A trade magazine for designing buildings and other structures made for modern people, published by the Alexandria School of Architecture ®

Page 3: Table of contents

Page 8: Bioluminescent plants, a cost-effective alternative to gas or electric street lighting?

Page 10: Are heated by magic cobblestone sidewalks, to keep these clear of snow and ice, a good investment or a waste of resources?

Page 16: How you can become a featured speaker at next year’s Alexandria Architecture Expo (AAE).

Page 18: Building your first beautiful and functional Cloudominium that is also expandable for a growing family.

Page 22: Our editors give you their creative ways to rebuild human structures for modern people.

Page 27: Designing outdoor playgrounds for the young of all species.

Page 32: Designing city walls that are pleasing to the eye, yet difficult for attackers to overcome.

Page 44: Why does your architectural firm need architects from all three pony species, plus at least two persons who are bipedal with hands, to create an effective design team?

Page 46: What is better for designing architecture, VR made by computers or VR made by unicorn magic?

Page 48: Honor Roll: Senior class projects created by the Alexandria School of Architecture students. This visual essay will prove that architecture is the world’s greatest art form.

Page 65: Legal advice: What happens when a returnee returns in or to your pre-Event structure and then claims that they own your structure?

Page 67: Nurturing our youth by creating those who can develop their talents their entire adult working lives, instead of 25-year-old wonderfoals who burn out their talents before they reach fifty.

Page 69: What ingenious article ideas do you have for Alexandria Architecture Magazine? These are our latest submission guidelines for text, photos, and graphics for our magazine.

Page 70: Humorous architecture spotlight: The Hayburger Barn is a popular restaurant chain whose twelve standalone buildings appear as red barns, complete with functional haylofts. The founder Wheat Harvest has a three meter tall, bronze statue of herself as she is now as an Earth pony within the front entrance hall of her flagship store in Alexandria. An inscription on the statue’s base says: “If I had known that I’d become a pony, I would have eaten more cheeseburgers as a human.”

6501360
Looks very interesting!

(Is it connected to something bigger or just some random (but cool) stuff?)

Awright, I can throw my two cents in. I aint no arkytech, I'se a businessfur.

Page 8: Not outdoors, too subject to the vagarities of weather. Now, indoors, not a bad idea.
Page 10: Good idea, but we does need better drainage of runoff, too. I hates gettin' my fetlocks wet.
Page 18: That's up to my wife and some of the kids- they's pegasuses, I aint.
Page 32: Take an idea from da Romans when theys was in Britain, vitrify the walls around the city. Makes them very difficult to climb, and funnels invaders to the gates. Natural choke points, they is.
Page 46: Unicorn magic, of course!
Page 65: Remind the Returnee that times have changed and that they has been out of circulation for a while. Whiles they is unconscious, call on the ponies that handle fresh fish.
Page 70: She has a good idea, and an excellent product. Her inscription is right too- I grew up woikin' in a butcher shop, and I miss BEEF!

Rapid Transit, President, Interurban Rapid Transit.

6501638

Dear Alden MacManx:

Could we see your table of contents for a rapid transit magazine, similar to the pre-Event magazine Railway Age?

Railway Age: Home Page

Sincerely,

Dances With Unicorns

6501628

If you and/or others are interested, I could write a slice of life story about the Alexandria School of Architecture. We could explore the problems the staff of this school have recreating the rules of architecture that best serve the lives of modern people.

6501638

You wrote for Page 10: "Good idea, but we does need better drainage of runoff, too. I hates gettin' my fetlocks wet." Are you thinking about a drainage system similar to the “Stormwater Management and Cycle Tracks” featured in The Copenhagenize Current?

The Copenhagenize Current - Stormwater Management and Cycle Tracks

6619506
Not a bad idea. So long as the water does not pool in the streets or along the footpaths and drains into the Twin Lakes, I'll vote in favor of it. Now, who we gonna get to do the contracting?

Now that I think of it, without the Internet and most broadcast television networks, there would be numerous magazines published in the post-Event world. For example, Alexandria would have a visitors’ guide for those who are taking classes, establishing businesses, and hosting their family reunions. It makes good sense to have a family reunion in a city that is in the middle of North America. Major and minor diplomats from other colonies who want to establish economic, cultural, and military treaties with Alexandria would want to find good hotel rooms, restaurants to eat at, and places for off-duty entertainment. What about a magazine devoted to returnees and all the opportunities and problems they now have? I imagine that that magazine would be named the “Returnee Journal”.

6619797

While anyone who is a certified and experienced construction engineer of any species could design those drainage conduit networks; I would hire a firm that has Diamond Dogs for the excavation work, and then have Earth ponies construct the drainage conduits made with concrete strengthened with steel rebar. Lastly, I would have Crystal or Unicorn ponies line the inside of the drainage conduit with one centimeter of crystal to protect the concrete from deterioration, as well as to make sure things don’t stick to the inside of the conduits and then clog up the drainage network. As an additional benefit, crystal linings last far longer than epoxy pipe lining and cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) lining invented by pre-Event humans.

6648365
Would not crystal be a bit brittle to use, in case of a severe shock, washout, earthquake, or similar stresses?

6648405

I believe that the crystals used in building structures in the Crystal Empire and in post-Event building construction, such as the drainage conduit networks, are quartz. I found out that quartz ranks a seven on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. I think that the Crystal ponies would make their structures out of quartz or a similarly hard mineral, instead of glass that would too fragile to build their structures with. In the real world, quartz stone is used for floor and wall tile. In short, the drainage conduit networks I propose building are lined with a coating of quartz to protect the main concrete structures from erosion. Any blunt force powerful enough to crack the quartz crystals would also be powerful enough to crack the concrete conduit boxes or conduit pipes.

