Remarkable Cave Houses, Including the Homes that Inspired Tolkien

Forget putting up four walls and a roof; these homes use the stony walls of natural and human-made caves to shelter their inhabitants from the storm. Check out these incredible rocky homes, from ancient cave dwelling to modern house, to the buildings that may have inspired J.R.R. Tolkien's Hobbiton.

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Structurally Sound Buildings That Look Like They've Been Smashed

There's something super-comforting about living in a building with super straight lines — it looks sturdy and reliable. But what if you lived in a place that looked like the Hulk had attacked it? Or a tornado had hit it? Here are some livable buildings which look messed up. On purpose.

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Lush, High-Tech Ecotopias of Today and Tomorrow

When Ernest Callenback published his novel Ecotopia back in the 1970s, he crystallized an idea beloved by science fiction writers and urban planners alike. He imagined modern cities that were both high tech and carbon neutral. Here are some ways that people have tried to make his dream real.

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The cities hovered in clouds

Vast mountains hulked like inverted pyramids beneath the streets and viaducts. Below, the atmosphere was an endless hazy blue, marred occasionally by the smudges of towns drifting in the wind. Everyone came here for one thing. They wanted funding for their quantum software startups.

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The incredible bridge design that could take Portland into the future

What would happen if we designed new urban megastructures using the latest scientific information about green design? Portland architect Bill Badrick has the answer. The new Columbia River Crossing bridge, in Portland, Oregon, should be a double-decker, carbon-neutral engineering marvel — complete with a huge park on…

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Best Engineering Photography of 2012 Is Explosively Awesome

There is nothing more awe-inspiring than the sight of a city being built — or destroyed. And that's the point of the photographs in the Engineering News-Record's collection of the best photographs from last year. Check out some incredible shots of enormous machines, magnificent engineering projects, and the people who …

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