Search Results for “underground”

Underground Cathedrals of Radiation and Zones of Irreversible Strain

[Image: Nevada test site, Google Maps, filtered through Instagram.] There’s a great line in Tom Zoellner’s book Uranium: War, Energy, and the Rock That Shaped the World where he describes the after-effects of underground nuclear tests. Zoellner writes that, during these tests, “a nuclear bomb buried in a deep shaft underneath a mountain would vaporize … Continue reading “Underground Cathedrals of Radiation and Zones of Irreversible Strain”

The Underground Wind Bulbs of Utah

[Image: From a PDF by Dresser Rand]. A new electricity distribution system being described as the “‘Hoover Dam’ of the 21st century” will bring wind energy from Wyoming to customers in California—and it will get there by way of a $1.5 billion artificial cave built specifically for storing air inside a salt dome in Utah. … Continue reading “The Underground Wind Bulbs of Utah”

NATO’s Underground Roman Super-Quarry

[Image: An entrance to the quarry in Kanne; photo by Nick Catford via Subterranean Britannica]. There is an underground Roman-era quarry in The Netherlands that, when you exit, you will find that you have crossed an invisible international border somewhere down there in the darkness, and that you are now stepping out into Belgium; or … Continue reading “NATO’s Underground Roman Super-Quarry”

Buy an Underground Kingdom

[Image: The Mole Man’s house in Hackney, via Wikipedia]. As most anyone who’s seen me give a talk over the past few years will know, I have a tendency to over-enthuse about the DIY subterranean excavations of William Lyttle, aka the Mole Man of Hackney. Lyttle—who once quipped that “tunneling is something that should be … Continue reading “Buy an Underground Kingdom”

Burying Bits of the City: Hong Kong Underground

Several months ago we looked at a network of artificial caves being built beneath Singapore that will, upon completion, extend the city’s energy infrastructure under the Pacific seabed; and, back in 2010, we took a very brief look at huge excavations underneath Chicago, courtesy of a feature article in Tunnel Business Magazine. Now, according to … Continue reading “Burying Bits of the City: Hong Kong Underground”

Underground

1) London Topological The Escapist is a film that offers little in the way of plot or characterization, but it often excels at setting. It tells the story of a London prison break, an architectural premise that first springs to mind for the film’s protagonist—played by Brian Cox—after a process of what we might call … Continue reading “Underground”

The Underground Light Mine of Batavia

[Image: Mexico’s “Cavern of Crystal Giants” photographed by Carsten Peters, courtesy of National Geographic]. I’ve got another post up over at the CCA, looking at Paul Scheerbart’s recently republished 1912 short story “The Light Club of Batavia,” in which an abandoned mine is transformed into a glass-filled environment for the hosting of underground “light parties.” … Continue reading “The Underground Light Mine of Batavia”

Underground Rivers Frozen in Place

[Image: The Large Hadron Collider photographed by Claudia Marcelloni, ©CERN, via The Big Picture]. One of the most interesting engineering details from the construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the fact that they had to freeze an underground river in place, using liquid nitrogen, in order to assemble the detector. This allowed them … Continue reading “Underground Rivers Frozen in Place”

Derinkuyu, or: the allure of the underground city

My friend Robert and I finished reading Alan Weisman’s The World Without Us almost simultaneously – and we both noted one specific passage. Before we get to that, however, the premise of Weisman’s book – though it does, more often than not, drift away from this otherwise fascinating central narrative – is: what would happen … Continue reading “Derinkuyu, or: the allure of the underground city”

Beijing Underground

[Image: Chengfu Lu, Haidian District, Beijing (2004) by Sze Tsung Leong]. Apparently Beijing hopes “to ease congestion and other urban growing pains plaguing the city” by going underground. “City planners have identified 17 key areas of the city for subterranean development, and envision an eventual ‘underground town‘ spanning 90 million square meters by 2020.” This … Continue reading “Beijing Underground”

Antarctica’s Underground Sphere-Cathedral

In his book Terra Antarctica – previously discussed here – author William L. Fox takes us to an Antarctic field research city called, appropriately, Pole. This geodesic-domed instant city is built on Beardmore glacier – which, Fox writes, is “a ferocious uphill maze riven with thousands of crevasses,” where high-speed winds are caused not by … Continue reading “Antarctica’s Underground Sphere-Cathedral”