Allison Meier

Art

Despite Developer’s Plans, a Manhattan Clock Tower Will Stay Mechanical

Tribeca is one of the few neighborhoods where you can tell time by a 19th-century clock tower, as the mechanical timepiece at the top of 346 Broadway has been hand-wound every week since its restoration in the 1980s.

Art

The Homes, Parks, and Towns that Shaped the United States' Built Environment

The built environment of the United State was constructed on grand ideas, including parks that inspired morality, towns designed to curb strikes, and homes that offered everyone their own slice of the land.

Art

Pigeons Recruited to Measure the Invisible Toxicity of London's Air

Pigeons outfitted with lightweight backpacks soared over London from March 14 to 16, collecting air quality data across the city that was shared via Twitter.

Art

The Inca Rope Bridge That's Woven Across a River Each Year

WASHINGTON, DC — Each June in Huinchiri, Peru, four Quechua communities on two sides of a gorge join together to build a bridge out of grass, creating a form of ancient infrastructure that dates back at least five centuries to the Inca Empire.

In Brief

Unearthed Inscription May Unlock Mysteries of the Etruscan Language

The few examples of Etruscan language that survive tell more about the dead than the everyday lives of the living, being mostly eulogies in tombs of the elite.

Art

Discovering the Secrets of Venetian Glass

The finest glassware of the Renaissance was made by artisans on the Murano island in Venice, and their techniques were intensely guarded.

Art

Art Deco Patterns of Beetles and Butterflies

Emile-Allain Séguy was enamored with the overlooked wonders of the natural world.

Art

An Indoor Forest Where a Massive Head Waits in the Water

The first sensation visitors to Anima at the Invisible Dog in Brooklyn experience is disorientation, as they walk through a dark tunnel made from scraps of wood that seem pulled together by a vortex.

Books

A Tribute to New York's Wilting Flower District

If cities had such things as official botanicals, New York City's might be the flower bouquet.

Art

The Catastrophic Inbreeding of the Habsburgs as Digital Degradation

When digitally editing an image, quests for improvement can cause more damage than good, whether saving a JPG so much that it distorts through compression or sharpening the photo until it pixelates.

Art

The Webcam of an 18th-Century Philosopher's Skeleton

LONDON — Presiding over a busy University College London corridor is a man who's been dead for over 180 years.

Art

Mechanized Art that Makes a Mop Talk and a Medicine Cabinet Tell Time

Even a plank of wood has kinetic possibilities in the art of Tim Hawkinson.