The Global Green Project

The project of Park of the World has been initiated by a municipal government of the city of Chungju in honor of that now the Secretary general of the United Nations is the native of this city, Ban Ki-Moon. Having stretched on river Namhangang coast, the project becomes the new city center.

The UN Memorial Hall

The building in the form of an ellipse, the maximum diameter — 60 meters becomes United Nations monument. In a building of 8 floors + a basement floor. In the center — an audience on 1,500 places, and also additional conference halls. From an audience the fine kind on Tangeumdae Natural Park will open.

Rising up a spiral, the building becomes the house for an exhibition in which the history of the United Nations since 1945 till today will speak. The person who is the center of interest of missions of the United Nations, will be integrated into architecture and appearance of "globe". The building will be located in the center of a garden from 192 apple-trees which number is equal to number of the states which are members of the United Nations.

VIA «Park of the United Nations»

New Interior of the Bank

As the sector of financial services is very abstract to most people, the main challenge with regards to the contents was to develop innovative and exciting narrative formats that create a tangible experience. Design wise we wanted to avoid permanent spatial logos that dominate and frame the space with simple 3D extrusion, thus, we had to find a subtle though still clearly recognisable way of translating it into spatial architecture.

As part of the redesign of their corporate headquarters, Deutsche Bank took the opportunity to create a permanent brand space. The brief was to shape an environment where their well-known logo designed by Anton Stankowski is embodied within the space and where customers, employees and external visitors would be able to experience and to connect with the Deutsche Bank brand. All relevant aspects of the company, beginning with its history and extending to its various business divisions and their contributions to society today should be communicated to the visitor.

Using the concept of anamorphosis abstract architectural structures have been designed to only reveal themselves as the logo when viewed from specific sweet spots. Parts of the logo sculptures are formed by incorporated media installations that allow the visitor to physically experience and interact with the brand. One of the sculptures is touch-sensitive – here networked information bits can be explored. The second reacts to the visitor, whose physical motions trigger the display of statistic data. The third, a kinetic sculpture communicates the brand values precision and passion in a metaphorical, emotional way.

Since the opening on April 6, more than 20,000 visitors came to see the Brand Space. Board members use the space to hold receptions, functions such as HR are using it for employee activities, bank managers invite partners and clients, and the press department welcomes journalists in the Brand Space. Moreover, marketeers from international companies come to experience the space, as it’s the first brand space for a financial services brand.

Advertiser/Client: DEUTSCHE BANK;
Entrant Company: ART+COM Berlin, GERMANY;
DM/Advertising Agency: ART+COM Berlin, GERMANY;
2nd DM/Advertising Agency: COORDINATION Berlin, GERMANY;
Creative Director: Joachim Sauter (ART+COM);
Creative Director: Jochen Gringmuth (Coordination);
Project Manager: Gert Monath (ART+COM);
Art Director: Eva Offenberg (ART+COM);
Art Director: Petra Trefzger (ART+COM);
Architect: Jeanette Riedel (Coordination);
Head Of Media Technology: Björn Seeger (ART+COM);
Designer: Arne Michel (ART+COM);
Computational Designer: Christian Riekoff (ART+COM);
Head Of Development: Sebastian Heymann (ART+COM).

Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt am Main

VIA «Brand Space of the Deutsche Bank»

The Inspired Shop

The new interior for Parisian shop L'Eclaireur was issued Arne Quinze, by the artist from Belgium.

For furnish of internal territory of a fashion it was required two tons of wooden boards, and also it is a lot of others vintage elements. Into walls it's integrated 147 screens showing various animated plots.

The Vintage Interior

“This place inspires us. We each time try to be beyond easier luxury. This research, search, surprise… Various possibilities for display of necessary expressiveness of data, the actual moment.
It not simply stop, is experience. The project has united in itself dreams, emotions, history and memoirs. It's imagination in which each person will find itself.”

VIA «New Vintage Interior of Parisian Shop»

Aqua Tower (Chicago)

Each skyscraper in Chicago is continuation of History of Skyscrapers which has begun for a city in 1885 with building Home Insurance Building. "Tower" in height of 42 meters (plus two floors have been completed in 1891, having finished height to 50 meters) became the first-ever building exceeding level in five floors. New Aqua Tower — height of 250 meters, the sculptural facade of a structure creating illusion of waves is unique.

