☀️ JOIN SPN MOBILE
Forums
New posts
Guru Granth Sahib
Composition, Arrangement & Layout
ਜਪੁ | Jup
ਸੋ ਦਰੁ | So Dar
ਸੋਹਿਲਾ | Sohilaa
ਰਾਗੁ ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ | Raag Siree-Raag
Gurbani (14-53)
Ashtpadiyan (53-71)
Gurbani (71-74)
Pahre (74-78)
Chhant (78-81)
Vanjara (81-82)
Vaar Siri Raag (83-91)
Bhagat Bani (91-93)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਝ | Raag Maajh
Gurbani (94-109)
Ashtpadi (109)
Ashtpadiyan (110-129)
Ashtpadi (129-130)
Ashtpadiyan (130-133)
Bara Maha (133-136)
Din Raen (136-137)
Vaar Maajh Ki (137-150)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗਉੜੀ | Raag Gauree
Gurbani (151-185)
Quartets/Couplets (185-220)
Ashtpadiyan (220-234)
Karhalei (234-235)
Ashtpadiyan (235-242)
Chhant (242-249)
Baavan Akhari (250-262)
Sukhmani (262-296)
Thittee (296-300)
Gauree kii Vaar (300-323)
Gurbani (323-330)
Ashtpadiyan (330-340)
Baavan Akhari (340-343)
Thintteen (343-344)
Vaar Kabir (344-345)
Bhagat Bani (345-346)
ਰਾਗੁ ਆਸਾ | Raag Aasaa
Gurbani (347-348)
Chaupaday (348-364)
Panchpadde (364-365)
Kaafee (365-409)
Aasaavaree (409-411)
Ashtpadiyan (411-432)
Patee (432-435)
Chhant (435-462)
Vaar Aasaa (462-475)
Bhagat Bani (475-488)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗੂਜਰੀ | Raag Goojaree
Gurbani (489-503)
Ashtpadiyan (503-508)
Vaar Gujari (508-517)
Vaar Gujari (517-526)
ਰਾਗੁ ਦੇਵਗੰਧਾਰੀ | Raag Dayv-Gandhaaree
Gurbani (527-536)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਹਾਗੜਾ | Raag Bihaagraa
Gurbani (537-556)
Chhant (538-548)
Vaar Bihaagraa (548-556)
ਰਾਗੁ ਵਡਹੰਸ | Raag Wadhans
Gurbani (557-564)
Ashtpadiyan (564-565)
Chhant (565-575)
Ghoriaan (575-578)
Alaahaniiaa (578-582)
Vaar Wadhans (582-594)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੋਰਠਿ | Raag Sorath
Gurbani (595-634)
Asatpadhiya (634-642)
Vaar Sorath (642-659)
ਰਾਗੁ ਧਨਾਸਰੀ | Raag Dhanasaree
Gurbani (660-685)
Astpadhiya (685-687)
Chhant (687-691)
Bhagat Bani (691-695)
ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਤਸਰੀ | Raag Jaitsree
Gurbani (696-703)
Chhant (703-705)
Vaar Jaitsaree (705-710)
Bhagat Bani (710)
ਰਾਗੁ ਟੋਡੀ | Raag Todee
ਰਾਗੁ ਬੈਰਾੜੀ | Raag Bairaaree
ਰਾਗੁ ਤਿਲੰਗ | Raag Tilang
Gurbani (721-727)
Bhagat Bani (727)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੂਹੀ | Raag Suhi
Gurbani (728-750)
Ashtpadiyan (750-761)
Kaafee (761-762)
Suchajee (762)
Gunvantee (763)
Chhant (763-785)
Vaar Soohee (785-792)
Bhagat Bani (792-794)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ | Raag Bilaaval
Gurbani (795-831)
Ashtpadiyan (831-838)
Thitteen (838-840)
Vaar Sat (841-843)
Chhant (843-848)
Vaar Bilaaval (849-855)
