Displaying items by tag: buildings

Once home to kings and now one of France's most visited sites, the Chateau de Versailles is planning a new venture with a luxury hotel to prop up its finances, local media said on Sunday.

The palace's management has called for a tender to create a hotel in three 1680s buildings situated just outside the Versailles park's gates, with views of some of its most famous buildings, the Journal du Dimanche said.

Although most buildings in the Near East from late antiquity and the early Islamic period (between around 500 and 1000) do not survive fully intact, the fragments that do remain help shed light on the ingenious ways that artisans transformed architectural surfaces to create sumptuous interiors and monumental façades. Three aesthetic principles that were especially important to the design of architectural ornament in the Byzantine, Sasanian, and early Islamic traditions are highlighted in the exhibition Pattern, Color, Light: Architectural Ornament in the Near East (500–1000), opening July 20 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Many believe New York’s pioneering Landmarks Law, enacted in April 1965, was the key factor in the rebirth of New York in the final quarter of the 20th century (continue reading about New York's Landmarks Law on InCollect.com). It fostered pride in neighborhoods and resulted in neighborhood preservation in every borough, connecting and motivating residents and bringing new economic life to older communities. It ensured that huge swaths of the city remain a rich complex of new and old. It also ensured the creative re-use of countless buildings. At the same time, a new body of important architecture has emerged as architects, clients, and the Landmarks Preservation Commission devised innovative solutions for the renovation of landmark buildings and for new buildings in historic districts. The law spawned creativity in architects’ responses to building preservation that has enhanced the cityscape in all five boroughs.

Damien Hirst has unveiled his new series of paintings in Brazil, following his universally panned exhibitions at the Wallace Collection, where he showed a group of Francis Bacon inspired skull paintings and his 2012  exhibition of "Parrot Pictures" at White Cube Bermondsey. For his latest painting exhibition, Hirst has created what he describes as "portraits of living cities," the "Black Scalpel Cityscapes" are made up of vast numbers of surgical instruments that combine to create bird’s-eye views of urbanized areas from around the world. With the series, Hirst investigates subjects pertaining to the sometimes-disquieting realities of modern life – surveillance, urbanisation, globalisation and the virtual nature of conflict – as well as elements relating to the universal human condition, such as our inability to arrest physical decay.

In the paintings, manmade features and natural elements such as buildings, rivers and roads are depicted in scalpels as well as razor blades, hooks, iron filings and safety-pins, all set against black backgrounds.

The inscription of several Le Corbusier buildings on the Unesco’s World Heritage List is once again under discussion. According to Le Figaro, the president of the Association of Le Corbusier Sites, Marc Petit—who is also the mayor of Firmini, a small town in France’s Loire region featuring several of the architect’s buildings—is undeterred by the two previously unsuccessful attempts.

“We’ve redone our application taking into account the experts’ recommendations, particularly regarding the reduction of the number of sites,” he said, “although the proposal includes a new country, India.”

Frank Gehry, the American architect known for his expressive, sculptural buildings, has revised the design for a memorial honoring President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Gehry’s original concept for the memorial, which will be located near the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was rejected by the National Capital Planning Commission back in April.

Representatives for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission presented the design to the Planning Commission on September 4, and were met with largely positive responses.

A visionary architect, Louis Kahn (1901-1974) designed dramatic buildings that drew inspiration from historical references and Ancient ruins as well as more modern forms. “Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture,” which is currently on view at the Design Museum in London, explores Kahn’s influential work and legacy through architectural models, original drawings, travel sketches, photographs, and films.

Based in Philadelphia, Kahn is responsible for designing some of the world's most profound pieces of modern architecture, including the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, and the National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh. His style was monolithic and his buildings, which often play with light and shadow, show off their weight, materials, and the way they were assembled.