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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Pritzker_Pavilion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsOcSNSezYo

https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/chicago/best-designed-spaces-and-architecture-in-chicago

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/best-of-frank-gehry-slideshow/all

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Jay Pritzker Pavilion, also known as Pritzker Pavilion or Pritzker Music Pavilion, is a bandshell in Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located on the south side of Randolph Street and east of the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District.

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http://www.softschools.com/facts/wonders_of_the_world/petra_facts/96/

http://kids.britannica.com/elementary/article-474432/Petra

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vw8iFra-_s
https://clinton4.nara.gov/WH/kids/html/home.html

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http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/engineering/greatwallofchina.html

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/exploreorg/china-great-wall-eorg

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Learn the history about the Great Wall of China. How it was built and why, including the length and the dynasties that built it.

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http://www.prague.eu/en/object/places/1643/dancing-house-tancici-dum?back=1

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It may sound crazy to you - a house that dances? Impossible! But it is real! It's a building of a very unusual shape - you can actually see a couple - woman and man dancing together, holding their hands, with a skirt that sways to the music.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVJ1vfgv8TQ

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+ 52

Project Team

Sara Sheikh Akbari, Shiqi Li, Phil Soo Kim, Marc Boles, Yelda Gin, Liat Muller, Deniz Manisali, Lillie Liu, Jose Lemos, Simone Fuchs, Jose Ramon Tramoyeres, Yu Du, Tahmina Parvin, Erhan Patat, Fadi Mansour, Jaime Bartolome, Josef Glas, Michael Grau, Deepti Zachariah, Ceyhun Baskin, Daniel Widrig, Murat Mutlu and special thanks to Charles Walker

Main Contractor and Architect of Record

Consultants

Tuncel Engineering, AKT (Structure), GMD Project (Mechanical), HB Engineering (Electrical), Werner Sobek (Façade), Etik Fire Consultancy (Fire), Mezzo Stüdyo (Acoustic), Enar Engineering (Geotechnical), Sigal (Infrastructure), MBLD (Lighting), Subcontractors and manufacturers MERO (Steel Space Frame System) + Bilim Makina (Installation of Space Frame System), Doka (Formwork), Arabian Profile (External Cladding Panels / GRC & GRP), Lindner (Internal Skin Cladding), Sanset İkoor (Auditorium Wooden Cladding), Quinette (Auditorium Seats), Zumtobel (Lighting Fixtures), Baswa (Special Acoustic Ceilings) + Astas (Installation of Ceilings), Solarlux (Multipurpose Hall Façade Door), Bolidt (Polyurethane Floor Finish), Kone Elevators + Ikma (Installation of Elevators) MM Mühendisler Mermer (Marble Cladding Works) HRN Dizayn (Landscape LED Installation) Thyssen Group (Escalator) Remak Makina (Fire Doors and Concrete-Cladded Doors) Tema (Gypsum Panel Works) MIM Mühendislik (Structural Steel) Elekon Enerji Sistemleri (Main Building Lighting Control System), NIS Epoksi Kaplama Sistemleri (Epoxy Works) Light Projects Group (Lighting Fixtures), Limit Insaat (External Skin Insulations and Structure)

Text description provided by the architects. As part of the former Soviet Union, the urbanism and architecture of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan on the Western coast of the Caspian Sea, was heavily influenced by the planning of that era. Since its independence in 1991, Azerbaijan has invested heavily in modernising and developing Baku 's infrastructure and architecture, departing from its legacy of normative Soviet Modernism.

Zaha Hadid Architects was appointed as design architects of the Heydar Aliyev Center following a competition in 2007. The Center, designed to become the primary building for the nation's cultural programs, breaks from the rigid and often monumental Soviet architecture that is so prevalent in Baku, aspiring instead to express the sensibilities of Azeri culture and the optimism of a nation that looks to the future.
Design concept
The design of the Heydar Aliyev Center establishes a continuous, fluid relationship between its surrounding plaza and the building's interior. The plaza, as the ground surface; accessible to all as part of Baku 's urban fabric, rises to envelop an equally public interior space and define a sequence of event spaces dedicated to the collective celebration of contemporary and traditional Azeri culture. Elaborate formations such as undulations, bifurcations, folds, and inflections modify this plaza surface into an architectural landscape that performs a multitude of functions: welcoming, embracing, and directing visitors through different levels of the interior. With this gesture, the building blurs the conventional differentiation between architectural object and urban landscape, building envelope and urban plaza, figure and ground, interior and exterior.

