Architect Alexander Krasinski has presented materials of the project of artificial island in Persian gulf (United Arab Emirates), developed for the purpose of creation of the alternative agglomeration, capable to solve a problem, actual for the given region for today.
Futuristic Island in Persian Gulf
The architectural conception of the futuristic green project is inseparable from a solution of a problem of globalization of influence of the person on environment, and also rising of sea level and taxes. Differently, on this urbanistic island it's possible to create the whole new state with powerful Eco-system, own the legislation and an advanced policy of economic structure.
The Futuristic Eco-project
The futuristic island is located in territory of ocean and has internal seaport and the airport in immediate proximity from a Eco-zone with areas of smart ecology. Also, the original architectural project provides ultra-modern office, administrative, governmental and academic centers, comfortable inhabited apartments, territory for walks, rest, sports.
The main figures of this project — height of 160 metres, the budget of 1 336 million euro. Besides it, the tower is obviously inclined to effects. Capital Gate, the project of bureau RMJM on 4 degrees have overtaken the well-known tower in Pisa (18 degrees of an inclination against 14).
Art Tower in Dubai
The developer of the project is international exhibition company Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC).
“Capital Gate — fine result of a combination of accurate vision, creativity and adaptability to manufacture of the engineering decision. I am very happy with process and would like to express gratitude to all people involved in an embodiment of this surprising project during a life”, — the operating director of group ADNEC speaks Simon Horgan.
Tony Archibold from RMJM has declared, that the technologies applied in the given project, were not applied still anywhere and never in the world.
In a tower hotel Hyatt 5* which will offer visitors of 189 numbers, and also office areas will be located. On 18th floor of a tower it will be placed tea with an open terrace and pool, with a kind on a city and a gulf.
That the building has sustained a non-standard inclination, it is placed on a concrete facade by depth of 2,1 metres; the design represents architectural system in the form of a steel diagonal lattice, which leaves in the earth on 30 metres to provide stability to winds, gravitational and seismic.
After four years of restoration, the Thousand-Hand Goddess of Mercy statue, which is regarded as the jewel of the Dazu Rock Carvings in Chongqing, will reopen to the public next month.An 800-year-old Buddhist statue will go on public display next month after being restored to its former glory [Credit: Imaginechina]
A team of heritage preservation experts inspected the work on Wednesday and announced that the project was complete.
"This repair work has tackled a series of technical challenges to preserve the cultural relic with modern scientific technologies and new materials to ensure the authenticity and integrity of the statue," said Huang Kezhong, the leader of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage Inspection Team.
The UNESCO-listed Guanyin statue, also known as the 'Goddess of Mercy', was carved some 800 years ago [Credit: Imaginechina]
The team has also suggested the local government should repair the Great Mercy Pavilion, which houses the statue, as soon as possible.
The Dazu Rock Carvings, 60 kilometers west of Chongqing, date to the Song (960-1279) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties and comprise more than 5,000 statues. They were opened to Chinese visitors in 1961 and foreign visitors in 1980. The carvings were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.
Experts gathered in Dazu to see the statue's grand unveiling after a four-year restoration project [Credit: Imaginechina]
"They are remarkable for their aesthetic quality, their rich diversity of subject matter, secular and religious, and the light that they shed on everyday life during this period. They provide outstanding evidence of the harmonious synthesis of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism," the citation said.
The statue of Kwan-yin in Baoding Mountain was carved about 800 years ago during the South Song Dynasty (1127-1276), with 830 hands in an area of 88 square meters in the hillside. It is 7.7 meters tall and 12.5 meters wide, featuring color painting and gold foil. It is the largest of its kind in China.
The Dazu Thousand-hand Bodhisattva was carved during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127 to 1279) [Credit: Imaginechina]
Water seepage and weather damage caused the statue to deteriorate, and a conservation project began in April 2011. It was listed as the top restoration project by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.
The work was led by the China Cultural Heritage Protection Research Institute. Experts from Dunhuang Research Academy, the Academy of Dazu Rock Carving, Peking University, Tsinghua University and China University of Geosciences also participated.
