Scaffolding is a huge part of any renovation or construction project. Thankfully, there are strict safety guidelines to ensure a stable platform for construction workers who have to traverse the maze of pipes and rails that make up any scaffolding project. Unfortunately, not every country (or job site) follows the rules… This can, unfortunately, cause injuries that can cause a lot of harm. If you have been hurt on a construction site because they aren’t following guidelines then you may want to contact a lawyer to see if you can get compensation. As funny as these scaffolding fails are, they are very dangerous and should be avoided at all costs!

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Some things are great to do DIY, but scaffolding is not. These construction projects are balanced on equal parts hope and recklessness. Piling the contents of your garage into a tower does not constitute a scaffold.

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Some countries have less standards for scaffold safety. In the US, rails are required, along with a specific set of tested materials that are known to be able to withstand the required forces. Many other countries simply lash bamboo poles together (a surprisingly strong material) and then allow construction workers to clamber to dizzying heights.

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When construction companies tackle huge projects, that scaffolding can get out of control. These job sites look like mini scaffold cities, a giant pincushion encapsulating towers of stone and allowing workers to “safely” reach every nook and cranny.

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When construction work is done in some countries, their platforms look more like an improvised gridwork/ladder than the carefully structured scaffold work found in US cities. While there is something cool about crawling up and down a latticework to do construction work, it’s not as cool when workers slip.

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When one is sick of sitting in a cubicle, it’s important to remember that some workers would love to have their feet planted on solid ground.

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Poor scaffolding is not simply a foreign problem. Whenever homeowners decide to take construction projects into their own hands, things can get quite messy. Unstable contraptions held together with a few stray nails are not what most people would like to work on.

Are stairs dangerous? How about if you twirled round and round and then tried to walk them? How about if you did not whirl but the staircases spun around in dizzying spirals? There is something entirely intriguing about spirals. Spiral shapes can be found in architecture, in nature, in DNA, and even in other galaxies. These 101 sexy spiraling shapes are architectural art. They twist, curling like a spring. This is a celebration of spiraling architectural design, angles versus curves. They may make you smile or they may induce vertigo, but here are some the most impressive, most dizzying, spiraling staircases from around the world.

Vatican

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In Rome, inside Vatican City, the Vatican Museums are some of the greatest on the globe. The above spiral staircase inside one of those museums is the most recognizable spiral stairway in the world. In the late ‘20s, Pope Pius XI commissioned the monumental project and entrusted the sculptor Maraini with the creation of the model. Marinelli Foundry cast it in bronze. Pope John Paul II later commissioned the Marinelli Foundry for the 340 meters of bronze handrail.

Bexhill to Budapest

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The top two images are of the spiral staircase built in 1935 at De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea, located on the south coast of England. Ceilings and balconies have also been inspired by the same circular design, like on the middle right, in a Budapest, Hungary museum. On the bottom is the spiral staircase at Piccadilly Circus in London. Enjoy this virtual trip and these architecturally artistic flights without needing to climb a step.

Castles to Towers

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These might make you dizzy as you ascend and descend, twisting and turning, spinning and whirling. Spiral staircases were first popular in castles like the castle in Chmielno, Poland, on the top left. Spiral stairs constructed during medieval times were usually made of stone and tended to wind in a clockwise direction. The three pictures on the right are of the Arc de Triomphe, a monument in Paris. There are 284 spiraling steps to reach the top of the Arc. The middle photo is looking down the round shell, while the bottom photo is looking up. On the bottom left, the spiraling staircase is from a castle in Poland near Kopiec Kosciuszko.

Helical stairs

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Helical stairs have a handrail on both sides, but no central pole like true spiral stairways do. Here are some helix / double helix staircases. The top left is in the interior of the Statue of Liberty. Both the top right photo of Royal Château de Blois and
the Château de Chambord on the bottom left are located in France. There are double helix DNA outdoor stairs and yet another springy spiral shape at the Garvan Institute in Sydney.

