Foam Block Construction at Freret and Jena

It has been raining like crazy and I’ve been crazy busy preparing for a trip to Los Angeles this week, which has been seriously putting a crimp in my riding and blogging. It was pouring rain when I woke up, but it let up just enough for me to ride to work, raincoat, plastic bags, and extra shoes on board. I missed a number of downpours as I moved about my day at work, and by the time I was ready to head home, it was a veritable sauna out there. I rode back downtown along Freret and stopped to snap a picture of this new construction near Jena. I’ve been watching this place go up. It looks like it’s made of giant foam legos stacked on top of each other, slipped over those steel rods poking out the top. It’s some kind of green building–I’ll have to wait for D. to weigh in on exactly what it is. *Actually, I found out today that it’s ThermoBlock–the website has a nutty soundtrack, just like the nutty look of this building.*But it looks cool, apparently stays cool for less, and it has gone up incredibly quickly. There are so many ways to build, but I found myself staring at this thing, pretty sure there’s no way it’ll hold. I think it’s time I get used to seeing new kinds of buildings. We need them. I pedaled the rest of the way home, wondering how I can get a hand on a bike for a few days in southern California. Because I don’t think I can do without one.