Design
Architecture
and other plans
T.
Buckingham Thomas physics Oberlin WOBC Richwood Tom Thomas Chyron
Infinit Pittsburgh
Since
high school, for my own amusement I've drawn pencil sketches of
plans, playing with the challenge of working out the geometry. Here
are some examples, plus related articles.
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Main
Line |
The
Pennsylvania Canal paralleled Pennsylvania rivers nearly two
centuries ago. |
Everybody
Down! |
A
nearby "Bridge Street" must mark the location of a long-lost
low bridge over the Pennsylvania Canal. |
Saltsburg |
From
my present domicile it would have required 8½ hours by canal
boat to reach this town on the Kiskiminetas. |
Ban
Horseless Carriages |
Steam-powered
stagecoaches cruised English roads in 1831 until opponents
legislated against them. |
Homes
of the 1870s |
Plain
Italianate Victorian houses abound near my old Ohio home. |
The
Scharf |
Local
inventor drives newfangled car to Columbus looking for investors,
finds none, gives up. I get one of his stock certificates. |
. |
1960 |
The
Very Wide Screen |
The
Thomas family visits a Cinerama movie theater. |
Construction
Toys |
I
build models of buildings with bricks, logs, girders, etc. |
Stadiums |
Playing
fields for football, track, etc., plus a downhill racer. |
. |
1970 |
Broadcast
Stuff |
Fitting
a TV studio into a low-ceilinged room. |
The
Arctangential Error Meter |
When
is an analog display like a fence? |
Theatres |
Auditoriums
that will never be built. |
. |
1980 |
Dwellings |
More
ideas, including spirals, mirror effects, and movable walls and
floors that quickly convert bedrooms into extra living space. |
Streets |
Street
plans for imaginary cities. |
All
News All the Time |
If
WOBC were all-news, how would I organize it? |
The
PC-8 Computer |
Using
BASIC to make a tiny computer useful for baseball and boxing telecasts. |
The
MENKY |
The
1988 design for a one-handed computer keyboard. |
. |
1990 |
Powers
of 10 Museum |
An
imagined visit to a museum of models on widely different scales,
from atoms to galaxies. |
Colorblind
Glasses |
Could
tinted lenses help colorblind people? And what about the dogs? |
|
2000 |
How
I Watch Television, 2004 |
On
my high-definition set, I can choose to display the picture from any
of three smaller monitors. |
Preferred
Parking |
Why
must we dash across a busy "street" between mall stores
and their parking spaces? |
Telemeetings |
A
proposal for a standard studio layout for teleconferences. |
How
I Switch TV |
Hooking
up two simple audio/video switches to make a multipurpose routing switcher. |
Silent
Hybrids and Latent Reporters |
How
to fix cars and correspondents that don't sound off when we expect
them to. |
Decisions |
Don't
flip a coin; use this spreadsheet to perform quantitative analysis
of the alternatives. |
So
Obvious |
Why
can't we use computers to shift gears and print out prescriptions? |
Folded
Planes |
The
architecture of a church in my neighborhood reminds me of Frank
Lloyd Wright. |
|
2010 |
Courteous
Circling |
Traffic
circles, or roundabouts, include an oval "racetrack" in
downtown Rochester, PA. |
Frankfurter
Slide Show |
Seeking
a more practical hot dog bun. |
Reconstructing
Wright |
In
Buffalo, I visit Frank Lloyd Wright's late lamented Larkin Building
and the Darwin Martin House. Many pictures. |