• Museum of Contemporary art Belgrade

Museum of Contemporary Art is an art museum in Belgrade, Serbia that collects and displays art works produced since 1900 in Serbia and the former Yugoslavia.

The museum also organizes international exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. It was founded in 1958 as the Modern Gallery. It was moved into the current building in the Ušće neighborhood of New Belgrade in 1965.

The building is a masterpiece of architects Ivan Antić and Ivanka Raspopović. The collection contains more than 35,000 works of art. The museum was closed for renovation between 2007 and 2017.

After several deadlines were pushed back, the museum was finally reopened for visitors on October 20, 2017

• National Museum of Serbia

The National Museum of Serbia is the largest and oldest museum in Serbia and former Yugoslavia

The museum was established on 10 May 1844. It moved into the present building in 1950, with the grand opening of the venue on 23 May 1952.

Since its founding, the museum’s collection has grown to over 400,000 objects, including many foreign masterpieces.The National Museum of Serbia building was declared a Monument of Culture of Great Importance in 1979

• Serbian and Yugoslav art collection, Austrian and German art collections, Japanese art collection, English art collections, Russian art collection, French art collection, Dutch and Flemish collection, Italian art collection.

• Museum of African Art

• Ethnographic Museum

• Military Museum
• Museum of Vuk and Dositej
• Beli dvor-The residence of Prince Milos

The erection of the Residence began in March 1831, soon after Serbia was granted the status of autonomous hereditary principality (1830).

The architect was the outstanding constructor Haji Nikola Živković, a mason from the Southern Balkans (nowadays Macedonia) who, as Prince Miloš’s chief architect, was involved in all major state projects.

The builders were Janja Mihailović and Nikola Djordjević, who, with their employees, for a long time enjoyed the Prince’s confidence.

In its construction, plan and style, the Residence belongs to the typical Ottoman architecture of the time and represents one of the last architectural and artistic traces of Ottoman culture in Serbia.

The implementation of the cultural forms of the Ottoman ruling elite, as well as the accelerating adoption of European culture which accompanied the struggle for national independence, are both visible in this residence.

The neoclassical elements on its façade and the typical Ottoman interior decoration show the combination of these two different cultures, life styles and traditions. The preserved written sources testify that the residence was organized with such a combination in mind when it came to the interior decoration. That means that alongside all the walls in all the rooms there were low benches covered with heavy fabrics and pillows, while the floors were covered by carpets. The rooms were lighted up with chandeliers and lamps, and decorated with clocks, mirrors and paintings, all purchased in Vienna and Budapest. It is interesting that the first art collection in the Principality of Serbia (which has not been preserved) was housed in the Topčider Residence.

As in all wealthy Ottoman residences, the main entrance is oriented towards the garden, i.e. the present-day park. It is not easy to reconstruct the exact layout of the Residence, but it is certain that it had to serve many different purposes, housing both the Prince’s private quarters and his offices for state affairs.

Unfortunately, Prince Miloš’s furniture, paintings and personal belongings from the residence in Topčider have not been preserved.

With the arrival of the Karadjordjević dynasty in 1903, all the objects from Prince Miloš’s private apartments were moved to the National Museum, where the major part were destroyed during the Austro-Hungarian bombing in World War One.

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• Museum der Kulturen Basel

Architects Herzog& de Meuron have positioned a scaly crown over the top of this Basel museum.

The renovated Museum de Kulturen reopened in September and exhibits ethnographic artifacts and images from around the world.

The architects added a new gallery floor to the building, beneath the irregularly folded roof of shimmering ceramic tiles.

A steel framework supports the roof, creating a column-free exhibition area.

On the existing stories, the architects extended a selection of windows down to ankle-height and removed a floor to create a new double-height gallery.

The hexagonal tiles, some of them three-dimensional, refract the light even when the skies are overcast, creating an effect much like that of the finely structured brick tiles on the roofs of the old town.

The steel framework of the folded roof allows for a column-free gallery underneath, an expressive space that forms a surprising contrast to the quiet, right-angled galleries on the floors below.

The courtyard, in its patchwork setting of the backs of medieval buildings, has now become an extension of the Münsterplatz.

• Art Club- FONDATION BEYELER Arch.Renzo Piano( is an Italian architect and engineer. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, The Shard in London, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City)

The Foundation Beyeler in Riehen/Basel is devoting a retrospective exhibition to the legendary artist Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (1908–2001), known as Balthus

• VITRA Design museum- Weil al Rheim, Germany- Arc.Frank O Gehry

Vitra is a Swiss family-owned furniture company with headquarters in Birsfelden, Switzerland. It is the manufacturer of the works of many internationally renowned furniture designers

Vitra is also known for the works of notable architects that make up its premises in Weil al Rheim, Germany, in particular the Vitra Design Museum.