From Sagrada To Vizcaya

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The top two and also middle right photos are of Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. The Sagrada Familia is a massive, privately-funded, Roman Catholic Church in Barcelona, Spain. It was designed by Antoni Gaudí who started worked on it in 1883. There was a previous architect in 1882, but Gaudí redesigned the The Sagrada Familia. It will have 18 towers and is not expected to be complete until at least 2026. The spiral on the middle left can be found in Miama at the Vizcaya Museum. Construction started on the bottom left staircases in 1499. It is the twin spiral staircase inside the “Burg” in Graz, Austria. The bright yellow staircase is looking up to down in La Praille, Genève.

Dizzy

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You could spin round and round and probably not get any more dizzy than if you leaned over the railing to snap a shot of these gorgeous spiraling staircases. The top right photo is of The Tulip Stairs, inside the Queen’s House, Greenwich Park in London. It was the first centrally unsupported spiral stairs constructed in England. On the middle left is a view looking up the spiral staircase that leads from the upper floor of the Stift to the Cathedral. It is located in Melk, Austria. On the bottom is a great shot looking down at The Monument to the Great Fire of London.

Spirograph

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Staring at all the spirals can be a bit hypnotic. The yellow spiraling staircase in Austria was taken at the bottom looking up. The green staircase was titled Spirograph. On the bottom left is Vertigo, taken in Padova, Veneto, Italy. At the bottom right is the spiral staircase at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Spiral Up, Spiral Down

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Palazzo Barberini is a palace in Rome. It was built in 1549 and the top two photos are of an oval staircase by Borromini. The ornate spiral staircase on the bottom left can be seen in Malaysia at Kuala Lumpur Railway Station. The middle right photo was snapped inside the Museum do Pobo Galego in Spain. On the bottom right is the Lighthouse Island Virgin in France, Phare de L’Ile Vierge. Both spiral and helical stairs are classified by the number of turns that are made. Most very tall, multi-turn spiral staircases are found in lighthouses, castles, and old churches.

Down The Hole

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People who photograph spiral staircases seem to be in good shape as there are hundreds of stairs to climb to the top for the pictures looking down. On the top right, the old spiral staircase was photographed on the Ile de Ré off the west coast of France. On the middle right is a spiral hallway in the Navel Aviation Museum in Castelar, Buenos Aires. The middle left photo is of the Northern Lyngvig Lighthouse in Denmark. At the bottom left is the view looking up the Lednicky-Vltava Minaret in the Czech Republic.

Black & White Vortex

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The narrow twists as you climb up or down can leave you intrigued to see what greets you at the top or bottom. Something wonderful or something ominous? Dizzying spiral staircases can be found all around the world and are architecturally superb. The top right is entitled Stairway Near to Heaven while the bottom left was taken at Rathaus-Glockenspiel in Munich. The middle right spiral staircase was photographed on the climb up to a flat in London. The bottom right was snapped at the top of a lighthouse, looking down.

Brown Spirals

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Built in 1907 and in need of repair, the spiral staircase on the upper left is located at the Baron’s Palace, in Heliopolis, Egypt. This house is also supposed to have secret tunnels. At the middle right is the view looking up at a spiral staircase in the Architect Gunter Behnisch’s Museum für Kommunikation in Frankfurt, Germany. The bottom left leads to a restroom in Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, Finland, while the bottom right is the view from a Paris hotel.

Spirals

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From Fleet Street in London, looking up, like in the upper left, to the swirling orange design to its right, spiral staircases apparently come in all colors and flavors. The middle left was taken in Alicante, Spain, while the spiral staircase on the middle right was not tagged with anything more than Orange Vertigo. On the bottom left, this spiral staircase at the Palazzo Rosso in Genoa was restored by architect and museum curator Franco Albini. The bottom right stairway shows art again meeting architecture at Frank Gehry’s Art Gallery of Ontario.

Round-n-Round

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The top left photo was taken at the Hotel Botanico in Tenerife, Spain. The top right was taken looking down a belltower in Zadar, Croatia. On the middle left is a hypnotic view looking up and captured at the Café Glockenspiel in Munich, Germany. At the bottom left is one of the many spiral staircases in Rome. The red carpeted spiral staircase is located in Heniz Hall that houses the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Heaven and Soul Connection

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This magnificent masterpiece is not a stairway, but a stained glass ceiling inside the Thanksgiving Chapel in Dallas. It spirals upward to 58 feet. It’s called the Glory Window. It was designed by Gabriel Loire of Chartres, France.

