Unit 9 Unusual Architecture

1 Introduction2interface

1.1 Read the text title and hypothesize what the text is about. Write down your hypothesis.

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1.5 What do you know concerning this issue? List your ideas in the table left column “I know”.

1.6 If you know answers to these questions write them down in the space given after each question.

1.7 Circle in the list the words and expressions you know. Write down their translation in the table and calculate the percentage of your lexical competence.

The Broken Column House. Amongst the myriad of weird houses from around the world, here’s a true gem: the Broken Column House. The Broken Column House was built by the aristocrat François Nicolas Henri Racine de Monville who used it as his main residence before the French Revolution. The house was designed to look like a ruined classical column, complete with fake cracks on the walls! Unfortunately, the building and the surrounding garden were actually abandoned for real. A restoration program was initiated in the 1980s and continues until today.

The interior of Column House was divided into oval rooms whose walls were decorated with Toile de Jouy. Upper floors were reached by a spiral staircase illuminated by a glass skylight. Rare plants and flowers were hung along the banisters; visitors thus felt the experience of exploring a real ruin that had been invaded by vegetation.

The Ideal Palace stands in a small village in central France. This structure was built single-handedly by a postman Ferdinand Cheval. He had dreamt of having a wondrous palace, but he wasn’t really a builder. Cheval collected stones that were his basic building material. He bound them together along with wire and cement. Cheval began building the structure in 1879, when he was 43 years old, and spent thirty-three years of his life building the "Ideal Palace".

He lent shape to the building by carving and modeling the stones. Cheval was known to toil the nights and day, and knew that most people thought he was mad. His understanding of the outside world was what he used in order to create this outstanding structure. The decoration of the structure combines features of a mosque, a Khmer temple, a feudal castle, a Swiss chalet, and a Hindu sanctuary. It consists of four facades and winding stairs that lead up to the tower. There is a special shrine that is meant especially for the faithful wheelbarrow that helped him carry the stones meant for the building of the Ideal Palace. This Palace is said to be one of the most astonishing and amazing structures ever built in the world. It is regarded as an extraordinary example of naïve art architecture.

La Tete-au-Carre.The literal translation of the French naming is “Thinking inside the Box” or “Square Head”. Within the “head” there are actually 3 floors of the library filled with digital and paper print media and literature. The building is 26 meters high, and it remains one of the most interesting and modern sculpture-buildings of France.

This strange yet extremely powerful and visually impressive, almost philosophic building is the central library building located in the heart of Nice. It is the first ever inhabited sculpture of the world, and it is made entirely of aluminum. Famous sculptor and painter Sacha Sosno together with architects Yves Bayard and Francis Chapuis created it.

The Dancing House. Here's a building that should really get your attention when walking pass it. The house stands out among the Baroque, Gothic and Art Nouveau buildings for which Prague is famous. Critics of the building pointed out that it doesn’t fit into its surroundings; the unusual shape of the building was also seen as disputable. But after several years, it is regarded as one of the most interesting Prague buildings erected at the end of the 20^th century. It was awarded the Design of the year 1996 award from the American Time magazine.

It was designed by Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić in co-operation with Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry on a vacant riverfront plot (where the previous building had been demolished by an American air attack in 1945). Together they built a dynamically looking building that seems to be dancing on the quay. It represents two dancers Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers – that’s why it’s also called “Ginger and Fred”. The glass tower Ginger bends and clings to the concrete tower Fred, which has a metal cupola on the top, representing hair. The house is an example of a deconstructivist architecture.

The Community Bookshelfis a striking feature of Kansas City’s downtown. This really is a building and not just miniature cars in front of a bookshelf. The innovative idea to camouflage the parking garage of Kansas City Library was designed by Dimensional Innovations. This is an unusual design for a building but it is very funny and apt for this type of construction.

This project involved the community as residents of Kansas City were asked which books they wanted to be featured as the front of the building. This unique and quirky building lets you see the classic books before going into the library to read them. The book spines, which measure approximately 25 feet by 9 feet, are made of signboard mylar. The “shelf” showcases 22 titles reflecting a wide variety of reading interests.

The Tianzi Garden Hotel.This colourful, decorative and impressive building that you see before you is, in fact, a hotel situatedin Hebei Province, China. It is unlike any other structure. The 10 story building is comprised of three giant ancient Chinese gods: Fu (in the centre) symbolizing fortune, Lu (to your right) symbolizing prosperity and Shou (to your left) symbolizing longevity. Tianzi Hotel holds the world record for being the “biggest image building”.

The peach in Shou’s left hand, is actually a suite (the “Peach Suite”) within the hotel, the two holes in its front being windows. You can identify the windows of the hotel rooms by the symbols in their robes. The entrance to the hotel is situated around Shou’s right foot.

The Inntel Hotel. The newly opened Inntel Hotel, in the Dutch town of Zaandam, is now the main eye-catcher of the town center due to its bizarre design. The Inntel Hotel is the brainchild of the hotels’ designer Wilfried van Winden. Many of us see hotels as temporary homes, so he tried to emphasize this idea by designing it to look like a bunch of traditional Zaan houses, stacked over each other to create a singular building. The result of his vision is both unique and familar, and definitely stunning.

"Architecture naturally makes a direct appeal to the emotions as well," says Van Winden. "An acquaintance recently commented, 'When I drive into Zaandam and see the building standing there a smile inevitably spreads across my face.' You could hardly ask for a more wonderful compliment."

Lotus Temple (Delhi, India).The Lotus Temple is a stunning example of modern architecture and took Canadian Architect Fariborz Sahba, 10 years to design this development. It is thought that the Lotus Temple is one of the most complicated modern structures in the world and took a work force of 800 people including engineers, technicians, artisans and workers to finish.

The petals, that resemble the Lotus flower, were built using reinforced white concrete cast in place, these were clad in white marble panels, and patterned like the leaves of the flower. The design itself had virtually no straight lines, which meant erecting the framework became a very complicated procedure. However, the end result looks to be worth it as this monument stands as one of India’s most stunning buildings, in which there is some stiff competition and boasts more visitors than the Taj Mahal.

Ferrari World Abu Dhabiis the world’s largest indoor theme park, sitting under a roof designed by Benoy Architects. The iconic roof of Ferrari World is modeled after the side profile of a classic double-curve body shell of a Ferrari. The 50 metres high roof has a total surface area of 200,000 square metres with a perimeter of 2,200 metres. This bright red architectural gem bears a Ferrari logo, also the largest in the world. 12,370 tons of steel has been used to support this roof. The centre of the roof is marked by a 100-metre glazed funnel. Ferrari’s key principles of excellence and performance in the context of technological innovation underpinned every aspect of the project.

Ferrari World was officially opened to the public on November 4, 2010. It is situated on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates). While most of UAE’s better known architectural works are located in Dubai, less than 100 miles north of Abu Dhabi, Ferrari World in itself is a true feat of engineering.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 623