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Tag: architecture
To both improve cities and conquer markets, companies are turning to urban simulators with the interactive power and graphics of video games.
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Miraculously Spared
The baroque Merced church is something of a curiosity in Antigua, Guatemala, a city famous for its ruins of colonial churches: It held up admirably well after a series of devastating earthquakes in the 18th and 19th centuries, after which the capital was moved from Antigua to its current location, Guatemala City.
This isn’t even the most famous or the most monumental of the 27 gates in northern Morocco“s city of Meknes.
ALEPPO — Like many boys his age, Muhammad loves to draw. Already known for his artistic talents in his hometown of Aleppo, the largest and probably hardest-hit city in Syria, the 14-year-old boy now has something to show the world. When the armed conflict intensified in Aleppo in 2012, Muhammad, then a sixth-grader, was forced to quit school. After the Syrian government began to bomb his neighborhood in the city’s Salah al-Din district, Muhammad and his family moved into the cramped student dorms of Aleppo University. Seven months later they were able to return home, but unfortunately for children like […]
-Analysis- BEIJING — A recent United Nations report predicted that the year 2017 will be the turning point for China’s demography. After reaching its peak that year, the population will start to drop. And yet at the same time, as a recent survey of China’s State Council showed, each major Chinese city has plans to […]
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Each To Their Home
It is not only interesting to compare the differences in the architecture of monuments and famous buildings around the world, but also that of more modest lodgings. Take a look for instance at this palheiro thatched house on the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira, and then go back to the little house on the fjord I’ve […]
The so-called Silicon Age of IT may soon give way to an era of see-through clarity to help usher in ever more wearable technology and the Internet of Things.
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Rainbow Houses
In Norse mythology, Bifröst is a rainbow bridge that connects the world to Asgard, the realm of the gods. Could the colored houses on the western coast of Norway be a modern-day nod to the country’s folk stories?
Argentine architect Eduardo Lacroze’s creation turns the ubiquitous supermarket trolley into a portable, private space for people who live on the streets. But it’s not without controversy.
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All Along The Watchtower
From the top of the cathedral’s towers, the Notre-Dame gargoyles — designed by genius Gothic Revival architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc — have been watching over the roofs of Paris, the Tour Saint-Jacques and the Sacré-Coeur since the 1840s.
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Through The Lion Gate
Walking under Mycenae’s Lion Gate and its monumental lintel, you understand why they call its construction the work of “Cyclopean masonry.” How else but with the strength of giants could such imposing blocks of stone be lifted 3,300 years ago?
Buildings, tarmac and air conditioning are turning some cities into fetid, airless saunas. Experts urge more trees and grass to mitigate the heat of increasingly hot cement jungles.
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Bridging History
The Stari Most (“Old Bridge”) was infamously destroyed in 1993 during the Croat–Bosnian War. Twenty years later, thanks to UNESCO funds, it was rebuilt with its notable arched Ottoman design. Motivated both by the architecture and recent historical events, I made sure to make my own crossing.
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Vintage Hues
Sidi Bou Said in northern Tunisia is famous for its crisp blue and bright white houses of Ottoman and Andalusian influence. But a few of my slides from the 1970s (probably because of the film I used during that period) have lost a bit of their original color — and the village looks a bit […]
Architectural and planning innovations have given new life to Bilbao, Spain, transforming it from a grey post-industrial city into a trendy tourist destination.
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The Lava Church
The expressionist style of Reykjavik’s Hallgrímskirkja, Iceland’s biggest church, can be initially unsettling. But it actually suits this land of volcanoes and geysers.
The Louis Vuitton Foundation is a new high-profile cultural offering for the city of lights, but art’s higher calling becomes just a tool of luxury promotion for the ultra-privileged.
With its 391 units spread among 46 floors, the glass tower has transformed south Manhattan’s skyline. But it has been an utter business failure.
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Home Sweet Home
The beautiful region of Lake Toba, in Indonesia’s North Sumatra, is home to the Batak people, composed of a number of ethnic groups with distinct languages, customs and architecture. The Batak houses rank among the most memorable I’ve had the chance to photograph (this list includes the tongkonan in nearby Sulawesi, Zulu kraals in South […]
Plans for a new, 80,000-seat stadium to host to 2020 Tokyo Games has been met with fierce criticism from prominent Japanese architects – on both aesthetic and ecological grounds.