The Unique Architectural Structure

Calcareous rocks, characteristic for area of Great Lakes became a prototype of a wavy facade.
Such architectural decision it has not only visual value, and is functional; waves are used as viewing platforms, and also a shadow veil.
Building parameters; 82 floors, 250 meters in height, 215 hotel rooms (with 1 on 18 floor), 476 apartments (with 19 on 52 floor), 5,100 sq. m. trading and office areas, an underground parking, a 8-storeyed cellar a total area of 32,000 sq. m., a terrace with gardens, pools, arbors, paths for walks and run.

The New Aqua Tower

VIA «Aqua Tower by Studio Gang»

Unfortunately, most Australians have not had the privilege of visiting these special places. Such a visit radically expands a person’s understanding of Australian history as something that goes much, much deeper than our shallow, colonial roots of the last few hundred years.

To reinforce this broader understanding of identity and heritage, archaeologists, chemists, geologists, and physicists from the universities of Melbourne, Western Australia and Wollongong, Archae-Aus consultancy, and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation launched a 3 year project across the Kimberley to date rock art using an astonishing variety of scientific techniques.

In 2014 the team was privileged to begin work along the King George River in Balanggarra Country, and has continued this year along the coast of Dambimangari Country.

The work involves careful study of the rock art and its associated cultural context and then taking very small samples mostly of mineral crusts, mudwasp nests and organic material growing on rock surfaces, for laboratory analysis.

These materials may also degrade the art itself over time, so understanding their formation will help guide future conservation and management practices.

No rock art dates are available yet – though indications are that some rock art is very recent, while other rock art traditions may be tens of thousands of years old.

These dates will help demonstrate to the outside world the depth and range of Kimberley rock art, and build the case for it to be recognised with World Heritage Site status.

These dates also help disprove false claims that some Kimberley rock art was not made by Aboriginal people.

To properly date and understand Kimberley rock art will take many years, but the Rock Art Dating Project team are confident the results will help grow a national pride and respect for this intellectual and cultural achievement made and looked after by Aboriginal people.

Source: Science Network WA [July 07, 2015]

Both the gateways are located on GT Road, close to ASI-protected Tripolia gateways. Nobody was hurt when the structure collapsed on Sunday. One could only see rubble, debris and remains of the monument on Monday, with only some portions left standing. "It's fortunate no one was hurt when the building came tumbling down. We have never seen the authorities showing any interest to preserve this building, even though it dates back to 1710,'' said Vinod Bansal, who owns a shop adjacent to the collapsed gateway.

It is not clear which agency has jurisdiction over the monument. But encroachment is rampant in the area with many heritage structures being damaged by vandals and squatters. "I have been living here for many years. I used to pay rent for running my shop in the building to its owner. We knew the building was going to collapse as we saw small pieces of debris falling and noticed an unusual tilt to the monument early on Sunday. My shop has been closed as the whole building is declared dangerous now,'' said Niranjan Sharma, who had a telecommunications shop right next to the gateway entrance.

According to Intach Heritage listing, the double-height gateway was originally faced with red sandstone. The upper floor was taken over as a residence years ago, which is the only portion still standing.

The surviving gateway to the garden of Maldhar Khan, meanwhile, is also falling to pieces.

Sources said both the gateways were surveyed and identified by the department of archaeology for conservation and protection under the Delhi Archaeology Act. While it is unclear whether the department had identified both gateways for protection or just one,

Experts said the delay in implementing conservation measures had caused more damage to them. Officials from the department of archaeology did not respond to calls made by TOI.

Both structures also figure in the municipal corporation's list of notified heritage buildings. North Corporation commissioner P K Gupta said: "We'll have to look into the reasons of the collapse and determine the building's ownership. Action will be taken accordingly.'' The Maharana Pratap Bagh RWA has also written to the Delhi government over the collapse, accusing them of negligence.

"This historic building was heavily encroached upon. The department of archaeology failed to take action, which led to this,'' said Saurabh Gandhi, RWA president. On Monday, a team from ASI visited the site to assess whether the collapse had any effect on the Tripolia gateways.

