Home » All posts

Island Dubai “The World” Artificial Archipelago

Posted by Review Kost Senin, 07 Oktober 2013 0 comments












 
The World Islands is an artificial archipelago consisting of about 300 small islands constructed in the rough shape of a world map, located 4.0 kilometers off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The islands are composed mainly of sand dredged from Dubai's shallow coastal waters. 321 million cubic meters of sand and 31 million tons of rock were used to build the islands that cover an area roughly 6 by 9 kilometers, and is surrounded by an oval-shaped breakwater island. The islands, which are named after countries such as Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, etc., themselves range from 14,000 to 42,000 square meters in area and located roughly 100 meters from each other.
The project debuted nearly 10 years ago, but work has been stalled periodically ever since due to the global recession. Two years ago, the entire project came very near to derailment when Penguine Marine, the company contracted to provide ferrying services to and from the shore, alleged that the islands were sinking into the shallow sea. Nakheel Properties Group, the property’s developer, denied these reports.
 

Although nearly 70 percent of the islands have been sold, according to a January 2012 report, the islands have remained mostly untouched due to the delay and lack of infrastructural necessities. Only two islands out of the 300 islands have any buildings on it. One of them, the Lebanon Island, is the only one that has so far been developed commercially. It’s owned by Abu Dhabi-based businessman Ravi Raman who plans to use it private corporate events and public parties.
Other plans are abound. Dubai-based Kleindienst Properties announced on May this year that it would soon start construction work on the “Heart of Europe”, an ambitious development that is planned to spread across six of the islands. Nakheel Group is itself developing a resort named “Coral Island” over 20 islands that make up the North American part of The World. Another investment group from Kuwait has purchased 14 islands that make up Australia and New Zealand where there’ll be another resort. Finland, Ireland, Great Britain and Moscow are acquired by different businesses groups with plans to transform them into villas, pubs, fashion-themed resorts and more.
 

 

 



 
source : Amusing Planet

The Amazing Architecture And Design of Eixample

Posted by Review Kost Rabu, 04 September 2013 3 comments
Eixample is a district of the Spanish city of Barcelona, that lies between the old city and the surrounding small towns. The district was built as an extension (hence the name “Eixample”) when Barcelona started to grow during the middle of the 19th century. The 7.5 square km district is characterized by long straight streets, a strict grid pattern crossed by wide avenues, and octagonal city blocks - rectangular blocks with the corners cut off, which are distinctive for Barcelona. This was the visionary, pioneering design by Spanish urban planner Ildefons Cerdà, who considered traffic and transport along with sunlight and ventilation in coming up with his characteristic octagonal blocks.
 
 
Cerdà’s central aim was to overcome social problems by using quadrangular blocks of a standard size, with strict building controls to ensure that they were built up on only two sides, to a limited height, leaving a shady square or garden in between. This recreational open space with open sides to the blocks was to guarantee the houses the maximum amount of sun, light and ventilation. The angled corners allowed the streets to broaden at every intersection making for greater visibility, and fluid traffic in all directions. Cerdà had steam trams in mind, and it was its long turning radius which determined the angle of the corners of the buildings. Trams were never installed, and the city planners unfortunately ignored many of his other provisions.
Cerda wanted housing blocks to be orientated NW-SE to ensure all apartments received sunshine during the day. Each district would be of twenty blocks, containing all the community shops and services, and each block were to have at least 800 square meters of gardens. Cerda’s idealized use of urban space was scarcely achieved. The blocks went up to much more than the planned heights, and in practice all the blocks have been enclosed, with very few inner gardens surviving. Most of the inner courtyards today are occupied by car parks, workshops and shopping centers. The streets were narrower - only one of the two diagonal avenues was carried out - the inhabitants were of a higher class than the mixed composition dreamed of by Cerdà. The grid pattern with its distinctive octagonal blocks, however, remains as a hallmark of Barcelona’s Eixample.
Over the past few years the city has begun trying to implement Cerdà's idea for green public spaces behind the buildings. When a block is vacated because of the relocation of a business, the city takes up the block and redesigns it with parks and open spaces. The ultimate goal is to create one patio-garden for every nine blocks, but its unlikely that so many will become available in the near future.

Beauty of Hotel In Inner Mongolia

Posted by Review Kost Selasa, 27 Agustus 2013 0 comments

A magnificent new hotel has bloomed amid the vast sea of sands in Xiangshawan Desert, Inner Mongolia, 800 kilometers west to Beijing. Named the “Desert Lotus Hotel”, the structure consist of repeating triangular white tent tops, rotated 45 degrees and connected together in a circular formation like a lotus. Free of tiles and bricks for construction, the resort is built with low carbon environment friendly materials to utilize solar, water and wind energy in the desert, reducing environmental pollution and strengthening ecology protection. Load bearing walls give the structure the bulk of its structural integrity, while a dazzling array of repeating triangular panels provide shade and protection from the harsh elements.
 
Due to the restriction by its special geographic condition, PLaT Architects invented a new structural system that fix in fluid sands using only steel panels without the help of concrete or water. The panels and the supporting skeleton structures are pre-fabricated, and make the base of the building a large container for sands. Thus, the steel panel structure can function as a boat floating on desert that carries the building. The sands in and out of the structure exert same forces to each other, and thus it is flexibly stabilized.

