Friday, September 11, 2009

amazing house

Friday, September 4, 2009

PALM ISLAND

The Palm Islands are artificial islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on which major commercial and residential infrastructure will be constructed. They are being constructed by Nakheel Properties, a property developer in the United Arab Emirates, who hired Belgian and Dutch dredging and marine contractor Jan De Nu l and Van Oord, some of the world's specialists in land reclamation. The islands are the Palm Jumeirah, the Palm Jebel Ali and the Palm Deira.

Each settlement will be in the shape of a palm tree, topped with a crescent, and will have a large number of residential, leisure and entertainment centers. The Palm Islands are located off the coast of The United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf and will add 520 kilometres of beaches to the city of Dubai.

The first two islands will comprise approximately 100 million cubic meters of rock and sand. Palm Deira will be composed of approximately 1 billion cubic meters of rock and sand. All materials will be quarried in the UAE. Among the three islands there will be over 100 luxury hotels, exclusive residential beach side villas and apartments, marinas, water theme parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports facilities and health spas.

The creation of the Palm Jumeirah began in June 2001. Shortly after, the Palm Jebel Ali was announced and reclamation work began. The Palm Deira, which is planned to have a surface area of 46.35 square kilometres, was announced for development in October 2004. Construction was originally planned to take 10–15 years, but that was before the impact of the global credit crunch hit Dubai.

Construction

The Palm Islands are fat artificial peninsulas constructed of sand dredged from the bottom of the Persian Gulf by the Belgian company Jan De Nul and the Dutch company Van Oord. The sand is sprayed by the dredgin

g ships, which are guided by DGPS, onto the required area in a

process

known as rainbowing becau

se of the arcs in the air when

the sand is sprayed. The outer edge of each

Palm's enc

ircling crescent is a large rock breakwater. The

breakwater of the Palm Jumeirah has over seven million tons of

rock. Each rock was placed individually by a crane, signed off by a diver and given a GPS coordinate.^{[citation needed]} The Jan De Nul Group started working on the Palm Jebel Ali in 2002 and had finished by the end of 2006. The reclamation project for the Pal

m Jebel Ali includes the creation of a four kilometre long peninsula, protected by a 200 metre wide, seventeen kilometre long circular breakwater. 210,000,000 m³ of rock, sand a

nd limestone were reclaimed (partly originating from the Jebel Ali Entrance Channel dredging works). There are approximately 10,000,000 m³ of rocks in the slope protection works.

Palm Jumeirah

Main article: Palm Jumeirah

The Palm Jumeirah seen from the International Space Station.

The Palm consists of a trunk, a crown with 17 fronds, and a surrounding crescent island that forms an 11 kilometer-long breakwater. The island itself is 5 kilometers by 5 kilometers. It will add 78 kilometers to the Dubai coastline. The firs

t phase of development on the Palm Ju

meirah will create 4,000

residences with a combination of villas and apartments over the next 3 to 4 years.

Residents began moving into their Palm Jumeirah properties a

t the end of 2006, five years after land reclamation began, according to project developer Nakheel Properties. This signaled the end of phase one of construction, which includes approximately 1,400 villas on 11 of the fronds of the island and roughly 2,500 shoreline apartments in 20 buildings on the east side of the tru

nk.

Nakheel Properties will mark the arrival of the first residents by bringing one of the world's largest airships to Dubai. It has agreed to a deal with Airship Management Services Inc. for a 197 feet (60 m) l

ong, 250,000-cubic-foot (7,100 m³) Skyship 600 dirigible.

According to Nakheel Properties officials, the process of adding 78 kilometers of beach is under way, while eight of the 32 hotels on The Palm Jumeirah have begun construction, including the Taj Exotica Resort and Spa, which was planned for completion in

late 2008 or early 2009, is delayed and now expected to open in early 2010. The first phase Atlantis, The Palm Resort, is scheduled to be completed by December 2008. Atlantis, The Palm opened on 24 September, 2008.