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Cairo  is the capital of Egypt. The city’s metropolitan area is one of the largest in Africa, the largest in the Middle East and the Arab world, and the 15th-largest in the world, and is associated with ancient Egypt, as the famous Giza pyramid complex and the ancient city of Memphis are located in its geographical area.

Cairo has long been a center of the region’s political and cultural life, and is titled “the city of a thousand minarets” for its preponderance of Islamic architecture.

Khan el-Khalili  is a major souk in the historic center of Islamic Cairo. The bazaar district is one of Cairo’s main attractions for tourists and Egyptians alike.

Islamic Cairo  is a part of central Cairo around the old walled city and around the Citadel of Cairo which is characterized by hundreds of mosques, tombs, madrasas, mansions, caravanserais, and fortifications dating from the Islamic era.

In 1979, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) proclaimed Historic Cairo a World Cultural Heritage site, as “one of the world’s oldest Islamic cities, with its famous mosques, madrasas, hammams and fountains” and “the new center of the Islamic world, reaching its golden age in the 14th century.”

Cairo’s Tahrir Square was the focal point of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution against former president Hosni Mubarak

The Egyptian National Military Museum is the official museum of the Egyptian Army.

Located inside of The Saladin Citadel which is Cairo medieval Islamic fortification. The Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qala’un Mosque is an early 14th-century mosque at the Citadel in Cairo, Egypt.

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, known commonly as the Egyptian Museum or Museum of Cairo, in Cairo, Egypt, is home to an extensive collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities.

It has 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display, the remainder in storerooms.

The edifice is one of the largest museums in the region. As of July 2017, the museum is open to the public.

Coptic Cairo is a part of Old Cairo which encompasses the Babylon Fortress, the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. George and many other Coptic churches and historical sites. It is believed in Christian tradition that the Holy Family visited this area and stayed at the site of Saints Sergius and Bacchus Church (Abu Serga).

Coptic Cairo was a stronghold for Christianity in Egypt until the Islamic era, though most of the current buildings of the churches in Coptic Cairo were built after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century

The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak,  from Arabic Khurnak meaning “fortified village”, comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings in Egypt.

Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom and continued into the Ptolemaic period, although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom.

The area around Karnak was the ancient Egyptian Ipet-isut (“The Most Selected of Places”) and the main place of worship of the eighteenth dynasty Theban Triad with the god Amun as its head. It is part of the monumental city of Thebes. The Karnak complex gives its name to the nearby, and partly surrounded, modern village of El-Karnak, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) north of Luxor.

Luxor  is a city in Upper (southern) Egypt and the capital of Luxor Governorate.

As the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, Luxor has frequently been characterized as the “world’s greatest open-air museum”, as the ruins of the temple complexes at Karnak and Luxor stand within the modern city.

Immediately opposite, across the River Nile, lie the monuments, temples and tombs of the West Bank Necropolis, which includes the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens. 

The Egyptian pyramids are ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt.
As of November 2008, sources cite either 118 or 138 as the number of identified Egyptian pyramids.Most were built as tombs for the country’s pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods.

The most famous Egyptian pyramids are those found at Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo. Several of the Giza pyramids are counted among the largest structures ever built.

The Pyramid of Khufu at Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still in existence.

Egyptian gods:

SET

The god of the desert, storms, and evil, Set was one mean dude. His color was red, the color of sterile soil and the desert. Set was the strongest of the gods, and very tricky.

He became pharaoh of Egypt after killing his brother, but was later overthrown by his nephew Horus. After that, Set fled into the desert, where he controlled all the evil harsh lands outside the Nile Valley.

Set wasn’t all bad, however. In the old days, he sailed on Ra’s boat and helped defend the sun god from the armies of the chaos serpent Apep. Set is usually pictured with red skin and the head of an unknown animal demon – part dog, part anteater, all ugly

ANUBIS

BAST- CAT

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Iran

officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, with over 81 million inhabitants, Iran is the world’s 18th-most-populous country.It is the second-largest country in the Middle East and the 17th-largest in the world.

Iran is home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations, beginning with the formation of the Elamite kingdoms in the fourth millennium BCE. It was first unified by the Iranian Medes in the seventh century BCE, reaching its greatest territorial size in the sixth century BCE, when Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire, which stretched from Eastern Europe to the Indus Valley, becoming one of the largest empires in history.

The Iranian realm fell to Alexander the Great in the fourth century BCE and was divided into several Hellenistic states. An Iranian rebellion culminated in the establishment of the Parthian Empire, which was succeeded in the third century CE by the Sasanian Empire, a leading world power for the next four centuries.

Arab Muslims conquered the empire in the seventh century CE, displacing the indigenous faiths of Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism with Islam. Iran made major contributions to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential figures in art and science.

