The San Francisco Citizen

It’s the Marin County Civic Center as designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Check it:

Portions of the science fiction films THX 1138 (1969) and Gattaca (1997) were shot on location in the Marin Center. In addition, the buildings (especially those in the fairgrounds) served as a direct inspiration to those of the planet Naboo in the Star Wars films.

This building is perhaps best known these days as the location of one of the offices of Senator Carole Migden. Here’s what it looks like from above.

As seen from the the 101 freeway from the north. Click to expand.

“The long horizontal buildings gracefully link the crowns of three separate hills. The circular theme is evident throughout the complex. Materials throughout the Civic Center are simple. Floors are custom-colored composition tile. Walkways and stairs are terrazzo, and partitions are sheet rock. The barrel-arched roof is of pre-cast concrete. The roof is a blue that blends with the sky. Walls are sand beige. Basic construction is pre-cast, pre-stressed floor systems with combined steel and concrete vertical supports. Exterior balconies run down the outsides of both buildings. The decorative arches create a sense of rhythm, and are made of cement stucco on metal laths.

“Gold spheres outline the entire interior and exterior rooflines. They create the effect of rhythmic unity and exemplify the Oriental influence Wright displayed in his work. They have been likened to raindrops and called, by some, a string of pearls.

Full-service public relations and public affairs consultancy Hill and Knowltonannounced today that former vice president Al Gore, upon his death, will be encased in carbonite and then buried. This type of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) was only made possible this year through the use of nanotechnology.

Until recently this was our understanding of carbonite, made famous in Star Wars V - The Empire Strikes Back:

“By the rules of chemical nomenclature, the formula for a “carbonite anion” would be CO22-, which is thought to be an impossible formation (methanoate being preferentially formed instead).”

Impossible no longer.

Artist’s conception of the former vice president encased in the densest form of carbon known to man:

Just one treatment of this double carbon material will take the equivalent of 1200 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The only downside will be the expense of a slightly oversized coffin. The upside is that Al Gore, Jr. will be the most severely carbon negative person in recorded history.

A relieved Hill & Knowlton spokesperson confided to one reporter that this announcement will lay to rest the controversy over the greenhouse emissions of Al Gore’s house, for some reason an issue of almost daily concern to the D.C.-based House of Flack.

If only Han Solo were alive to see this day…