The colour of the golden statue, pictured during restoration, had faded after centuries of deterioration [Credit: Imaginechina]
Three phases
The project went through three phases from inspection, planning and the actual repair work. The team used X-ray and 3-D laser scanning to collect information needed to effect the restoration.
"We found 34 kinds of viruses on the sculpture that have greatly damaged the historical and artistic value of the carving," said Zhan Changfa, the chief scientist of the restoration project.
By 2007, one of the statue's many fingers had partly broken off and it had developed moisture on the surface [Credit: Imaginechina]
They also found that 283 of the statue's 830 hands and arms were damaged. To respect the religious history, the team consulted reference books and pictures to ensure the restoration was accurate.
The major part of the restoration involved attaching a new layer of gold foil to the statue. The original foil was between 83 percent and 92 percent gold. In some parts the statue had six layers of gold foil as a result of restoration work in the past.
The most comprehensive restoration of the 7.7m high and 12.5m wide statue took four years to complete [Credit: Imaginechina]
An ancient technique from the Song Dynasty was applied. The gold foil was first separated from the statue, washed in pure water and alcohol before being reapplied. Once in place, it was painted with three coats of lacquer.
The statue is due to reopen to the public on June 13, which is China's Cultural Heritage Day.
Author: Tan Yingzi | Source: China Daily [May 30, 2015]
Near the border with Botswana in the Shashi-Limpopo region lies Mapela, which is now an excavation site. The ruins of what is believed to have been a flourishing urban community for an astoundingly long period of time were first examined in the early 1960s. As a result of political developments in the country, which at that time was known as Rhodesia, the site was later abandoned and forgotten by the archaeologists.A section of Mapela Hill from the north [Credit: PLoS ONE]
Until June 2013, that is. Then, new excavations started under the leadership of Dr Chirikure from the University of Cape Town. Chirikure and his team discovered a large area with massive stone walls, huge piles of fossilised animal excrement, pottery, spinning wheels and thousands of glass beads that testify to thriving trade with other countries, probably India and China. Carbon dating indicates that Mapela was as a flourishing community that existed continuously from the early 8th century until well into the 18th.
'Mapela lies virtually untouched in a rather inaccessible area, and is unique in several respects,' says Per Ditlef Fredriksen, associate professor of archaeology at the University of Oslo. Since June 2014 he has been Dr Chirikure's collaboration partner and head of the research project that will dig deeper into the ecological history of Mapela to find out more about how people and the environment mutually affected each other in the Shashi-Limpopo region.
Mapela is unique, but also one of many
Ecological history studies the complex interplay between people and the environment through the centuries.
The excavation of Mapela is a collaborative project between the universities of Cape Town and Oslo, with funding from the research councils in both countries [Credit: Per Ditlef Fredriksen]
'In other words, the question is not only how people have adapted to climate change; it's also a fact that urban societies generate climate change,' Fredriksen points out.
The forgotten stonewalled site at Mapela Hill will be used as a case study in the project, but this is only one of a number of urban, historical communities that have been discovered in the Shashi-Limpopo region. The more famous ruined cities of Khami and Great Zimbabwe, both on UNESCO's World Heritage List, are also located in this part of Southern Africa.
'We are undertaking excavations in several locations in the area to obtain a better understanding of the development of all these world heritage sites, since the relationship between them remains unclarified.'
More concerned with the common folk
Until now, researchers have been mostly concerned with the elite and the elite culture that has been uncovered in places such as Great Zimbabwe and other well-known historical sites in the region. The common folk, on the other hand, were not deemed to be of equal interest ‒ until now.
A K2 sherd surface collected from the lower summit of Mapela hilltop [Credit: PLoS ONE]
'We wish to learn more about the relationship between the common population and the elite. Part of Mapela's uniqueness is that this site shows traces of all the three elite cultures in the area. The material culture testifies to this fact,' Fredriksen explains.
'Especially the jewellery, but even the fantastically constructed stone walls are extremely rich in symbols. Our findings in Mapela include traces of the stone walls of Khami.'