Shiraz is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province (Old Persian as Pars).Shiraz is known as the city of poets, literature, wine (despite Iran being an Islamic republic), and flowers.
The crafts of Shiraz consist of inlaid mosaic work of triangular design; silver-ware; pile carpet-weaving and weaving of kilim, called gilim and jajim in the villages and among the tribes.The city’s municipality and other related institutions have initiated restoration and reconstruction projects.
Some of the most recent projects have been the complete restoration of the Arg of Karim Khan and of the Vakil Bath, as well as a comprehensive plan for the preservation of the old city quarters. Other noteworthy initiatives include the total renovation of the Qur’an Gate and the mausoleum of the poet Khwaju Kermani, both located in the Allah-u-Akbar Gorge, as well as the restoration and expansion of the mausoleum of the famous Shiraz-born poets Hafiz and Saadi.

Eram Garden is a historic Persian garden in Shiraz, Iran. The garden, and the building within it, are located at the northern shore of the Khoshk River in the Fars province.
Both the building and the garden were built during the middle of thirteenth century by the Ilkhanate or a paramount chief of the Qashqai tribes of Pars.
Over its 150 years the structure has been modified, restored or stylistically changed by various participants. It was one of the properties of noble Shiraz Qavami Family.
The building faces south along the long axis.  It was designed by a local architect- Haji Mohammad Hasan.
The structure housed 32 rooms on two stories, decorated by tiles with poems from the poet Hafez written on them. The structure underwent renovation during the Zand and Qajar dynasties.
Qavam House, “Narenjestan e Ghavam” –at Eram Garden is a traditional and historical house. It was built between 1879 and 1886 by Mirza Ibrahim Khan.  The Qavam family were merchants originally from Qazvin. But they soon became active in the government during the Zand dynasty, followed by the Qajar, and Pahlavi dynasty as well.
The Qavam “Naranjestan” preserves the elegance and refinement enjoyed by the upper-class families during the 19th century.
The paintings on the low ceilings of the house are inspired by Victorian era Europe.  The mirrored porch was a focal point of the house, overlooking a small garden that was designed with fountains, date palms, and flowering plants

The Nasir al-Mulk Mosque also known as the Pink Mosque, is a traditional mosque in Shiraz, Iran. It was built under Qajar rule of Iran.
The mosque includes extensive colored glass in its façade, and displays other traditional elements such as the Panj Kāse (“five concaved”) design. It is named in popular culture as the ‘Pink Mosque’, due to the usage of considerable pink color tiles for its interior design.

Vakil Bazaar is the main bazaar of Shiraz, Iran, located in the historical center of the city.

Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (ca. 550–330 BC). It is situated 60 km northeast of the city of Shiraz in Fars Province, Iran.
The earliest remains of Persepolis date back to 515 BC. It exemplifies the Achaemenid style of architecture. UNESCO declared the ruins of Persepolis a World Heritage Site in 1979.Persepolitan architecture is noted for its use of the Persian column, which was probably based on earlier wooden columns. Architects resorted to stone only when the largest cedars of Lebanon or teak trees of India did not fulfill the required sizes.

Column bases and capitals were made of stone, even on wooden shafts, but the existence of wooden capitals is probable.
The buildings at Persepolis include three general groupings: military quarters, the treasury, and the reception halls and occasional houses for the King. Noted structures include the Great Stairway, the Gate of All Nations, the Apadana, the Hall of a Hundred Columns, the Tripylon Hal l and the Tachara, the Hadish Palace, the Palace of Artaxerxes III, the Imperial Treasury, the Royal Stables, and the Chariot House.

Pasargadae was the capital of the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great who had issued its construction (559–530 BC);it was also the location of his tomb.
It was a city in ancient Persia, located near the city of Shiraz (in Pasargad County), and is today an archaeological site and one of Iran’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Yazd

The capital of Yazd Province, Iran. The city is located 270 km (170 mi) southeast of Esfahan. At the 2011 census, the population was 529,673, and it is currently 15th largest city in Iran. Since 2017, the historical city of Yazd is recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Because of generations of adaptations to its desert surroundings, Yazd has a unique Persian architecture.

It is nicknamed the “City of Windcatchers” from its many examples. It is also very well known for its Zoroastrian fire temples, ab anbars (cisterns), qanats (underground channels), yakhchals (coolers), Persian handicrafts, handwoven cloth (Persian termeh), silk weaving, Persian Cotton Candy, and its time-honored confectioneries.

A Dakhma , also called a Tower of Silence, is a circular, raised structure built by Zoroastrians for excarnation – that is, for dead bodies to be exposed to carrion birds, usually vultures. Zoroastrian exposure of the dead is first attested in the mid-5th century BC Histories of Herodotus, but the use of towers is first documented in the early 9th century CE.