While much is not known about the history of the gateways, experts say there were older than the ASI-protected Tripolia gateways. While Tripolia was built in 1728, these two gateways were built in 1710. History has it that they were built by Maldhar Khan, Nazir during the reign of Mohammed Shah Rangila. The two gateways used to lead to a beautiful garden also built by Khan. The garden vanished many years ago, and only can only see a clutter of shops and crowded houses there now. Not much is known about Maldhar Khan but it is assumed he was an influential noble and gifted architect.

Author: Richi Verma | Source: Times of India [July 07, 2015]

The move came just a day after Diyarbakir’s wall and its nearby Hevsel Gardens were added to the list as well.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Permanent Representative of Turkey to UNESCO Hüseyin Avni Botsalı – who headed the Turkish delegation at the session – described the unanimous approval of Ephesus as a great success.

“In fact, we have a great responsibility on our shoulders in terms of cooperation of the international community in this field. We will make significant efforts for the protection of civilizational values and cultural properties,” he added.

Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik celebrated the development in a series of Twitter posts.

“We have just received the second good news from Germany. Ephesus is now officially on the world heritage [list],” he said.

The minister said Ephesus had always been a key port city, as well as a cultural and commercial center, throughout history.

“A principal city of science, culture and art of its era, Ephesus had been a residential area starting from the pre-historic era and through the Hellenistic, Roman, Eastern Roman periods and also under the Ottoman Empire for about nine millennia without interruption,” he said.

Çelik also said Ephesus, which draws 2 million visitors a year, was a place that the whole world agreed was a site of global cultural heritage.

In a later interview with Anadolu Agency, Çelik noted the threat that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) posed to world heritage in neighboring countries like Syria.

“While a terrorist group called Daesh destroys cities, it is a significant message against this barbarism that Turkey as a Muslim country in the Muslim world managed to put its properties on the world heritage list,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

In May, ISIL militants seized the Roman ruins at the Palmyra World Heritage site in Syria’s Homs Governorate. Last week, members of ISIL destroyed a peerless statue of a lion at the site on the grounds that it is idolatrous, while it has also allegedly conducted executions at the ancient city’s famous theater.

Describing Ephesus, UNESCO said: “The Temple of Artemis, which was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is situated on the edge of this small town. The city which was situated at the beginning of the Persian Royal Road has survived sufficiently enough to enable us to understand the ancient way of life in Ephesus. It is one of the cities which played an impressive role in the beginnings of Christianity and during the period of its proliferation (St. John Church and the shrine of the Virgin Mary). It contains one of the most spectacular examples of religious architecture of the Seljuk Period.”

Turkey first entered the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1985 with Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia and the Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği – both in central Turkey – and the historic areas of Istanbul.

The Hittite capital Hattuşa was added to the list in 1986, followed by Mount Nemrut in Adıyaman 1987, and Hierapolis-Pamukkale in Denizli and the ancient city of Xanthos-Letoon between Muğla and Fethiye in 1988.

In 1994, the city of Safranbolu was approved as a world heritage while the archaeological site of Troy was added to the list in 1998. In recent year, Edirne’s Selimiye Mosque and its social complex was added in 2011, as was Konya’s Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in 2012.

The latest entries in 2014 were Bursa’s Cumalikızık village which witnessed the birth of the Ottoman Empire and İzmir’s ancient city of Pergamon and its multi-layered cultural landscape.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News [July 06, 2015]

The dealer, Subhash Kapoor, is now awaiting trial in India for allegedly looting artifacts worth tens of millions of dollars.

Mr. Kapoor operated a now-defunct gallery on the Upper East Side called Art of the Past. Prosecutors allege that between 1995 and 2012 he illegally imported and sold stolen antiquities from India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere, often using forged documents to pass the items off as legitimate.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit and the Manhattan district attorney’s office have together recovered more than 2,500 artifacts worth more than $100 million from the gallery and storage facilities in and around New York City.

Kenneth J. Kaplan, a lawyer in New York representing Mr. Kapoor, declined to comment Wednesday, but said his client had asserted his innocence both to him and to his counsel in India. Mr. Kapoor has not yet entered a plea in India, according to a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.

The item recovered this week is a Chola-period bronze representing a Tamil poet and saint that dates to the 11th or 12th centuries, according to Brenton Easter, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations. The statue, which stands nearly two feet tall and weighs more than 80 pounds, was allegedly looted about a decade ago from a temple in a village in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The theft of the figure was “completely devastating” to the villagers, Mr. Easter said on Wednesday afternoon, as he stood by the open door of the van containing the relic parked on East 91st Street near Park Avenue. The item was smuggled into the U.S. labeled as a handicraft, and then offered for sale at Mr. Kapoor’s gallery on Madison Avenue.

