Unique Roof Provides Natural Ventilation in Italy

In the Italian hills, presented with the problem of having to add circulation space and a new family home to a preexisting structure, Plasma design studio has created an interesting and eye catching structure. The architects took full use of the landscape by building into the slope and having the unique metal-slated roof wrap around the property.

The first part of this design that will catch the viewer's eyes is the beautiful geometric canopy roof that rises from the hill before wrapping around the structure and dipping back into the ground. Created using Parametric software, the facade is constructed out of slats of larch wood. It helps to create an interesting dynamic between the cubic house and the folding rigid crown. Next, a large glass cut-out naturally lights the hallways and extends up and over the house which helps to compliment the already sharp look of the roof. Finally, a balcony on the upper portion offers spectacular views of the countryside's mountains and valleys. The two floors are connected by an internal and external staircase and another internal circulation core allows visitors access to the original building and the new structure found above it.....

Siberian Doctors Use Sticks to Literally Beat Drug Addiction

There’s a new way to beat your addiction, but it hurts, a lot. Psychologists at a Siberian drug clinic are using corporal punishment to help drug, alcohol and even $ex addicts get their lives back. The bizarre treatment involves lashing patients’ buttocks with sticks and canes.

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“We cane the patients on the buttocks with a clear and definite medical purpose – it is not some warped sado-masochistic activity,” Professor Marina Chukhrova told The Siberian Times. Apparently, there are some sound scientific principles behind these beatings. Chukhrova and fellow practitioner Dr German Pilipenko claim addicts suffer from a lack of endorphins, known as the “happiness hormones”, and the excruciating pain stimulates their brains to release endorphins into the body, making them feel better about themselves without having to use any other stimulants. “The caning counteracts a lack of enthusiasm for life which is often behind addictions, suicidal tendencies and psychosomatic disorders,” Pilipenko says. He admits their technique gets a lot of skepticism from fellow doctors, but insists the pain acts as an injection against stress. 03 more images after the break...

Simone Handbag Museum — Seoul

December 13th, 2012 – South Korean’s are becoming more known for their bold approach to modern architecture, but this new towering structure might just take the prize! A massive building shaped like a handbag is now Seoul’s latest style accessory. Korean-based architects UAD and Charlie Smith Design, took a very literal approach to creating the handbag look-a-like structure for the Simone Handbag Museum, which showcases over 300 handbags that date from the 16th century to the 21st century. The five story building, which will now be known as The BagStage Building, celebrates the history of handbag design in South Korea, showcases Simone’s collection of bags, and provides designated workshops for promising young designers to create their own handbags.  07 more images after the break...

Walk in Astana - The capital of Kazakhstan

Astana, formerly known as Akmola until 1998, Tselinograd until 1992 and Akmolinsk until 1961, has been the capital of Kazakhstan since 1997, and is the country's second largest city (after Almaty, the former capital) with an officially estimated population of 775,800 as of 21 June 2012.[3] It is located in the north portion of Kazakhstan, within Akmola Province, though administrated separately from the province as a federal city area.  The current mayor of Astana is Imangali Tasmagambetov. He was appointed on 4 April 2008.

After gaining capital status and the organization of a special economic zone "Astana - New City", which is experiencing an unprecedented boom for the CIS city became the second largest in the country and it sold a lot of modern architectural and urban projects.

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Land of Giants — Iceland

American firm Choi + Shine Architects designed these conceptual electricity pylons shaped like human figures to march across the Icelandic landscape. Each pylon would be assembled from modular parts, which could be adapted into various positions to given the impression the the statues are walking, climbing or crouching. The 30-metre tall statues would be supported on concrete footings and are an alteration of the steel frame used by existing pylons. Called Land of Giants, the project was originally submitted for a 2008 competition held by Icelandic transmission company Landsnet and the Association of Icelandic Architects.The design was one of four winners at the recent 2010 Boston Society of Architects Unbuilt Architecture Awards. 06 more images after the break...

