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the maeslant barrier (maeslantkering), a huge storm surge barrier at the mouth of the port of rotterdam in the netherlands, is the largest hydraulic engineering structure on earth and, according to hard-fact bible wikipedia, ‘the largest moving structure on earth’. it was opened in 1997 as the final part of the delta works, an enormous project undertaken in order to protect certain coastal areas of the country from the sea after a flood in 1953 killed more than 1800 people in the area.
the barrier consists of 2 incredible movable gates which automatically sweep across the water, meeting in the middle of the waterway to form a temporary wall, each of the gates rotating on 680-ton steel ball joints which, with a diameter of 35ft, are also the largest in the world. the barrier’s movable design was chosen as the waterway it guards is far too valuable in terms of trade to shut off permanently: this single barrier cost $700m and has absolutely no effect on ship traffic.
a few weeks ago (november 8th) the barriers were used for the first time prior to fierce storms and succeeded in protecting the port from flooding. the gates, weighing the equivalent of 4 eiffel towers, took 30 minutes to close.
below is the barrier as seen on google maps, the direct link is here.
there’s a brief clip of the barrier below.
if you’ve ever wanted to feel like an ant, head to the library in either cardiff or kansas missouri: rather than using a traditional front to the building, both have decided to turn the premises into giant bookshelves, creating an extremely surreal experience for passers by.
cardiff public library
apparently this is only a temporary feature at cardiff library until the new building is completed. if it was up to me the place would stay like this permanently.
kansas city library
local residents were asked to nominate influential books that represent kansas city, humungous versions of the winning nominations were then used as the exterior of the library car-park.