Buildings

Journal One.

The first underwater restaurant of its kind in the world! It has a contemporary design with a western Asian influenced cuisine. The Ithaa Restaurant sits 15 feet below the Indian Ocean, surrounded by the beautiful coral reef. It is encased in clear acrylic, offering diners 270 degrees of panoramic underwater views. The restaurant is reached by a wooden walkway from the nearby over-water Sunset Grill Restaurant, and seats just 14 people for an exclusive dining experience.

Journal Two.

This gorgeous underwater shot is the Red Sea Star Restaurant. It looks out in to the coral reef in the tropical resort city of Eilat, Israel. The reef-restaurant combination was actually established by the restaurant management. To get the reef started, they built an iron meshwork and translated many species of broken coral colonies to it. What an awesome place to go and have dinner when you just happen to be traveling through Isreal for the week.

Journal Three.

This is the Cathedral of Gaudi. I love how it resembles a sand castle you make at the beach with the wet sand and drizzle it into towers. Unfortunately as Gaudi was designing this he got run over and never was able to finish designing the back.

Journal Four.

On the southern stretch of the Amsterdam orbital motorway is ING House, head office of the ING Bank, built in 2000. The shoe-shaped building was designed by Robert Meyer and Jeroen van Schooten. The extensive use of glass means that everyone working there has an expansive view. Everyone gets a window seat! However, I would think that since there is so many windows that they would have a beautiful scenery to look at.

Journal Five.

This is the Nemo Building located in Amsterdam. It was designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, it looks like a big green ship. It was not designed to look like a ship but the mirror image of the tunnel below it. I feel like it is a very interesting design however a very ugly color.

Journal Six.

The Groninger Museum is an extravagant building designed by the Italian architect Alessandro Mendini. The museum is located in the northern city of Groningen on the canal between the train station and the town centre. I love the abstract different shapes that combine together to form this great museum.

Journal Seven.

This is the cathedral church of Saint Peter in Exeter, UK. The Gothic architecture is beautiful! from the twin Norman towers and fan-vaulted roof. The choir stalls are so intricately carved and has the longest Gothic vault in Europe. I would love to walk through and experience it in real life.

Journal Eight.

This is the amazing Milwaukee Art Museum located on lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is a very dynamic piece of art in itself. What a great use of lighting and at night you are able to see the beautiful reflections upon the water. The top gives a bird-like wing feel to it and adds another sense of dimension.

Journal Nine.

This building was designed by MAD architectural design studio in Beijing. This was a competition entry to build a fifty story condominium in Mississauga, Ontario Canada. The construction will begin in 6 months and will be completed by 2010. This is a very unique and interesting design that many will love. The blue lighting adds a very clean and simple look to this dynamic piece.

Journal Ten.

Isn't it amazing how far we have come these days with technological advancements in architectural design. It is so amazing that we can bend metal and contort materials to knot buildings and such. However, I feel like it is very ugly in the spot it was placed. The color contrasts against the gray buildings in the background.