A $500,000 MacArthur grant sure would be handy right now, but they didn't pick me this year. Still, it's nice to know that I can study at the feet of winner John Ochsendorf.

Ochsendorf is a structural engineer and architectural historian who finds modern uses for ancient technologies like hand-woven fiber suspension bridges in the Inca Empire. He's also an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and some of his courses are available for free download:

• Analysis of Historic Structures
• Basic Structural Theory
• Building Structural Systems I
• Building Structural Systems II

More Free Online Architecture Classes >

An interesting work of "Egyptian Revival" architecture celebrates a birthday today. The tall, pencil-shaped Washington Monument in Washington D.C. opened to the public on October 9, 1888. The oddly-shaped structure was designed to resemble an ancient Egyptian obelisk and, at the time, it was tallest free-standing masonry structure in the world.

• Photos of the Washington Monument
• History of the Washington Monument
• Visiting the Washington Monument

Does your town have a valuable old building falling into disrepair? Is urban sprawl nibbling away at important landmarks? Has a flood or earthquake shaken the foundation of a historic neighborhood? You don't have to be a licenced architect or engineer to make a difference. Most parts of the world have a preservation foundation or national trust that can help you save significant structures. In the USA:

• Submit a photo to This Place Matters
• Submit a video to Preservation Nation on YouTube
• Nominate a site to the 2009 Listing of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places (Deadline: December 5, 2008)

The revolutionary Swiss-born architect known as "Le Corbusier" was born on October 6, 1887. Le Corbusier was a leader in the Bauhaus movement that changed the way we think about building. Favoring unornamented walls of concrete and glass, Le Corbusier called the ideal house a "machine for living." As part of a team of architects selected to plan the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, Le Corbusier designed the glass-sided Secretariat building.

Le Corbusier believed that the stark buildings he designed would contribute to clean, bright, healthy cities. If you want to celebrate Le Corbusier's birthday in a big way, you can spend the night at the historic Hotel Le Corbusier at Unité d'Habitation, Le Corbusier's grand urban experiment in Marseilles, France.

^{Photo: The United Nations Headquarters, ArtToday.com}