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After a brief weather delay in Orange County (which roughly translates to there being a cloud in the otherwise endlessly blue sky), we squared off against the newly opened John Wayne Airport Terminal C.

As the existing terminals, designed by Gensler in 1990’s, were exceeding capacity, the firm was again commissioned to create an addition in keeping with the original. Six new commercial passenger gates, security screening checkpoints, three baggage carousels and two commuter passenger hold rooms were incorporated into the project. While keeping outward appearances consistent, David Loyola, Design Director at Gensler’s Newport Beach office, introduced new, more efficient lighting systems, daylight-filled connector links and a cleaner color palette, serving to contrast against  the new airport concessions.

An unseasonal storm front crossing through Southern California had delayed my showdown with John Wayne, so with a few hours to fill I turned off the Interstate in Garden Grove to visit the famed Crystal Cathedral and Tower of Hope. I’d driven past them many times en route to other jobs and despite the rain, was happy to get this opportunity to stop awhile.

Due to it’s rather grand scale, the 1980 Johnson-designed Crystal Cathedral somewhat overshadows the earlier and more statuesque Tower of Hope. Finished in 1968, the 13 story tower was designed by Richard  Neutra. Topped with a 90 foot neon-lit cross, the tower was the tallest structure in Orange County for more than a decade.

The staircase on the south-west corner is classic Neutra with the mass of the concrete treads playing off the slim steel rods as they cascade skyward.

Back over at the Crystal Cathedral, the darkening skies, perhaps echoing the recent financial challenges the Ministry has faced, provided a dramatic backdrop to the sleek, reflective forms of the carillion.

Most weekends, London’s financial district resembles a kind a Ghost Town, so when walking through the area early Sunday morning, it was no surprise to engage the apparition of a headless stockbroker.

When it opened in 2005, Dongguan’s New South China Mall was the biggest shopping mall in the world.  Seven years later it still holds that title though is probably a contender for the loneliest place on Earth as well. In the massive 7.1 million sq ft of lettable space there are slots for 1,500 stores. Of the 386 stores that opened in 2005,  a recent count revealed a total of 30 that were actually operating.

The mall has seven wings, themed on different parts of the world. These include a full size replica of the bell tower of Venice’s St. Mark’s Square, an Arc de Triomphe and various Egyptian motifs. An amusement park buried from view in the center of the mall is called Amazing World and features huge indoor roller coaster (still sitting idle), a multiplex cinema and the essential canals with Venetian gondolas.

The original St Mark’s Square Tower in Venice.

The replica St Mark’s Square Tower at New South China Mall

The full size Arc de Triomphe replica in Dongguan, complete with decorative wreaths commemorating the cities which fell under Napoleon.

Looking closely at the  wreath, one can see the city MOSCOW has been placed upside down by a hapless construction worker. Easy mistake when you think about it.

Elsewhere, the seven year old Egyptian statuary is falling victim to the ravages of time.

The more I looked around the city, the more curious connections to Western icons seemed to pop up. Of course we’ve all read about the volume of cheap Chinese knock-offs when it comes to items like fashion labels and movie titles. But seeing the Haiyatt Hotel I thought, moved things into a much grander scale.

Despite my general distrust of advance meteorological knowledge, the forecast low cloud for Shanghai was indeed coming true. Still, it made for some impressive views from the hotel room while waiting for more favorable conditions. Here, the Jin Mao Building and Shanghai World Financial Center dance majestically in and out of the passing clouds.

Most times, when embroiled in a shoot in a far flung location, one of the only connections to the goings on of the outside world arrives in the form of BBC World News. There’s a certain sense of calm continuity in the presentation that makes a welcome change from the dramatic histrionics of the American news networks.

In recent years, the advent of more portable cameras employing direct satellite upload links from the field has spawned an increase in the amount of jittery, out-of-sync footage that makes it onto our screens. Carefully handled, the immediacy and spontaneity of the delivery outweighs any perceived lack of technical prowess. On the ever growing flat screens in the hotel room though, this lower resolution of these uplinks is magnified and becomes a little jarring before too long.