Modern Buenos Aires can overwhelm much of its vintage architecture, but like tough old weeds, certain significant buildings have been able to survive or find new life.
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Hong Kong Hotel, Dragons Welcome
This hole in Repulse Bay hotel in Hong Kong is not merely the result of an architect’s whim. In accordance with the “invisible forces” of feng shui, many high-rises and hotels feature such “windows,” to let air flow naturally through the city. In this case, we were told by locals that the hole also allowed […]
Architects near Santiago are building a new kind of housing in Chile, both modern and adapted to the ancient culture of the Mapuche community.
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Old But Gold
Considering the remarkably preserved state of these stone elephant bas-reliefs, you would never guess that Anuradhapura, one of Sri Lanka’s ancient capitals, is actually among the oldest cities in the world. Perhaps that’s what this Buddhist monk was thinking about too?
No longer simply “service” rooms, kitchens and bathrooms have become increasingly integrated in living spaces. But the author also finds out what’s any home’s most important feature.
The Latin world loves its city public spaces, and their evolving aesthetics can often lead to heated arguments that go beyond simple matters of urban planning.
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Tacky Architecture
Not everything famous French architects build is tasteful. Jean Nouvel, the Pritzker Prize winner behind the Arab World Institute in Paris and Barcelona’s Torre Agbar, is also responsible for this “colorful” Las Boas complex on the Spanish island of Ibiza.
BUENOS AIRES — A new map of the Argentine capital shows 50 Art Nouveau buildings, a style of art and architecture popular from 1890 to 1910, putting the city at the forefront of early 20th century architecture. Some are impressive at first glance, like the Casal de Cataluña in the heart of the San Telmo […]
What does “sustainability” really mean? A forward-looking French architect offers his reflections as part of Worldcrunch Impact: Smarter Cities.
From the concrete jungles of New York and Mexico City to the outbacks of Australia and Tunisia, ground-level isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. With our populations rising and spreading out across the lands, it makes sense to dig deeper into the earth. There are a growing number of projects embracing this solution to […]
In Hamburg, a major Nazi monument is being repurposed into deluxe apartments. A lesson on the luxury boom, and the way Germany faces its uncomfortable history.
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Is China’s Urban Boom A House Of Cards?
BEIJING — “Better city, better life …” This was the theme of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, a nod to the ancient Greek scholar Aristotle who understood what people expect from urban life: to make their living a better living. But what is the reality in people’s lives right now? During China’s golden week — […]
CRISSIER — Not far from a highway turnoff near the Swiss city of Lausanne, there is a wooded enclave surrounded by a national forest. On a slice of these lands — around 70 acres of woods, agricultural fields and parks — the pupils of the Bois Genoud private school are enjoying themselves in complete freedom. […]
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Nestle And The Chocolate Factory
In the French city of Noisiel, the old Menier chocolate factory is a grand architectural landmark of the industrial age. It’s now the luxurious headquarters of Nestle France.
Plans include a modern art museum double the size of London’s Tate Modern, the world’s most visited museum.
LAUSANNE – This home hangs between heaven and earth. Its shapes are sometimes rounded, sometimes sharp. The structure stands on the hills overlooking Malibu. Its majestic roof appears to be gliding over a waterfall of glass suburban houses, perched on a hill. And in fact, this impression is correct – this home has wings. Literally. […]
MUNICH – Our meeting takes place at Munich’s old Jewish synagogue on Reichenbachstrasse. Rachel Salamander and her Synagogue Reichenbachstrasse charity co-chair, attorney Ron Jakubowicz, are telling us about their plans for the synagogue’s future. The mission of the charity, which was launched in November 2011, is to save and restore the pre-war synagogue that was […]
FOLHA DE S. PAULO, O GLOBO (Brazil) Worldcrunch RIO DE JANEIRO – Oscar Niemeyer, a Brazilian national icon and one of the most celebrated architects of the 20th century, died on Wednesday in a Rio de Janeiro hospital. He was 104. Niemeyer rose to international fame as the architect of the main government buildings in […]
LUANDA – The curtain will soon be rung down for the last time at the Elinga Theater in Angola’s capital, Luanda. The theater, where many rebellious artists got their start, holds an important place in Angolan culture. But it will soon be destroyed, its pink walls reduced to rubble by bulldozers. Like so many old […]