Great Works: A Sneak Peak May 8, 2008

I’ve been meaning to do a post about the United Arab Emirates, but there are too many incredible works to choose from. So take a look at this incredible Logan’s Run-esque city called Masdar:

 

Great Work #7 The Panama Canal May 3, 2008

On November 3, 1903 Panama declared independence from Columbia. The revolution lasted 4 hours.

Preceding the bloodless revolution, the Columbian Senate had held up the ratification of a treaty to allow the U.S. to build a canal through its territory in Panama, for a significant amount of money (with a significant cut given to the French). [...]

Great Work Update! April 25, 2008

NPR went back to the Grand Canyon Skywalk to report on how the Hualapai are doing, 1 year since they opened the skywalk. Sound’s like it’s working out! Here’s the story, Here’s my original post.

Great Work #6: Las Vegas, NV November 3, 2007

 
They tell me that the 20th Century was AMERICA’s CENTURY, and if that is the case I will venture, without equivocation, that Las Vegas was America’s greatest work in those bloody 100 years. An economic powerhouse, built on sin, greed, extravagance and entertainment. Las Vegas which roughly translates to ’Fertile Valleys’ is a city that lays claim to the undisputed heavy-weight title: ’Entertainment [...]

Great Work #5: The Encyclopedia of Life July 10, 2007

 
I recently bought David Attenborough’s newest docu-epic Planet Earth.  Amazed as ever by Attenborough I found myself quite disheartened by the fact that in each episode an  animal is featured with Attenborough whispering in the background, “There are only 30 [insert animal name here] left in the wild.”  There’s been so much talk of Climate [...]

Great Work #4: Mount Rushmore June 1, 2007

 
In 1923 the South Dakota Historical Society developed a vision to promote tourism in the
Black Hills. They contacted their powerful and well respected US Senator, Peter Norbeck. With Norbeck’s help they were able to reach out to the eminent American Sculptor Gutzon Borglum and President Calvin Coolidge. Borglum was a bit of an eccentric, full [...]

Great Work #3: Spaceport America May 24, 2007

’08 Presidential Hopeful and New Mexico Governor, Bill Richardson, spearheaded the development of the first international commercial Spaceport with the help of the crazy Virgin Chairman Richard Branson. He created the company Virgin Galactic within the Virgin Group to create a tourist spaceline. Construction has begun on the Spaceport and will be completed in 2009-2010. [...]

Great Work #2: The Grand Canyon Skywalk May 18, 2007

 
“Just like an eagle can fly into the Grand Canyon, my vision was for the visitors to walk the path of the eagle, and become surrounded by the Grand Canyon…My dream was to find a balance between form, function and nature.” –David Jin, Hualapai Tribe

 
With this great work the Hualapai Tribe are acting in the [...]

Great Work #1: The Qingzang Railway – The Train to Tibet - May 16, 2007

 
This past fall China completed a spectacular Great Work: The Railway to Tibet. This incredible feat spans 2,525 Miles (connecting Xining, Qinghai Provence to Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region). The real feat here is the span from Golmud, Qinghai to Lhasa,  710 miles with 80% of the tracks above 13,000 ft (2.5 miles)!  About half of the [...]

Great Works May 16, 2007

I think it might be useful to create a working definition of Great Works.  This is my basic criteria:

The Work must inspire awe, either physically or symbolically.
The Work must be Man-made.

It’s a good start. Explorations of Works to come!