MFS-The Resource Center Blog: ✈Worldwide Wednesdays: Astounding Architectures

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

✈Worldwide Wednesdays: Astounding Architectures

Where shall we travel to today?....

Krzywy Domek, POLAND

Crooked House, Sopot, Poland
Pic by Wiki user Topory

The Krzywy Domek is an irregularly-shaped building in Sopot, Poland. Its name translates in to English as the Crooked House.

The Krzywy Domek was built in 2004. It is approximately 4,000 square meters in size and is part of the Rezydent shopping center.

It was designed by Szotyńscy & Zaleski who were inspired by the fairytale illustrations and drawings of Jan Marcin Szancer and Per Dahlberg. It can be entered from either Monte Cassino or Morska Streets.

Appearing almost as though warped by a person playing with Photoshop, tourists are often hesitant to enter the vertigo-inducing entrance. It not only has many popular shops and restaurants, but it even has a radio station.

Inside

At night

Atomium, BELGIUM

({{Non-free 3D art}}
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The Atomium in Heysel Park, Brussels. Belgium.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/amanito/1180029815/
| Article = Brussels | Portion )

The Atomium is a monument in Brussels, originally built for Expo '58, the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Designed by André Waterkeyn, it stands 102 meters (335 ft) tall. It has nine steel spheres connected so that the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times.

Tubes connect the spheres along the 12 edges of the cube and all eight vertices to the center. They enclose escalators connecting the spheres containing exhibit halls and other public spaces. The top sphere provides a panoramic view of Brussels. Each sphere is 18 metres in diameter. The vertical vertex contains a lift which was very fast and advanced at the time of building (the speed is 5 m/s). One of the original ideas for Expo '58 was to build an upside-down version of the Eiffel tower; however, Waterkeyn felt that an atomic structure would be more symbolic of the era. The monument was originally planned to stand there for six months. However, it became a symbol not only of the World's Fair, but of modern architecture and the city of Brussels and of Belgium. It received monument status and stayed on the former exhibition grounds for over 50 years. It is now one of Brussels' main attractions.

Habitat 67, CANADA

Habitat 67 from the port

Habitat 67 is a housing complex and landmark located on the Marc-Drouin Quay on the Saint Lawrence River at 2600, Pierre Dupuy Avenue in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its design was created by architect Moshe Safdie based on his master's thesis at McGill University and built as part of Expo 67.

Expo 67 was nicknamed "Man and his World", taken from Antoine de Saint Exupéry's memoir Terre des hommes (literally "Land of Men"), translated as Wind, Sand and Stars. Housing was one of the main themes of Expo 67. Habitat 67 then became a thematic pavilion visited by thousands of visitors who came from around the world. During Expo 67 it was also the temporary residence of the many dignitaries coming to Montreal.

It was designed to integrate the variety and diversity of scattered private homes with the economics and density of a modern apartment building. Modular, interlocking concrete forms define the space. The project was designed to create affordable housing with close but private quarters, each equipped with a garden. The building was believed to illustrate the new lifestyle people would live in increasingly crowded cities around the world. The complex was originally meant to be vastly larger. Due to its architectural cachet, demand for the building's units has made them more expensive than originally envisioned.

The building is owned by its tenants, who formed a limited partnership that purchased the building from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in 1985.

Habitat 67 summer 2010

Cathedral of Brasília, BRAZIL

The Symbol of Brasilia, by Xavier Donat

The Cathedral of Brasília (Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida) is the Roman Catholic cathedral serving Brasília, Brazil, and serves as the seat of the Archdiocese of Brasília. It was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, and was completed and dedicated on May 31, 1970. The cathedral is a hyperboloid structure constructed from 16 concrete columns, weighing 90 tons each.
The exterior of the cathedral resembles the circular plan and ribbed structure of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, but the latter is clad in solid material, while the Cathedral of Brasília allows light in and out for almost the full height of the ribs.