156–162 The doctrinal rationale for exposure is to avoid contact with Earth or Fire, both of which are considered sacred in Zoroastrian religion.

The modern-day towers, which are fairly uniform in their construction, have an almost flat roof, with the perimeter being slightly higher than the center. The roof is divided into three concentric rings: the bodies of men are arranged around the outer ring, women in the second circle, and children in the innermost ring.

Once the bones have been bleached by the sun and wind, which can take as long as a year, they are collected in an ossuary pit at the center of the tower, where – assisted by lime – they gradually disintegrate, and the remaining material – with run-off rainwater – runs through multiple coal and sand filters before being eventually washed out to sea.

The ritual precinct may be entered only by a special class of pallbearers, called nusessalars, a contraction of nasa. salar, caretaker (-salar) of potential pollutants (nasa-).

Zoroastrian fire temples

A fire temple in Zoroastrianism is the place of worship for Zoroastrians, often called dar-e mehr (Persian) or agiyari (Gujarati). In the Zoroastrian religion, fire (see atar), together with clean water (see aban), are agents of ritual purity.

Maharloo Lake , also known as Daryache-ye-Namak is a seasonal salt lake in the highlands of the area of Shiraz, Iran.

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London Design Biennale– It will explore big questions and ideas about sustainability, migration, pollution, energy, cities, and social equality.

London contains four World Heritage Sites: the Tower of London; Kew Gardens; the site comprising the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, and St Margaret’s Church; and the historic settlement of Greenwich (in which the Royal Observatory, Greenwich defines the Prime Meridian, 0° longitude, and GMT).

Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square and The Shard.

London is home to numerous museums, galleries, libraries, sporting events and other cultural institutions, including the British Museum, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, British Library and West End theatres.

Hyde Park is a Grade I-listed major park in Central London. It is the largest of four Royal Parks that form a chain from the entrance of Kensington Palace through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, via Hyde Park Corner and Green Park past the main entrance to Buckingham Palace.

Greenwich (in which the Royal Observatory, Greenwich defines the Prime Meridian, 0° longitude, and GMT)

Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London.

It runs almost the length of Notting Hill from south to north, roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove. On Saturdays it is home to Portobello Road Market, one of London’s notable street markets, known for its second-hand clothes and antiques.

Every August since 1996, the Portobello Film Festival has been held in locations around Portobello Road.

The Shard also referred to as the Shard of Glass, Shard London Bridge and formerly London Bridge Tower, is a 95-story skyscraper, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, in Southwark, London, that forms part of the Shard Quarter development.

Standing 309.7 metres (1,016 ft) high, the Shard is the tallest building in the United Kingdom, the tallest building in the European Union, the fifth-tallest building in Europe and the 96th-tallest building in the world.

It is also the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, after the concrete tower of the Emley Moor transmitting station. 

The Shard was developed by Sellar Property Group on behalf of LBQ Ltd and is jointly owned by Sellar Property (5%) and the State of Qatar (95%).

The Shard is managed by Real Estate Management (UK) Limited on behalf of the owners.

Arch. Frank O Gehry project

With titanium facades swinging like jiving skirts and windows staggered like towers of toppling coins, the chaotic energy of the latest apartment designs for Battersea power station

TATE MODERN, Bankside 

In 1995 it was announced that Herzog & de Meuron had won the competition with their simple design. The architects decided to reinvent the current building instead of demolishing it. This art gallery building is an example of adaptive reuse, the process of finding new life in old buildings. The building itself still resembles the 20th century factory in style from the outside and that is reflected on the inside by the taupe walls, steel girders and concrete floors.

The façade of the building is made out of 4.2 million bricks that are separated by groups of thin vertical windows that help create a dramatic light inside.

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The new Kuwait National Cultural District (KNCD) consists of various cultural venues including Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre, Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmad Cultural Centre, Al Shaheed Park, and Al Salam Palace.Several Kuwaiti museums are devoted to Islamic art, most notably the Tareq Rajab Museums and Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah cultural centres.

Sadu House is among Kuwait’s most important cultural institutions. Bait Al-Othman is the largest museum specializing in Kuwait’s history. The Scientific Center is one of the largest science museums in the Middle East. The Museum of Modern Art showcases the history of modern art in Kuwait and the region.

Al Shaheed park

The Lead local Consultant Khaled Al Fouzan teamed up with Portuguese architects and landscape designers on the competition-winning redesign. Their reconversion of the Kuwait Green Belt included the integration of several buildings in the existing garden and the selection of a native vegetation scheme that could respond to water consumption restrictions, the harsh environmental conditions and urban maintenance practices. The project was developed and implemented in a record time of 22 months.