Spiral Down

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The spiral staircases at the top and middle left were photographed in Rome. On the top right, this staircase was built in 1854 for an octagonal house in Wisconsin. The middle right spiral is looking down from a stairway in Madrid. At the bottom left is a spiral staircase constructed in 1854. That must have been a good year for spiral design. On the bottom right is a restored staircase for Casa Feliz Historic Home Museum in Winter Park, Florida.

step Step STEP

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The red and white swirl was built in 1930 and is located within a skyscraper in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The photo at the upper right was taken within a hotel in Helsinki, Finland. On the middle left is the Emerald Spiral. It is located in Prague close to one of the “most dangerous” streets in Warsaw, Poland. Visitors are advised: “huge zoom lenses and video cameras will attract unwanted attention, quite possibly worse.” The top right is called The Green Snake. The bottom green spiral staircase was snapped in Munich. The bottom right photo is from the first floor looking up, somewhere in Rome.

Non-circular Spirals

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On the middle left is a dynamic artistic feature at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. The black and white photo is of a spiral staircase in Italy. The bottom right picture was captured in Münster, Germany. Otherwise, look up or down and open your mind to the possibility that Rome has hundreds of fascinating spiral staircases. It was where the rest of these were photographed.

Colorful Staircases

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All of these colorful and architecturally enchanting stairways can be found in Rome. There is a group of photographers who belong to the “Spiral staircases and staircases project in Rome.” They walk around with their friends and capture these vivid beauties and their perception of reality for the rest of us to enjoy.

The Eye

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Mel’s Bookstore in Rome features this impressive elliptical spiral staircase in the top two photos. The beautiful spiral staircase on the lower left can be found in the Austrian Benedictine Abbey in Melk. But the dizzy feeling continues in the snail house design, spiraling up on the middle right. Dizzy yet? Going up or going down, can you tell which end is up in the lower right photo?

Going Down

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So whether in England at Gateshead Quays like at the top left, or in Hamburg, Germany like at the top right, try to enjoy the angles versus curves in stairways and stairwells. Does the shape really need to be round to feel the vortex of spiral motion? Spiral out of control with the dizzying sensations as you peek over the edge and look down. Peer up in wonder at the architectural art to be found in stairways. Or you can come back and look here again if you do not wish to undertake climbing the thousands of steps that you can virtually take in. But if you ascend and descend, twisting and turning, spinning and whirling, it will be worth it to see in person some of the world’s best spiral staircases. Keep your chin up and keep an eye out for spirals that are all around us.

Have you ever thought about what your mailbox says about you? A standard box can say that you like to play by the rules, or that you just don’t pay much attention to things like that and Locking Mailboxes could suggest you are a person of security. But an offbeat custom mailbox can reflect your personality and let people – or at least your mail carrier – know a little about you. These mailbox designs are weird, unique, and a little bit crazy.

These mailboxes were all photographed by the community at Waymarking. Members search out the most interesting mailboxes and, as long as they’re homemade or heavily modified (not hardware-shop standard), post them to share with everyone. They’ve captured some of the most amusing and amazing mail boxes from all around the world.

Some mailboxes clearly show that the owners are interested in a particular hobby or pastime. Whether it’s snorkeling, fishing, photography or tinkering with cars, you can bet that some creative mail receiver has made a clever mailbox to display their passion in a particular activity.

People love their vehicles – whether they drive a Harley, a hot rod, or a John Deere tractor. These clever mailboxes display a decidedly motor-driven slant to the homeowners’ tastes.

For many of us, animals are an important part of life. They provide companionship and stress relief, and often they entertain us like nothing else can. These mailbox modders have taken their love of animals to a weird new place by creating mailboxes that look like their favorite animals.

While some are hilarious, others are simply works of art. Animal-themed mailboxes – and any custom mailboxes – can run the range from extremely simple to very complicated. The best ones seem to be those that the owner has put many hours of thought and work into.

Businesses wouldn’t let homeowners have all the fun, though – these mailboxes are all in front of businesses, and they all reflect the type of business that’s carried on inside. Clockwise from top left, the owners of these fine mailboxes are: a chiropractor’s office, a plumber, a BBQ restaurant, and a waste management company.