Manhattan of the Desert Shibam — Yemen

The city of Shibam, located in the central-western area of Hadhramaut Governorate, in the Ramlat al-Sab`atayn desert, is best known for its towering mudbrick skyscrapers. This small town of 7000 is packed with around 500 mud houses standing between 5 and 11 stories tall and reaching 100 feet high, all constructed entirely of mud bricks. The bizarre skyline that the high rise buildings bestow upon the city has earned Shibam the moniker "Manhattan of the Desert."

Shibam is often called "the oldest skyscraper city in the world" and is one of the oldest and best examples of urban planning based on the principle of vertical construction. Its plan is trapezoidal, almost rectangular; and it is enclosed by earthen walls within which a block of dwellings, also built from earth, have been laid out on an orthogonal grid. Shibam was founded in the 3rd century AD, but most of the houses you see here dates only to the 16th century, following a devastating flood of which Shibam was the victim in 1532-33. However, some older houses and large buildings still remain from the first centuries of Islam, such as the Friday Mosque, built in 904, and the castle, built in 1220.

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In general the windowless lower floors are used for grain storage, with areas for domestic use above and those for family and leisure above that. The main room on the second floor is used by men for socializing. It often has wonderful carved plasterwork and freestanding decorated wooden columns supporting the ceiling, while women's areas are found higher, usually on the third or fourth floor. The highest rooms are for communal use by the whole family, and on the upper levels there are often bridges and doors connecting the houses. These are a defensive feature, but also a practical one – especially for old people who find it difficult to walk up and down the interminable staircases. 08 more images after the break...

The Widest Street in the World — 9 de Julio Avenue

9 de Julio Avenue (or Avenida 9 de Julio, in the local tongue) in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina, is not just any street. Nine lanes wide, with gardened medians between the opposing flow of traffic, this is the widest street in the world. Only those with a quick pace and long legs will be lucky to get to the other side before the traffic lights at the intersection changes. A pedestrian crossing this street usually requires a few extra minutes and two to three traffic light rotations. 9 de Julio Avenue is only 1 km long but 110 meters wide.

The avenue's unusual width is because it spans an entire city block, the distance between two streets in the checkerboard pattern used in Buenos Aires. The avenue runs to the west of the Río de la Plata waterfront, from the Retiro district in the north to Constitución station in the south. It has up to seven lanes in each direction and is flanked on either side by parallel streets of two lanes each.

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The street runs far in both directions and connects the unique sections of the metropolis. Some of Buenos Aires’ main landmarks can be seen along the way; most notably, the Obelisk, that sits in the middle of 9 de Julio, the original French Embassy, the statue of Don Quixote, the Teatro Colon and the former Ministry of Communications building - the only building that sits on the avenue itself at the intersection with Moreno street.

The avenue was first planned in 1888, with the name of Ayohuma; but the road was long opposed by affected landlords and residents, so work did not start until 1935. Even the French government refused to submit the embassy building for demolition, and local preservationists opposed the move as well, as the building is widely hailed as an architectural masterpiece. The initial phase was inaugurated on 9 July 1937 and the main stretch of the avenue was completed in the 1960s. The southern connections were completed after 1980, when the downtown portion of the tollway system was completed. Clearing the right-of-way for these intersections required massive condemnations in the Constitución area. 08more images after the break...

Desert and Ocean Meets — Namib

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The Southern Namib desert is home to some of the tallest and most spectacular dunes of the world, ranging in color from pink to vivid orange. These dunes continue right to the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The cold waters of the sea brushing against the dunes of the Namib desert is one of the most surreal sights.

While the sea coast extends for hundreds of miles, one of the best places to see these dunes is at Swakopmund. Known as Swakop in Namibia, it is the country's biggest coastal town and a mecca for Namibians on holiday. The city's German origins are quite pronounced in beautiful old German Colonial buildings throughout the city, making an even starker contrast for this town sitting at the edge of the Namib Desert. 13 more images after the break...

Zaha Hadid's Sleek Metro Station in Saudia Arabia

World renowned architect Zaha Hadid has just won a competition to design the new metro station for Saudia Arabia's capital city Riyadh. The city's population has doubled since 1990 and is now home to more than 5 million people. Due to this large influx of citizens, the city has now started planning a brand new metro system to better aid them in their day to day life.