After the concerns raised by the Martyrs’ Bureau regarding the integrity of the park during the last years, the Emir Office (Kuwait Amiri Diwan) reclaimed, in 2012, the use of the Al Shaheed Park for national celebrations and festivals under the memory of war martyrs. The monument to celebrate the “golden jubilee of Kuwait Constitution” was the first action towards the reconversion, followed by a broad program of public buildings, including two Museums, Car Park, Visitor Centre, a lake and an Aviary for the old Park.

The landscape proposal uses an existing grid, made of underground services and existing trees, that will distribute all the programmatic outdoor and indoor events – the buildings – that will be then converted into mounds due to a consideration of the acoustic studies – the noise protection – and the visual impact of the surrounding. At a larger degree this grid will be a medium climate mitigating wind, noise, dust and sun orientation. It generates a referential that is able to recognize the existing Park limits and trees, underground services, the Constitution Monument and Mecca orientation, as well as providing connections between all proposed elements through three pathways – the Emir path, visitors path and jogging track.

The volume of soil, its transport and storage, innate to the artificial lake and underground car park (program requirements), identified the opportunities to transcend the norm and provide the architectural resources to design the buildings’ fundamental elements. The permission of the Municipal Council was clear regarding the built program, reclaiming the argument that no single building could be erected from the Green Belt grounds, therefore, all proposed buildings are submerged under planted soil. The possibility of introducing extensive green roofs for larger areas in Kuwait will become a challenge similar to the use of concrete and steel structure for the construction of the Shuwaik Power Station and Desalinization Plant in 1953, first modern structures built in Kuwait.

The Habitat Museum, ‘Mathaf AlMawten’ in arabic, is a long sand dune planted with native plants that moves into proximity with the garden paths and covers the exhibition galleries, library, laboratory, offices, cafeteria, bookshop and a children learning centre. From the underground car park green roof, the soil drops under the ground to access the museum’s lower level, buried with single structure vacant frames towards the saline depression and desert canyon.

The soil movement was there instrumental to recreate along the park a section of Kuwait’s landscape, from the desert plateau and springs in the north to the oasis of the south, including saline depressions and Acacia woodlands.

Al Shaheed Park in Kuwait – Building Information
Client: Kuwait Al Diwan Al Amiri, Eng. Haifa Al Muhanna (Project Engineer)
General Contractor: Kharafi National, ENg Jacob Kurian (Project Construction Manager)
Lead Consultant: The Associated Engineering Partnership(TAEP)
Architecture and Landscape Consultants : Ricardo Camacho + Stroop | landscape urbanism (Portugal)
Lead Designers: Ricardo Camacho (Architecture) + Sara Machado (Landscape)
Interior Design: Sara Saragoca
Design team collaborators: Frederico Barosa, Sarah Behbehani, Abdulaziz Al Khandari, Rita Tadi, Fernando Martins, Nuno Sequeira, Hugo Ferreira, Graca Vaz, Miguel Costa, Yousef Abdulaal;
Structural Design: Al Farooqi Engineering Consultants Bureau (Kuwait, Serbia) + R5 Engenharia (Portugal)
MEP Design: Kharafi National, Eng Magdy Mohamed (MEP Design Coordination)
Irrigation Design: Geodesenho (Portugal) + Eng Pedro Nobre Correia
Civil Landscape: ProGolf (Brazil) + Eng. Benjamim Silva
Acoustics and Thermal: Psicometro (Portugal)
External Lighting: Atelier33 Architectural Lighting Design Beirut (Lebanon)
Facade Designer: Alico Projects Department (Kuwait)
Green Roof Design: ZinCo GmbH (Germany)
Identity and Project Communication: Ze Pedro Font Amado (Wang Design)
Environmental Consultant: Ali Al-Dousari ( Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research )
Environmental Consultant: Fahed Shuaibi (Amiri Diwan Consultant)
April 2013 – Nov 2014

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Victoria Falls  “The Smoke that Thunders”is a waterfall in southern Africa on the Zambezi River at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

David Livingstone, the Scottish missionary and explorer, is believed to have been the first European to view Victoria Falls on 16 November 1855, from what is now known as Livingstone Island, one of two land masses in the middle of the river, immediately upstream from the falls near the Zambian shore.

Livingstone named his discovery in honor of Queen Victoria of Britain, but the indigenous Lozi language name, Mosi-oa-Tunya—”The Smoke That Thunders”—continues in common usage as well. Livingstone also cites an older name, Seongo or Chongwe, which means “The Place of the Rainbow” as a result of the constant spray.

Avani Victoria Falls Resort, Livingstone, Zambia

The Crocodile Cafe is a delightful coffee shop situated at The Falls Entertainment Centre. Relax and enjoy the scenery as you take a break from browsing the arts and handicrafts on offer.

