A bricklayer in the Czech Republic's picturesque South Moravian wine-making region is drawing legions of tourists curious to see the elaborate cork-decorated facade of his house.

"It has taken 180,000 wine corks in total -- halved, quartered," Miroslav Svoboda from Mutenice, a small town about 230 kilometres (145 miles) southeast of the Czech capital Prague, told AFP.

At first glance the house tucked among similar buildings on a hillside above the town seems as inconspicuous as the rest, but a closer look reveals the skilfully-made triangular and circular cork and pebble ornaments that adorn three sides of the house.

"On the fourth side in the yard, I've been working on a cork heart for three years now," said the 53-year-old Svoboda.

"The heart's for me," confided his rather timid girlfriend Ludmila, standing above a neat flowerbed by the decorated side of the house which was once covered in ivy.

Svoboda, a passionate drinker of red wine, got the corks from a local vintner -- "a sponsor who wants to remain unknown" -- to give himself a unique present for his 50th birthday after two years of busy work.

He is proud to have relied solely on his imagination to create the ornaments laid in tile glue, and he claims he was the only one to have done the work.

But Ludmila divulged "we cut the corks with vineyard scissors together."

The house has become a tourist attraction for visitors from the region as well as abroad who sign their names in an improvised guest book, which "includes one environment minister," Svoboda said.

"The first reaction was incredulous, uncomprehending. Now it's back to normal," added the bricklayer, before pausing for a few seconds to try to recall his motivation for the painstaking work.

"I haven't figured that out yet," he chortled.

Kubuswoningen, or cube houses, are a set of innovative houses built in Rotterdam and Helmond in The Netherlands, Incredible designed by architect Piet Blom in 1984. The houses in Rotterdam are located on Overblaak Street, and beside the Blaak Subway Station. Blom tilted the cube of a conventional house 45 degrees, and rested it upon a hexagon-shaped pylon. There are 38 small cubes and two so called 'super-cubes', all attached to each other.

As residents are disturbed so often by curious passers-by, one owner decided to open a "show cube", which is furnished as a normal house, and is making a living out of offering tours to visitors.

The houses contain three floors:

* ground floor entrance
* first floor with living room and open kitchen
* second floor with two bedrooms and bathroom
* top floor which is sometimes used as a small garden

The walls and windows are angled at 54.7 degrees. The total area of the apartment is around 100 square meters, but around a quarter of the space is unusable because of the walls that are under the angled ceilings.





















Source : Galinsky

A five-star-toilet, which is located in Bishan County in Chongqing Municipal City, opened to the public and attracted many near-by residents and passers-by to pay a visit.

The toilet is not only equipped with a stereo system, inductive water flushing equipment and green dish gardens, but also has a central air conditioner that runs 24 hours.

Since it opened, many residents have praised it, but there are also some who question whether it is necessary for a public toilet to be so luxurious.

This Melting Building mural, a trompe-l’oeil, is located in Georges V Ave. in Paris, France. Trompe-l’oeil is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist, instead of being just two-dimensional paintings. The name is derived from French for “trick the eye”, from tromper - to deceive and l’oeil - the eye.

Richard Murphy helped me remember of a mural I had intention writing more about. It is the same principle all those pavement artists like Eduardor Relero and Julian Beever are governed by. It is derived from French for “trick the eye“, from tromper (to deceive) and l’oeil (the eye). These surely prove that the site wasn’t photoshoped, like some of you thought. Yes, this is add-on to the original melting spot illusion. Richard added:

“This building is on King George V in Paris, we found it by accident on way to Champs from tower and not seen it or heard of it before, hope you can use, its an amazing site to see.”

I would also like to apologize because of the short down-time. We had some server problems, so the site was unavailable for few minutes. All is proper again. Enjoy!















Source : Mighty Optical Illusions

The Rubber House by Zeinstra van Gelderen architecten have designed this one-man pavilion made entirely of rubber.

The Rubber Pavilion is entered though a slit and has a bench in one wall and a window frame, which cannot be seen through, in another.

The house is an amber-coloured rectangular monolith (outside dimensions 1,5x 1,5 x 2,3 m) in which an egg shaped interior seems to be carved out. One wall offers a small bench and another a window-frame with no view. The entrance is nothing more than a vertical cut in a third wall. The whole house, including bench and window-frame, is made out of poured in place urethane resin.

Rubber House by Zeinstra van Gelderen architecten

Source : Dezeen

The Kingdom of Bhutan is sometimes overlooked, locked between Tibet and India, but the Land of the Dragon as the Bhutanese call it is home to some of the most exquisite Buddhist monasteries in the word. Here, we take a fleeting visit to some of the over forty monasteries in Bhutan – quite a number considering the population of the entire country is only around 700,000.

