Structure of the Day #6-Taipei 101

    This building is just cool.  The Taipei 101 in Taiwan, China, has 101 floors and in 2004 was rated highest building in the world until its predecessor the Burj Khalifa in Dubai came in the picture in 2010.  The Burj Khalifa now stands 2,717 feet tall.  The Taipei 101, on the other hand, is 1,671 feet tall or 509.2 meters. 

      

    

       It is designed to withstand strong typhoons and earthquake tremors which is common in the Asia-Pacific.  The building symbolises the four point direction of the compass.  It also features an observatory on the 89th floor and an outdoor observatory on the 91st floor.  The Taipei 101 is the world's second tallest building and its structure and symbolism continue to fascinate the tourists and residents in Taiwan every day!  And in my book, it's rated pretty high.  It's distinct shape makes it one of my favorite structures!

Inside the Taipei 101's mall

Diamond City - RCT3

Welcome to my first post on my RCT3 cities.  Today, I will be showing off one of my biggest cities called Diamond City.  It has an underground subway that transports the peeps (people) throughout the city .  It also has a minituare golf course, a mega slide, a giant ferris wheel, and a haunted house ride.  Here is some pictures of Diamond City.

I will be posting more pictures tomorrow.  Stay tuned and enjoy the ARCHITECTURE!

Structure of the Day #5-Empire State Building

    The Empire State Building in New York City, New York, United States, was built in 1931.  With 102 floors the Empire State Building stands 1,250 feet tall or 381 meters.  After the September 11th attacks which totally destroyed the World Trade Center towers, it became New York City's tallest building.  It approximately weighs 340,000 tons and costed $40,948,900 to complete.

 

      The Empire State Building is listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.  This building is and always will be one of America's greatest structures!

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 or RCT3 is a theme park simulation game.  Although it's used for building theme parks, I use it for building cities.  By using custom scenery off the internet and the in-game structure sets, I create tons of really cool cities that inspired me to be an architect in the first place!  Here is a sunrise timelapse of an office building that I created.

Here's more images of my cities.

I will be posting more of the RCT3 videos and pictures almost every day on my blog!  I'm very excited to see how this will turn out.  Enjoy the ARCHITECTURE!

Church Sundays #1

Good morning and welcome to the first post of Church Sundays.  Here's this Sunday's church.



Milan Cathedral in Italy.



Milan Cathedral Interior.

 

Today's ArchiPic #3

I hope you are enjoying my ArchiPic posts.  Here's a really cool structure.

This house looks like a shoe!  Weird!








Weekend Night Lights #1

Welcome to my first post of Weekend Night Lights!  I didn't get to cover Friday night because I was really busy.   I usually will be posting at least two for each night.

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Chicago, Illinois, United States



New York City, New York, United States

Los Angeles, California, United States





Medieval Architecture

    The Middle Ages or Medieval times, offered a really interesting style of architecture.  Probably, the most common style in the Middle Ages was Romanesque and Gothic. These styles were most prevalent in the 11th through 12th centuries.  This style is my second favorite other than Modern architecture, which is my favorite style. 

   Some of the most amazing buildings were the cathedrals.  The cathedrals were Christian churches that contained the seat of a bishop.

 

 
  
    Castles are even more amazing and were mostly used for defensive purposes.  In the late 12th century, castle architecture started to change.  They started to become more polygonal or cylindrical than square. 

   


    Medieval Architecture continues to be one of the most popular styles in the world.  And it should be, because these structures are pretty awesome to me.  This style continues to fascinate me every day!  And I encourage you to look up Medieval Architecture on the internet and see all these fascinating structures for yourself!

Today's ArchiPic #2

Welcome to my second ArchiPic post 

 I'm not sure where this picture is from, but it's really interesting to look at.  The building has a very distinct diagonal shape to it.

This structure is from Alexandria, Egypt.  I love the curvature to it.

Palm Islands - Structure of the Day #4 (Dubai)

Palm Jumeirah on 8 May, 2008.