With walls painted in geometric designs – a mix of earthy tones and some brighter colours – most of the 208 standard rooms have either either twin or double beds.

Streets from Lusaka to Livingstone

Lusaka Bar design

Livingstone Lodge safari

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Chicago Architecture

Chicago is world-famous for its plethora of unique architectural styles, from Chicago Bungalows and Two-Flats to the grand Graystones along Logan Boulevard and Lawndale Avenue, from the skyscrapers of the Loop as well as a wealth of sacred architecture such as the city’s ornate “Polish Cathedrals”.

Beginning in the early 1880s, architectural pioneers of the Chicago School explored steel-frame construction and, in the 1890s, the use of large areas of plate glass. Beginning in the early 1880s, architectural pioneers of the Chicago School explored steel-frame construction and, in the 1890s, the use of large areas of plate glass. These were among the first modern skyscrapers.

Louis Sullivan was perhaps the city’s most philosophical architect. Realizing that the skyscraper represented a new form of architecture, he discarded historical precedent and designed buildings that emphasized their vertical nature. This new form of architecture, by Jenney, Burnham, Sullivan, and others, became known as the “Commercial Style,” but it was called the “Chicago School” by later historians.

Since 1963, a “Second Chicago School” emerged from the work of Arch. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. The ideas of structural engineer Fazlur Khan were also influential in this movement, in particular his introduction of a new structural system of framed tubes in skyscraper design and construction.

The first building to apply the tube-frame construction was the DeWitt-Chestnut Apartment Building which Khan designed and was completed in Chicago by 1966.

This laid the foundations for the tube structures of many other later skyscrapers, including his own constructions of the John Hancock Center and Willis Tower in Chicago and can be seen in the construction of the World Trade Center, Petronas Towers and most other supertall skyscrapers since the 1960s.

Willis Tower would be the world’s tallest building from its construction in 1974 until 1998 (when the Petronas Towers was built) and would remain the tallest for some categories of buildings until the Burj Khalifa was completed in early 2010.

Numerous architects have constructed landmark buildings of varying styles in Chicago.

Chicago is well known for its wealth of public art, including works by such artistic heavyweights as Chagall, Picasso, Miró and Abakanowicz that are all to be found outdoors.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie School influenced both building design and the design of furnishings. In the early half of the 20th century, popular residential neighborhoods were developed with Chicago Bungalow style houses, many of which still exist.

The Frederick C. Robie House is a U.S. National Historic Landmark on the campus of the University of Chicago in the South Side neighborhood of Hyde Park in Chicago, Illinois. Built between 1909 and 1910, the building was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and is renowned as the greatest example of Prairie School, the first architectural style considered uniquely American.  

The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio (1889/1898) served as Wright’s private residence and workplace from 1889 to 1909—the first 20 years of his career. Wright used his home as an architectural laboratory, experimenting with design concepts that contain the seeds of his architectural philosophy.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Illinois Institute of Technology campus in Chicago influenced the later Modern or International style.
Van der Rohe’s work is sometimes called the Second Chicago School.

Millennium Park – Architect Frank Gehry

Jay Pritzker Pavilion is one of the most popular destinations in Chicago for a dizzying array of free cultural performances.

Designed by Frank Gehry, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion stands 120-feet above ground, with a billowing “headdress” composed of individual brushed stainless-steel ribbons that frame the stage opening and connect to an overhead trellis of crisscrossing steel pipes. The stage area of the Pavilion is sheathed completely with Douglas fir and features a series of portable risers and a choral terrace that can accommodate up to a 120-member collective orchestra and choir. Large glass doors that can enclose the stage area when shut, allow the Pavilion to be used during winter months for an assortment of public functions such as banquets, receptions, and lectures. An additional feature is a system of decorative colored lights that when projected onto the proscenium, transform the face of the Pavilion.

Cloud Gate is a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Sir Anish Kapoor, that is the centerpiece of AT&T Plaza at Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois.  Constructed between 2004 and 2006, the sculpture is nicknamed The Bean because of its shape.

Made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, its highly polished exterior has no visible seams. It measures  10 x 20 x 13 m , and weighs 110 short tons.
Kapoor’s design was inspired by liquid mercury and the sculpture’s surface reflects and distorts the city’s skyline. Visitors are able to walk around and under Cloud Gate’s 3.7 m high arch.

Gibbs farm sculpture –The Giant Sculptures at Gibbs Farm Art Park in New Zealand

Kapoor Versailles will be on view at the Palace of Versailles from June 9 through November 1, 2015.

Many of the works are installed throughout the gardens in the Grand Perspective and Star Grove. Kapoor’s Shooting into the Corner is installed in the Jeu de Paume room.