In recent months some institutions that purchased objects from Mr. Kapoor have surrendered the items to Homeland Security Investigations. They include the Honolulu Museum of Art and the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts.

In a statement, Honolulu Museum Director Stephan Jost said in April that “clearly the museum could have done better” with its past vetting of objects. Dan L. Monroe, the Peabody Essex Museum director, said in a statement that month that the institution has undertaken “a rigorous internal assessment of its collection and is working in full cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security.”

This time around, the stolen object was voluntarily surrendered by an anonymous collector who had been contacted by investigators about the piece. Officials said the buyer was considered a victim because the statue was accompanied by a false provenance, or ownership history, that predated its theft.

“We commend this collector for his conscious decision to return this stolen idol,” said Raymond R. Parmer, Jr., special agent in charge of HSI New York. “We hope that other collectors, institutions and museums will continue to partner with HSI, and to see this surrender as a successful way to move forward when dealing with artifacts that might be of concern.”

The agency has recovered at least six other sacred Chola bronzes that it anticipates repatriating to the Indian government.

In April, the Manhattan district attorney’s office filed papers in New York State Supreme Court seeking the forfeiture of 2,622 items seized from the gallery and storage units in Manhattan, Queens and Long Island. The items were worth $107 million, according to the summons. Among them: a statue from India valued at $15 million, a large bronze statue from Cambodia or Thailand worth $5 million and a large standing Buddha from North India estimated at $7.5 million.

According to the April summons, Mr. Kapoor and his gallery manager, Aaron Freedman, “engaged in a common plan and scheme to illegally obtain and sell stolen items of art and conceal or disguise the nature, source and ownership of the illegally obtained property.”

Mr. Freedman pleaded guilty in December 2013 to five counts of criminal possession of stolen property and one count of conspiracy, according to the summons. Prosecutors said the antiquities were forfeitable from Mr. Kapoor and his gallery as proceeds and/or instrumentalities of crime.

Author: Jennifer Smith | Source: The Wall Street Journal [July 03, 2015]

"The ongoing destruction of Palmyra's cultural artifacts reflects the brutality and ignorance of extremist groups and their disregard of local communities and the Syrian people," decaled UNESCO chief Irina Bokova, strongly condemning this new assault on Palmyra, a World Heritage Site, particularly funerary busts and the renowned Lion statue of Athena from the entrance of the site's museum.

"The destruction of funerary busts of Palmyra in a public square, in front of crowds and children asked to witness the looting of their heritage is especially perverse,” she said, explaining that the busts embody the values of human empathy, intelligence and honor the dead. They also represent a wealth of information on costumes, jewelry, traditions and history of the Syrian people.

“Their destruction is a new attempt to break the bonds between people and their history, to deprive them of their cultural roots in order to better enslave them, "she declared.

With this in mind, Ms. Bokova reiterated her call to all religious leaders, intellectuals and young people to stand up against the manipulation of religion, to respond to the false arguments of extremists in all media and through the #unite4heritage campaign.

"I commend the courage of the youth from the Arab world who are committed to protecting their heritage as a source of strength, resilience and hope in the future,” she said.

Finally, she called strongly on all UN Member States, the art market and experts to join forces to curb the illicit traffic of cultural property.

“I call on all researchers, artists, filmmakers and photographers to continue to cooperate and join forces with UNESCO to document and share the wealth of the Mesopotamian civilization. Neither bombs nor jackhammers can erase this great culture from the memory of the world,” she declared, adding that nothing can ever stifle human creativity - despite the obstacles and fanaticism, this energy will come back stronger than before, buildings and sites will be rehabilitated, and some will be rebuilt, and culture will find its place because it embodies the vitality of societies.

“UNESCO will continue to work with the people of Syria to make sure that moment comes as soon as possible,” the Director General concluded.

Source: United Nations [July 03, 2015]

Jihadis took sledgehammers to the relics, smashed them to pieces and then lashed the man who allegedly smuggled the artifacts in a public square full of onlookers, they announced on social media Thursday.

