We usually focus on the amazing results of extraordinary construction projects on our blog, but those spectacular creations don’t build themselves. It’s time to pay the proper respect to some of the machines that make jaw-dropping construction possible, especially those epic forces of man-made innovation that tower above the rest.

So here they are—in the world of construction vehicles, these are the five biggest and baddest:

Krupp Bagger 288: World’s Largest Trencher

To put it lightly, the Bagger 288 is a bucket-wheel excavator. But there’s nothing light about a 13,500-ton mobile strip miner. The German creation is 721 feet long, 315 feet high, and can clear an area the size of a football field three stories deep—in just one day.

Armored Caterpillar D9R

Its nickname is Doobi (Hebrew for teddy bear) but this heavily armored bulldozer is anything but soft and cuddly. With 15 tons of Israeli-engineered armor protecting the entire machine and bulletproof windows sealing in the cabin, this monster machine is equipped for construction, rescue, demolition, and even defending itself with custom-fitted grenade launchers and machine guns.

Liebherr LTM 11200-9.1

The Liebherr LTM 11200-9.1 telescopic crane is ridiculous. It can lift up to 1,200 tons. It’s boom extends to 100 meters long with up to 126 meters of additional lattice. Rolling along on a nine-axle suspension, this bad boy can handle any job. Disc brakes come standard.

LeTourneau L-2350 Front End Loader

The world’s largest rubber-tire front loading vehicle of its kind, the L-2350’s bucket is roughly the size of a studio apartment. It has a 2,300 horsepower engine capable of lifting up to 160,000 lbs. The operator stands two stories off the ground, and the mammoth bucket extends to a maximum height of nearly 44 feet.

Rusch Triple 34-25 with Genesis 2500 Demolition Shear

Quite possibly the largest demolition shear in the world, the Genesis 2500 wields devastating power, especially mounted on the Rusch excavator. It is a destruction machine with Godzilla-like force.

Those were the five biggest, baddest construction vehicle that exists today. Which one do you think beats them all? Share with us.

Rock gardening is very satisfactory because it is not excessively demanding, but it’s sufficiently challenging to reward reasonable dedication and attention. Apart from initial construction when you have to plan and build the garden, rock garden’s tasks are generally light and agreeable. Most can be accomplished while puttering around the garden at longer periods on more fixed time schedules as some other types of gardening demand.

Traditionally, rock gardening involved the cultivation of mountain plants. This opinion has been changing and now it is viewed as an art form based on the agreeable use of rocks in the landscape. This means that you should fit your plant choices to local conditions. In desert and semi desert areas, cactuses and other succulents in nearly endless array are obvious possibilities. You can make them an amazing match with rocks.

For humid warm climate regions, you can try ferns, as well as many kinds of begonias, gesneriads, peperomias, and other plants, many of which as wildlings inhabit cliffs and other rock features.

Do you have a rock garden? Do you love them? Share with us.

Game Room

You can make your basement a place where men forget they are at home, they are at their favorite place where they can hang out with their friends without even stepping outside.  A couple of remodeling tasks and you can have the coolest basement: dark walls, wood flooring or dark carpeting, overhead lamps in green glass,  hang football pics, big TV screen a couple of lazy boy chairs, a pool table, dart board, and don’t forget to place a refrigerator to keep the drinks cold.

Kid’s Playground

If you have kids and they have no playground at home, you can use your basement for such purpose.  Decorate walls with bright colors, your kid’s favorite cartoon pictures.  On the floor lay down soft carpeting to avoid, get a nice closet and shelves where kids can keep their toys organized, some small desk and chairs and ready to play.

Basement Home Office

Turn your basement into your home office. If you bring home work or work at home, you might need a quiet place where you can work without anybody disturbing you.  Your basement can make it a great place to isolate yourself for a few hours and get the work done.

It might be important to separate your work time and family time. In order to transform you basement into your office you need to make sure your basement:

• is warm enough for you to stay comfortable,
• has great Lighting,
• walls have neutral paint job
• has comfortable furniture

Have you turned your basement into a cool place? Tell us about it.

Yes! There are solar roof tiles. They are smart, green, effective and match your home. Designers have thought about the design so that the tiles easily blend with the style and architecture of your home. Traditional solar panels sits on top of your roof but aren’t integrated into it. We show you two models that can compliment the style of your house.

Check out the solar tiles in the image below. They matches perfectly with your mission-style roof.