1:- Taktsang Dzong
2:- Punakha Dzong
3:- Tango Monastery
4:- Tongsa – The Door to Heaven
5:- Cheri Monastery
6:- Rinpung Dzong, Paro
7:- Lhuentse Dzong

Source :- Kuriositas Via The Presurfer

Khan Shatyry Entertainment Center ("Royal Marquee") is a giant transparent tent in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan. The architectural project was unveiled by the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on 9 December 2006.

The 150m-high (500 ft) tent has a 200m elliptical base covering 140,000 square meters. Underneath the tent, an area larger than 10 football stadiums, will be an urban-scale internal park, shopping and entertainment venue with squares and cobbled streets, a boating river, shopping centre, minigolf and indoor beach resort. The roof is constructed from ETFE suspended on a network of cables strung from a central spire. The transparent material allows sunlight through which, in conjunction with air heating and cooling systems is designed to maintain an internal temperature between 15-30°C in the main space and 19-24°C in the retail units, while outside the temperature varies between -35 to +35°C across the year.

After the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation (2006), a giant glass pyramid in Astana, this is the second national project designed by UK architect Norman Foster (of Foster and Partners), (Partners in Charge Filo Russo and Peter Ridley), and UK engineers Buro Happold led by Mike Cook[2] Construction documentation architects are Linea and Gultekin The construction of the tent-city is the responsibility of the Turkish company Sembol.

After long delays, the main mast was erected in December 2008, and was opened July 5, 2010, on the occasion of Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev's 70th birthday. Andrea Bocelli gave a concert for the occasion

Source :- Khan Shatyry Entertainment Center

Sleeping surrounded by rubbish would not be most people's idea of a great selling point for a hotel in the middle of one of the world's most beautiful cities.

But that is exactly what currently stands in the centre of Rome - and it can already boast a major celebrity endorsement after model Helena Christensen was the first guest to stay there.

Constructed entirely from debris found on beaches in Europe, the Save the Beach hotel makes a startling sight in the streets more famous for the Colosseum and the Pantheon.

It was built from a huge range of material including plastic bags, fishing nets, skateboards, unwanted clothes. There is even a rocking horse and a mannequin's leg somewhere.

Five reception rooms are lined with 12 tonnes of rubbish.

German artist Ha Schult is behind the project, which sits near the 2nd Century Castel Sant'Angelo. He hopes he will be able to recreate a similar idea in other capital cities, including London.

He claimed the hotel is a 'mirror of our times'. 'We create rubbish and we become rubbish,' he said. 'We must change the world before the world changes us.'

The lavatories are chemical toilets, there are no showers and sheets have been ripped up to act as curtains.

Allan Thompson, from Surbiton in Surrey, and his teenage daughter Rebecca one a night at the hotel in a competition.

'It was a bit basic,' he admitted. He told The Times: 'There was a downpour and the roof leaked but it was a great experience.'

He joked he would give the hotel three and a half stars on Trip Advisor - a site where travellers can review destinations for all to see.

Christensen also said she had a 'great night'. 'I am deeply disturbed by the state of our beaches,' the model turned photographer and environmental campaigner added.

Shult has previously sculpted 1,000 figures from waste which have been exhibited at the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian Pyramids and the Red Square of Moscow.

The hotel is only open until June 7.







Source:- Daily Mail

The Museum of Islamic Art is a museum located in the Qatari capital Doha and designed by architect I. M. Pei.

The museum draws much influence from ancient Islamic architecture yet has a unique design. It was the first of its kind in the Persian Gulf and has a very large collection of Islamic art, plus a study, a library, and several restaurants. Sabiha Al Khemir served as the founding director of the museum from 2006-2008. The museum has a total area of 45,000 m2 and lies on the edge of Doha harbour at the south end of Doha Bay. Construction by Baytur Constr.Co. (Turkey), of the structure reached completion in 2006, but the interior was subjected to a variety of changes thereafter. The museum celebrated its VIP opening on November 22, 2008, and opened to the general public on December 1, 2008.

In the museum are displayed a collection of works gathered over the last 20 years, including manuscripts, textiles and ceramics. It is one of the world’s most complete collections of Islamic artifacts, ranging from Spain to Egypt to Iran, Iraq, Turkey, India and Central Asia. At the age of 91, Pei had to be coaxed out of retirement to undertake this enterprise. He traveled throughout the Muslim world on a six month quest to learn about Muslim architecture and history and read Muslim texts to draw inspiration for his design.

Declining all the proposed sites for the museum, Pei suggested a stand alone island for the structure to avoid the encroachment of other buildings. Thus it was built on 64 acres on an island approximate 195 feet off Doha’s Corniche and surrounded by a park.















































Source:- Wikipedia
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