Northampton Hospital sign

The litigious profession of architecture

Profit within architects' fees hardly covers the cost of liability insurance, over the 20 years following a project. A public building is an arena for almost any accident or problem, and almost always the architect is named in the lawsuit. Here's a good one:

“The mother of accused serial killer Maury Travis, whose bizarre hanging death in the St. Louis County Justice Center was ruled a suicide, filed a suit Friday against the county, the architects who designed the jail and the contractors who built it.” Authorities believe Travis committed as many as twenty murders; he hanged himself in his prison cell after leaving a note. (Peter Shinkle, “Mother of accused serial killer sues over death in jail”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 15th.

You'll never guess the value of this one

Likely the only one left out of 6 made, and driven only in the Le Mans, by Stan Antlocer. Looks deceive. The lucky owner hadn't a clue at the beginning of the auction. Started at $500. The curiosity began when he mentioned it only had a plexi windscreen. 7 minutes before the end of the auction it had risen to $95,000, then it sold for $222,521.63.

A disturbing truth, somewhere in the world

Do we believe them?

They might be fake fake watches, which would be worth... less than 10 Euros?

The art of interior camouflage

A man at his desk.

Building a Lamborghini in your basement

Ken Imhoff took seventeen years to build a Countach entirely by hand, and then bulldozed it out.

Miscommunication 2

The Welsh translates as "I'm not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated."