Wednesday, 9 October 2013

Most Amazing Glass Houses




This house is a conceptual design by Milano-based designer and architect Carlo Santambrogio. These are actually pictures of a very well done artist's rendering and not a real house. Not yet anyway. The house above is part of his glass house series, and this one in particular is designed to be a "snow house." The grid structure of the house is made to be modular and can be designed into almost any configuration. In his "cliff house" design, the house is elevated over a thin sheet of water, making its occupants feel like they are floating above the cliff.

 

Leonardo Glass Cube is a glass-fronted brand pavilion in Bad Driburg, Germany designed by 3Deluxe . Designed for the Glaskoch Corporation and completed in May 2007, the pavilion is used for informal meetings and corporate hospitality.
The pavilion features six metre high frame-less glass panels, which are fitted with disc springs to reduce stress from wind pressure.



DRMM Architecture did something we've never seen before in another house by creating a very amazing and unique sliding house design. At first sight, you may think it's an ordinary wooden barn. The form doesn't look like anything special. It's only later when you realize that the entire outer skin (the wooden part) is capable of sliding back and forth.



Lakeside real estate tends to come at a premium largely due to the impressive view. The Watervilla Kortenhoef, located in the Netherlands, offers residents a panoramic view of the lakefront, as nearly every square foot of the exterior walls are glass. This ceiling-to-floor glass wall design, paired with the fact that the floor is mere inches from the surface of the water, gives inhabitants an impressive view of the water from anywhere in the house. The modern design features stairs to a rooftop terrace where the view is undoubtedly even more impressive.
Perhaps the best feature of the structure is that the basement level rests beneath the surface of the water. This submarine level holds the bathrooms and bedrooms. After all, in a house made of glass, hiding the bedrooms underwater is the only sure way to get any privacy. The submarine rooms have glass panels on the floors to offer more up-close-and-personal view of the water.



A glass house with sustainable features? The architecture of this amazing glass house is the answer. "House R 128" by Werner Sobek Architects brings the best of both worlds to the table. The structure of 4 apartments in Stuttgart, Germany is a modern building of glass that has nothing to hide. The front windows of the house have triple-glazed windows through which natural light floods through a filter into all the rooms. The house has solar panels that power the house when the sun goes down. The house is also incredible for its sustainable properties, featuring geothermal energy and cooling. Modern modular construction – including its wooden floor and facade – allows for easy assembly and deconstruction. This is not only intended for the house innovators outside the network, but also to make it completely reusable and recyclable! A bridge over the kitchen and dining room is available, offering the 2706 sq. foot home a warm welcome with a modern twist. Minimalist styling in the "House of R 128," including no interior walls and some modern works, create open areas for the characterization of the concept of life.



The Case Study House Program, a landmark American architectural experiment, was announced in 1945 by publisher John Entenza in his magazine Arts and Architecture. The impetus of the program was to build homes which would serve as model environments for post-war living using pre-fabricated and industrial materials developed during World War II. The Case Study Homes were mostly built in Southern California during an optimistic, challenging and creative era in American architecture.
The house pictured is Stahl House, Case House 22 - 1635 Woods Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA, and has been featured in many films and TV productions. Notably "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" (1998), "Corrina, Corrina" (1994), and "Crazy, Stupid, Love" (2011). (Thanks, William G.)



A unique house with two balconies designed by Bassam El-Okeily from Egypt. In addition to looking cool during the day, every night soft lights transform the townhouse into a beautiful art installation.

The Dune House lies just south of the picturesque village of Thorpeness, in Suffolk, on an idyllic spot at the very edge of the sea, nestled among rolling dunes. You can walk out from the living room directly onto the beach and enjoy extraordinary panoramic views over the sea from the terraces, bedrooms and bathrooms on the upper floor.
Living Architecture invited one of Norway's most renowned practitioners, Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects, to create a house on this archetypal English seaside site. JVA, as they are known, made their name building a series of accomplished houses in Oslo and its outskirts and intimately understood the need to balance the advantages of modernity with the traditional virtues of warmth and comfort.



This hill-perched transparent home plays peek-a-boo through the trees, but, for the most part, rocks and foliage nestle it in complete privacy. Located near the ocean in Pittwater, about 30 miles north of Sydney, the Church Point Home was designed by Sydney architectural firm Utz Sanby. The firm describes the home as a tree house that offers "seclusion and sanctuary" to its residents. Concrete pillars made to look like trees support the house on its hillside seat, much like limbs act as a tree house's supports, and though the home can seem muted with a majority of grey and white color schemes, small bursts of red strategically assert themselves inside and out. Hardwood floors and a wooden kitchen table set help harmonize the home with its forest location.



A house in Minami-Boso, Chiba, Japan by Kiyonobu Nakagame & Associates.



One of the nicest places to stroll around in Seoul is the Changgyeonggung Palace, one of Korea's five major palaces. The glasshouse of the Changgyeonggung Botanical Garden was built in 1907 as Korea's first wood, iron and glass glasshouse. The building was designed by Hayato Fukuba, who was in charge of the Shinjuku Imperial Garden in Tokyo, and constructed by a French company. The glasshouse still contains rare flora, including tropical plants.
The glasshouse was a symbol of the Victorian Age, the Industrial Revolution and the technological, economic and cultural might of the British Empire. The father of the glasshouse was Joseph Paxton, the 19th century gardener and architect whose masterpiece was the Crystal Palace of the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Dead People Who Woke Up

1. The grandma who returned from the dead and prepared lunch

No one expects to walk into the kitchen and discover their recently-deceased grandmother calmly cooking a meal. That Stephen King-worthy scenario happened to one Chinese family, after 95-year old Li Xiufeng climbed out of her unsealed coffin, six days after she'd been found "dead" in her bedroom.
After Xiufeng suffered what was thought to be a fatal head injury, plans were made for her funeral, including holding an in-home wake for friends and family. Her coffin had not yet been permanently closed, giving Xiufeng the opportunity to escape after waking from what a doctor described as an "artificial" death and what her family probably called "the reason we all just soiled ourselves."
The day before the funeral, familiars arrived at her house to find the coffin empty and the corpse gone. After searching for the missing body, the villagers were stunned to find Mrs Xiufeng sitting on a stool in her kitchen cooking.
She reportedly told villagers: "I slept for a long time. After waking up, I felt so hungry, and wanted to cook something to eat."
2. The prostitute who 'died' during romp came back to life in coffin
A prostitute in Zimbabwe 'died' during a hotel romp with a client - only to come back to life as her body was being put in a coffin. The vice girl reportedly collapsed during a sex session at the Manor Hotel in Bulaweyo. Convinced she was dead, her shocked client called the police - who sent paramedics to collect the body.
But as they were loading the 'corpse' into a metal coffin, the hooker suddenly woke up screaming. Local news reports claim she leaped from the casket, yelling: "You want to kill me, you want to kill me".
Terrified staff and guests at the hotel, who had gathered to watch the scene unfold, fled in panic. A source told Bulaweyo24 News: "It was like a movie. People were running away in different directions. It was a scary incident because we were all convinced that she had died because she was just cold. Miracles surely do happen."
The shaken hooker - known locally as MaNdlo - was escorted home by another prostitute.
3. The grandmother who woke up after spending THREE DAYS in the morgue
A grandmother has been brought back from the dead twice - and has even survived spending three days in a morgue. The 61-year-old Russian woman has been declared dead twice by doctors, but each time has come back to life - and once was minutes away from being cut open for her autopsy.
Hardy Lyudmila Steblitskaya spent 3 days laying in a freezing cold morgue, while her family mourned the retired cook.
She has scared both doctors, friends and family once in November last year and in October this year.
The initial confusion began last year, when Lyudmila was taken to Tomsk Regional Clinical Hospital and spent days in hospital because she felt unwell. When her 29-year-old daughter Anastasia, who has a daughter Nelli, nine, called on a Friday evening to ask about her mother's condition, she was informed by doctors that her mother had died. The devastated woman began planning her mother's funeral and breaking the bad news to friends and family. She spent 60,000 roubles (£1,223) buying flowers, a casket and arranging for a grave to be dug.
She then went to the hospital to collect her mother's body - only to be told to wait as doctors had not performed an autopsy. She told the newspaper that a startled doctor then approached her and said that her mother was not dead, but was in her bed breathing and alive.
A disbelieving Anastasia went in to the room to find her mother calling her name.
Her mother cannot remember what happened, only that she was in hospital on a Friday and then woke up in a morgue the next Monday to discover that her skin was peeling off from the cold. Mostly, she is just grateful to be alive and be able to see her friends and family.
In October 2012, Lyudmila - who has a history of heart problems - had another 'apparent death' during a hospital stay but this time doctors brought her back to life after several hours.
4. The man who woke up screaming for help in a morgue fridge after having an asthma attack
A South African man awoke to find himself in a morgue fridge—nearly a day after his family thought he had died. Health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said the man awoke 21 hours after his family called in an undertaker who sent him to the morgue after an asthma attack. Morgue owner Ayanda Maqolo said he sent his driver to collect the body shortly after the family reported the death.
But a day after staff put the body into a locked refrigerated compartment, morgue workers heard someone shouting for help. They thought it was a ghost, the morgue owner said. "I couldn't believe it!" Maqolo said. "I was also scared. But they are my employees and I had to show them I wasn't scared, so I called the police." After police arrived, the group entered the morgue together. "I was glad they had their firearms, in case something wanted to fight with us," Maqolo said. He said the man was pale when they pulled him out.
The health department said the man was then taken to a nearby hospital for observation and later discharged by doctors who deemed him stable. Kupelo, the health department spokesman, urged South Africans to call on health officials to confirm that their relatives are really dead. The man's family was informed that he was alive during a family meeting convened to make funeral arrangements.
5. The baby who was found by her mother crying in the morgue 12 hours after being declared dead
Luz Milagros Veron – a name that means "Miracle Light" in English – is a strong one year old baby with an amazing birth story. Doctors said the baby showed no signs of life when she was born three months premature, and quickly sent her to the morgue. She's alive today because her parents insisted on seeing her body to say goodbye. After 12 hours inside a sealed coffin, she moved and let out a tiny cry. She was cold as ice, but far from dead. Since then, Luz Milagros has grown and become stronger.
The parents had planned to name the baby Lucia Abigail, but changed it to Luz Milagros after the incident.
6. The dead woman who starts breathing again as daughter says goodbye in morgue
A woman who was pronounced dead, wrapped in plastic and put in a morgue was found breathing by her daughter when she went to say her last goodbyes. According to reports, the 60-year-old woman had spent two hours inside a plastic bag in a refrigerated drawer after 'dying' from a pulmonary infection at Estadual Adao Pereira Nunes Hospital in Brazil.
Her daughter, Rosangela Celestrino, went to give her mum one last hug, and felt that she was breathing. Doctors thought she was joking when she shouted out that her mother was still alive. When the doctor later examined the body he concluded that the woman was indeed still living.
The woman was immediately taken out of the morgue and placed on life support in the hospital's intensive care unit.
7. The dead Brazilian boy sit up in coffin at his own funeral and asked for water before lying back down lifeless
A two-year-old boy sat up in his coffin and asked for water before laying back down again lifeless, according to a Brazilian news website. In a case that seems almost too incredible to be true, ORM claimed that Kelvin Santos stopped breathing during treatment for pneumonia at a hospital in Belem, northern Brazil.
He was declared dead at 7.40pm on a Friday evening and his body was handed over to his family in a plastic bag. The child's devastated family took him home where grieving relatives held a wake throughout the night, with the boy's body laid in an open coffin.
But an hour before his funeral was due to take place the boy apparently sat up in his coffin and said: 'Daddy, can I have some water?'. The boy's father, Antonio Santos, said: 'Everybody started to scream, we couldn't believe our eyes. Then we thought a miracle had taken place and our boy had come back to life. 'Then Kelvin just laid back down, the way he was. We couldn't wake him. He was dead again.
Mr Santos rushed his son back to the Aberlardo Santos hospital in Belem, where the doctors reexamined the boy and confirmed that he had no signs of life.
The boy's family decided to delay the funeral for an hour in the hope that he would wake up again, but ended up burying him at 5pm that day in a local cemetery.
8. The woman who died of a heart attack after the shock of waking up at her own funeral
A Russian woman recently died, incredibly and tragically, after suffering a heart attack brought on by the utter shock of waking up at her own funeral.
Fagilyu Mukhametzyanov, 49, had been mistakenly declared dead by doctors. She later woke up in a coffin surrounded by sobbing relatives, at which point she began screaming at the realization that she was about to be buried alive.
Mukhametzyanov, a resident of Kazan, was rushed back to the hospital where she was declared dead a second time. This time, it was sadly legitimate.
9. The 'dead' woman with signs of rigor mortis who later woke up
Doctors are calling Val Thomas a medical miracle. They said they can't explain how she is alive.

They said Thomas, from West Virginia, suffered two heart attacks and had no brain waves for more than 17 hours. Her heart stopped and she had no pulse. A respiratory machine kept her breathing and rigor mortis had set in, doctors said.
They rushed her to a West Virginia hospital. Doctors put Thomas on a special machine which induces hypothermia. The treatment involves lowering the body temperature for up to 24 hours before warming a patient up.
After that procedure, her heart stopped again. "She had no neurological function," said Dr. Kevin Eggleston. Her family said goodbye and doctors removed all the tubes.
However, Thomas was kept on a ventilator a little while longer. Ten minutes later the woman woke up and started talking.
Val Thomas and her family strongly believe that the Lord granted them their miracle and they want everyone to know. She was taken to the Cleveland Clinic for specialist to check her out. Doctors said amazingly she has no blockage and will be fine.
10. The dead man who woke up at funeral as mourners were paying respects at his coffin
Mourners got the fright of their lives as they filed past their loved one in a coffin… when he started moving. Brighton Dama Zanthe, 34, "died" after a long illness at home in Zimbabwe.
But the deceased's boss noticed him moving as he filed past, paying his last respects at the funeral. Mourners "jumped out of their skins" and ran in horror, imagining Mr Zanthe had come back from the dead to haunt them. But when they realised the truth, he was taken to hospital at Gweru where he was put on life support for two days before going back home.

Interesting facts

 
-Scientists say the higher your I.Q. The more you dream.
 
-The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm.
 
-You use 200 muscles to take one step.
 
-The average woman is 5 inches shorter than the average man.
 
-Your big toes have two bones each while the rest have three.
 
-A pair of human feet contains 250,000 sweat glands.
 
-A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball.
 
-The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades.
 
-The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica.
 
-It takes the food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.
 
-The average human dream lasts 2-3 seconds.
 
-Men without hair on their chests are more likely to get cirrhosis of the liver than men with hair. 
 
-At the moment of conception, you spent about half an hour as a single cell.
 
-There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.
 
-Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil.
 
-The enamel in your teeth is the hardest substance in your body.
 
-Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born.
 
-When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils dilate, and they do the same when you are looking at someone you hate.
 
-Your thumb is the same length of your nose.
 
At this very moment I know well you are putting this last fact to the test...
 
...now remove your thumb from your nose and pass this on to the friends you think might be interested in comparing their thumbs to their noses as well. :)

Made in China

Anyone who bought an apartment here sure has a problem. 

Talk about a collapsed market! 

YES, IT'S An ENTIRE 13-STORY BUILDING IN
CHINA LYING ON THE GROUND.   



(1)  An underground garage was being dug on the south
side of the building, to a depth of 4.6 meters (15 ft).

(2)  The excavated dirt was being piled up on the north
side of the building, to a height of 10 meters (32 ft).

(3)  They dug right up to the base of the building.
Then the rains came.

(4)  The building experienced uneven lateral pressure
from north to south.

 
(5)  This resulted in a lateral pressure of 3,000 tonnes,
which was greater than what the un-reinforced pilings  
could tolerate.  Thus, the building toppled completely
over in a southerly direction.




*First, the apartment building was constructed.*



Then the plan called  for an underground garage to be dug out.
The excavated soil was piled up on the other side of the  building.




  *Heavy rains resulted in water seeping into the ground.*




The building began to tilt.  Then it began to shift, and the
"hollow" concrete pilings were snapped due to the uneven
lateral pressures
.



  And thus was born the eighth wonder of the world.


 



If these buildings were closer together,
it would have resulted in a domino effect.





Notice that there's NO rebar in the pilings!
Just some wire mesh.







 


 












They built 13 stories on grade, with no basement,
and tied it all down to
hollow pilings with no rebar.

Brought to you by the same folks that make your kids' toys
and want to build your next car.

Now that, folks, is a true snafu.
Don't you feel better now that these are the folks that
manufacture nearly EVERYTHING we buy and use today?

One more product
"MADE IN CHINA"...!!


Friday, 27 September 2013

Looking at Tomorrow

 

Above photo shows two islands in sea facing each other silently.
These are not ordinary islands. They are located in Bering Straits.
They belong to two Super Powers - Russia and USA and represent two different days of calendar 

at any given time. They are just 2.4 km apart from each other.
 
The bigger one called Big Diomede with an area of 29 km2 with no population,
belongs to Russia and part of Siberia - 25 km from main land.
International Date Line is about 1.8 km east of this island
 
The smaller one is called Little Diomede with an area 7.3 km2 with a population of 170, belongs 

to Alaska - 25 km from main land . International Date Line is about 0.6 km west of this island.
 
On a clear day, by looking at Big Diomede from Little Diomede -
one can see tomorrow as the time difference between the two islands is exactly 24 hrs.
 

 

 
Close up Sattelite View of both islands
 
 


 
Sattelite view of Bering Straits - Siberia is towards left  & Alaska is in on right side.
 


 
Many Russians and even Americans may not be aware of these facts as these islands are quite far 

away from them.

Stay Awesome,

 


Wednesday, 25 September 2013

Amazing Constructions Built on Rooftops


1. Fallen Star (California)

When it comes to public art, few schools do it as well as the University of California, San Diego. Maybe I'm biased because I went there, but UCSD's Stuart Collection, which dots the entire campus, is seriously top-notch. The latest addition is "Fallen Star" by South Korean artist Do Ho Suh. And yes, it's a house hanging off the edge of a seven-story building.
"Fallen Star" took a team of engineers and other experts several years to plan and construct. Suh based the look of the fully furnished house on the architecture he saw in New England. It's even beautifully landscaped. Though the up-tilted floor and seemingly precipitous overhang might deter the faint of heart, it's totally safe.
2. Private Temple over residential block (China)
A privately-built illegal temple-like structure is seen on the top of a 20-storey residential block in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen August 22, 2013. A police spokesman said that the elaborate temple-like structure is built illegally on the roof. The temple on top of the building in Shenzhen's Nanshan district is believed to have been there for at least three years, local media reported. The temple and the inaccessible rooftop had caused concerns over safety issues among some residents. But despite complaints from neighbours, the temple only came into the spotlight after a wealthy physician in Beijing was given 15 days to tear down his illegal villa and garden built atop a 26-story apartment block.
3. Mountain Villa on building rooftop (China)
Zhang Biqing, a successful Chinese businessman from Beijing, has spent the last six years building a realistic-looking two-story mountain villa atop a high apartment building right in China's capital city. Zhang Biqing, a former government adviser turned successful entrepreneur, thought when he decided to build his dream mountain villa at the top of a 26-floor apartment building in Beijing's upscale Park View estate.
But yhe faux-rock villa complete with trees, patios and karaoke studio will soon be torn down after a demolition order was issued by the city's urban-management department.
During the six years it took to complete, residents complained about the infernal construction noise, but after seeing the enormity of the complex covering the entire top of their building, they began to worry about structural damage. The mountain in which Biqing's villa appears to be carved may be fake, but the materials used to make it are reportedly pretty heavy as well, and threaten to weaken the residential building's resistance. It turns out the whole rooftop project is illegal, as Zhang never received the necessary planning permission for his extreme dwelling, yet no one ever bothered him about it until Chinese newspapers recently covered the topic sparking public outrage.
4. Rooftop soccer at Shibuya Station (Japan)
More than just a destination or a name on the map, each neighborhood in Tokyo functions almost like a self-contain miniature city, with its own business district, shopping arcade, and residential quarter. And generally, huddled in the center of all the hustling and bustling activities is a transportation hub, like Shibuya Station. Exist as part of the Tokyu Department Store, it boasts 8 rail and metro lines, including 3 privately operated railways, the N'EX express train to Narita Airport and a newly built terminal station from famed architect Tadao Ando.
Just beyond the maddening horde and the human scramble, however, is a quieter, joyful existent. High above the Shibuya Station, or more accurately right above it, is the adidas FUTSAL PARK.
Constructed in 2001 as an introduction to 2002 FIFA World Cup (hosted by Japan and South Korea), the adidas FUTSAL PARK promotes a miniature version of soccer, futsal, on a 14,000 square-foot pitch and commands a breathtaking 270-degree view of Shibuya. Inspired by a former playground on site before the construction of the transportation complex, the FUTSAL PARK hosts nightly tournaments among adults, professional game viewing venues, and J-Frontage, futsal school for toddlers and children. It' s almost a marvel of urban planning, to maximize usage of spaces not generally associated with activities such as futsal.
5. Rooftop 'Villas' on top of Shopping Mall (China)
Can't find enough space in the big city to build yet another office tower? Here's an idea: Build a complex on top of a shopping mall. That was the answer for the developers of Jiutian International Square, an eight-story shopping mall in the Chinese city of Zhuzhou. They built four villas -- complete with gardens -- on the roof of the shopping mall. But instead of looking for four rich families seeking single-family homes in the middle of the city, they plan to use the mansions to house the mall's 160 real-estate management employees.
Unlike the previous constructions in this list, the villas have proper permits, were built to code and already have electricity and water installed. The employees housed there will get panoramic views and the chance to work in one of the most original office buildings in the city.
6. Rooftop Lake (England)
This lake on the Selfridges roof garden opened for the first time since World War II. The lake is located in London and dyed green and serves cocktails. In order to give the Selfridges a boating license, there were miles of steel used to reinforce the roof so that it would hold the lake.
After the devastating bombing of the department store in 1940 owner H.Gordon Selfridge vowed never to open the gardens again. In the 1920s and 1930s the roof, with its spectacular views across London, was a place popular for strolling after a shopping trip and was often used for fashion shows.
7. Runaway on top of Manhattan building (New York)
A helicopter landing on a New York rooftop is a common enough site, but why is there a WWI-era warplane perched on a tiny rooftop runway in Lower Manhattan?
Rooftops on large buildings are typically overcrowded with functional necessities like water tanks and air-conditioning equipment, so when the William Kaufman Organization built an office tower at 77 Water Street back in 1970, they perched atop it something a little more whimsical and aesthetically pleasing.
Onlookers in other buildings higher than the 26-story office tower are distracted from the necessary machinery by a runway with functioning lights, on top of which is perched a bi-plane.
The result is magical, even if the plane itself is merely a non-functioning replica of the original.
8. Didden Village on the roof of private residence (Netherlands)
Most topping up on rooftops is done for two reasons: a need for additional space and the desire to live or work high above the city rooftops, closer to heaven than to other people. Dutch architecture firm designed an extension for the Didden family on top of an existing monumental house and atelier. The attic storey of the house below is extended by a sky-blue parapet. Behind it two gables of the same colour can be seen. It creates a crown on top of the monument. The extension is an example of the growing trend to exploit the urban roofscape for new living and working spaces.
Unlike many similar projects, the Didden Village does not simply offer its owners additional living and sleeping space. It actually functions like a real small village, with alleys and courtyards equipped with benches, tables and a pool. Shoulder high parapets create the necessary air of privacy.
9. Houses on top of a factory (China)
These houses are seen on the rooftop of a factory building in Dongguan, Guangdong province. They were completed in 2011. According to local media, the government said the size of the houses was not in line with the original design submitted, thus the construction should be deemed illegal.
10. Upside-Down House on top of Slovakia Headquarters (Slovakia)
The Slovakia-based headquarters of Strabag is an energy-efficient building - with an upside down house smashed into its side! The European construction company hired artist Erwin Wurm to add his signature work "House Attack" to the outside of their building. Designed by MHM Architects, SKC Bratislava is modern office building that takes advantage of geothermal heating and cooling and is filled with art. The horizontal tower is clad in green low-e glass and it provides office space for 530 people in Slovakia's capital, Bratislava.
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