I can buy that for a buck or two. Crystal ponies must have a way with crystals like I do with teleportation. I just can't see it, but I can accept that/

6501638

Dear Alden MacManx:

First, what do you think of this real-world proposal for a Fresno high-speed rail heavy maintenance facility? That proposal includes an assembly plant, commissioning facility, maintenance facility, manufacturer showcase, residential housing, a high-speed rail university (that I’m most excited about), visitors’ center, conference center, mixed use office and retail buildings, industrial park to keep the supply chain near the assembly plant, and a central operations headquarters to keep all these moving parts running smoothly.

Second, could you consider writing a Ponies After People story where your unicorn character builds inside the city of Alexandria a high-speed rail heavy maintenance facility that is similar to the proposed Fresno high-speed rail heavy maintenance facility? What could be more “Rapid Transit” than making 220 miles per hour passenger trains available for most land-based, city to city, or city to town travel in the post-Event world?

Fresno High-Speed Rail Heavy Maintenance Facility

Sincerely,

Dances With Unicorns

6681853
Dear Dances With Unicorns,

That is something to think about. The main obstacles will be primarily upgrading the rails and railbed to withstand a 220mph train speed. Second, maintaining the rails, bridges and tunnels in a usable condition. Third would be making a high-speed train itself. I can envision it, using a unicorn as an engineer to begin with before coming up with spells in crystals to power the train. That would be the easiest part, making a small train (no more than four cars) attain such speeds. I'll throw it in the stewpot and see what comes to the surface. Not a bad idea.

Rapid Transit

6681863

Can you imagine your Rapid Transit becoming a very successful, business professional similar to James J. Hill? He was known as "The Empire Builder" for building a network of railways, related industries, and settlements headed by the Great Northern Railway. Mr. Hill “energetically promoted settlement along his lines in North Dakota and Montana” and Rapid Transit building many railways could also promote the building and/or strengthening of colonies in North America. He was also a generous philanthropist, contributing much of his wealth to educational, religious, and charitable organizations. Our stories don’t feature characters that build business empires, so Rapid Transit could become the first of many.

Something to think about. "puts on thinking cap" Now, will it be cheaper to replace the rails, coat the rails, or do away with the rails? That will be project number one. Once that is decided, then we can move on to propulsion methods.

6794876

If your future transport system uses rails, why limit yourself to the track gauge, the spacing between the rails, to the standard gauge of 4 ft 8 1⁄2 inches wide? Think of the impressive trains your machine shops could construct if your track gauge was ten feet wide to twenty feet wide.

The key point here is the decision to use what is already there vice building new. At this stage of the game, the tracks, bridges and whatnot are still there, usable as patterns to base new construction on. Reinforcing existing structures is far cheaper than building new, yes? THAT's what's uppermost in my mind, kid.

Now, if we was several centuries ahead of time, and everything decays into scrap and crap, you might have something. At this time, I'll stick to what's there and see what I can do with them. Gimme a few years to work out the mathematricks, okay?

6501638

As your wife is a Pegasus, I was wondering if you and your wife ever use a tandem skydiving harness, your wife on top, you on the bottom, to fly for travel or for fun. I’m aware that some Unicorns can use a levitation spell to fly; but I’m not sure if you have sufficient magical knowledge to lift yourself.

Whaddaya think I is, crazy? No way is you gonna gets ME ta fly in anything less than a seven-thirty-seven with a competent crew! Just lookin' off a second floor balcony makes me dizzy!

6501638

The day when you and your wife bought your first home, did you carry your wife over the threshold in your forelimbs, in your telekinesis, or did you use a combination of both forelimbs and telekinesis?

6794876

With the disappearance of the United States state and federal governments, all antitrust laws have disappeared as well. That means you can own your railroads, with railroad cafes, hotels, and mail services. You can own the passenger bus and freight trucking services to towns and villages that have yet to be connected to your railway network.

You can own the coal and iron ore mines. You can own the steel mills. You can own industries that use steel such as aircraft assembly plants and shipyards. You can own airlines and shipping companies. You can own the banks that take the profits from one business to build or improve another company that you own.

All the companies you own can have company towns, schools, and retirement homes that you also own. You can pay half to all of your employee wages in company scrip that can only be exchanged in company stores that you also own. How does that laissez-faire business model sound to you?

6829855
Youse wants my opinion? Okay, I'll gives it ta ya.

If somebody really, truly wants to gather, attain and hold such power over other ponies, I would say 'kudos ta you, pallie'. HOWever, I would also warn said pony to watch his or her back. YOUSE gots ta be lucky all da time. Fools only gots ta be lucky once.

Remember the chorus to "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford fuh reference. Does ya REALLY wants somethin' like that here? That was paht of the old woild. Leave it theres, okay?

As for yer earlier question abouts gettin my foist house, all I am gonna say is, that's between me and my wife, pallie! Silvermane came along about a year later, if that's a clue. *winks*

6794876

What are your plans for legendary railroad locomotives, such as the Union Pacific 4014 “Big Boy”?

Big Boy No. 4014

To be honest, pallie, it would be best to start anew. If the rails and locomotive force are coming from another source, then starting from scratch would be the easiest thing to do. Now, putting a shell over the engine works that resemble classic locomotives, that would be almost trivial to do. Under the skin, it will be completely different. Crystalline rails, mystical force drivers, no need for steam and coal, right?

6936997

Yes, you are correct to start a new type of ground transportation. Why use coal that when burned pollutes the air and water, when you can use magic, the ultimate green energy source? Building an entirely new “fixed guideway” transportation network, based on magic and science, makes sense to me, while building that network can be the foundation for some interesting stories.