One-fifth of Iraq's approximately 10,000 world-renowned cultural heritage sites are under the Islamic State's control and most have been heavily looted, Irina Bokova, the head of the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO, warned experts in London Thursday. Some Syrian sites have been so badly ransacked that experts say they no longer have historical or archaeological value.

"Violent extremists don't destroy [heritage] as a collateral damage, they target systematically monuments and sites to strike societies at their core," Bokova said Wednesday.

The 2,000-year-old Allat God statue, which depicts a lion catching a deer between its feet, is believed to have been destroyed Saturday. "ISIS terrorists have destroyed one of the most important unearthed statues in Syria in terms of quality and weight...it was discovered in 1977 and dates back to the second century A.D.," Ma'moun Abdul-Karim, director of museums and antiquities, told Syrian state-run news agency SANA Thursday.

It's "the most serious crime they have committed against Palmyra's heritage," he added to the AFP.

The militants have also planted improvised explosive devices (IEDs) around the ruins of the ancient city. The explosives appear placed according to a pattern that indicates they are set to optimize the "filmed destruction," says Michael Danti, co-director of the Syrian Heritage Initiative at the American Schools of Oriental Research, a group monitoring cultural damage in Syria and Iraq.

"The deliberate destruction, what we are seeing today in Iraq and Syria, has reached unprecedented levels in contemporary history," said Bokova.

Author: Barbara Boland | Source: Washington Examiner [July 02, 2015]

Scholars and curious visitors have spent more than a century trying to unravel those mysteries and more work needs to be done.

That's why nearly 30 top archaeologists from universities and organizations around the nation called on the U.S. Interior Department on Tuesday to protect the area surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park from oil and gas development.

In a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, they talked about the countless hours they've spent in the field, the dozens of books they've published about the Chaco society and their decades of collective experience studying its connection to modern Native American tribes in the Southwest. They call Chaco a distinct resource.

"Many of the features associated with this landscape — the communications and road systems that once linked the canyon to great house sites located as far away as southeast Utah and which are still being identified to this day — have been damaged by the construction of oil and gas roads, pipelines and well pads," the archaeologists said.

They're pushing for the agency to consider a master leasing plan that would take into account cultural resources beyond the boundaries of the national park. They're also looking for more coordination between federal land managers, tribes and archaeologists.

The Bureau of Land Management is revamping its resource management plan for the San Juan Basin and all new leasing within a 10-mile radius of Chaco park has been deferred until the plan is updated, likely in 2016.

Wally Drangmeister, a spokesman for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said the BLM's existing plan already takes into account cultural resources. He said there has been a push by environmentalists to tie Chaco to development in the Mancos shale more than 10 miles from the park.

Environmentalists have been calling for protections for the greater Chaco area, and Drangmeister said that expansive definition could put the whole San Juan Basin off limits.

The basin is one of the largest natural gas fields in the U.S. and has been in production for more than 60 years. More development is expected in some areas since technology is making it easier for energy companies to tap the region's oil resources.

Some archaeologists have theorized that Chaco's influence spread far and wide from its remote desert location. A World Heritage site, Chaco includes a series of great houses, or massive multistory stone buildings, some of which were oriented to solar and lunar directions and offered lines of sight between buildings to allow for communication.

Steve Lekson, a professor and curator at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, has spent years studying Chaco and its influence over the Southwest. He likened the process to learning how to play baseball after discovering home base and the pitcher's mound.

"You keep poking around and find more bases and the warning tracks and all that stuff. You need the whole picture to understand how the game is played," he said. "Of course, Chaco being a political system or major regional system is much more complicated than baseball. You need enough of the package intact so you can actually understand the structure of the thing."

Lekson and others said the hope that there's more to be discovered doesn't mean energy development should come to a halt.

"I don't think anybody is saying that, but we need to pay a lot of attention to how that's done and be cognizant of the larger issue," he said. "It shouldn't be a site-by-site thing."

The archaeologists' letter comes on the heels of a tour of the Chaco area by U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-New Mexico, and Interior Deputy Secretary Mike Connor. The two met with land managers and others after the tour.

Connor said there are Navajo allottees who want to develop their resources and other Native Americans who want to protect those resources.

"It's a balancing act throughout all of BLM's lands and I think Chaco is particularly unique," he said. "The more I learn about it, the more I was struck by the more we all have to learn."

Author: Susan Montoya Bryan | Source: The Associated Press [July 01, 2015]