Bhagat Bani (855-858)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗੋਂਡ | Raag Gond
Gurbani (859-869)
Ashtpadiyan (869)
Bhagat Bani (870-875)
ਰਾਗੁ ਰਾਮਕਲੀ | Raag Ramkalee
Ashtpadiyan (902-916)
Gurbani (876-902)
Anand (917-922)
Sadd (923-924)
Chhant (924-929)
Dakhnee (929-938)
Sidh Gosat (938-946)
Vaar Ramkalee (947-968)
ਰਾਗੁ ਨਟ ਨਾਰਾਇਨ | Raag Nat Narayan
Gurbani (975-980)
Ashtpadiyan (980-983)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਲੀ ਗਉੜਾ | Raag Maalee Gauraa
Gurbani (984-988)
Bhagat Bani (988)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਰੂ | Raag Maaroo
Gurbani (889-1008)
Ashtpadiyan (1008-1014)
Kaafee (1014-1016)
Ashtpadiyan (1016-1019)
Anjulian (1019-1020)
Solhe (1020-1033)
Dakhni (1033-1043)
ਰਾਗੁ ਤੁਖਾਰੀ | Raag Tukhaari
Bara Maha (1107-1110)
Chhant (1110-1117)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕੇਦਾਰਾ | Raag Kedara
Gurbani (1118-1123)
Bhagat Bani (1123-1124)
ਰਾਗੁ ਭੈਰਉ | Raag Bhairo
Gurbani (1125-1152)
Partaal (1153)
Ashtpadiyan (1153-1167)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਸੰਤੁ | Raag Basant
Gurbani (1168-1187)
Ashtpadiyan (1187-1193)
Vaar Basant (1193-1196)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸਾਰਗ | Raag Saarag
Gurbani (1197-1200)
Partaal (1200-1231)
Ashtpadiyan (1232-1236)
Chhant (1236-1237)
Vaar Saarang (1237-1253)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਲਾਰ | Raag Malaar
Gurbani (1254-1293)
Partaal (1265-1273)
Ashtpadiyan (1273-1278)
Chhant (1278)
Vaar Malaar (1278-91)
Bhagat Bani (1292-93)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਾਨੜਾ | Raag Kaanraa
Gurbani (1294-96)
Partaal (1296-1318)
Ashtpadiyan (1308-1312)
Chhant (1312)
Vaar Kaanraa
Bhagat Bani (1318)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਲਿਆਨ | Raag Kalyaan
Gurbani (1319-23)
Ashtpadiyan (1323-26)
ਰਾਗੁ ਪ੍ਰਭਾਤੀ | Raag Prabhaatee
Gurbani (1327-1341)
Ashtpadiyan (1342-51)
ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਜਾਵੰਤੀ | Raag Jaijaiwanti
Gurbani (1352-53)
Salok | Gatha | Phunahe | Chaubole | Swayiye
Sehskritee Mahala 1
Sehskritee Mahala 5
Gaathaa Mahala 5
Phunhay Mahala 5
Chaubolae Mahala 5
Shaloks Bhagat Kabir
Shaloks Sheikh Farid
Swaiyyae Mahala 5
Swaiyyae in Praise of Gurus
Shaloks in Addition To Vaars
Shalok Ninth Mehl
Mundavanee Mehl 5
ਰਾਗ ਮਾਲਾ, Raag Maalaa
What's new
New posts
New media
New media comments
New resources
Latest activity
Videos
New media
New comments
Library
Latest reviews
Donate
Log in
Register
What's new
New posts
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Welcome to all New Sikh Philosophy Network Forums!
Explore Sikh Sikhi Sikhism...
