
Gate Tower Building - lelf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gate_Tower_Building
======
mrtron
I took a video of this building when I was visiting in Osaka (apologies for
the quality, the video is quite zoomed in):

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbJBwTHidGI&feature=c4-overvi...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbJBwTHidGI&feature=c4-overview&list=UU5gByMec2Bi49LEfJVrZTyw)

I happened to spot this building in Osaka from the Floating Garden Building
([http://www.osaka-
info.jp/en/search/detail/sightseeing_3147.h...](http://www.osaka-
info.jp/en/search/detail/sightseeing_3147.html))

I had read the wikipedia article before, it was very exciting to see in
person. Looking back it appears the wikipedia photo is taken from the same
spot as my video.

Bonus: [http://d.pr/i/Q7dn](http://d.pr/i/Q7dn) and
[http://d.pr/i/L9cV](http://d.pr/i/L9cV) give you some more perspective on the
surrounding area.

~~~
sillysaurus2
The quality's good. Actually, your whole video list is interesting! Japan is a
beautiful place...

The "flat escalator section" made me laugh for some reason. Hadn't seen that
before.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ1gZOrW5Ac&list=UU5gByMec2Bi...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ1gZOrW5Ac&list=UU5gByMec2Bi49LEfJVrZTyw)

~~~
mrtron
Thank you! It was an incredible trip - Japan is so beautiful and unique.

Glad you enjoyed the flat escalator! For some reason it caught my eye. The
vertical parking garage was neat too (and only a few blocks away in Kanazawa)!

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IvyMike
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Chicago_Main_Post_Office](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Chicago_Main_Post_Office)

~~~
officemonkey
In addition to the Congress Expressway, the building is also constructed over
an Amtrak line that runs north-south to Union Station.

So it goes ground, train track, building, highway, building.

~~~
blueskin_
In London, there are two fake houses covering where an Underground line runs.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leinster_Gardens](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leinster_Gardens)

Satellite view: [http://www.urban75.org/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2012/03/leins...](http://www.urban75.org/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2012/03/leinster-gardens-fake-houses-london-11.jpg)

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somethingnew
Was this posted in reaction to the Hyperloop post?
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6999556](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6999556)

~~~
lelf
Pretty much. After this comment in fact —
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7000936](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7000936)

------
maratd
Apartments over the George Washington Bridge

[http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3682](http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3682)

~~~
specialp
Yes my first thought. There is perpetual heavy traffic under there. George
Washington bridge is the busiest in the world.

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ddoolin
Wow. That's pretty interesting. I'm sure it posed quite a few interesting
architectural questions. Cool that it doesn't even touch the building while
passing right through it.

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kiwidrew
Hong Kong has something similar, where the highway passes through a carparking
building in Yau Ma Tei:

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/18378305@N00/8572448579/](http://www.flickr.com/photos/18378305@N00/8572448579/)

~~~
solox3
They had at least one Jackie Chan movie there.

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venti
Residential building on top of a highway in Berlin, Germany:

[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn%C3%BCberbauung_Schlang...](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn%C3%BCberbauung_Schlangenbader_Stra%C3%9Fe)

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bbanyc
Among Robert Moses's unsuccessful development projects was an elevated
expressway across Midtown Manhattan, with commercial development below the
road and high-rises above it. One proposed route had the expressway passing
right through the Empire State Building. I don't know how seriously this was
considered - it's one thing to put up a building around a road and quite
another to retrofit an existing building to put a road through it.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-
Manhattan_Expressway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Manhattan_Expressway)

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coreymayo
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_structures_built_on_top...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_structures_built_on_top_of_freeways)

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guard-of-terra
Then again La Defense in Paris is similarily mind blowing.

[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Arche](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Arche)

~~~
ojbyrne
Similarly mind-blowing:
[http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/sharpcentre/index.htm](http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/sharpcentre/index.htm)

~~~
SideburnsOfDoom
have you ever been near the Grande Arche de la Défense in Paris? it's 110
meters tall.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Arche](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Arche)

Your "similar" one has "26 meter tall columns", the total height looks like
around 30 meters. So no, not the same.

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c0ur7n3y
The adobe building in Utah has a road going under it.

[http://blog.kezu.com.au/page/2/](http://blog.kezu.com.au/page/2/)

(Disclosure: I work there)

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Crito
I wonder how loud it is in that building, next to or below the highway.

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paul_f
Not quite the same thing, but a 6-lane freeway (GA400) goes under the Atlanta
Financial Center.
[http://www.southeastroads.com/georgia200/ga-400_toll_nb_exit...](http://www.southeastroads.com/georgia200/ga-400_toll_nb_exit_002_06.jpg)

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mVChr
あああ... なるほど...

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaOF6lDnRUk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaOF6lDnRUk)

I was hoping they'd show what it sounded like on the 4th-8th floors. Can't be
optimal working conditions.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
According to wiki, those floors are unoccupied with extra shielding to protect
the building.

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sgberlin
Berlin:
[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn%C3%BCberbauung_Schlang...](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn%C3%BCberbauung_Schlangenbader_Stra%C3%9Fe)

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civild
Reminds me of the Tay House on Charing Cross Podium, a building straddling the
M8 motorway in Glasgow, Scotland, near my office:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M8_Bridge_to_Nowhere](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M8_Bridge_to_Nowhere)
and
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Wfm_m8_br...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Wfm_m8_bridge_to_nowhere.jpg)

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awad
Similar but nowhere near as intense in Manhattan.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Avenue_Viaduct](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Avenue_Viaduct)

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Argorak
Berlin has something similar with a subway since ~1900 (along with the house
that can be found in other comments):

[http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=...](http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.berliner-
verkehrsseiten.de%2Fu-
bahn%2FStrecken%2FGleisdreieck%2FGleisdreieck_1900%2Fgleisdreieck_1900.html)

(scroll all the way down)

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alexwright
"Normally, highways are still built underground in these cases, and passing
through a building is an extremely rare occurrence."

Did they mean underground? Seems like an underground motorway would be even
more impressive or unusual than this building.

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ojbyrne
Newton, MA:
[https://secure.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/8603939901/](https://secure.flickr.com/photos/iccdude/8603939901/)

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bitwize
Shoot, this just makes me miss Osaka. How could I have gone to Osaka and
missed this?

I'll keep an eye out for it next time I'm there.

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ballard
When cars are driving _on_ the vertical sides of buildings, then maybe that
might be impressive

~~~
ctdonath
A la _Minority Report_?

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fddi
check out the Meguro Sky Garden in Tokyo, recently completed. It covers a
freeway interchange

[http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ20...](http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201303300049)

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notastartup
Here's a video of driving through one. I don't see what's so special about it
though.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouPfeHJZzzM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouPfeHJZzzM)

~~~
selectodude
Japan really has the coolest freeways.