Using climate data from the start
'Climate and the environment have previously been topics raised in the debate over the urbanisation of Southern Africa. However, this new interdisciplinary project proceeds several steps further in the direction of natural science,' Fredriksen says.
The location of Mapela in relation to other important sites in the region around present-day Zimbabwe [Credit: PLoS ONE]
'We include climate data at an early stage when establishing research questions. Our objective is to obtain a deeper insight into the associations between climate, environment and socioeconomic and political strategies.'
Today, Mapela is located in an underdeveloped and marginal agricultural area, and researchers have assumed that this was an arid region earlier as well, and that Mapela was a regional centre of little importance. New findings, however, indicate the opposite.
A society against all odds
Mapela must have been larger than the known locality of Mapungubwe, where the elite is thought to have lived. Perhaps even the climate was quite different in earlier times.
Khami (shown here) is already on the World Heritage List. There is a lot to support the inclusion of Mapela, too [Credit: UNESCO]
'Was Mapela a community that existed against all odds?'
'That is an extremely interesting question. After all, Mapela continued to exist for centuries, while other communities, such as Mapungubwe, perished. Why? This is one of the questions we will attempt to answer.'
'Could this project provide new knowledge about the ways in which societies have adapted to climate change?'
'It's very complex, but hopefully we will be able to contribute to this,' says Fredriksen. He refers to the achievements of the University of Cape Town in the field of climate research.
'We are in this project to learn from the South Africans, and we have a lot to learn from them,' he concludes.
For more information see: Zimbabwe Culture before Mapungubwe: New Evidence from Mapela Hill, South-Western Zimbabwe. PLoS ONE (2014)
Author: Mari Kildahl | Source: University of Oslo [May 30, 2015]
Former Supermodel Heidi Klum Goes Nude for 'Project Runway' Season 9
Heidi Klumreally knows how to give the people what they want. In a bid to attract viewers and make a splash,Project RunwayhostHeidi Klumis baring all.
The former supermodel Heidi Klum’s nude promotional ad to promote season nine ofProject Runwayis certainly turning a few heads. Hey, sometimes you have to strip off and bare all to get people to pay attention. That’s the point of the new racy ad —Project Runwayis returning with an edge.
"This is definitely sexier than past campaigns we've done forProject Runway," says Klum. "I guest you could say 'Hans and Franz' are celebrating season nine!"
Some of you may have seen the news stories about the tragic bushfires in Australia. I think there is a natural instinct in all of us to want to do something when there are people in this much need. But, being so far away from there what could i really do? Then Friday morning while i was blogging around before the kids got up i found this project, the Bushfire Quilt Project. Generously put together by this wonderful lady at Camp Follower Bags and Quilts Blog.
She had the idea to have a international quilting bee to make quilts for some of those people that are in need. A hug, if you will, of love and support from people all around the world.
A tutorial was put out on how to make these "wonky stars". When i saw this i knew this could be my way of helping. Quilting is not much but it is something that i can do. This project was also nice for me because it was something i had not tried before and it stopped at piecing.
I did not have to make a full top or quilt anything, so there is no unfinished project hanging over my head. It was all the satisfaction and none of the guilt. It is really nice to be part of something bigger that me.
This one is my very favorite. I had these pieced and finished all in one day. And despite my usual aversion to the post office i had them ready to go out Saturday. This was foiled by the post office closing early, sunday and a holiday....but i will get them there tomorrow, i swear!
Building of this project has already begun: Dutch bureau MVRDV will begin building in the centre of Rotterdam. This object will combine two functions — an apartment house (228 apartments) and the market area.
Supermarket in Rotterdam
On the market area 100 trading places, shops and restaurants will take places. In a building is also an underground part — a parking on 1200 places and a supermarket.
In each apartment there will be own balcony, and also a window which leaves on the market area. The project is planned to construct by 2014th year. The general investments into the project makes 175 million euro. The building total area will make 100,000 sq. m.
