An automation arms-race and the explosive growth of massive fulfillment centers are reshaping retail—and cities could be next.
It’s rush hour in Fulton Center and thousands of black-coated commuters stream into the glass building through entrances on Broadway and Fulton Street and funnel down to the hovering circular concourse before branching off to further descend to the many tunnels that transverse New York’s five boroughs. A steady hum of voices backgrounds the incessant chirp-crank, chirp-crank […]
Ghostbunkers
Abandoned bunkers aren’t just modern, they’re modern concentrate—efficiently constructed for a single purpose and devoid of any style or ornament.
The man who designed Gotham City
Gotham City is the perpetually dark comic book metropolis of alleys, asylums, caves, mansions, and of course, Batman. The Dark Knight of DC Comics celebrates his 75th anniversary this year but Gotham didn’t become the hometown of the Caped Crusader until 1940, when Batman co-creator Bill Finger named the city for the first time inBatman […]
The following essay on Die Hard, Kafka, Deleuze, The Towering Inferno, Inception, James Bond, Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning originally appeared in Volume 37: Is This Not a Pipe?