Sign up
Log in
Discussions
Hard Talk
Interviews
World's Most Beautiful Buildings
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="spnadmin" data-source="post: 143140" data-attributes="member: 35"><p><span style="font-size: 12px">These are the world’s most beautiful buildings? Are you kidding?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">A hundred years ago, naming the world’s most beautiful buildings was easy: the Parthenon. Sure. The Taj Mahal. Absolutely. Hagia Sophia. No argument. But now, in part because the whole notion was chewed up and spit out by those troublemaking Modernists, we’re just learning to think about architecture in terms of beauty again. It’s open season.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Certain themes are evident in our choices of the world’s most beautiful buildings. We love buildings surrounded by water; the interaction between water and daylight is always magical. (Why do you think the Lincoln Memorial has a reflecting pool at its doorstep?) And we are head over heels for flamboyant uses of pattern and color. The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, for example, is positively psychedelic.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">So are we consistent? Nope. But however capricious our choices may seem, we don’t take beauty lightly. After all, the ongoing search for beauty is what travel is all about. It’s certainly the best reason we know to leave the house.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>ICMC at Brandenburg Technical University</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Cottbus, Germany</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">While many architects prefer the smoothest, clearest glass, Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron specializes in texture. This technologically sophisticated university library, in an obscure corner of Eastern Germany, is clad in frosted glass—and embossed with letters from the world’s alphabets. Shaped like an amoeba, with its central spiral staircase in bright magenta and green, the seven-story building looks like a carnival ride.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Relativity Theory: The free-form building looks especially impressive because it’s surrounded by long, dull, rectilinear buildings of the sort the East Germans were known for.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Sagrada Família, Barcelona</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Photo: Kelly Kollar</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Visionary Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí spent more than 40 years of his life on this glorious, chaotically complex, and still unfinished Gothic-Art Nouveau cathedral. After his untimely death in 1926 (he was hit by a streetcar), his associates continued his sculptural masterwork, and despite the fact that the original drawings were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, construction continues today. Completion is scheduled for sometime between 2017 and 2026.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Authenticity Alert: The east-facing Nativity façade was the only one completed by Gaudí himself.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Burj Al Arab, Dubai, UAE</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Photo: Courtesy of Burj Al Arab</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">This 60-story sail-shaped hotel, which sits on its own private island, was designed to be a national icon. But the interior is where the beauty lies: a nearly 600-foot-tall atrium—the world’s tallest. The undersides of tier after tier of semicircular balconies reveal a spectrum of colors. And the tower’s powerful diagonal braces, like the flying buttresses of the past, inspire awe.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Insider Tip: Non-guests can gain access to the Burj Al Arab’s private island by booking a meal at one of its restaurants; try afternoon tea at the Skyview Bar or a buffet lunch at Junsui.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Institute for Sound and Vision, Hilversum, The Netherlands</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Design by Neutelings Riedijk Architecten/Photo by Scagliola Brakkee</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Institute for Sound and Vision</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">The work of Jaap Drupsteen, the graphic artist responsible for the building-size media collage, used to be everywhere in the Netherlands. This building is his comeback. Along with architecture firm Neutelings Riedijk, he covered the façade of the massive media archive and museum with images from Dutch television, abstracted into a giant four-sided mural and baked directly onto cast glass. The effect is stunning inside and out.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Experiential Beauty: Tour the history of Dutch broadcasting, or simply gaze up at the stained glass from a table at the atrium’s Grand Café.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>National Congress Hall, Brasilia, Brazil</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Photo: Courtesy of EMBRATUR</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Brasilia probably works better as a Modernist sculpture garden than as a city, but if there is one piece of it that best represents the whole, it’s Congress Hall. Architect Oscar Niemeyer’s colonnaded marvel, with its grand sci-fi entrance ramp, skinny twin towers, and two bowl-shaped meeting halls (one for the Chamber of Deputies and one for the Federal Senate), treats the business of government as a monumental work of art.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Not Just Skin Deep: Go inside and check out the Green Hall (named for the color of the carpet and the Brazilian flag), with its collection of paintings, sculptures, and decorative screens by renowned Brazilian artists.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>The Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Photo: Aitor Las Hayas</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">The Frank Gehry–designed, titanium-clad phenomenon that upstaged the Guggenheim’s Frank Lloyd Wright transformed the way the world understands architecture, art museums, and the strategies for reviving depressed industrial cities. Today, the shiny undulating museum doesn’t look as shocking as it once did, but it does embody a certain kind of late 20th-century thinking—the thrill of formal complexity and high art.