Apartment house Rotterdam
The project is symbolical enough, but is conceived as new city typology; this steady combination of products and meal, leisure, habitation and a parking.
This cloud not idle time, it power: the command of leading architects and engineers has shown to the world the concept of unique structure which becomes a symbol of Olympic games of 2012 year.
Inflatable cloud
The easy transparent tower comes to an end with a cloud consisting of inflatable spheres at top. This design will help to create amusing 3D-show with the sky of London.
Carlo Ratti, the representative of one of leaders of the project (MIT SENSEable Cities Laboratory), has described the Cloud as “the new form of collective expression and experience, a symbol of a new epoch: it is a sign, rather than than simply material”.
Artist Tomas Saraceno, designer Alex Haw, expert Joerg Schleich also have entered into a command, engineering group Arup, landscape architect Agence Ter, and also company Google, writer Umberto Eco and professor Antoni Muntadas.
The size of a cloud depends on the finance which will be collected on the project. Every possible resources will be involved in gathering on cloud building, including Facebook and Twitter; Google will provide the project with contextual advertising and promo-campaign on YouTube.
“Obama has shown us a good example — it is necessary to include all possibilities of global community in an advertising campaign”, — makes comments Margo Miller. The project budget is mobile, as well as structure — the Cloud can be constructed both on $5 million, and on $50 million; how many will collect money, on so much and will construct.
The cloud will eat energy of the sun and people, will convert and make the new. The in itself structure of a cloud is innovative; authors consider as achievement a transparency, minimum use of materials at which use the volume considerable quantity will be made.
On a cloud the plasma monitors showing the actual information on event are placed; they will be visible from any area of a city. Screens — especial interest for Google. It corresponds to company mission — to organise the world information.
I have begun yet another project! I was trying to hold off on this one because there are so many others to finish, but i could not wait anymore. At thanksgiving my sister brought me a jelly roll of fabric. I think i squealed and bounced i was so excited to have it. It was a wonderful gift of very beautiful fabrics. Although, once i began making the blocks for the specific pattern i had in mind i was afraid this was going to be one of the hardest quilts i have ever made....not because it is complicated but because there are so many varied colors.
I would start a block and be sure i was going to hate it but once it all came together i started to love it...this went on block after block. I even called my sister and told her this one was going to be hard....it was going to stretch me as a "quilter" more than any other project ever had. Mostly because i really love the fabric to all match and go, and it did not seem to me that that was happening. As i was nearing the end of these blocks Avery came in and wanted to know what i was working on and what it was for. I showed her the finished stack of blocks....she flipped through them and then asked to take them down to sort through them. I did not see any harm in it. Both of the kids like to play with my fabric.
Before very long, the initial piles she had made of the ones she liked and the ones she still had to think about, began to be spread around. After a little she asked me if she could arrange them for me. I balked a little at first because i like the creative control over my quilts but then i caved and let her do what she wanted. I stood back and watched her ponder over it and move squares around just like i do. i could not get the smile off my face, it was wonderful to watch her so confidently go through the creative process. I find this part of the quilt difficult especially in this case because the colors were so varied, but she took it on like a pro and had finished it so fast! Way faster than i ever would have been able to.
In the end it turns out that i love it....i think she did a great job. i really could not have done it any better. Of course i could not change it now if i wanted, i think it should be just as she made it. The huge changes in color, i think, really grow on you and look good together. I am proud of her and more than that she was so proud of herself....several times she stood back, admiring her work and said to me, "i feel really proud of myself mom.". That wins me over more than any project ever could. Her confidence is boosted, I got help for a hard project, and she is excited and willing to help me finish it up. This might be a quilt and fabric monster in the making. :o)
Ankara Univetsity will recreate a 2,000-year-old Roman harbour in one of the oldest coastal towns in the Aegean region, İzmir’s Urla district, in its original place. The harbour will have boats, catapults, depots and the same equipment used in the Roman era, which will be constructed to resemble their original appearance. When the harbour construction is completed, visitors will be able to take the Roman-era style boats on a tour of the area.