Businesses who pay attention to little things about their customers’ experience would do well to include little touches like these. The whimsical mailbox in front of the company’s building may just help that business to stick out in customers’ minds. The businesses associated with these mailboxes, clockwise from top left: a dog groomer, an auto repair shop, a dentist, and a beverage outlet.

If you find yourself with a nearly-useless piece of junk in your house, think twice about throwing it away. These enterprising homeowners used the most unlikely of materials to create their own distinctive, personalized mailboxes.

It’s amazing what can be used to receive mail. These homeowners used everything from old lawnmowers to a drill press to an old gas pump and even more unusual recycled materials. This type of upcycling lets homeowners reduce waste while creating an unforgettable feature for their home.

Some people choose to show off their artistic skills by making an artsy mailbox. There’s virtually no limit to what one can do with a mailbox, a pole, and some imagination. A Ned Kelly effigy would seem like an unlikely mailbox, as would a scary tiki, but their unexpectedness is what makes them so delightful.

(all images via: Waymarking)

Of course, weird mailboxes don’t always have to have a reason. They can be as silly and as offbeat as you want them to be. Unless, of course, you’re dealing with a homeowners’ association – then you’ll have to convince them that having a spaceship mailbox is somehow in the best interest of the entire neighborhood.

Weird and wacky washrooms seem to be popping up everywhere around the world. Some bizarre bathrooms are outdoors while many are in hotels. Would you, however, feel compelled to go out to eat mostly to visit the restroom? Strangely themed restaurants have been appealing to clientele for years, but some restaurant owners are applying a new mind-blowing marketing technique to bring curious customers in their door. From plush powder rooms to voyeuristic lavatories, visitors come not to dine but to check out the restrooms. Here are 14 tasteful or tacky toilet themed restaurants.

Toilet Culture Is Changing

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Humors)

Classy restrooms have proven successful in upscale hotels, for example, where fantastic views of the city’s tourist attractions are visible through huge windows above the john. Leave it to overcrowded China to come up with the largest outdoor toilets. In Chongqing, there is a four-story, 1,000-stall facility with TVs, music piped throughout, as well as Virgin Mary- and crocodile-themed urinals in an area with no roof. If al fresco style isn’t for you, then how about their provocative sinks? In Japan, Coca-Cola’s Georgia Max Coffee has installed ski jump-themed restrooms in various ski resorts, as in put your feet in the skis, sit on the toilet and go for it. And Sofitel Hotel in Queenstown New Zealand has life-sized images of models who sightsee while holding binoculars, cameras, or tape measures above each urinal. But restaurants are getting into the act now, such as offering luxury via an “underwater” restroom. Such places are doing more than offering a decent place to visit when nature calls; in fact, they are capitalizing on the curious to come in just to visit the washroom.

Giant Aquarium Water Closet

In the city of Akashi, at the beachside Mumin Papa Café, female customers are making trips to the loo and staying to enjoy the underwater restroom. If you are male, you are out of luck at this classy restaurant as the men’s restroom is ordinary. For women, this sub-aquatic style submerged toilet is built into the side of a giant aquarium. Exotic fish and sea turtles swim by to be watched and to watch in this $270,000 water closet. The owner suggests this luxurious restroom was designed “to recreate the pleasant sensations of relieving yourself while swimming in the ocean.”

Escape

(images via:urinals)

If you are near Colchester, Essex, U.K., then you might want to go in for a drink and a bite to eat. This nightclub offers quite a strange restroom experience for male patrons. In fact, many gents visit simply to make a trip to the loo. The six stainless steel urinals each have a 42″ plasma screen behind a porthole vision panel. The giant screens activate when someone stands in front of them and a random video starts to play. In some cases, a guy might get a girl who is not impressed with what she “sees.” The screen might display a female who hands out flattery. Chances are also good that the 42” screen might display another guy criticizing or complimenting.

Take A Walk On The Wild Side At Bar 89 and R-Bar

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Bar 89 in New York City has a bathroom built for those who trust technology. This unique restroom (left) has clear glass stalls that completely frost over once a patron goes inside and shuts the door. Then the customer is concealed in privacy to take care of business. The R-Bar in Brighton, U.K., offers a latrine with loud red lips and an open mouth for urinals. The gay nightclub “blows away” its patrons.