Manufacturer: SRS Energy

Those ones have ability to interlock with most concrete roof tiles.

Manufacturer: Premier Power

Remember that now you can apply for energy home remodeling stimulus. You can find more information at Home Buying Improvement Stimulus.

James’ vision is one in which neither the design nor the materials aesthetically outweigh each other.

Check below some of our favorite pieces:

Modern Coffee Table

This table is an expression of materials and inconsistency. The top is made of three book matched walnut boards that all originated from a mill in North Carolina and had been cut to different lengths. He decided to keep those lengths the way he received them. The grain on the top matches up perfectly, while the length of each top board does not.

Redwood Root Coffee Table

When the majority of the Redwoods were milled in California in the mid 20th century, the trunks were cut starting at ten feet. Because of this practice and the natural weathering qualities of the wood, there still exists massive redwood stumps as well as their untouched shallow root systems. This coffee table is a testament to the beauty of the remaining stumps. There is a single black walnut butterfly in the top and two “stitches” in the bottom for stability. The legs are hand turned black walnut. The design of this piece was entirely influenced by the raw piece of redwood.

Sapwood Oval Entrance Table

The inspiration for this piece came purely from the central piece of wood that, when bookmatched, makes up the outside panels and drawer faces. When Michael split this piece in half and opened it up the sapwood made a beautiful and consistent oval that ran most of the length of the board. The framing and top are entirely Black Walnut and the drawers are made of solid Poplar.

Source: http://www.michaeljamesmoran.com/

Tell your friends the exotic place where your floor comes from

The reclaimed wood can come from tropical places like Brazil. This amazing wood is like a fine wine; they have survived many natural calamities and only get better with age. Nail holes and saw marks can give character to your home and the result is an eye-popping, unique floor with incredible history.

Terramai Peroba’s

Has your floor been part of the history?

Make your floor unique and make it a part of history. You can add reclaimed wood to your house and know it had a life before. The flooring you see in the image below was used as decking in railroad sleeper cars. If it was durable enough for a railroad, it is most likely durable enough for your home.

Trestlewood’s Greenheart’s

Give your home a taste of country

You can enhance your country style home decor with reclaimed wood. The mixture of domestic red and white American Oaks is casually elegant with a compliment of sturdy, practical furniture, colorful textiles, and useful rather than fanciful accents.

Elmwood Antique Heart Pine’s

One thing is for sure, if you use reclaimed wood flooring it not only brings charm and beauty but also becomes a conversation starter. What do you think? Share your thoughts with us.

Joel offers a fresh alternative for a broad range of live/ work settings today; it is scaled to maximize real estate for both lobby and collaborative settings and also functions beautifully as an executive office/ guest chair.

“Expertly designed by EOOS for Walter Knoll, Joel is original from every angle,” said Tom Dilillo, Coalesse Director of Marketing. The back and seat dominate; lines and curves change with every turn. The double-needle stitching along the back of the chair provides a subtle, yet refined feature, while the two-piece construction beautifully accentuates the form.

Nanyang Technological University School of Art, Design and Media – CPG Corp

At the University Campus Master Plan this place was supposed to be left as green lung. In order to keep to the original intention, the architect carved a habitat from the constraints of the valley and allowed the landscape to play a critical role in molding the building.

Waldspirale – Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Completed in 2000, this residential building complex in Germany contains a playground for the children of the residents and a small artificial lake at inner courtyard. It was developed by Friedensreich Hundertwaser, Heinz M. Springmann and the Bauverein Darmstadt Company.

Chicago City Hall Roof Gardens – William McDonough

William McDonough designed the Chicago City. The roof gardens were completed in 2001. However, it is not open to public. If you would like to view the garden you will have to schedule an appointment.

Now you can think how to enjoy your roof adding some green thinking? Share with us.

Can you tell our audience what multifunctional structural materials are?

Multifunctional structural materials are structural materials that can provide one or more functions in addition to the structural function. Examples of such functions are sensing (e.g., sensing damage, strain and stress), deicing (also anti-icing, as needed for bridges, highways and driveways for safety enhancement), electrical grounding, electromagnetic interference shielding (for protecting electronics from the radio wave emitted from cell phones and other devices) and lightning protection.

Out of all multifunctional structural materials, which one is closer to commercial deployment?

