Mohammed Bin Rashid Gardens: Dubai (I)

The City: Scaled around walk-able distances that provide easy access to food, healthcare and education, this enlightened model of urban planning will help reverse the Gulf’s existing commuter culture that has eroded both communities and the environment.Celebrating the intricate geometry of Arabian art and science its 56 million square feet of verdant parks and gardens divide an 880 million square foot city into a network of sustainable neighbourhoods, each containing the molecule of daily life. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Gardens represent the most innovative approach to urban form to be found anywhere in the Middle East.

The Form: The Mohammed Bin Rashid Gardens offer a culturally resonant alternative to the sterile Western-style street grids that currently dominate the Middle East. It maps the movements of celestial bodies through the vastness of space, etching them onto a brass plate that can be held in the palm of the hand. Dubai is likewise a product of great imagination: A royal vision for a modern city that has risen from an ancient land. To base a new city plan upon an object embodying 2000 years of human invention is to build upon the bedrock of civilisation itself.They replace those rigid, rectilinear lines with the sweeping arcs and circles of the planispheric astrolabe; an instrument perfected by Islamic scholars, craftsmen and astronomers. Fusing the spheres of art and astronomy into an intricate object of enduring beauty, the astrolabe represents one of the greatest leaps of human imagination.

The Gardens: A literal translation of the astrolabe’s ornate brass rete, the city’s parks and gardens form a lush green net that catches all the cultural and residential districts within its spreading strands. The lungs of the city, these linear public parks act as carbon sinks that purify the surrounding air while providing shaded ‘green corridors’ that support sustainable modes of transport. Drawing upon the rich heritage of Islamic landscape design the Mohammed Bin Rashid Gardens will be a city of canals and fountains, pools and lakes. Their cooling surfaces shall temper the heat of the day, while the sound of trickling water will help create oases of calm amidst the busy metropolis. With garlands of golf courses, bridleways, cycle paths and promenades, the citizens will have ample opportunity to enjoy a healthy active lifestyle.

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The Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium, China

The Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium is seen in Beijing, Sunday, July 6, 2008. Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium will host badminton and rhythmic gymnastics competitions for the Beijing Olympic Games, which open Aug 8. (AP Photo/Beijing Tourism Administration, HO). Post-Games function: The Gym will provide spaces for activities of students and faculty, whilst facilitating the training of the badminton teams affiliated with the International Badminton Federation and the General Administration of Sports. The gymnasium will occassionally be open to the public.bus architecture

Located on the site of the University of Technology, in the Chaoyang District in Beijing, China, the venue is the only one being used for the 2008 Olympics to be situated in the south east of the city.

Olympic officials are keen to point out that the venue boasts the ‘largest pre-stressed suspension dome ceiling in the world’ with the impressive roof spanning 93 metres in diameter.

A main competition hall and a warm-up hall occupy the 24,383 square metres of the gymnasium, with a seating capacity of 7,500 fans who will come to watch the rhythmic gymnastics and badminton competitors fighting it out for Olympic glory.

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Resedential Tower: Infinity Tower in Dubai

amazing building. Designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill, the international award-winning architectural firm, the building is a masterpiece of contemporary design and style. The architects have used open-space architectural concepts to ensure that there are no pillars anywhere in the building, creating a true sense of space and light.

At 330 metres in height, Infinity is the highest twisting tower in the world. But remarkable though this unique achievement is, it’s just one of the features that makes Infinity so extraordinary.

This extraordinary design will make Infinity a classic of 21st century architecture, a tribute to the power of design and the role it can play in our lives.

When the team began their task, they were inspired both by the unique setting of Dubai Marina and the dynamic simplicity to be found in the organic curves of nature.

Height : 330 metres (1,083 ft)

Floors : 80

Architect : Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

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