The Coney Island Cyclone Is Designed to Move
The Coney Island Cyclone has survived since 1927 because its wooden structure can flex, be repaired, and keep changing without losing the ride itself.
Engineering
How 56 Leonard Became New York's Jenga Tower
56 Leonard looks like a stack of blocks, but its irregular apartments depend on air rights, walking columns, hidden trusses, and a water tank at the top.
Air Conditioning Was Invented to Save a Brooklyn Print Job
Willis Carrier's first modern air-conditioning system was not built for human comfort. It was built to stop humid Brooklyn air from ruining magazine printing.
How One South First Carries Apartments Over Open Air
One South First at Domino looks like part of it is floating, because its apartments bridge across a gap above the Williamsburg waterfront.
How the Fountains of Bellagio Learned to Dance
The Bellagio fountains became a Las Vegas icon by treating water less like plumbing and more like a cast of performers.
Why Your Ears Usually Do Not Pop in a Skyscraper Elevator
High-speed elevators move fast enough to change air pressure, but engineers design the ride so your ears can usually keep up.
The Leaning Tower That Shows What Lower Manhattan Is Built On
161 Maiden Lane is an unfinished leaning skyscraper on Manhattan's reclaimed shoreline, where foundation choices matter because the ground is partly made land.
How New York Cleans Windows Hundreds of Feet in the Air
New York's window washers moved from ledges and leather belts to roof machines, suspended platforms, and now robots, but the job still carries real risk.
Goldman Sachs Keeps Its Headquarters Cool by Making Ice at Night
Inside Goldman Sachs' 200 West Street headquarters, cooling is not just air conditioning. It is an ice-storage strategy built around New York's energy grid.
Why Soda Can Tabs Have That Hole
The hole in a soda can tab can hold a straw, but that is not why the shape survived.
The Brooklyn Bridge Was Saved by Overengineering
A corrupt wire supplier smuggled bad steel into the Brooklyn Bridge. The reason the bridge survived is the safety margin John and Washington Roebling built into it.
How Betty Lou Oliver Survived a 75-Story Elevator Fall
After a B-25 crashed into the Empire State Building in 1945, Betty Lou Oliver survived the longest elevator fall ever recorded.