Strange But True Toilets

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The Three Sisters Pub is located in Amsterdam, Holland, Netherlands. It’s an old building with a cobbled courtyard that leads to an area where you smoke and drink outside. After a few drinks and perhaps a snack, gentlemen visiting the little boy’s room are sure to take notice of the décor. A large mirror is over the shiny steel “monster” urinals. (left)

Some visitors come to stay at Nach Castle, while some come to the café strictly to dine. The bar on the top floor of Nach Castle, which is located in the ski resort town of Neustift im Stubaital, Austria, has another unusual bathroom. Both male and female customers tend to make a trip to the men’s restroom. It isn’t the steel toilets that are the claim to fame, but the image of a female inside the john. Once activated by a person standing in front of it, the urinal plays a short video of the nearly naked lady enticing the user. Strange but true, people come from all around to witness it. (right)

Brio’s Heaven and Hell Washrooms

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Located in Rockford, Illinois, the Brio Restaurant offers quality food and drinks in a cozy atmosphere. Although the building boasts vintage architecture, it is the themed restrooms that help bring in customers to this eccentric establishment. Heaven and Hell is awaiting Brio patrons in the washrooms. The women’s restroom (left) is supposed to represent Heaven with the cool shades of blue decor. The men’s restroom (right) is supposed to represent Hell with the red colors and wacky hellish design.

Busaba Eathai

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The Thai restaurant Busaba Eathai in London has a dark wood-lined interior while incense wafts around the room. From travel blogs to word of mouth, customers are advised to check out the restrooms. The hallway leading to the bizarre washroom has a sign to show which room is for males and which is for females. The sign itself though displays not gender but positions the sex would use to relieve themselves. Many travelers make the mistake of entering the wrong room, be it curiosity or confusion. Once a patron is inside the right privy, however, it is anything but private. There is an opening between the rooms where the sink is shared by both sexes.

Glass Lounge

(images via:Glass Lounge)

In New York City, you start to experience the Glass Lounge before you even walk in the door. Whether you are a Peeping Tom or want to try out your voyeuristic side, the experience begins with a two-way mirror overlooking Tenth Avenue. People on the outside see in, while people inside the restroom wash their hands or use the mirror to fix their hair. After several drinks, some people forget about the mirror that allows pedestrians or stalkers to watch you as you primp in the mirror.

Really Rustic At Marius

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In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Marius Restaurant starts your experience as soon as you walk in the door. The brightly colored pirate theme is not hard to miss, from buccaneers serving food to the bizarre latrina. Bright green walls and heavy castle-thick stall doors are not what shocks most customers, but the thick heaping piles of colored loose rocks on the floor. The sinks are also heaped full of stones. The urinals have packed ice on top of the rocks. If you are female, or are taking a female, this is not a good place to wear high heels. Just the same, don’t trip but have a trippy time; the restrooms should be a part of your visit.

Ninja Your Nether-parts

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The Ninja in New York is a ninja themed restaurant. Expect ninja’s jumping out of dimly lit hallways, but be certain to brave the ninjas and to try out the restrooms. Inside the washroom, you will be greeted by a cave-themed interior. The john itself is anything but rustic.In fact, this toilet features high technology. The Toto toilets offer remote-controlled “front cleaning” and “rear cleaning” action as well as blown hot-air for drying.

Go Green When You Gotta Go At Habana Outpost

(images via:Cafe Habana)

If you like to eat out as well as go green, then try the Habana Outpost in New York City. This café was the first eco-eatery of its kind and is dedicated to eco-responsibility. Not only in the kitchen, but the greenhouse-styled restroom is good for the environmentally conscious. Both the toilet and the sink use a rainwater recycling system that saves approximately 4,000 gallons of water a week. This washroom functions as a working greenhouse, so expect the unexpected besides the growing green foliage.

Peeping Tom Paradise

(images via:peep)

Ogling must be big business because in New York City, Peep is all about extreme voyeurism. Sure people go there and have a drink or dine, but the bathroom is the huge draw. At Peep, the entire washroom walls are built with two-way mirrors. It’s not unusual for visitors to spend up to ten times a normal visit to the restroom; instead of three minutes in the lavatory, occupants stay up to thirty minutes apiece enjoying their surveillance of everyone else from the restroom. Once inside, the whole bathroom stall is glass so you can spy on everyone in the restaurant until your heart is content. Make no mistake; Peep is all about watching from their washroom.