The "Golden Mile", the strip

of land located along the cente

r of the trunk overlooking the canal, is set for completion in the first quarter of 2008. The tenants started moving in 30th April 2009. Construction has also begun on the Palm Jumeirah Monorail, which will take three years to complete and will ser

ve as a transit system between the Gateway Station at the trunk of T

he Palm Jumeirah and the Atlantis Station on the crescent. (Emirates News Agency, WAM).The Monorail opened May 6th 2009 only using Atlantis Hotel and Gateway Towers Stations.

Palm Jebel Ali

Palm Jebel Ali model

The Palm Jebel Ali Umar began construction in October 2002 and was expected to be completed in mid 2008.^[1] The Palm Jebel Ali is expected to accommodate 1.7 million people by 2020.^[2] Once it has been completed, it will be encircled by Dubai Waterfront. The project, which is 50 percent larger than the Palm Jumeirah, will include s

ix marinas, a water theme park, 'Sea Village', homes built on stilts above the water, and boardwalks that circle the "fronds" of the "palm" and spell out an Arabic poem by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum:^[1]

Take wisdom from the wise
It takes a man of vision to write on water
Not everyone who rides a horse is a jockey
Great men rise to greater challenges

As of early October 2007, construction of the island was on schedule.^[2] The breakwater was completed in December 2006, and infrastructure work began in April 2007.^[2] Major construction will not begin until most of the infrastructure work is complete.^[2]

One of the first buildings on The Palm Jebel Ali is already known. Nakheel invited several architects to design a building on a 300,000 m² area. The winning design was a building by Royal Haskoning, who also worked on several other projects in Dubai.^[3] The building can be seen here.

In the first signs of a slowing Dubai property market, the prices of properties being sold on the Palm Jebel Ali were reported to have fallen by 40% in the two months to November 2008, with the fall being attributed to the Financial crisis of 2007–2008.^[4]

In 2012, the first phase of four theme parks will open on the Crescent. These parks, which together will be called "World of Discovery," will be developed and operated by the Busch Entertainment Corporation. The parks include SeaWorld, Aquatica, Busch Gardens and Discovery Cove. The World of Discovery will be located at the top of the Crescent, which will form into the shape of an orca (reminiscent of Shamu).^[5]^[6]

Palm Deira

The Palm Deira on 1 May 2007.

The Palm Deira was announce

d for development in October 2004.^[7].^[2] No timetable for completion has been announced. The first announced design was 8 times larger than the Palm Jumeirah, and 5 times larger than the Palm Jebel Ali, and was intended to house one million people. Originally, the design called for a 14 km (8.7 mile) by 8.5 km (5.3 mile) island with 41 fronds. Due to a substantial change in depth in the Persian Gulf the farther out the island goes, the island was redesigned in May 2007. The project then became a 12.5 km (7.76 mile) by 7.5 km (4.66 mile) island with 18 larger fronds.^[2] It will be located alongside Deira.

By early October 2007, 20% of the island's reclamation was complete, with a total of 200 million cubic metres (7 billion cubic feet) of sand already used.^[2] Then in early April 2008, Nakheel announced that more than a quarter of the total area of the Palm Deira had been reclaimed.^[8] This amounted to 300 million cubic metres (10.6 billion cubic feet) of sand.^[8] Since the island is so large, it is being developed in several phases. The first one is the creation of Deira Island.^[2] This portion of the Palm will sit alongside the Deira Corniche between the entrance to Dubai Creek and Al Hamriya Port. Deira Island will act as "the gateway to The Palm Deira"^[9] and help to revitalize the aging area of Deira.^[10] By early April 2008, 80% of Deira Island Front's reclamation was complete.^[8]

A new redesign was quietly introduced in November 2008, further reducing the size of the project.^[11]

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

amazing biggest building

Amazing Biggest Building

Monday, August 17, 2009

amazing building

Dubai's World-Beating Buildings

A building boom in the emirate has led to a whole host of chart breakers, in categories including highest apartment, biggest mall, and one of the world's most unique resorts

By Reena Jana

Dubai has been grabbing headlines lately -- for more reasons than one. First on everyone's minds is the current controversy over Dubai Ports World's acquisition of Britain's Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., making the Middle Eastern company the possible operator of shipping terminals at major U.S. ports.

Another reason this United Arab Emirate is gaining widespread global attention: Dubai is experiencing a construction boom, with new buildings going up at a pace that rivals China's development -- albeit on the scale of an emirate roughly the size of Yosemite National Park, and with a population of only 1.4 million.