     The Palm Islands (Atlantis) are a group of artificial islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  The archipelagos will have major commercial and residential infrastructures constructed on it.  Each settlement will be shaped as part of a palm tree and will add 520 kilometers of beaches for Dubai. 

    Thoughout the three islands there will be 100 luxury hotels, beach side villas, apartments, marinas, water parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports facilities and even some health spas!  Altogether, the project it will consist of 1,100,000,000 cubed meters of rock and sand.  Atlantis, The Palm Resort, officialy opened in 2008. 

Blog UPDATE #1

    Every weekend night starting this Friday & Saturday night, I will be posting pictures of cities at night.  From Tokyo to New York City I'll be showing off beautiful pictures of major cities!  The special will be called "Weekend Night Lights".  I will also be posting pictures of amazing cathedrals/churches every Sunday.  It will be called "Church Sundays".  Every Sunday morning starting this coming Sunday.  Thank you and stay tuned!  Enjoy the Architecture!

Today's ArchiPic #1

    I decided to post a couple of random pictures of different kinds of architecture just for fun.  I will probably be doing this every day just like my structure of the day posts. 

        This is a 12th century structure from Ancient Greece.

This is a peace of chinese architecture.  It is the Laeken Pavilion.

Dubai Mall - Structure of the Day #3 (Dubai)

    The Dubai Mall is the world's largest shopping mall in area.  It has four floors, includes 1,200 shops, and has 14,000+ parking spots.  The mall hosted more than 37 million people in the first year of operation and it brings in about 750,000 visitors every week.  It opened on November 4, 2008.  The mall is over 12 million square feet with each internal floor area of 5.9 million square feet.  It also has an aquarium and a discovery center.  The Dubai Aquarium holds more than 33,000 marine animals.  The tank is the largest suspended aquarium in the world and it holds over 10 million liters of water.  It also holds a 76,000 square foot indoor theme park called the SEGA Republic.  The guests can enjoy over 150 attractions.  This Dubai Mall is the coolest mall I have ever seen.



Dubai Mall under construction in 2007.



Burj Al Arab - Structure of the Day #2 (Dubai)

     The Burj Al Arab is the fourth tallest hotel in the world at 1,053 feet or 321 meters high.  It began construction in 1994 and it stands on an artificial island.  The building used 92,000 cubic yards of concrete and 9,000 tons of steel.  The architect, Tom Wright, said that the client wanted a building that would be the Dubai icon, like the Empire State building in New York City.  It holds 28 double-story floors with 202 bedroom suites.  The hotel is rated a five-star deluxe.  Although it is frequently called "the world's only seven-star hotel."  The iconic shape of it mimics the sail on a ship.  The largest suite occupies 8,400 square feet.  The whole project was finished in 1999.  This is a really cool hotel.

Modern Architecture

   This style of structural design is really cool to look at.  Modern Architecture is my favorite because it looks really futuristic and it just looks cool.  By the 1920s, the modern style started to get a reputation.  It was becoming more popular.  Architects who worked in the International style were getting bored of the traditional, simple design structures.  The modern style became more evident with skyscrapers.  Most likely because the architects could express themselves more easily with such giant buildings.

Here are some things that classify modern architecture as modern:

1. It has to have an emphasis on horizontal and vertical lines.
2. A simplification of the building. (no unnecessary detail)

These buildings are great examples of this.                                                                                                                                                         


 

  


 



See you next time!
Enjoy the ARCHITECTURE!

Burj Khalifa - Structure of the Day #1 (Dubai)

    Modern architecture is my favorite kind of style.  To me it looks some what futuristic, and today's building will literally stop you in your tracks.  This building is the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Middle East.  The structure stands 2,717 feet or 828 meters.  It began construction on September 21, 2004 and it officialy opened on January 4, 2010.  Now this building is obviously modern and it's the most unique building I have ever seen!

    The total cost for the project was about $1.5 billion US dollars.  Now that's a hole in your pocket!  It can also hold about 35,000 people at one time.  For the construction, they had to use 431,600 cubic yards of concrete and about 22 million man-hours.  The building's triple lobed-shape was inspired by the Hymenocallis flower.  This is an awesome piece of architecture!