venus williams blog: Architecture

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Jebel Hafeet Mountain Road, the Most Awesome Road in the United Arab Emirates

Can't imagine that there is such a beautiful road with totally no trees on its two sides.

The Jebel Hafeet Mountain Road in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the greatest driving road in the world. Stretching for 7.3 miles and climbing nearly 4,000 feet, it boasts 60 corners and a surface so smooth that it would flatter a racetrack. It could easily be described as the eighth wonder of the world, but almost nothing is known about its creation.
The road is cut into the Jebel Hafeet Mountain , the highest peak in the United Arab Emirates , the oil-rich Persian Gulf state. The mountain spans the border with Oman and lies about 90 minutes' drive southeast of the thriving city of Dubai . It looks down upon a dusty, desert landscape that belies a nation of astonishing wealth.

Source: Mountain Road in UAE @ Fordac's Blog

Baltimore House, America's Largest Single-family Residence

(Picture click to enlarge it):http://plantsnrocks.blogspot.com)

KI introduced this stunning 109,000-square-foot house in his blog

This is a view of the Biltmore house from the Esplanade which is probably about 1/4 mile from the house. How would you like to mow that lawn? The size of the living space in the house is about 4 acres and it is the largest private residence in the U.S. It was built by George Vanderbilt who inherited a vast fortune. His grandfather Cornelius amassed the unheard of $150 million in shipping and railroads. Cornelius' son doubled the fortune to $300 million which in today's money would be worth about 90 some odd billion if I heard the tape correctly. But they had no sinks in the 43 bathrooms even if they had the then new commodes.

Arnold Chase's Mega Mansion, Among USA's Largest Single Family Houses

Who is Arnold Chase? Too many people are now keen to know him. He is a West Hartford-based businessman, the boss of Gemini Networks. He has donated 66 miles of fiber optic cable to Hartford residents for their wireless access and once constructed WTIC-TV, FOX's Channel 61.

Currently, Arnold Chase, is building a mega 50,900-square-foot mansion at his town in New England of Connecticut. Together with the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina,109,000-square-foot (10,125-square-meter), Oheka Castle in Huntington and Donald Trump's 80,000-square-foot (7,430-square-meter) Maison de l'Amitie in Palm Beach, Florida, Arnold Chase's masion will become one of largest single family house in US.

The enormity of the house Arnold Chase is building on Avon Mountain is not fully apparent from the outside, where only 17,000 square feet (1,580 square meters) of it lies in plain view.
It is the two-level, 33,500-square-foot (3,110-square-meter) basement complex, complete with a 103-seat movie theater, ticket booth, concession stand, game room and music annex, that will make it the largest occupied single-family home in the New England states in the northeast U.S.
At nearly 50,900 square feet (4,730 square meters), the Chase home will be slightly larger than billionaire Bill Gates' home in Washington state, about 4,000 square feet (372 square meters) smaller than the White House and 20 times larger than the average-size home in America.
Besides the two-tiered movie theater, soda fountain and men's and women's bathrooms, the Chase home will include a 400-square-foot (37-square-meter) "observatory," five bedrooms, eight full bathrooms and five half bathrooms, according to documents filed with the West Hartford planning office. The game room, in the "upper" basement, will take up nearly 4,900 square feet (455 square meters) — nearly twice as big as the average-size house.

Source: AP via Hfxnews earlier seen at SN

Stunning Brunei Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque

Indeed Beautiful!

Amazing in appearance, The Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque is too beautiful to be true. The Holy Place is Brunei's proudest architectural achievement. It sits on an artificial lagoon near the Brunei River in Kampong Ayer, which is appropriately enough, known as a 'water village.' A structure in the water that resembles a ship was at one time used for official state ceremonies. The mosque is the largest in the Far East, and considered among the most beautiful in the world. It reaches a height of 52 meters and is topped with a gold dome supported by walls of Italian marble, which also forms the mosque's columns, arches, and towers. The stained glass was hand made in England and the carpets are Saudi Arabia.

Manhattan of the Desert, Yemen Shibam

Dubbed as the oldest skyscraper-city in the world, or Manhattan of the desert, Town Shibam located at Hadramawt of mideast country Yemen was once the capital of the Hadramawt Kingdom. (It is somewhat disappointed that my Yemeni friends never talk about it before.)

Shibam has existed for around 2,000 years, but most of the city's houses come mainly from the 16th century and currently has about 7,000 inhabitants. The Shibam houses safeguarded under UNESCO's human cultural heritage programme are made out of mud bricks, with only about 500 tower houses currently still there, rising 5 to 9 stories high. Inside the city there is virtually no traffic due to the extremely narrow alleyways.

The following is a Youtube video tour of Shibam Town

Archnet.org hosts a photo gallery on this human heritage.

Source: Wiki & Deputy-dog

Safeway Homes, the House that Withstand Hurricane Force Winds

It's excited when knowing Safeway Homes that can withstand hurricane force winds! Let's take a look at some of the special features that Safeway Homes can offer

Safeway Homes have a special roof cap system which means that any Safeway Homes can be weather tight in only a few hours. As there is usually a few days notice if a hurricane is coming, then Safeway Homes can easily be made ready to protect you and your family in that time.
Safeway Homes also are built to be capable for standing 150 mph winds, so Safeway Homes should be okay in the event of a hurricane.

It is so great, especially for the people living in hurricane risk areas! Link

China's Highest Building Shanghai World Financial Center Caught Fire

The under-constructing China's highest building Shanghai World Financial Centre caught a fire on a high floor at afternoon of August 14, 2007. Shanghai Firemen have managed to put it out in one and a half hours. There were no casualties and the exact cause of fire is being investigated. Link

World's Famous Landmarks Spotted on Google Earth

Capitol Hill, Washington, USA

Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany

Empire State Building, New York, USA

The Pentagon, Washtington, USA

Sydney Opera House, Australia

London Tower Bridge, UK

Paris Eiffel Tower, Feance Frankfurt Commerzbank Tower, Germany, Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, Spain

EU Headquarters: Berlaymont Building, Brussels, Belgium

Chicago Sears Towers, USA

China's National Theatre, Beijing

Burj-Al Hotel, Dubai UAE

The Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE

The Palm Jebel Ali, Dubai, UAE

North Korea's Pyramid Hotel (in construction), Pyong Yang

Colosseum, Rome, Italy

World's Longest Trans-sea Bridge To Be Linked Up

After 5 years of construction, Hangzhou Bay Trans-sea Bridge will be finally linked up by the end of the month.

With an estimated price tag of 11.8 billion yuan (1.42 billion US dollars at the start of construction in August, 2003), the 36-km-long bridge will be the longest of its kind in the world.

The stayed-cable bridge links Cixi City on the southern bank of the bay with Jiaxing City on the northern bank of eastern China's Zhejiang Province.

With a designed life span of 100 years, it will have six lanes in two directions, with a designed driving speed of 100 kilometers per hour.

The bridge will shorten the journey between Shanghai and Ningbo by 120 kilometres, making it a 179-kilometre journey,

The bridge will be one of the most important not only in China but in the world for it is not only the longest one (over a sea) but also will be built in the world's most complicated sea environment, with one of the three biggest tides on Earth (Qiantang River Tide), the effect of typhoons and the difficult content of the sea soil. Source: People's Daily & Xinhua

diagram of world's longest trans-sea bridge

hangzhou bay trans-sea bridge, world's longest

Big Colored 'Egg' in Shanghai's Wujiaochang Area

The "egg" lights up the Middle Ring Road over the square in Wujiangchang (五角场) in Yangpu District and is a scenic highlight of the city's newest emerging commercial and business center.

The "egg" had been initially lit by 1,000 LED diodes and 500 inner photo-permeable lights since September, 2005. The LED diodes change color every 10 seconds and they can show red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Starting from June 1 to National Day golden week in October., the "egg" will show motion pictures on holidays or special events as a trial. The display is controlled by computer.

Wujiaochang where was once a less developed area in the bustling Shanghai even at later 90's is being built into a commercial and entertainment complex to rival the bustling Xujiahui area in the city's southwest.

Photos source: xiangshu blol huaxia