Architectural Wonders

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Situated alongside the Nervion River in downtown Bilbao is the Guggenheim Museum. Designed by world renowned deconstrutivism architect Frank Gehry, the building has been cited as one of the world's most spectacular examples of the architectural concept.

Gehry says the building was designed to "catch the light" and bear significant resemblance to a ship. The shimmering titanium panels beautifully resemble fish scales or other organic life, which is a common theme of Gehry work.

The highly randomised curved where made possible through the use of Computer Aided Design, an allowed Gehry to create a structure that earlier architects would have found near impossible.

Considering the Museum's striking looks and colossal size it does not intrude upon the natural environment at street level, with street facing views remaining quite modest.

The Museum was built with the hope of revitalising the area, and boosting the local economy - both of which it has done! Soon after the opening the Museum became a very popular tourist attraction an has since attracted people from all over the globe - essentially, putting Bilbao "on the map".

The actual art housed in the Museum changes often, with the permanent collection focusing primarily on visual arts from the 20^th Century.

Situated on the climatic point of Bunker Hill in downtown L.A. is both one of the most acoustically sophisticated concerts halls on the planet and a striking architectural landmark.

The vision of the Walt Disney Concert Hall was conceived during 1987 when the widow of Walt Disney, Lillian Disney donated $50 million to construct a world-class performance theatre. This theatre was to be a dedication to the people of Los Angeles and a significant tribute of Disney's devotion to the art.

In 1988 the world-renowned radical architect Frank Gehry was chosen to design the concert hall; and in 1991 he unveiled final plans for the hall. Construction began in 1991 and stalled by numerous budgetary holdbacks was eventually completed during 2003.

All in all the project cost an estimated $274 million which far exceed the initial budget, considerable donations from the Disney family and the Walt Disney Company however, helped ensure that Lillian's vision would not be lost.

The building itself follow themes typical of Gehry's design with its dramatic undulating curves and glimmering facades etched entirely out of stainless steel. The hall's design is ripe for metaphoric elucidation from a ships sail to a flower in bloom.

Gehry's decision to use polished panels on parts of the building caused considerable problems for locals for some time. This was because of the glare that mirrored off some the buildings facets resulting in 140º F hotspots around the hall. Thankfully this problem was solved by lightly sanding down the offending panels.

Although many design elements evolved throughout the halls creation, it maintained its fundamental elements. These being a widely open and easily accessible entrance, a pedestrian frontage, a generous backstage area and a large garden.

As mentioned, the hall is one of the most acoustically impressive in the world and this wouldn't have come to be without similar fundamental interior goals. In fact, Gehry has said that the hall was essentially designed from the inside out with some of the most important issues relating to the musicians relationship with their audience.

Essentially the goal was to create a synergy between the two, which certainly has been honoured, with every one of the 2,265 seats in the auditorium offering a unique visual and acoustic spot.

The combination of the strategically placed billowing ceiling, warm wood and moulded forms result in an acoustic vibrancy that gives the perception of sitting inside a living creature.

Since striking oil in the 60’s the United Arab Emirates have forgone a massive transformation from quiet fishing hubs to futuristic business and commercial centres. A great deal of revenue obtained from their oil sales is being used to make the country one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.

Dubai is easily the country’s show-piece city, which is already home to the world’s largest hotel, the Burj al-Arab and most impressive artificial islands.

The city is not ending their though, no where near in fact, there are wealth of exciting projects currently underway throughout the region, one of the most innovative of which is The DaVinci Rotating Tower.

The brainchild of Italian-Israeli architect David Fisher, the proposed DaVinci Tower would be comprised of 68 independently rotating floors, giving it an ever changing form.

Each of the rotating floors will be based around a central concrete tower which will house all of the required utilities, plumbing, emergency stairs and elevators.

The exact speed of the floor can be chosen by the residence using voice commands. Each floor will be able to make an entire revolution from one to three hours, allowing residence to dynamically change their panorama over the course of a day. Whatever speed the residence chooses, Mr. Fisher ensures that the revolutions will not be physically noticeable, thus eliminating any upset stomachs!

If completed the 1,027m high building will house a 6-star hotel, apartments, offices and five villas on the top floor. Each of the villa’s will have a dedicated parking space, which will be functioned by the car elevator; and the penthouse villa will have a swimming pool, garden and Arabian majilis or “sitting place”.

The tower will also contain a retractable helipad that will extend on the moment of landing, thus not ruining the towers aesthetic architecture.

Not only would the DeVinci tower be the largest and most dynamic rotating structure in the world, but also the only entirely self-sufficient building.

This will be achieved by fitting roughly 50 wind propellers in-between the spaces of each floor and numerous solar panels situated on the top of the tower. The energy produced by the tower, will not only be enough to power itself but also the energy requirements of five skyscrapers of the same size.

With the tower generating roughly £5.5m of energy per year, it will return its construction cost of £260m within 45 to 55 years!

Moreover, the tower will be the first skyscraper to harness an industrial process system, with 90% of the tower being constructed within a factory setting. The only part of the tower that will be built on site is the base and concrete core, which notably, will bend with structural movement, making it near indestructible to earthquakes.

This will dramatically reduce costs and make the towers construction much safer for workers and those that will be ultimately house within it.

Once completed each of the modules will be shipped to the tower, preinstalled with electrics, plumbing and air-condition systems and an entire floor will fitted to the core at a rate of three to seven days!