Dubai's crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has set a national goal of attracting 15 million tourists in 2010. Interestingly, that's the same year that Dubai's known oil reserves will most likely be tapped out, according to The Economist. Here's a look at 10 wonders of the quickly changing cityscape. Many promise to be the world's largest, tallest, or first-of-their-kind projects.

Burj Dubai

Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill

The Burj Dubai will be the world's tallest building when it opens in 2009. Its shape is inspired by the indigenous desert flowers that often appear as decorative patterns in Islamic architecture, but it also has an engineering purpose: The swirl shape ensures that the mass of the structure lessens as it reaches the top, making the structure steadier. A mixed-use building developed by Dubai's Emaar Properties, the Burj Dubai will house shops, offices, residences, and entertainment venues.

Hydropolis

Joachim Hauser

This hotel, the world's first underwater luxury resort, brings new meaning to the "ocean-view room." Situated 66 feet below the surface of the Persian Gulf, Hydropolis will feature 220 guest suites. Reinforced by concrete and steel, its Plexiglas walls and bubble-shaped dome ceilings offer sights of fish and other sea creatures. It's scheduled to open in late 2007.

The Palm Islands

Al Nakheel Properties

The three artificial islands that make up the Palm (comprising the Palm Jumeirah, the Palm Jebel Ali, and the Palm Deira) are the world's biggest man-made islands. Each was built from a staggering 1 billion cubic meters of dredged sand and stone, taken from Dubai's sea bed and configured into individual islands and surrounding breakwaters. The complex will house a variety of tourist attractions, ranging from spas and diving sites to apartments and theaters. The entire complex is designed to collectively resemble a date palm tree when seen from the sky.

The World

Al Nakheel Properties

Ever wish the world was smaller? This group of more than 250 man-made islands was designed to resemble the entire world when seen from the air. The islands, which range from 250,000 to 900,000 square feet, can be bought by individual developers or private owners -- starting at $6.85 million.

The only way to get between each island is by boat...or yacht, given the clientele. A notable engineering feat: The project incorporates two protective breakwaters to protect the islands from waves, consisting of one submerged reef (the outer breakwater) and an above-water structure (the inner breakwater).

Sports City

Dubailand LLC

A standout section of the sprawling, 3-billion-square-foot theme-park-like development known as Dubailand, Sports City will offer visitors a staggering variety of athletic venues, from elegant, gigantic stadia to state-of-the-art participatory parks for skateboarding, indoor rock climbing, and other activities. Not to mention facilities for polo, car racing, golf, and extreme sports. The stadia are designed by German architects von Gerkan, Marg & Partners, the firm behind the graceful 2004 update of Berlin's 1936 Olympic stadium.v

Eco-Tourism World

Dubailand LLC

Another sub-world of Dubailand, Eco-Tourism World promises to offer a variety of nature-themed attractions. These include a petting zoo, gardens, a desert safari, camping facilities, horse-riding center, and, as seen here in model form, biospheres in which various flora and fauna unused to an intense desert climate will thrive in controlled habitats.

One Central Park

Norman Foster and Partners

Adding to the superlatives rising on the Dubai skyline is One Central Park, a mixed-use building that will feature the world's highest apartment. A sense of loftiness is communicated in the building's design, which places the residential section of the structure above buttressed "fins" that separate the public spaces from the private ones.

The building is also eco-friendly, as it's oriented to reduce solar gain. Taking into consideration the fact that skyscrapers tend to be inefficient in terms of energy consumption, Foster & Partners gave the building a central core that absorbs heat and a sunshade system, to reduce cooling costs. Dealing with temperature is a key design challenge within a hot desert environment.

Dubai Mall

DP Architects

Thirty-five million people are expected to visit the Dubai Mall, developed by Emaar Properties, during 2006, its inaugural year. There's plenty to do, since, at more than 5 million square feet, it's the biggest mall in the world. It will house 15 sub-malls, a skating rink, an aquarium, and the planet's biggest gold souk (market).