Fluidity in architecture is not new to this region. In historical Islamic architecture, rows, grids, or sequences of columns flow to infinity like trees in a forest, establishing non-hierarchical space. Continuous calligraphic and ornamental patterns flow from carpets to walls, walls to ceilings, ceilings to domes, establishing seamless relationships and blurring distinctions between architectural elements and the ground they inhabit. Our intention was to relate to that historical understanding of architecture, not through the use of mimicry or a limiting adherence to the iconography of the past, but rather by developing a firmly contemporary interpretation, reflecting a more nuanced understanding. Responding to the topographic sheer drop that formerly split the site in two, the project introduces a precisely terraced landscape that establishes alternative connections and routes between public plaza, building, and underground parking. This solution avoids additional excavation and landfill, and successfully converts an initial disadvantage of the site into a key design feature.
Geometry, structure, materiality
One of the most critical yet challenging elements of the project was the architectural development of the building's skin. Our ambition to achieve a surface so continuous that it appears homogenous, required a broad range of different functions, construction logics and technical systems had to be brought together and integrated into the building's envelope. Advanced computing allowed for the continuous control and communication of these complexities among the numerous project participants.

The Heydar Aliyev Center principally consists of two collaborating systems: a concrete structure combined with a space frame system. In order to achieve large-scale column-free spaces that allow the visitor to experience the fluidity of the interior, vertical structural elements are absorbed by the envelope and curtain wall system. The particular surface geometry fosters unconventional structural solutions, such as the introduction of curved 'boot columns' to achieve the inverse peel of the surface from the ground to the West of the building, and the 'dovetail' tapering of the cantilever beams that support the building envelope to the East of the site.

The space frame system enabled the construction of a free-form structure and saved significant time throughout the construction process, while the substructure was developed to incorporate a flexible relationship between the rigid grid of the space frame and the free-formed exterior cladding seams. These seams were derived from a process of rationalizing the complex geometry, usage, and aesthetics of the project. Glass Fibre Reinforced Concrete (GFRC) and Glass Fibre Reinforced Polyester (GFRP) were chosen as ideal cladding materials, as they allow for the powerful plasticity of the building's design while responding to very different functional demands related to a variety of situations: plaza, transitional zones and envelope.

In this architectural composition, if the surface is the music, then the seams between the panels are the rhythm. Numerous studies were carried out on the surface geometry to rationalize the panels while maintaining continuity throughout the building and landscape. The seams promote a greater understanding of the project's scale. They emphasize the continual transformation and implied motion of its fluid geometry, offering a pragmatic solution to practical construction issues such as manufacturing, handling, transportation and assembly; and answering technical concerns such as accommodating movement due to deflection, external loads, temperature change, seismic activity and wind loading.

To emphasize the continuous relationship between the building's exterior and interior, the lighting of the Heydar Aliyev Center has been very carefully considered. The lighting design strategy differentiates the day and night reading of the building. During the day, the building's volume reflects light, constantly altering the Center's appearance according to the time of day and viewing perspective. The use of semi-reflective glass gives tantalizing glimpses within, arousing curiosity without revealing the fluid trajectory of spaces inside. At night, this character is gradually transformed by means of lighting that washes from the interior onto the exterior surfaces, unfolding the formal composition to reveal its content and maintaining the fluidity between interior and exterior.

As with all of our work, the Heydar Aliyev Center's design evolved from our investigations and research of the site's topography and the Center's role within its broader cultural landscape. By employing these articulate relationships, the design is embedded within this context; unfolding the future cultural possibilities for the nation.

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Heydar Aliyev Center / Zaha Hadid Architects

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Completed in 2013 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Images by Helene Binet , Hufton+Crow , Iwan Baan . As part of the former Soviet Union, the urbanism and architecture of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan on the Western coast of the Caspian Sea, was...

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New York Fisher Centre For the Performing Arts

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New York Fisher Centre For the Performing Arts

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Fisher_Center_for_the_Performing_Arts

http://www.azahner.com/portfolio/fisher-center

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_B._Fisher_Center_for_the_Performing_Arts

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http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/about/house_history_landing.aspx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st3oi7W2vO0

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Workers install lights on the 185 metres long, 120 metres wide Sydney Opera House

5. Mr Utzon resigned as chief architect of the Opera House in February 1966, after a new Liberal government was elected and the Minister of Works stopped payments to him. There were protests in the streets, demanding that Utzon be reinstated, but he left Australia in April of the same year, and never returned to see his design take shape.

6. The Sydney Opera House Trust took up communicating with Mr Utzon again in the late Nineties, and the architect was appointed as a design consultant for future works.