 
The hotel is part of a new resort built amid a vast sea of sand dunes, increasingly popular with Chinese tourists. The resort hosts Mongolian-themed performances, camel rides, desert surfing, and more.

source : Amusing Planet

Gisborne Airport: Runway With a Railway Crossing

Posted by Review Kost Minggu, 18 Agustus 2013 0 comments
 
Gisborne Airport is a small regional airport that is located on the western outskirts of Gisborne, the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The airport is one of the very few airports in the world that has a railway line intersecting the runway. The Gisborne airport which covers a land of 160 hectares has three grass runways and one main runway that is intersected by the Palmerston North - Gisborne Railway Line. The Wynyard Airport, on Tasmania's north-western coast, also had a railway crossing on the runway but declining rail traffic forced the closure of rail traffic in early 2005, and thus the Wynyard airport rail crossing is no more operational. 
 
At Gisborne, on the other hand, the rail route functions actively and so does the airport everyday between 6:30 in the morning and 8:30 at night. After that, the runway is sealed off till morning. The railway tracks splits the runway almost in the middle and very often trains or aircraft are stopped until one of them moves on. It is a very challenging task for the airport authorities to manage landing at the intersecting runway along the operational rail route which has scheduled departures and arrivals itself.
The airport is a major link to enter the small region of Gisborne and hosts more than 60 domestic flights. More than 150,0000 passengers fly through this airport each year.

source : Amusing Planet


The City of Bridges Beauty in Hamburg

Posted by Review Kost Rabu, 07 Agustus 2013 4 comments
 
Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and considered to be one of the most beautiful in the country. It is also a popular tourist destinations because of its scenic beauty and unique blend of historical monuments and modern pubs and nightclubs, including the world-renowned red light district, the Reeperbahn.

Despite being located astride the River Elbe, some 100 kilometres from the North Sea, Hamburg is a major port city. It has the country's biggest port - the second-busiest in Europe and only the third largest in the world, after London and New York. For those who love water, ships and harbors, Hamburg is hence, a must visit.

Hamburg is practically surrounded on all sides by water. The Alster river has been divided into two lakes that lie on either side of the city, the Binnen and Aussenalster (Inner and Outer) and the River Elbe flows right through into the North Sea. All this water means an abundance of canals, streams and bridges. In fact, it’s a little known fact that Hamburg has more bridges inside its city limits than any other city in the world and more canals than Amsterdam and Venice combined. The figure has been put somewhere around 2,300 to over 2,500 - more than London, Amsterdam and Venice put together.

Here are some of the most notable bridges around the city.

1. Köhlbrandbrücke

 The Köhlbrandbrücke was inaugurated in 1974 and is one of the most prominent landmarks in Hamburg. It is 3940 metres long and the central, cable-stayed part has a span of 325 metres. From 1974 until 1991 it was the lonest cable stayed bridge span in the world. Now, it is the second longest bridge in Germany.












2. Hamburg Elbbrücken
Hamburg Elbbrücken refers to several independent bridges which cross the River Elbe in Hamburg. This navigable waterway within Hamburg is divided into two main branches, the North Elbe and the Süderelbe, which are again merged with the Norderelbe after partitioning the old Süderelbe on the Köhlbrand and it wraps around the Elbe Islands summarized to the largest river island in the Elbe.
















3. Harburger Elbbrücke
The old Harburger Elbe bridge was opened in 1899. The 474 m long steel arch bridge built back then for road vehicles was the first road bridge over the Süderelbe and serves now only pedestrians and cyclists. Between 1980 and 1995, the bridge was radically restored, this accounted for the laterally projecting cantilevered walkway.

 


4. Kattwyk-Brücke
The Kattwyk bridge over the Süderelbe is a 290 metre long vertical lift bridge with two 70 m high end portals for the rail and road transport. It connects the Elbe Island Wilhelmsburg Moorburg and was inaugurated on March 21, 1973. With a lifting height of 46 m, it is the largest vertical lift bridge in the world.
A special feature of the bridge is that the rails on the bridge are in the middle of the road carriageway. Since the Kattwyk bridge is shared by both rail and road, vehicular traffic is blocked when a freight train is passing. These closures take typically about eight to ten minutes. For shipping, the bridge will open normally during the day (on workdays) every two hours. The interruption of traffic generally takes 15 to 20 minutes. 

5. Brooksbrücke 
The Brooks Bridge leading into the Speicherstadt was inaugurated in 1887. The bridge is adorned by four statues one at each of its corners. The original sculptures were destroyed in the Second World War. The current sculptures were erected in 2001.

















6. Ellerntorsbrücke
The Ellerntorsbrücke is an arch stone bridge that crosses the Lord grave Fleet. She served for centuries as a direct route from Hamburg to Altona. Built in 1668, it is the second oldest surviving stone bridge in Hamburg. 
 


source : Amusing Planet

Copyright © 2012 The Evolution Blog. All rights reserved.

- created by Blogger Tuts | Published by Tips Blogspot