to art to document the algae blooms (pictured above) and other pollution that has been increasingly prominent in nearby Big Stone Lake over the past four years -- changes she believes are caused by increased factory farming activity in the area.

"The first changes began four years ago, when we saw the algae bloom so early and thick, we couldn't use the lake. This was around the time a factory dairy in the watershed ramped up to approximately 13,000 cows," Taffe says.

"We haven't used the lake for four full summers, but last summer, the smell became nearly intolerable and lasted for two and a half months because the prevailing winds blew the goop to our side of the lake. It sat there and cooked." LINK

Awesome Underground Lakes

Underground lakes or caverns are basically large pools of water that gather or accumulate underneath the earth’s surface. So how does the water get into these inaccessible spaces underground? The answer lies in the movement of the earth through the centuries due to plate tectonics and earthquakes.

As the earth surface moves, empty spaces and caverns are sometimes formed below the surface. And water found on the top of affected areas seep into these spaces through the cracks and fissures created by the movement. Over time, the water accumulates in these underground caverns to form what we now call underground lakes. Thus, it usually takes many many many years for such underground lakes to form, which is why they are so amazing.

The photo above is Reed Flute Cave, China. LINKpho

World’s Most Colorful Lakes

Environmental Graffiti blog has a really nice round up of some of the world’s most colorful lakes - turquoise and blue lakes, green and yellow lakes, purple and red lakes and so on.

This one above is the Red Lake, a large salt lake in Uyuni, Bolivia (the red color is caused by microscopic organisms living in the water).

Link, Via: Neatorama