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Small Is Beautiful: Alternatively, we could make a case for Frank Gehry’s first major building, the diminutive white Vitra Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>The Chrysler Building, New York City</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Photo: Ralph Grunewald</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Designed by architect William van Alen, the Chrysler’s shiny, filigreed Art Deco spire is the most indispensable piece of the New York City skyline, perfectly balancing the primal thrust of the classic American skyscraper with the desire for a little bling. (It was the world’s tallest for less than a year in 1931 before that zeppelin-masted tower eight blocks south took the spotlight.) Day or night, its stainless-steel crown still dazzles like nothing else.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Icon Alert: This is possibly the only building in the world that is decorated with automotive hood ornaments: the big eagles on the 61st floor were copied from a 1929 Chrysler.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Mont St. Michel, Normandy, France</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Photo: Julius Fekete / Alamy</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Though not as lavish as some landlocked cathedrals, this abbey is certainly the most dramatically situated, enjoying prime real estate just off the coast of Normandy. The first abbey was built in 709, with construction continuing for hundreds of years. Spurning the safety of the causeway (built in 1879 and currently being reconstructed), pilgrims still scamper across the sands at low tide to reach the Mont, and risk being overtaken by fast-moving waters.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Dining Tip: Try the agneau de pré-salé, a local specialty made from meat from the lambs that graze on the nearby salt meadows.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Nelson-Atkins Museum’s Bloch Building, Kansas City, MO</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Photo: Andy Ryan</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Unlike many modern additions to historic museums, Steven Holl’s 21st-century companion doesn’t overwhelm the 1933 Beaux Arts original. His string of iridescent frosted-glass boxes pop out of the grassy lawn—they are absolutely magical at dusk when they begin to glow—and filter sunlight into a series of dramatic underground galleries.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Special Attraction: Check out the Noguchi Sculpture Court, a minimalist space created by the famed Japanese-American artist that cleverly blurs the line between indoors and out.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>The Golden Temple, Amritsar, India</strong></span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Photo: Geetesh Bajaj</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">This most sacred Sikh shrine sits in the middle of what was once a wooded lake. The Buddha came here to meditate, and so did Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, some 2,000 years later. The Harimandir, or “Temple of God,” was built and destroyed many times before the current version was erected in the late 1700s. The radiance of this gilded building, a mixture of Hindu and Muslim architectural styles, is amplified by reflections in the surrounding water and the devotional music that emanates from the temple day and night.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px">Night Owls Welcome: The temple is open 20 hours a day, from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, and is illuminated (and especially lovely) at night.</span> <span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><a href="http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-380953" target="_blank">http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-380953</a></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="spnadmin, post: 143140, member: 35"] [SIZE=3]These are the world’s most beautiful buildings? Are you kidding? A hundred years ago, naming the world’s most beautiful buildings was easy: the Parthenon. Sure. The Taj Mahal. Absolutely. Hagia Sophia. No argument. But now, in part because the whole notion was chewed up and spit out by those troublemaking Modernists, we’re just learning to think about architecture in terms of beauty again. It’s open season.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Certain themes are evident in our choices of the world’s most beautiful buildings. We love buildings surrounded by water; the interaction between water and daylight is always magical. (Why do you think the Lincoln Memorial has a reflecting pool at its doorstep?) And we are head over heels for flamboyant uses of pattern and color. The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, for example, is positively psychedelic.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] So are we consistent? Nope. But however capricious our choices may seem, we don’t take beauty lightly. After all, the ongoing search for beauty is what travel is all about. It’s certainly the best reason we know to leave the house.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] [B] ICMC at Brandenburg Technical University[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Cottbus, Germany While many architects prefer the smoothest, clearest glass, Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron specializes in texture. This technologically sophisticated university library, in an obscure corner of Eastern Germany, is clad in frosted glass—and embossed with letters from the world’s alphabets. Shaped like an amoeba, with its central spiral staircase in bright magenta and green, the seven-story building looks like a carnival ride.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Relativity Theory: The free-form building looks especially impressive because it’s surrounded by long, dull, rectilinear buildings of the sort the East Germans were known for.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] [B]Sagrada Família, Barcelona[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Photo: Kelly Kollar Visionary Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí spent more than 40 years of his life on this glorious, chaotically complex, and still unfinished Gothic-Art Nouveau cathedral. After his untimely death in 1926 (he was hit by a streetcar), his associates continued his sculptural masterwork, and despite the fact that the original drawings were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War, construction continues today. Completion is scheduled for sometime between 2017 and 2026.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Authenticity Alert: The east-facing Nativity façade was the only one completed by Gaudí himself.