A traffic light looks like the simplest control system in existence: three lamps, one at a time, in a fixed order. Almost everything about it is a compromise between constraints…
Mostly about air, not water. Here are fifteen.
1. The Bend Is Holding Water on Purpose
Every fixture has a trap, a dip in the pipe that retains water after…
Watch the top of an escalator for a few seconds and something slightly impossible happens. A flat plate slides out from under a comb, then rises into a step, then…
The least designed-looking thing in the street, and all of it is deliberate. Here are ten.
1. The Backrest Decides How Long You Stay
A bench with a back supports…
Everything that happened in a room is recorded in what you are standing on. Here are fifteen.
1. Board Width Dates the House Roughly
Very wide boards generally mean early…
The lift is the piece of machinery most people use most often without ever seeing any of it. What is visible is a box and two doors. What makes it…