World’s Architectural Wonders

This post was a finalist in the Best Blog Post – Arts and Culture Category in the 2008 Philippine Blog Awards.

Check out this selection of the most amazing projects covering present-day architectural and engineering wonders.

Linked Hybrid (China) – a “green” complex of 750 apartments in Beijing. It features geothermal heating and cooling systems and recycled grey water designed by Steven Holl.

Shanghai World Financial Center (CHINA) – Rising in the Lujiazhui financial district in Pudong, the Shanghai World Financial Center is a tower among towers. The elegant 101-story skyscraper will be (for a moment, at least) the world’s tallest when completed in early 2008

Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Egypt) – Because of its proximity to the sea, the architects and engineers had to deal with saline-infused ground which called for sophisticated geotechnical analyses and an intricately designed foundation and structural design. Four levels of the building are below ground, while the remaining seven floors of the disk-shaped building soar into the air. The exterior wall is clad in 4,000 granite blocks, carved with text and letters, and the roof is topped with solar sails that can be adjusted to allow sunlight inside.

Seattle Public Library (USA) – The resulting 11-floor, 362,987-sq.-ft. library is a dazzling display of glass and steel. In all, 4,644 tons of steel were used in the building, the equivalent of 20 Statues of Liberty, while the outstanding engineering of the building’s grid system is designed to withstand high winds or earthquakes. Inside, the building houses a 275-seat auditorium, a 50-foot living room, and an instantly legendary Book Spiral in a continuous run of books, organized by Dewey decimal number, that has room for the collection to expand.

Central Chinese Television (China) – The design of the new Central Chinese Television (CCTV) headquarters defies the popular conception of a skyscraper — and it broke Beijing’s building codes and required approval by a special review panel. The standard systems for engineering gravity and lateral loads in buildings didn’t apply to the CCTV building, which is formed by two leaning towers, each bent 90 degrees at the top and bottom to form a continuous loop.

Ski Dubai (UAE) – 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.

Fiera de Milano (Italy) – An international consortium of marquee-name architects — London’s Hadid, Tokyo’s Isozaki, New York and Zurich-based Libeskind, and Torino’s Maggiora — was chosen to redesign the trade-fair district of Milan. The quartet’s joint concept for updating the area of the gritty Northern Italian city centers around an “archipelago”-style layout that the architects say doesn’t duplicate any existing urban plans. The collaboration promises to produce an intentionally varied set of neighborhoods-within-a-neighborhood. The plan calls for a central park area, and clusters of commercial high-rises that are designed not only to reflect the signature styles of the four architects involved, but carefully proportioned and positioned to provide shade for pedestrians.

Olympic Stadium (China) – Herzog & de Meuron’s National Stadium in Beijing is an attempt to rethink the classic sports-arena layout for more ecologically correct times. The Swiss architects (of Tate Modern fame) wanted to provide natural ventilation for the 91,000-seat structure — perhaps the largest “eco-friendly” sports stadium designed to date. To achieve this, they set out to create a building that could function without a strictly enclosed shell, yet also provide constant shelter for the audience and athletes alike.

The National Swimming Center (China) – The striking exterior of the National Swimming Center, constructed for the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games and nicknamed, the “Water Cube,” is made from panels of a lightweight form of Teflon that transforms the building into an energy-efficient greenhouse-like environment. Solar energy will also be used to heat the swimming pools, which are designed to reuse double-filtered, backwashed pool water that’s usually dumped as waste.

Hydropolis (UAE) – 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.

National Grand Theater (China) – Located near Tiananmen Square, the 490,485-square-foot glass-and-titanium National Grand Theater, scheduled to open in 2008, seems to float above a man-made lake. Intended to stand out amid the Chinese capital’s bustling streets and ancient buildings, the structure has garnered criticism among Bejing’s citizens for clashing with classic landmarks like the Monument to the People’s Heroes (dedicated to revolutionary martyrs), the vast home of the National People’s Congress, or Tiananmen Gate itself (the Gate of Heavenly Peace).

Burj Dubai (UAE) – This is UAE’s answer to the world’s tallest buildings. Upon completion in September 2009, it will officially hold the distinction of being the tallest manmade structure on earth.

Noida Tower (India) – This is India’s answer to the world’s tallest buildings. At 710 m., it will be the second tallest structure on earth next to Burj Dubai which is 800 m. tall.

St. Mary Axe (England) – Inevitably known as the Erotic Gherkin, Norman Foster’s London landmark raised the bar for sustainable skyscrapers around the world. Its distinctive tapering profile is the key to its energy efficiency because it creates a pressure differential between inside and outside, driving fresh air into the building.