Unique architecture

Man made wonders that are simply awesome!:

Charmaine Fernando

Natural wonders of the world enchant us to the extreme. Their architect, we believe, is a super power who has created unequalled masterpieces that keep us

spellbound throughout the ages. Today man has evolved in to a super-brained animal who creates amazing structures that stun us. The creativity of these architects are unimaginable! An architect is also an artist who imagines and dreams beyond what the eye could see and think out of the box.

As technology advances rapidly due to man’s powers of thinking and work, every aspect of education widens his scope of knowledge and learning. Every year records an amazing growth in the field of architecture and the continents are competing to out do each other in creating masterpieces that change the face of the earth. Change that takes place due to architectural evolution, is structuring a global empire of skyscrapers, that are simply awesome in height, shape, size, utility value and breadth-taking appearance.

Construction technology is advancing extremely fast. The multi-billionaires and deep-pocketed companies try to out do each other in the quest for publicity and eminence, showing off their power for fame. Below are some strange and unique structures which have come up lately to stun the on-lookers and wipe them off their feet. Strap your seat belts and kick up the gas to go ride the futuristic global landscape.

Aqua, USA

From a distance this skyscraper, in Chicago, will seem like a moving dream. Get closer and look up to get the full feel of the ripple and the move your eyes over technically perfect jelly-like effect created by variously sized balconies from top to bottom. One cannot imagine how anyone could create a visual concept to move and amazingly construct such an abstract daydream in to a solid form.

Chicago Spire, USA

The phenomenal Chicago spire, when completed in 2010, will be the world’s tallest residential building and the tallest building of any kind in the western world. Seemingly modeled on the image of a giant drill poking through the ground, the 609m structure will dominate the Chicago skyline.

CCTV Headquarters, China

At a modest 234m the CCTV building isn’t going to stand out from a distance.

However the design and shape is a crowd stopper to say the least and will be another incredible addition to Beijing’s skyline in time for the 2008 Olympics. The shape, described as a ‘z criss-cross’ results in a very high, seemingly unsupported corner at the front. Let’s hope there’s a glass floor up there.

Regatta Hotel, Dubai

Taking on a nautical theme, the developers say the 10 smaller towers represent sailing boats whilst the larger building is ‘the lighthouse’. It’s the lighthouse that steals the show, possibly the most incredible looking structure anyone has ever seen for a long time. If it ends up looking anything close to the picture we bet you will be impressed.

Residence Antilia, India

Construction has begun on residence Antilia despite opposition from those who see it as an ‘excessive’ design in a city where more than 65 percent of the population live in slums.

Politics aside and after you recover from the initial shock of seeing a skyscraper that resembles an Ikea CD rack, the building actually looks like it may succeed as a stunning, unique, green piece of architecture.

Russia Tower, Russia

Topped with an observation deck over the city of Moscow, Russia tower will become the tallest building in Europe when completed in 2012 and twice the height of the Eiffel tower.

Construction has already started on this angular beast which was designed by Foster and Partners, who are also responsible for the Gherkin and Spaceport of America, currently in the process of development.

Penang Global City Centre, Malaysia

Following months of speculation and sturdy opposition, this huge project is in the final stages of approval and apparently construction will start very soon.

Even so, due to the size of the plan it will take at least 15 years to complete. Resembling a sci-fi city, the area will be crowned by 2 x 200m towers and completely transform the small island of Penang. Worth waiting for it.

Gazprom Headquarters, Russia

This gigantic, 300m tall glass flame of a building will house the gazprom headquarters in St. Petersburg, dwarfing all structures in its vicinity.

It will apparently change colour up to 10 times per day depending on the position of the sun. The building has already been nicknamed ‘corn on the cob’ by unhappy locals.

Burj Dubai, Dubai

This is the big one. Completed this year it became the tallest man-made structure in the world and the tallest building by a long shot with a predicted height of 818m.

The skyscrapers below the Burj Dubai used to look tall earlier and now they have receded in to the background.

Volkswagen Polo Parking in Germany

A Volkswagen Polo is loaded in the car towers of the VW Autostadt in Wolfsburg, Northern Germany.

The Autostadt, situated next to Volkswagen headquarters, is the company’s theme park, and distribution centre where daily 5500 visitors view Volkswagen brands like Bentley, Audi and Lamborghini.

The Millau viaduct, France

The Millau viaduct is part of the new E11 expressway connecting Paris and Barcelona and features the highest bridge piers ever constructed.

The tallest is 240 meters high and the overall height will be an impressive 336 meters, making this the highest bridge in the world.

Bird’s Nest , China

The National Stadium of BeiJing 2008 Olympics games was an out of the ordinary structure that was a convincing edifice that speaks volumes on Chinese innovative powers.

330 meters long, 220 meters wide, 69.2 meters high, with a construction area of 250,000 square meters, it holds 100,000 audiences.

The United Arab Emirates Dubai building

It’s more than approximately 800 metres high, has over 160 layers Building construction used concrete quantity as heavy as a hundred thousand elephants.

It has an elevator with the highest ascending speed in the world; the speed per hour reaches 64 kilometers.

With such unique buildings and astounding structures changing the face of the globe, you have every reason to pack your bags and go globe trotting, site-seeing, zig-zagging from one natural wonder to another man made stunner! Bon voyage!