Most recently, I have noticed several networks pursuing what is obviously the cheapest (and likely most convenient) solution to the expert opinion interview. That is, the use of Skype as a means of direct contact with the subject, without the production hassle of getting them into a studio with actual camera, lights and backgrounds (not to mention stylists). Again, when handled well at both ends, the immediacy of the contact outweighs the technical polish.

When badly handled however, the results can be unsettling.

Mid-CNN broadcast on the large plasma TV, and halfway into yet another Hainan Chicken Rice, I literally recoiled in terror as the screen image flicked from the studio presenter to the field interviewee. In my room, on this huge screen, this guy’s head was almost three feet across!

Rather than this blimp blip becoming the occasional hiccup in any news bulletin, it is if anything, becoming the normal state of things. As screen sizes get larger our attention to detail seems to get correspondingly smaller. Cultivating the ability to discern good composition and good lighting are all but gone as networks rush to embrace the cost saving virtues of new technology.

Surely someone in the production crew cares about the demise of their craft? Though considering this next example, apparently not.

Picture this bursting into your lounge room on a 50+ inch screen.

So as to not be wholly negative, here’s a few possible solutions for the networks to send out with their Skype number.

1. Raise the camera by putting the laptop on some books. Or just lower the desk chair.

2. Turn on some room lights so you’re being lit by more than just the deathly blue light of the screen.

3. Push the laptop away from you.

4. No, further.

5. Think about a career in radio.

“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot” sang the prescient Joni Mitchell in 1970.

Much of the same has been happening in the rapid transformation of Asian cities such as Beijing. What were once smaller clusters of multi-dwelling residential blocks have been razed to make way for exclusive and expensive condominiums.

Until relatively recently, with a few hangers on in residence, this zig-zag design block reminiscent of the 1930’s, sat opposite the sprawling CCTV site in central Beijing. It was demolished during 2008 in the lead up to the Olympic Games.

Any social infrastructure holding the fabric of the community together was dismantled and hauled away, to be replaced by a new vision of paradise.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Xanadu. Life Beyond Imagination.

Or as the locals would no doubt have figured out, Life Beyond Affordability.

The newly opened Terminal B and Concourse at Sacramento International Airport was known as The Big Build, mostly due to the billion dollar price tag. Over the past four years, it has been the single biggest construction project in California. Designed by Fentress Architects in association with Corgan Associates, the new terminal dramatically improves the entire airport experience for travelers

A 56 foot long polygonal rabbit by artist Lawrence Argent leaps through the void towards a giant suitcase on the baggage level below. Though I must admit to conjuring up thoughts of Monty Python and the Holy Grail’s “death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth…” every time we walked by.

Light entering the terminal through the south facade screens casts an ever-moving variety of shadows throughout the day

To hear “We’ve been placed in a holding pattern” usually elicits a collective groan from passengers onboard any San Francisco bound flight. But depending on the day and of course your proximity to a window, this sometimes results in a wonderful display of color and form from below.

After completing the shoot at Jackson Hole Airport, we made some time and headed up into Yellowstone National Park. Having experienced the park mostly through Yogi Bear cartoons and the odd National Geographic special when I was a kid, I was keen to see at least some of it first hand. We’d already used our weekly allocation of good karma with regard to the weather, so this day was definitely a case of dodging the occasional rain bands that passed through the valley.

Almost immediately upon entering the southern end of the park, the scenery changes away from the benign, spacious valleys around Jackson to something more primordial. In between the seemingly normal forests and waterways, earth opens up, venting a pungent, gaseous cocktail of minerals from deep within.

Wooden walkways around the geysers ferry a continuous stream of onlookers. The regular visions of people disappearing in and out of the steamy clouds underlined the tenuous and temporal nature of our existence on the surface of this planet.

When getting in close to these holes in the earth’s crust, seeing the rich color and textures of the natural formations, it wasn’t hard to abstract the shapes and consider them more as aerial views of expansive coastlines.