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] [B]Burj Al Arab, Dubai, UAE Photo: Courtesy of Burj Al Arab[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3] This 60-story sail-shaped hotel, which sits on its own private island, was designed to be a national icon. But the interior is where the beauty lies: a nearly 600-foot-tall atrium—the world’s tallest. The undersides of tier after tier of semicircular balconies reveal a spectrum of colors. And the tower’s powerful diagonal braces, like the flying buttresses of the past, inspire awe.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Insider Tip: Non-guests can gain access to the Burj Al Arab’s private island by booking a meal at one of its restaurants; try afternoon tea at the Skyview Bar or a buffet lunch at Junsui.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] [B] Institute for Sound and Vision, Hilversum, The Netherlands[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Design by Neutelings Riedijk Architecten/Photo by Scagliola Brakkee Institute for Sound and Vision The work of Jaap Drupsteen, the graphic artist responsible for the building-size media collage, used to be everywhere in the Netherlands. This building is his comeback. Along with architecture firm Neutelings Riedijk, he covered the façade of the massive media archive and museum with images from Dutch television, abstracted into a giant four-sided mural and baked directly onto cast glass. The effect is stunning inside and out.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Experiential Beauty: Tour the history of Dutch broadcasting, or simply gaze up at the stained glass from a table at the atrium’s Grand Café.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] [B]National Congress Hall, Brasilia, Brazil[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Photo: Courtesy of EMBRATUR Brasilia probably works better as a Modernist sculpture garden than as a city, but if there is one piece of it that best represents the whole, it’s Congress Hall. Architect Oscar Niemeyer’s colonnaded marvel, with its grand sci-fi entrance ramp, skinny twin towers, and two bowl-shaped meeting halls (one for the Chamber of Deputies and one for the Federal Senate), treats the business of government as a monumental work of art.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Not Just Skin Deep: Go inside and check out the Green Hall (named for the color of the carpet and the Brazilian flag), with its collection of paintings, sculptures, and decorative screens by renowned Brazilian artists.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] [B]The Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Photo: Aitor Las Hayas The Frank Gehry–designed, titanium-clad phenomenon that upstaged the Guggenheim’s Frank Lloyd Wright transformed the way the world understands architecture, art museums, and the strategies for reviving depressed industrial cities. Today, the shiny undulating museum doesn’t look as shocking as it once did, but it does embody a certain kind of late 20th-century thinking—the thrill of formal complexity and high art.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Small Is Beautiful: Alternatively, we could make a case for Frank Gehry’s first major building, the diminutive white Vitra Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] [B]The Chrysler Building, New York City[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Photo: Ralph Grunewald Designed by architect William van Alen, the Chrysler’s shiny, filigreed Art Deco spire is the most indispensable piece of the New York City skyline, perfectly balancing the primal thrust of the classic American skyscraper with the desire for a little bling. (It was the world’s tallest for less than a year in 1931 before that zeppelin-masted tower eight blocks south took the spotlight.) Day or night, its stainless-steel crown still dazzles like nothing else.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Icon Alert: This is possibly the only building in the world that is decorated with automotive hood ornaments: the big eagles on the 61st floor were copied from a 1929 Chrysler.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] [B]Mont St. Michel, Normandy, France[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Photo: Julius Fekete / Alamy Though not as lavish as some landlocked cathedrals, this abbey is certainly the most dramatically situated, enjoying prime real estate just off the coast of Normandy. The first abbey was built in 709, with construction continuing for hundreds of years. Spurning the safety of the causeway (built in 1879 and currently being reconstructed), pilgrims still scamper across the sands at low tide to reach the Mont, and risk being overtaken by fast-moving waters.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Dining Tip: Try the agneau de pré-salé, a local specialty made from meat from the lambs that graze on the nearby salt meadows.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] [B]Nelson-Atkins Museum’s Bloch Building, Kansas City, MO[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Photo: Andy Ryan Unlike many modern additions to historic museums, Steven Holl’s 21st-century companion doesn’t overwhelm the 1933 Beaux Arts original. His string of iridescent frosted-glass boxes pop out of the grassy lawn—they are absolutely magical at dusk when they begin to glow—and filter sunlight into a series of dramatic underground galleries.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Special Attraction: Check out the Noguchi Sculpture Court, a minimalist space created by the famed Japanese-American artist that cleverly blurs the line between indoors and out.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] [B]The Golden Temple, Amritsar, India[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Photo: Geetesh Bajaj This most sacred Sikh shrine sits in the middle of what was once a wooded lake. The Buddha came here to meditate, and so did Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, some 2,000 years later. The Harimandir, or “Temple of God,” was built and destroyed many times before the current version was erected in the late 1700s. The radiance of this gilded building, a mixture of Hindu and Muslim architectural styles, is amplified by reflections in the surrounding water and the devotional music that emanates from the temple day and night.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] Night Owls Welcome: The temple is open 20 hours a day, from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily, and is illuminated (and especially lovely) at night.[/SIZE] [SIZE=3] [URL]http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-380953[/URL][/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Discussions
Hard Talk
Interviews
World's Most Beautiful Buildings
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Accept
Learn more…
Top