Located in the King Abdullah Financial District, Hadid architect's proposal is a four story building that will feature six train platforms, two levels of underground parking, and even access to the cities pre-existing monorail line by use of a sky bridge. Much thought has been given into diminishing congestion by using a series of pedestrian walkways that run throughout the building without interfering with commuters and travelers.

Other design aspects of this project are the undulating waves featured on the walls and roof that are meant to symbolize Saudia Arabia's rolling desert dunes and give the building its unique fluid look. The structure's woven latice facade is designed to allow natural light to enter the interior of the station without causing a harsh glare. The estimated completion date of this project is 2017 and is sure to be an iconic landmark for the city of Riyadh. 05 more images after the break...

Horizontal Waterfalls in Australia

It is strange to hear this combination of words. However, it is a fact. In the Australian Talbot Bay are several unusual waterfalls that appear only at high tide, which makes the definition of waterfall controversial.

The maximum difference between the highest and the lowest point of the falls is only about five meters. In the same time, the width of the gorges through which rushes the water is in one case about 10 meters and in other about 20 meters. The two waterfalls are the connecting openings between the Talbot Bay and the Poulton Creek. The gorges are located on the McLarty Range on a distance of about 300 meters from each other.14 more images after the break...

Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque in Grozny — Chechnya

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The Akhmad Kadyrov Mosque (Russian — Mechet Akhmata Kadyrova) is located in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. It is one of the largest mosques in Russia and is officially known as the "The Heart of Chechnya" , Russian — Serdtse Chechni). The mosque is named after Akhmad Kadyrov who commissioned its construction from the mayor of Konya. The mosque design with a set of 62-metre (203 ft)-tall minarets is based on the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. On October 16, 2008, the mosque was officially opened in a ceremony in which Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov spoke and was with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In this mosque, ten thousand Muslims can pray at a time and its minarets reach 62 metres (203 ft) high. 21 more images after the break...

Madrid-Puerta De Atocha Railway Station — Spain

Madrid Atocha (Spanish: Estación de Madrid Atocha, also named Madrid Puerta de Atocha) is the largest railway station in Madrid. It is the primary station serving commuter trains (Cercanías), intercity and regional trains from the south, and the AVE high speed trains from Barcelona (Catalonia), Saragosse (Aragon), Seville (Andalusia) and Valencia (Levante Region). These train services are run by the Spanish national rail company, Renfe. The station is in the Atocha neighborhood of the district of Arganzuela. The original façade faces the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V, a site at which a variety of streets converge, including the Calle de Atocha, Paseo del Prado, Paseo de la Infanta Isabel, Avenida de la Ciudad de Barcelona, Calle de Méndez Álvaro, Paseo de las Delicias, Paseo de Santa María de la Cabeza, and Ronda de Atocha.

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The Atocha station is really a railway complex, formed by the Madrid Atocha Cercanías and Madrid Puerta de Atocha stations of the Spanish national railways and the Atocha Renfe station of the Madrid underground. 11 more images after the break...

Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou — Morocco

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The ksar is a mainly collective grouping of dwellings. Inside the defensive walls which are reinforced by angle towers and pierced with a baffle gate, houses crowd together - some modest, others resembling small urban castles with their high angle towers and upper sections decorated with motifs in clay brick - but there are also buildings and community areas. It is an extraordinary ensemble of buildings offering a complete panorama of pre-Saharan earthen construction techniques. The oldest constructions do not appear to be earlier than the 17th century, although their structure and technique were propagated from a very early period in the valleys of southern Morocco. The site was also one of the many trading posts on the commercial route linking ancient Sudan to Marrakesh by the Dra Valley and the Tizi-n'Telouet Pass. Architecturally, the living quarters form a compact grouping, closed and suspended. The community areas of the ksar include a mosque, a public square, grain threshing areas outside the ramparts, a fortification and a loft at the top of the village, an caravanserai, two cemeteries (Muslim and Jewish) and the Sanctuary of the Saint Sidi Ali or Amer. The Ksar of Ait- Ben-Haddou is a perfect synthesis of earthen architecture of the pre-Saharan regions of Morocco. 18 more images after the break...