Shoji Tabuchi Theater

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In Branson, Missouri, there is another themed restaurant that attracts customers for their country-music theater shows. However, buses come during the day before the show starts specifically for visitors to see the elaborate and ornate restrooms. Both men’s and women’s washrooms are about 1,800 square feet and are filled with the sweet scent of fresh exotic flowers. The ladies restroom has been built around the 1890’s Empire Period, featuring stained glass, chandeliers, a fancy fireplace, and more flowers. The men’s room has a $15,000 marble fireplace and marble and oak doors. Men can do more than take care of nature’s call by playing on a $35,000 billiards table or by resting in black leather chairs. This is an example of yet another restaurant that uses the power of their powder room to pull in visitors.

(source: miss_gruviera)

Ranging from thousands of dollars to millions of dollars, the following toilets aren’t necessarily comfortable, they aren’t necessarily beautiful, and they aren’t necessarily ones you can afford. For some reason or another they all exist and now you can learn a little more about them and perhaps be a feel a little envious in the process.

Russian Toilet System for NASA – $19,000,000

NASA announced on July 3, 2007 it they would be investing $19 million on a Russian-design toilet system to be installed on the American side of the International Space Station. Previously, Americans had been using the same toilet system on the Russian side of the space station. What makes this toilet special? All things considered, perhaps the price tag is justified. The toilet comes with leg braces that help position astronauts while they do their business, while the system uses fans to suck everything into a septic tank where it uses a three-step filtration process to make all waste water into extremely pure drinking water. Considering that sending water into space with the astronauts is a very expensive proposition, and that designing a system like this from scratch would’ve cost more, NASA seems to have taken the economical route.

3D Gold Washroom and Toilet – $5,800,000

Built by Hong Kong’s Hang Fung Gold Technology Group in 2001 and located in their “Hall of Gold”, this toilet, called “The World’s Most Expensive Gold and Jewelry Sparkling Environmental Friendly Washroom” is not for public use. Instead it is meant to be a tourist attraction, used to showcase the ‘technological brilliance’ of the company. Among the treasures in the washroom is a solid gold telephone, sink, 24-carat solid gold toilet, and much more. Unfortunately visitors cannot see the washroom anymore after the owner died suddenly earlier this year and the company and his family were embroiled in a huge scandal (watch the video above while you can).

Shanghai’s Moon River Art Park Toilet – $602,000

(source: monkey_king)

Though the park has other nearby toilets, visitors have in some cases waited hours to visit this one. And even though the park authorities spent 5 million yuan on its construction, the toilet itself is obscured in a man-made cave surrounded by trees and flowers. Having become somewhat of a legend in the community, visitors come not with expectations of grandeur, but curiosity about what the all the money was spent on. According to the park’s marketing manager, the toilet, housed inside the man-made cave, is decorated like a grotto with stalactite-like water faucets. Certainly not the most luxurious toilet in the city, agrees the founder of the park, but perhaps one of the more artistic ones.

“Dagobert” Wooden Toilet Throne – $14,123

Built completely from ash wood and decorated with hand painted designs inspired by Dagobert, the last ruler of the 8th-century Merovingian dynasty, this wooden throne toilet literally goes ‘medieval on your ass’. As you raise the lid of your throne, the music to ‘Le Bon Roi Dagobert’ plays, helping you ease into position, and in true medieval fashion the flush is activated by the pull of a chain.

Toto Neorest 600 – $5,800

While still not affordable by most of us average people, the Toto Neorest 600 is possible the most ‘value for money’ on this list. At $5,800 for the toilet, it comes with some truly amazing and innovative features including: automatic hands-free lid opening and closing, heated seat, automatic and remote hands-free flush, automatic and self-cleansing system, water conserving dual-flush mode, warm air drier, and air purifier. With all those features and more, not only does the toilet start to sound like a great investment, but the company’s tagline, “calling it a ‘toilet’ is too limiting” also starts to ring true.