7. When Queen Elizabeth II opened the Sydney Opera House on October 20, 1973, Utzon was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of Architects Australia - but was absent from the ceremony.

8. The Sydney Opera House's construction cost $AUS 102 million (£60 million) - the original estimated cost was $AUS 7 million (£4.1 million).

9. The Opera House's sails were built using cranes made specifically for the job in France, each costing $AUS 100,000 (£59,000)

10. The building is 185 metres long and 120 metres wide.

11. The highest roof point is 67 metres above sea-level - the same as a 22-storey high building

12. Its roof is made of 2,194 pre-cast concrete sections.

13. These sections weigh up to 15 tons each...

14. ...and are held together by 350km of tensioned steel cable...

15. ...which if laid end-to-end would reach Canberra

16. The roof is covered with more than one million tiles, made by Swedish company Höganas.

17. The building has 6,225 square metres of glass and 645 kilometres of electric cable.

18. The glass used in the building is unique to the Sydney Opera House, and was made to order in France.

19. The architectural style is Expressionist Modernism - which involves innovative form and use of novel materials.

20. The entire site covers an area of 5.798 hectares. Eight Boeing 747s could sit wing-to-wing on the site.

21. The House hosts 3,000 events every year.

22. Two hundred thousand people per year take a guided tour of the building.

23. Its performances have an annual audience of two million.

24. The largest of the seven venues, the Concert Hall, has 2,679 seats.

25. The smallest is the Utzon room, which seats up to 210 people.

26. The Concert Hall's Grand Organ is the largest mechanical version of this instrument in the world, with 10,154 pipes. It took ten years to build.

27. Total rooms? 1,000.

28. 15,500 lightbulbs are changed every year at the Opera House.

29. The 40th anniversary is being celebrated with a month-long calendar of events throughout October, including a large concert on 27th October with performances by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Opera Australia and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs.

The Sydney Opera House was a focal point during the Summer 2000 Olympics

30. You won't go hungry or thirsty at the Sydney Opera House: it has three restaurants, a café, an espresso bar, and opera and theatre bars.

31. The building was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007, and the organisation describes it as "great urban sculpture set in a remarkable waterscape, at the tip of a peninsula projecting into Sydney Harbour."

32. Arnold Schwarzenegger won his final Mr Olympia body building title in the Concert Hall in 1980.

33. During the Eighties, a net was put in place above the orchestra pit in the Opera Theatre, after a live chicken walked off the stage during a performance of Boris Godunov and landed on a cellist.

34. The Sydney Opera House was the setting for Jon Cleary's crime novel Helga's Web, in which a body is found in the building's basement. The book was made into a film starring, Scobie Malone, in 1975.

35. The building is open to the public 363 days a year, closing only on Christmas Day and Good Friday. But staff work 24/7, 365 days of the year.

36. The first person to perform at the Sydney Opera House was Paul Robeson - in 1960, he sang Ol' Man River to the construction workers as they ate lunch.

37. The first opera performed at the house was Sergei Prokofiev's War and Peace, on September 28 1973.

38. The House was originally a popular film-screening venue, with a particular surfing movie theme.

39. The venue served as the focus for triathlon events during the 2000 Summer Olympics.

40. Since opening the Opera House, the Queen has visited four times

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Sydney Opera House: 40 fascinating facts

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Workers install lights on the 185 metres long, 120 metres wide Sydney Opera House 5. Mr Utzon resigned as chief architect of the Opera House in February 1966, after a new Liberal government was elected and the Minister of Works stopped payments to him.

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http://galaxysoho.sohochina.com/en/design

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On Friday, 27 October, SOHO China officially opened the real estate developer's latest project to transform the Beijing landscape - Galaxy SOHO. During a three-hour event, which attracted thousands and thousands of visitors who eagerly explored the building's unique open canyon design - a design simultaneously reminiscent of natural rock formations of The Wave at Coyote Buttes in the American Southwest and something out of Star Trek. As the guests entered Galaxy's "creative canyon" they were drawn forward by a series of inviting fountains and mist features that begged to be interacted with. Children and adults alike delighted in playing in the mist, illuminated by blue lights, and walking in and out of a tunnel created by three-meter-high streams of water.

Female guides sporting neon pink, blue, orange, and green hair directed visitors and handed out postcard packets and glow-in-the-dark stars while waiters served finger food and beverages. The event culminated in the atrium of what will be a shopping mall (packed to capacity), where SOHO China CEO, Zhang Xin was interviewed along with architect Zaha Hadid. Although many were eager to hear comments from Hadid about the building's design, it was clear that the majority of the audience was there to view and hear comments from what Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and Fortune Magazine have all described as one of the world's most powerful women, Zhang Xin herself.