According to a statement made by the university, the project, which is the first of its kind, will be realized in collaboration with the Culture and Tourism Ministry.
Speaking about the project, Ankara University Underwater Archaeology Research and Application Center (ANKÜSAM) founder and Liman Tepe excavations head Professor Hayat Erkanal said, “This project is the first in the world. We will start working to prepare boats and weapons first. The detailed construction will start in a year.”
Erkanal said catapults of the Roman era would also be in the harbour, adding, “There were buildings in the harbour for loading and registration, we will build these buildings. We have found out that there was a small church in the harbour in the late period. But we will build a harbour from the early Roman era. It will be established on land allocated by the Urla Municipality. We will build at least two boats from the early Roman era. The area will be open to tourist visits when the work is finished. We will try to keep this area a living place. Visitors will be able to tour in the Aegean sea on Roman boats.”
Ankara University Rector Professor Erkan İbiş said the project was important for Turkish tourism. He said they will revive every aspect of the Roman harbour.
“We will build the very same Roman harbour here. Tools, boats, loading vehicles are being created just like their original,” he said.
Editor's Note:
The Turkish name "Urla" is derived from the Greek "Vourla" meaning marshlands and the town was cited as such in western sources until the 20th century. Urla is where the ancient city of Klazomenai is located.
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.
A 2,000-year-old ethos erodes bit by bit as the government’s neglect has left the ancient Indo-Scythian settlement in Haripur open to unwarranted digging.Govt shelved excavation project in 1997, thieves shovel ruins day and night in search of ancient valuables, artefacts [Credit: Nabeel Khan]
The city is situated about half a kilometre north east of the district, on the banks of River Daur near Sera-e-Saleh. Once housed by the last of the Central Asian kings Azes I and II in Gandhara, the city today is a graveyard of yesteryear.
At a height of about 1,000 feet above the river, the settlement overlooks the entire Haripur landscape, whispering anecdotes of the past. Indo-Scythians were essentially Central Asian tribespeople who migrated to South Asia in 2 BC. They were called ‘Shaka’ in the vernacular, a morphed version of their Persian name Saka. They have been repeatedly mentioned in classical Hindu texts as a warrior nation. Their foothold in the region remained firm for several centuries.
Unearthed by accident
Legend has it the ancient city, proverbially called the ‘Castle of three sisters’ – Katiyan, Matiyan and Satiyan, was first discovered in 1993 when locals shovelled the area to cement the grave of Pir Mankay, a saint who used to meditate there. In no time the gravediggers’ spades hit the treasure buried for centuries beneath. A sizeable quantity of silver coins were thus stolen and sold to jewellers in Rawalpindi.
A Scythian horseman from the general area of the Ili river, Pazyryk, c 300 BC [Credit: WikiCommons]
Police subsequently arrested the thieves and recovered the ancient artefacts which were handed over to Peshawar Museum authorities. Thus the existence of this fascinating settlement on Pir Mankey de Dheri (Mound of Pir Mankay) came to be known.
Opening up the black box
Archaeologists were quick to react and soon a full-scale excavation project was launched by the University of Peshawar archaeology department. The initiative was headed by archaeologists and historians Professor FA Durrani, Dr Shafiqur Rehman Dar and Shah Nazar. By 1997, the entire site was brushed up. Spacious houses, a medium-sized fortress, a large temple complex with a smaller place of worship inside, were unearthed. All artefacts, including vessels and tools, were sent to the provincial capital’s museum. The excavators probably lost interest as the project was soon shelved, paving way for illegal digging for valuables, Muhammad Aslam, a resident of Mankrai village, told The Express Tribune.
Another villager Waheed Khan said wild vegetation has enfeebled the structure, but illegal digging has further harmed the site, one shovel-ful at a time.
Silver tetradrachm of the Indo-Scythian king Maues (85–60 BC) [Credit: Express Tribune]
Who’s to blame?