There are two categories of multifunctional structural materials. In one category, the additional function is due to the structural material itself. In the other category, the additional function is due to a device that has been embedded in the structure or attached to the structure. The first category is attractive for its low cost, high durability, large functional volume and absence of mechanical property loss. The first category is what I am interested in. Cement-based materials (concrete) and carbon fiber epoxy-matrix lightweight structural composites are among the materials of the first category.

Can multifunctional structural materials be applied to residential construction with current architectural, design and construction paradigms? Do they need to be manipulated differently (because of health-related issues, etc.)?

Multifunctional structural materials of the first category can be implemented just like conventional structural materials.

You are the inventor of smart concrete, could you introduce its benefits versus ordinary concrete? What are their draw backs?

Smart concrete is concrete that is itself a sensor of its strain or stress. Ordinary concrete cannot provide this function. The function relates to the electrical resistance of the smart concrete changing with strain or stress.

Smart concrete can serve as a scale for weighing moving trucks, moving cars, cargo and rooms. The room occupancy thus sensed can be used to control the heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation of each room of a building in order to save energy. Smart concrete also serves as a detector of intruders (for building security) and of vibrations (for earthquake warning). Smart concrete contains a small proportion (e.g., 0.2% by volume) of short carbon fiber, which results in a cost increase of about 30% compared to conventional concrete.

Do smart concrete change structural functions of the concrete?

The smart concrete has superior flexural toughness and strength compared to conventional concrete. In addition, it has less drying shrinkage. These are additional benefits that help the structural properties.

What is your concept of smart house?

A smart house can have various functions, such as sensing, electromagnetic interference shielding, deicing (also anti-icing), energy management, energy generation and energy storage.

What work needs to be done to allow building entire smart buildings with these kind of materials? (e.g. more research, education, regulation, etc.)

In addition to research, collaboration is needed between researchers and technology implementation personnel to field test the technology and to bring the technology to commercialization.

You are committed with sustainability, which role can multifunctional concrete play?

Smart concrete can provide energy management, as mentioned above in relation to room occupancy monitoring and building facility management. Much energy is now wasted in half-empty buildings.

After almost 20 years researching multifunctional concrete, which are in your opinion the main research priorities that need to be tackled?

Research on materials for vibration damping is needed, particularly in view of the severe earthquakes that frequently occur in various parts of the world. Damping refers to reducing the amplitude of vibration and dissipating the vibrational energy. In fact, my latest research breakthrough (made in 2009) relates to a new material with unprecedented vibration damping ability (much better than any existing material). The new technology is covered by a pending patent and is available for commercialization.

We would like to thank you Dr. Chung for taking the time to answer our questions.

There is no greater source of home inspiration than those images that flicker before our eyes from behind the small and silver screens. Like the towering (and rent-able) Outer Banks haven from Nights in Rodanthe, life is better than fiction when you let images spark your imagination. Whether you want to be the king of your castle or the least desperate housewife on the block, Hollywood loves the houses we’d all love to own. (Credit: esc831976)

Back to the Future

Old Doc Brown has the historic Arts & Crafts icon, the Gamble House, to thank for his groovy movie digs in this 80s kitsch classic. Often open for tours, fans can visualize the mad scientist busily generating gigawatts in the dining room. Pasadena is a favorite hot spot for film exterior shots. (Credit: Elizabeth Aja)

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

What teenager didn’t dream of rigging his room with the ultimate fool-the-folks package that led to Ferris’s great day out? If you like things a bit more modern, best bud Cameron’s silver screen home, located in Highland Park, IL, is on the market for a cool $1.8 million. (Credit: MPR529)

Bugsy

This gangster movie manse was once the real home of opera singer Lawrence Tibbett. In the 1991 film, starring Warren Beatty, it played the role of  character Virginia Hill’s private love-nest. Since then, the house has been seen in films such as House Bunny and Hollywoodland. (Credit: T Hofarth)

Charmed

This spellbinding piece of San Francisco splendor is, in fact, located in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. As beautiful as it is, Hollywood is a land of smoke and mirrors magic, using sets to change the size of the porch and number of windows as needed for the long-running witchly series. (Credit: Kansas Sebastian)

Cheaper by the Dozen

A Beverly Hills beauty was chosen to play the role of home to Steve Martin’s family of fourteen in the kid-friendly comedy favorite, despite its being set in Chicago. It is, as are most movie mansions, a private residence.  (Credit: T Hofarth)