Ski Dubai

F + A Architects

When one thinks of a vacation in Dubai, the first images that might to come to mind are sun and sand. Now add snow. Two feet of snow, topped with a daily layer of fresh powder, to be exact -- thanks to the system of 23 blast coolers and snow guns inside Ski Dubai. It might be 135 degrees Fahrenheit outdoors, but inside the 32,290 square-foot, $275 million structure, visitors ski and snowboard. The heavily insulated facility also includes the world's largest indoor snow park, offering 9,842 square feet for sledding or bobsledding.

UAE Spaceport

Space Adventures

With an estimated price tag of at least $265 million, the world's first spaceport is strategically located to serve both residents and visitors to Dubai. The UAE spaceport actually falls inside the border of a nearby emirate, Ras Al-Khaimah, but it's a quick drive from Dubai, and the developer, America's Space Adventures, is clearly targeting Dubai tourists and residents.

While there's no official opening date or final design set, early renderings indicate that the spaceport will feature a triangular runway/launchpad and domed passenger terminals.

amazing building

AMAZING BUILDING

50 Strange Buildings of the World

1. The Crooked House (Sopot, Poland)

Construction of the building started in in January 2003 and in December 2003 it was finished. House architecture is based on Jan Marcin Szancer (famous Polish artist and child books illustrator) and Per Dahlberg (Swedish painter living in Sopot) pictures and paintings.

Image via: brocha

2. Forest Spiral - Hundertwasser Building (Darmstadt, Germany)

The Hundertwasser house “Waldspirale” (”Forest Spiral”) was built in Darmstadt between 1998 and 2000. Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the famous Austrian architect and painter, is widely renowned for his revolutionary, colourful architectural designs which incorporate irregular, organic forms, e.g. onion-shaped domes.

The structure with 105 apartments wraps around a landscaped courtyard with a running stream. Up in the turret at the southeast corner, there is a restaurant, including a cocktail bar.

Image via: Kikos Dad

3. The Torre Galatea Figueras (Spain)

Image via: manuelfloresv

4. Ferdinand Cheval Palace a.k.a Ideal Palace (France)

Image via: Mélisande*

5. The Basket Building (Ohio, United States)

The Longaberger Basket Company building in Newark, Ohio might just be a strangest office building in the world. The 180,000-square-foot building, a replica of the company’s famous market basket, cost $30 million and took two years to complete. Many experts tried to persuade Dave Longaberger to alter his plans, but he wanted an exact replica of the real thing.

Image via: addicted Eyes

6. Kansas City Public Library (Missouri, United States)

This project, located in the heart of Kansas City, represents one of the pioneer projects behind the revitalization of downtown.

The people of Kansas City were asked to help pick highly influential books that represent Kansas City. Those titles were included as ‘bookbindings’ in the innovative design of the parking garage exterior, to inspire people to utilize the downtown Central Library.

Image via: jonathan_moreau

7. Wonderworks (Pigeon Forge, TN, United States)

8. Habitat 67 (Montreal, Canada)

Expo 67, one of the world’s largest universal expositions was held in Montreal. Housing was one of the main themes of Expo 67.

The cube is the base, the mean and the finality of Habitat 67. In its material sense, the cube is a symbol of stability. As for its mystic meaning, the cube is symbol of wisdom, truth, moral perfection, at the origin itself of our civilization.

354 cubes of a magnificent grey-beige build up one on the other to form 146 residences nestled between sky and earth, between city and river, between greenery and light.

Image via: ken ratcliff

9. Cubic Houses (Rotterdam, Netherlands)

The original idea of these cubic houses came about in the 1970s. Piet Blom has developed a couple of these cubic houses that were built in Helmond.

The city of Rotterdam asked him to design housing on top of a pedestrian bridge and he decided to use the cubic houses idea. The concept behind these houses is that he tries to create a forest by each cube representing an abstract tree; therefore the whole village becomes a forest.

Image via: vpzone

10. Hang Nga Guesthouse a.k.a Crazy House (Vietnam)

The house is owned by the daughter of the ex-president of Vietnam, who studied architecture in Moscow.

It does not comply with any convention about house building, has unexpected twists and turns, roofs and rooms. It looks like a fairy tale castle, it has enormous “animals” like a giraffe and a spider, no window is rectangular or round, and it can be visited like a museum.

Image via: JonasPhoto