The two women described the ease of working together and the challenges of working in China. When the concept of "Chinese design" came up, Hadid pronounced that in a global age, it did not really matter where inspiration or design originated. Once a building is built in China, such as Galaxy, it becomes Chinese. She pointed out that it was Chinese people who would live and work in the building and that they would make it their own. Twenty years later, it will be viewed as an iconic Beijing structure, not a building designed by foreigners. Zhang also discussed the issue of copying and creativity, debunking the notion that China (or anyplace for that matter) lacks its own creativity. She talked about creating a culture of creativity and giving people the chance to make mistakes in order to learn.

Mace Rosen, Landscape Design Director at SOHO China, commented that with each new project SOHO develops they make improvements. As he watched children dashing about the fountains, he spotted one man walking directly down the archway created by the jets of water and exclaimed, "There it is! That's what I want to see!" Basking in the success of a completed project, he quickly added, "Just wait until you see Wangjing SOHO. It's going to be even better."
Photos by Christopher Lay

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Galaxy SOHO Takes Visitors Out of This World

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On Friday, 27 October, SOHO China officially opened the real estate developer's latest project to transform the Beijing landscape - Galaxy SOHO. During a three-hour event, which attracted thousands and thousands of visitors who eagerly explored the building's unique open canyon design - a design simultaneously reminiscent of natural rock formations of The Wave at Coyote Buttes in the American Southwest and something out of Star Trek.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLl-Yn1MYlU

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/history/

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Stonehenge is one of the world's most famous monuments. It stands on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire, and its giant stones can be seen from miles around.

Stonehenge was built over many hundreds of years. Work began in the late Neolithic Age, around 3000BC. Over the next thousand years, people made many changes to the monument. The last changes were made in the early Bronze Age, around 1500BC.

We may never know exactly why Stonehenge was built, but people probably gathered there for religious ceremonies.

Explore what Stonehenge looked like 4,000 years ago.

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The first task was to cut the boulders into shape. Archaeologists believe that the ancient Britons hammered wedges of wood into cracks in the stone.

When the wood was soaked in water, it expanded and split the stone. Next, the builders used chisels and hammers to shape them.

The stones were then transported to the building site. They were probably carried on rafts down rivers, then dragged overland by teams of men and oxen. It's believed that the stones were placed on giant wooden sledges and pulled along the ground using log rollers.

The builders dug deep ditches for the stones. Then they pulled on ropes to raise them and packed the ditches with rocks to hold the stones in place.

Why did the ancient Britons build such a massive monument at Stonehenge? What exactly went on at this sacred site?

Some people think that Stonehenge was used to study the movements of the Sun and Moon. Other people think it was a place of healing.

The ancient Britons believed that the Sun and Moon had a special power over their lives. It is very likely that they held special ceremonies at Stonehenge on Midsummer's Day (the longest day of the year) and on Midwinter's Day (the shortest day of the year).

Many experts believe that Stonehenge was used for funerals. They suggest that people carried the dead along the River Avon, and then walked up to Stonehenge in a grand procession. The most important funeral ceremony of the year was probably held on Midwinter's Night at Stonehenge.

Stonehenge is just one of hundreds of stone circles that have been found in Britain. During the early Bronze Age, circles built from stone or wood played a very important part in the religious life of the British people.

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What is Stonehenge? Find out about the history of Stonehenge in this BBC Bitesize KS2 History guide.

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http://www.fallingwater.org/37/
http://www.fallingwater.org/38/

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Fallingwater was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935. Construction began a year later and was eventually completed in 1939. Many consider Fallingwater one of Wright's finest creations. Hence why Smithsonian Magazine counted it as one of the 28 Places to See Before You Die. Now, thanks to the mini movie above, you can watch the building of Fallingwater take place right before your eyes, and then take a tour of the house. It's all done in computer graphics and runs 4+ minutes. And, as one reader tells us, the "video is as real as it gets." You can learn more about the film and the house at this web site.

For more Frank Lloyd Wright, you'll also want to visit the R.W. Lindholm Service Station, a gas station designed by the famous architect in the 1930s. We'll take you on a virtual tour right here.

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An Animated Tour of Fallingwater, One of Frank Lloyd Wright's Finest Creations

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Fallingwater was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935. Construction began a year later and was eventually completed in 1939. Many consider Fallingwater one of Wright's finest creations. Hence why Smithsonian Magazine counted it as one of the 28 Places to See Before You Die.