Organic architecture is a philosophy of architecture which promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural world. This is achieved through design approaches that aim to be sympathetic and well-integrated with a site, so buildings, furnishings, and surroundings become part of a unified, interrelated composition.

The term “organic architecture” was coined by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), though never well-articulated by his cryptic style of writing:
“So here I stand before you preaching organic architecture: declaring organic architecture to be the modern ideal and the teaching so much needed if we are to see the whole of life, and to now serve the whole of life, holding no traditions essential to the great TRADITION. Nor cherishing any preconceived form fixing upon us either past, present or future, but instead exalting the simple laws of common sense or of super-sense if you prefer determining form by way of the nature of materials ..

Organic architecture is also translated into the all inclusive nature of Wright’s design process. Materials, motifs, and basic ordering principles continue to repeat themselves throughout the building as a whole. The idea of organic architecture refers not only to the buildings’ literal relationship to the natural surroundings, but how the buildings’ design is carefully thought about as if it were a unified organism. Geometries throughout Wright’s buildings build a central mood and theme. Essentially organic architecture is also the literal design of every element of a building: From the windows, to the floors, to the individual chairs intended to fill the space. Everything relates to one another, reflecting the symbiotic ordering systems of nature.

A well-known example of organic architecture is Fallingwater, the residence Wright designed for the Kaufmann family in rural Pennsylvania.

Wright had many choices to locate a home on this large site, but chose to place the home directly over the waterfall and creek creating a close, yet noisy dialog with the rushing water and the steep site. The horizontal striations of stone masonry with daring cantilevers of colored beige concrete blend with native rock outcroppings and the wooded environment.

”The Met” Metropolitan Museum of Art- New York City

The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, is the largest art museum in the United States.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Arch. Frank Lloyd Write often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum located at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

It is the permanent home of a continuously expanding collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions throughout the year.

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Architecture of the city

The design of most major buildings in Stockholm show foreign influences. During the 17th century and 18th century, foreign architects were recruited to build the city and in recent periods Swedish architects often drew inspiration from their tours to Europe, and in the 20th century particularly, the United States.

The city structures were built of wood except for the Cathedral Storkyrkan and a tower called “Three Crowns” which were more monumental. Stockholm’s development was also especially influenced by Germany because of the great volume of trade occurring between the nations at the time through the nearby waterways. The North German architecture is most prominent in Gamla stan

Vasa Museum is a maritime museum

Located on the island of Djurgården, the museum displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged, the 64-gun warship Vasa that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. The Vasa Museum opened in 1990 and, according to the official web site, is the most visited museum in Scandinavia. Together with other museums such as the Stockholm Maritime Museum, it belongs to the Swedish National Maritime Museums (SNMM)

Moderna Museet– The Museum of Modern Art

The museum houses Swedish and international modern and contemporary art, including pieces by Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí and a model of the Tatlin’s Tower.

The museum’s collection includes also key works by artists such as Marcel Duchamp, Louise Bourgeois, Niki de Saint Phalle, Henri Matisse and Robert Rauschenberg, as well as ongoing acquisitions by contemporary artists.

Architecture New building on Skeppsholmen, designed by the Spanish architect Rafael Moneo, was built. The Pontus Hultén Study Gallery was designed by Renzo Piano.

 The Stockholm Metro is one gigantic art gallery. More than 90 of the 110 stations feature artworks created by some 150 artists.

You can see sculptures, mosaics, paintings, art installations, inscriptions and reliefs from the 1950s through to the 2000s at most Stockholm Metro stations.

Solna Centrum station (blue line) stands out for its cavernous, bright red ceiling that seems to ‘weigh down’ on the platform. Meanwhile the walls of the station depict a spruce forest that is one kilometer long.

The Royal Palace  is the official residence and major royal palace of the Swedish monarch (the actual residence of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia is at Drottningholm Palace). Stockholm Palace is located on Stadsholmen, in Gamla stan in the capital, Stockholm.

Architecture plan– The palace is made of brick and sandstone. The roofs are covered with copper and are slanting inward towards the inner courtyard. On the main building they are encircled by a balustrade made of stone. The building consists of four rows, commonly named after the four cardinal directions.
A triumphal arch in splendid Baroque style framed the entrance and the stairwell in the middle of the southern façade, and niches for statues were placed at every second window ledge.

The middle parts of the east and west facades were adorned with Baroque pilasters, herms and statues. The palace has a total of 28 statues, 717 balusters, 242 volutes, 972 windows, 31,600 window panes and approximately 7,500 windows, doors and gates.

The façade is covered with  9,500 m2 of dimension stone and 11,000 m2 of plaster.

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Architecture and Art in France

• Centre Georges Pompidou It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, along with Gianfranco Franchini.