Social activist Qamar Hayat said following the 18th Amendment, the control of heritage sites has been handed over to provincial authorities whose responsibility is to safeguard them. “Haripur houses most of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s major archaeological sites. A museum should be constructed here, as it was earlier approved in 2008,” he said, adding all unearthed artefacts should be brought back to the district.
When approached for a comment, Peshawar archaeology department official Maseeullah expressed his ignorance over the discovery.
Hazara University assistant professor Dr Shakirullah Khan stressed on the need to preserve the Indo-Scythian city and develop Haripur’s tourism industry.
Answering a question, Shakirullah said the then HU vice chancellor Dr Ehsan had approved the construction of a museum near Fort Harkishan Garh and the late tehsil nazim Iftikhar Ahmed Khan had also allocated land for the purpose. “Following the latter’s assassination and the former’s transfer to Mardan University, the project was put on the backburner,” he said.
Author: Muhammad Sadaqat | Source: The Express Tribune [June 02, 2015]
Whether it is possible to hide simultaneously the house in a slope of the Swiss Alpes, to open before inhabitants a tremendous kind on surrounding city and the nature, and to make this dwelling accessible to light?
Small house in the Swiss Alpes
The input in a building is combined with a small court yard. Rather big facade of the house, with a more potential for spacious windows is inside hidden. The corner of the review from the house is slightly under a corner.
Local authorities do not welcome modern decisions in architecture. But this design has been apprehended positively, as an example of the pragmatic unostentatious project in very sensitive district.
The given concept have apprehended as little bit absurd, but to interfere with building did not become.
By local residents it's approved!
It is interesting, that in Switzerland the statement of the building project is carried out after on a site the wooden model of a building is erected. Then inhabitants of the given district, representatives of local community either approve the project, or reject the project, proving it that the architectural design is not entered in a district general plan.
In the modern world you are surprised — as architects of the past could build approximately in one style, according to the general mood of an epoch, and consider it as art?
The original architectural project
In Competition on Originality there was a new applicant. Peking bureau MAD has offered the skyscraper project on which each floor gardens will blossom. The basic feature of a design — not at height, and on horizontal saturation. The tower represents a heap of the floors, one on another where each layer will shift aside, thus creating open space for a patio and gardens. A 385-metre tower name Urban Forest.
Art Architecture in China
By the end of 2009 year architects plan to finish work on the design concept. The tower becomes the third studio in a portfolio. The studio offers new directions for development of city architecture in China. Namely actualization of ecologically steady multiplane structures which would return the nature in cities. The city of Chongking became the fourth on size a city of China in 1997.
A revival of pre-Inca water technology in the mountains of the Andes is set to keep taps flowing in the drought-affected Peruvian capital, Lima. Grouting ancient canals, it turns out, is a far cheaper solution to the city's water crisis than building a new desalination plant.Remnants of a Wari-made canal [Credit: Condesan]
Lima is one of the world's largest desert cities and relies for water on rivers that flow out of the Andes. But those rivers diminish to a trickle during a long dry season, leaving the population of almost 9 million with intermittent water supplies.
Now the city's water utility company, Sedapal, has decided to invest in conservation projects in the Andes to keep the rivers flowing and taps running. And researchers have discovered that the most cost-effective way is to revive a system of ancient stone canals, known locally as amunas, that were built in the Andes by the Wari culture between AD 500 and 1000, centuries before the rise of the Incas.
Forgotten paths
The canals captured water from rivers in the mountains during the rainy season and took it to places where it could infiltrate rocks that fed year-round springs further down the mountains, so maintaining river flow during the dry season.
The amunas fell into disrepair long ago and had been largely forgotten. In most places, their water now quickly returns to the rivers. But hydrologists such as Bert De Bièvre of Condesan, a Lima-based non-governmental organisation behind the project, say re-grouting the lined stretches of the canals with cement would allow them to resume their original purpose.
Paying for water delivered by truck is part of the daily routine for many inhabitants in Peru [Credit: Matt McGrath/BBC]
"The idea is to build a timelag into the hydrological system, delaying water run-off for weeks or even months until it benefits water supply in the dry season," De Bièvre says.
