Neat, but I think with sufficient planning and management you could also build a traditional house of that size and complexity in a day. It would probably be a box rather than this unusual shape, though.
Politicians who want to gut the EPA aren't unaware of the effect that will have. They are just trying to stuff their wallets and they don't care about the effect. Sending them to Shanghai would not solve this problem.
ESRI has a lock on the government GIS business. Why? Governments have byzantine procurement processes designed to prevent self-dealing and malfeasance. This is a problem, because from whom will you procure PostGIS? From nobody. So you can't really use it on a government contract.
Uber is clearly circling the bowl. I think it's questionable whether the company will exist in a year. If they do, I think it will be at a significantly reduced headcount. That brings up the question of what they will do with the new office in Oakland designed for 3000 employees that they won't need. Will they consolidate in Oakland and sublease their expensive real estate in SF? Or will they try to unload the expansion property and stay where they are?