Commonly shortened to Centre Pompidou and also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil, and the Marais.
It houses the Bibliothèque publique d’information (Public Information Library), a vast public library; the Musée National d’Art Moderne, which is the largest museum for modern art in Europe; and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research.

It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned the building, and was officially opened on 31 January 1977 by President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.

The sculpture Horizontal by Alexander Calder, a free-standing mobile that is 7.6 m (25 ft) tall, was placed in front of the Centre Pompidou in 2012.

• skyline Louis Vuitton’s foundation Arch.Frank Gehry

The building of the Louis Vuitton Foundation  started in 2006, is an art museum and cultural center sponsored by the group LVMH and its subsidiaries.

The $143 million museum in Paris was opened in October 2014.

The building was designed by the architect Frank Gehry, and is adjacent to the Jardin d’ Acclimation in the Bois de Boulogne of the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

The Louvre or the Louvre Museum , is the world’s largest art museum and a historic monument in Paris, France.

The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as the Louvre castle in the late 12th to 13th century under Philip II.

In 1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture.

In 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons.

The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years.During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nation’s masterpieces. 

After architects Mario Bellini and Rudy Ricciotti had won an international competition to create its new galleries for Islamic art, the new 3,000 sq m[58] pavilion eventually opened in 2012, consisting of ground- and lower-ground-level interior spaces topped by a golden, undulating roof (fashioned from almost 9,000 steel tubes that form an interior web) that seems to float within the neo-Classical Visconti Courtyard in the middle of the Louvre’s south wing.

The galleries, which the museum had initially hoped to open by 2009, represent the first major architectural intervention at the Louvre since the addition of I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid in 1989

The Louvre Pyramid  is a large glass and metal pyramid designed by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei, surrounded by three smaller pyramids, in the main courtyard (Cour Napoléon) of the Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) in Paris. The large pyramid serves as the main entrance to the Louvre Museum. Completed in 1989, it has become a landmark of the city of Paris.

Commissioned by the President of France, François Mitterrand, in 1984, it was designed by the architect I. M. Pei.

The structure, which was constructed entirely with glass segments and metal poles, reaches a height of 21.6 metres (71 ft).

Its square base has sides of 34 metres (112 ft) and a base surface area of 1,000 square metres (11,000 sq ft).

It consists of 603 rhombus-shaped and 70 triangular glass segments.

The pyramid structure was engineered by Nicolet Chartrand Knoll Ltd. of Montreal (Pyramid Structure / Design Consultant) and Rice Francis Ritchie of Paris (Pyramid Structure / Construction Phase)

Architecture Atelier Jean Nouvel

Musée de l’Institut du Monde Arabe- The Arab World Institute  is an organization founded in Paris in 1980 by 18 Arab countries with France to research and disseminate information about the Arab world and its cultural and spiritual values.

The Institute was established as a result of a perceived lack of representation for the Arab world in France, and seeks to provide a secular location for the promotion of Arab civilization, art, knowledge, and aesthetics.Housed within the institution are a museum, library, auditorium, restaurant, offices and meeting rooms.

The building was constructed from 1981 to 1987 and has floor space of 16,894 m2. The Architecture-Studio together with Jean Nouvel, won the 1981 design competition.

This project is a result of funds from both the League of Arab States and the French government, with the cost of the building totaling around €230,000,000.

Façade- Visible behind the glass wall, a metallic screen unfolds with moving geometric motifs.

The motifs are actually 240 photo-sensitive motor-controlled apertures, or shutters, which act as a sophisticated brise soleil that automatically opens and closes to control the amount of light and heat entering the building from the sun. The mechanism creates interior spaces with filtered light — an effect often used in Islamic architecture with its climate-oriented strategies. The innovative use of technology and success of the building’s design catapulted Jean Nouvel to fame and is one of the cultural reference points of Paris.

Villa Savoye  is a modernist villa in Poissy, on the outskirts of Paris, France. It was designed by Swiss architects Le Corbusier and his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, and built between 1928 and 1931 using reinforced concrete.
A manifesto of Le Corbusier’s “five points” of new architecture, the villa is representative of the bases of modern architecture, and is one of the most easily recognizable and renowned examples of the International style

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Atelier Jean Nouvel

Musée du quai Branly

The museum complex has four buildings, occupying 30,000 sqmt, which, along with the garden, cost 233 million euros.
The main building containing the galleries of the museum is 210 mt long and covers 4,750 sqmt , and has a 3,000-sqmt  terrace on the roof, the largest roof terrace in Paris, which also has a restaurant and mediatheque.

It is constructed like a huge bridge, ten meters over the garden, supported by two large concrete silos at the east and west ends and by twenty-six steel columns. As the trees of the garden around the building grow, the columns will be completely hidden and the building will appear to be resting on the treetops.

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