SEDEPAL has now decided to fund the plan by taking 1 per cent from its water charges for the next five years. The costs are estimated to be $23 million.
Holding back the flood
Lima has water shortages for seven months of the year but during the other five months, the Rimac, Chillon and Lurin rivers, which pass through Lima on their way to the Pacific Ocean, regularly cause floods and landslips. Keeping floodwaters back for the dry season makes obvious sense.
Research into the hydrology of individual canals is still in progress. "We have been injecting ink into the canal water to see where it resurfaces," says De Bièvre. But he is confident that the project could revive 50 amunas, mostly in the Chillon catchment.
According to a study by De Bièvre and Gena Gammie, a water specialist at Forest Trends, an NGO based in Washington DC that is backing the project, that should be enough to increase water supplies to Lima by 26 million cubic metres, and reduce the city's current water deficit in the dry season by as much as 60 per cent.
According to the study, other green investment initiatives that could keep water on the mountainsides for longer include reviving forests, wetlands and ancient agricultural terraces, and restricting livestock grazing on upland pastures. But the study found that reviving amunas would be by far the cheapest option, costing less than a hundredth as much as water from the city's new desalination plant.
Author: Fred Pearce | Source: New Scientist [April 20, 2015]
In cooperation with Fraunhofer IAO from Stuttgart, architects from bureau LAVA have created design of a room of hotel of the future which became a part of the research project.
In a room the special illumination co-operating with biorhythms of the person, and a window with the projected image is equipped. Architects describe a room as the demonstration project which investigates interaction between architecture, technology and a human body.
Future Hotel enters into project IAO Inhaus2, which main accent — to correspond to expectations and requirements of visitors, by means of use of technologies of tomorrow. Mixing borders between technologies and an interior, in design of a room last innovations in the field of media both visual communications, and the prototypes of products created by known manufacturers are shown.
Technologies function on a background, imperceptibly, giving possibility personally to supervise media, light, a climate. In a room there is a bed with active comfort, an intellectual mirror, the huge display-window, light adapting for biorhythms of the person.
The soft transitions, the accented individual corners create special atmosphere in a room, the external form of "capsule" becomes the interface showing interaction of the person and technologies, soft and firm materials, balance between functionality.
Applying methods of parametrical design and semi-automatic technologies, architects from LAVA have created realistic design the concept of the house of the future.
Last month, terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS) released a video showing militants smashing artefacts in the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud and then blowing up the site. This is the latest in a string of attacks on Iraq’scultural heritage. In February, the group took sledgehammers and pneumatic drills to statues in Mosul Museum.A digital reconstruction in the works of the Lion of Mosul [Credit: Copyright: Project Mosul]
Archaeologist Matthew Vincent has started a technology initiative to counter ISIS’s destruction — and he says his approach could work in other fragile and war torn states too.
Vincent and his colleagues at the Initial Training Network for Digital Cultural Heritage, a programme focusing on the electronic documentation and protection of cultural heritage, have set out to create digital replicas of Mosul Museum’s relics through Project Mosul.
The project’s volunteers primarily use a technique called automatic photogrammetry. This relies on photographs of the destroyed objects, crowdsourced from people who have visited the museum. The team input a series of photos of each object taken from different angles into software that triangulates key points on the object’s surface to create a digital 3-D model. About a dozen pictures are needed to do this.
Vincent and his team have already digitally reconstructed a selection of the lost artefacts — including the ornate gate below.
Metal Riveted Gate by AD&D 4D on Sketchfab “This technique can in no way replace what was destroyed by the Islamic State, but it can help preserve the memory of that heritage,” says Vincent.
Vincent’s current focus is setting up an online museum, but he has also considered 3-D printing. This would enable the production of detailed replicas of the artefacts. The team would need more information to do this, such as data on the original measurements and materials, which is not always available.
Both the digital reconstruction of the artefacts and the prospect of 3-D printing are complicated by ownership issues. There is no clear legislation about who holds the ‘copyright’ to ancient cultural heritage, so deciding who owns it can be difficult.
