Pretty Cool Things

1. Sky Tower, Auckland, New Zealand.

The Southern Hemisphere’s tallest building…and a glass floor elevator!! A good enough reason for anyone to look down in the elevator.

2. Falkirk Wheel, Scotland, UK

What do you do when you have canals with drastically different heights? You build a boat elevator of course!

3. CN Tower, Toronto, Canada

Until the Burj Dubai came along, the CN Tower was the world’s tallest freestanding structure. The elevator travels at an impressive 22 feet per second, and the entire view is unobstructed during the ride.

4. AquaDom Elevator, Berlin, Germamy

Hey, let’s put the elevator in an aquarium and make it a tourist attraction in its own right. Kind of looks like the engine room from Star Trek, doesn’t it?

5. IM Pei Louvre Elevator, Paris France

This elevator is within the pyramid entrance to the Louvre. While there’s nothing special about the ride itself, the overall presentation is pretty slick.

6. Bailong Sightseeing Elevator, Hunan Province, China

Probably the coolest view of any elevator. The rugged nature of the scenery makes you forget you’re on an elevator.

7. Eiffel Tower Second stage elevator, Paris, France

It looks and feels like you’re going straight up on a giant roller coaster. Just look away from the rust.

8. Rockefeller Center Glasstop Roof Elevator, New York, USA

The glass roof of the elevator let’s you truly appreciate the 70-story height of the building.

9. Burj Dubai Construction Elevator, Dubai, UAE

The building is nowhere completion but already it’s nearly twice the height of the Empire State Building. This must be one hell of an interesting ride for the construction workers building it.

10. Tapai 101 Elevator, Tapai, Taiwan

Supposedly the worlds fastest elevator. Watch how fast the floor numbers change.

11. Burj Al Arab Hotel Elevator, Dubai, UAE

Spectacular blue view all the way down. You wouldn’t expect anything else from a 7-star hotel.

In celebration of the 120th birthday of the Eiffel Tower, The Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel has decided to temporarily restructure the publicly accessible observation areas of the famous landmark.

Serero Architects have submitted a proposal to create a temporary horizontal extension of the third floor of the tower, which will not only double the square footage of the observation areas, but will provide a panoramic 360 degree view of Paris.

The proposal is to extend the top floor plate of the tower by grafting a high performance carbon Kevlar structure to it. The structure will be temporarily bolted to the slab without requiring any modification of the existing structure. Good idea or will Gustave Eiffel be rolling in his grave?

(Update: La Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel has declared this proposal a hoax.  Read more by following Miss Yuki’s links in the comments section.)

Source: World Architecture News

Eclipsed by its flashier cousin to the north, Abu Dhabi is actually bigger and more powerful than Dubai and is aiming to brand itself as a culture capital and and stylish Middle East alternative. With 9% of the world’s oil reserves, Abu Dhabi is the largest of the emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE), comprising 87% of the territory. Although it’s playing catchup to Dubai on the construction front, there are some spectacular projects in the works. Here’s a sampling.

Saadiyat Island – The Island of Happiness

At 27 square km, it’s half the size of the island of Bermuda, and will become one of the Middle East’s largest natural island developments.

Features of the US$27 billion island include:

• A Louvre Museum
• The Performing Arts Centre
• The Guggenheim
• Large-scale shopping complexes
• Several luxury resorts
• Nine kilometers of pristine beaches
• A championship golf course
• A protected wetlands area with boutique retreats and eco-tourism activities

Ferrari Theme Park

The ever expanding Ferrari brand is now moving into the realm of Disneyland. Ferrari is opening a 2,500 acre theme park that will include over 24 attractions. Highlights include a 70-metre tall G-Force Tower, the world’s first F1 branded twin roller coaster ride (allowing races between carriages), simulator rides, a race track, luxury hotels, apartments, villas, a golf course, and dozens of restaurants. The project is expected to cost over US $600 million US and will open in 2009.

Desert Islands Project

The Desert Islands will be created off the coast of Abu Dhabi and will be comprised of eight separate islands. The islands will include a nature preserve, a cultural destination, and a showcase for world-class environmental, conservation and ecological tourism. All will be linked by a ferry and hydrofoil service, water taxis and sea planes.

Development will be phased – with an estimated price tag of more than US $3 billion, with the first phase expected to be completed by 2010.

Abu Dhabi Louvre

The Louvre has sold Abu Dhabi’s royal family a €700 million share in the franchise. This will allow them to transfer several hundred works of art to the new Abu Dhabi Louvre for an initial term of 20 years.

The first exhibits will be available for viewing in 2012, and the entire project is scheduled for completion by 2018.

(more…)

This incredible video was captured by Jean René Keruzoé on December 9th, 2007 at the 105 foot Ar-Men lighthouse on the Brittany coast of France. The famous lighthouse, captured in many well known photographs and prints at an Ikea near you, has been battered by 100 foot waves since 1867.

Some well known photographs

Lighthouse location