Father of the Bride

So terrific, they had to use it twice. This Pasadena family home served as the set for both Father of the Bride remakes and also made a guest appearance in Leonardo DiCaprio’s Catch Me if You Can. (Credit: T Hofarth)

House II: The Second Story

Never heard of this shocking sequel? Not surprising. The films, featuring faces from the TV comedy Cheers, may have flopped but this stone stunner, located on Los Angeles’s Figueroa Street, almost makes up for their floundering failure. (Credit: T Hofarth)

Gone with the Wind

Ah, Tara. Scarlet made her dress from the fictitious drapes of this southern manor–Southern California, that is. This family home, complete with kiddie gym in the yard, is situated in the good old 90210. But no matter the location, it has been the site of decades of romantic wartime dreams. (Credit: volvoshine)

Brideshead Revisited

The striking Corinthian-styled  Castle Howard of York has graced screens both silver and small with it’s  three centuries of sovereignty. The Howard family, still residing on their ancestral grounds, graciously opens their tremendous home to thousands of visitors each year.  (Credit: Xerones)

Happy Days

The Hollywood home so happy that it seems to smile right through the screen. Richie Cunningham, along with siblings Chuck and Jonie, lived here with “Mr. & Mrs. C” for the entire ten year reign of the 1950s-set favorite American sitcom. (Credit: T Hofarth)

Home Alone

One of the rare few location-appropriate sets is this hotbed of holiday hilarity in Winnetka, IL. Illinois-raised director, the late John Hughes, could always be counted on to show scenes of true midwestern suburbia. The first and second Home Alone films used the exterior and selected interiors for large portions of production. (Credit: anarchosyn)

Desperate Housewives

Rich, superficial, complicated. No, we’re not talking about the residents of Wisteria Lane, rather the set that many have called home. Visitors can stroll amongst the flowers in the Universal backlot and imagine an afternoon of tipsy Texas Hold ‘Em with their favorite hot housewife. But be warned, this house has a bad rap, once home to the Mullins, the Applewhites, Alma Hodge–None of whom had great luck in life. (Credit: Brymo)

The Munsters

Seeing double? Well, you should be. Housewives’ most passed-around real estate is more of a hand-me-down house than they realize. The original TV version was a bit less flash and a lot more frightening when it it was 1313 Mockingbird Lane, one of the most famous addresses of 1960s television. (Credit: Jeffrey Putman)

Pride & Prejudice

Derbyshire dazzles moviegoers with it’s imposing Haddon Hall. With the combined powers of Medieval and Tudor architecture, this  fortress has been seen in films including Jane Eyre and Elizabeth. For a small fee, the Manners family will grant visitors access to their winsome wonderland. (Credit: kev747)

Nightmare on Elm Street

Hard to believe that this sweet little house led to more restless nights than any other, throughout the 80s and 90s. Many homes were featured in the sleep-fracturing franchise, but this cozy cottage was Nancy’s house. (Credit: T Hofarth)

Yours, Mine & Ours

The Brady Bunch had nothing on the scripted residents of this Pasadena Victorian treasure, which set the stage for the 18 Beardsley step-kids in the 1968 original version, starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. The more Colonial-style remade version, with Dennis Quaid and Renee Russo, lacked that great Victorian charm. (Credit: T Hofarth)

Atonement

Stokesay Court, the deliciously dark, late Victorian castle located the South Shropshire region of England, has likely seen more drama than Kiera Knightly could comprehend when filming her 2008 period  classic. The cast and crew invaded this private home for six weeks of filming. The family now offers scheduled tours of the lavish interior and grounds. (Credit: jo-h)

Twilight

This charm-choked B&B in Forks, Washington has a complaint to lodge. Lacking all the contemporary glass-and-clean-lines sophistication of the version, now available for purchase, shown in the Twilight flicks, this is reputed to be the true home of Edward Cullen’s clan, as written by author Stephanie Meyer. (Credit: cloudsoup)

Psycho

Perhaps one of the most recognizable of all doomed domiciles, the Bates’ house, sits atop its creepy hill within the confines of Universal Studios. That’s right. It’s a constructed set of both manse and motel available for photo ops and tours, to the delight of many a fan of Hitchcock’s horror. (Credit: dahnielson)

Since the first pictures flickered to life on the silent movie screens, we’ve daydreamed ourselves into the sets and scenes. Maybe one of these megaplex masterpieces will inspire your next purchase or renovation.