Vincent says there are two general strands of thought about who owns the rights to ancient artefacts. One says that local authorities should be the custodians, the other sees the objects as having universal ownership.
“I feel the correct way to resolve these situations is to always work with the local authorities,” Vincent says. But he adds that there seems to be a sentiment coming from those in Iraq that Iraqi heritage should be accessible to the world. “As such, there seems to be a positive attitude towards this effort.”
Vincent now hopes to extend the endeavour to digitally restore objects destroyed not just at Mosul, but also at Nimrud and the UNESCO world heritage site of Hatra, an ancient fortified city in northern Iraq.
“We are working on expanding our tools to handle other sites,” Vincent says. “Really any site around the world that has been destroyed in conflict would be ideal for this platform.”
He adds that the preliminary work on the ‘digital museum’ of replicas from the Mosul Museum should be freely available to the public soon.
Bureau Foster + Partners, the well-known British architect, will take part in the program on studying of prospects of building of buildings on the Moon. Details of the project do not disclose, but, according to edition Building Magazine, bureau Foster + Partners will be engaged in studying of the materials existing on the Moon and Mars and potentially suitable for building.
The project will be a part of the big program "Aurora" of the European Space Agency. The representative of a bureau has informed, that a certain tender is provided, but on details to make comments has refused.
Spaceport for Virgin Galactic
The Guardian reminds, that Foster + Partners is engaged in designing of the first-ever private spaceport by request of company Virgin Galactic. Spaceport should open in 2011 in desert in the State of New Mexico.
The well-known architectural bureau
Norman Foster — the winner of every possible architectural awards, architectural bureau Foster + Partners was engaged in the project such known constructions, as: a covered court yard of the British museum, reconstruction Reichstag in Berlin, Hurst's tower in New York, the London skyscraper.
As we had previously mentioned, Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed, Kingdom Of Sorrow) has a solo album coming out on July 26 via EONE Music and just by hearing this new track he recorded with the almighty Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society), we're pretty sure that this album will be another hit for the hardest working man in Heavy Music. The birth of "Jasta" is a result of Jamey having so much music to share, that he decided to produce another project. Some may ask why the hell is he starting another project? Well, Jasta felt that with so many songs that he has created throughout the years that didn't make it into either Hatebreed or Kingdom of Sorrow, that it would dope for the fans to get some new material this summer. Jasta's new project will be released this summer via EONE Music and it will feature a bunch of special guests. A diverse variety of guest appearances can be found on this record. Tim Lambesis (AS I LAY DYING), pro skater Mike Vallely, Philip Labonte (ALL THAT REMAINS), Randy Blythe and Mark Morton (LAMB OF GOD) and guitar god ZAKK WYLDE just to name a few. Without further due here is "The Fearless Must Endure", featuring Jamey Jasta and Zakk Wylde:
Here is an interview we did with Jamey Jasta at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards, in which we discuss his new solo album:
Related links: Jasta Official Hatebreed Official Kingdom Of Sorrow Official Black Label Society EONE Music
The company «Samoo Architects» together with Grimshaw Architects have presented to the world the project on area Sochhon arrangement in South Korea. A part of forthcoming changes — building of National ecological institute by the area more than 33,000 sq.m.
The interconnected domes
The project includes erection of the interconnected domes representing triangular hothouses from a tree and plexiglas.
«The national ecological institute is a building of the future, solving problems of the present. Universal researches of a climate, safety and harmonious existence of the person and the nature Here will converge. Besides, this establishment will promote education of the population in the field of a modern condition of world resources and ecological systems. To carry out it it is planned by carrying out of scale exhibitions and lecture halls» — the press-secretary «Samoo Architects» has told.
Buildings of the future
The structure of a building, especially, at a sight from above, expresses the relation of architects to interaction of the person and the nature. Light, smooth lines, the harmonious structure reminding inflow of the river, the thought over landscape design — all it gives to the project the present and corresponds the last to tendencies in building of buildings of a similar orientation.
The developer of the project is international exhibition company 
