80 Strange and Fantastic Buildings Architecture (Part II)

21. Solar Furnace (Odeillo, France)

22. Nakagin Capsule Tower (Tokyo, Japan)

23. Beijing National Stadium (Beijing, China) 

24. CCTV Tower – China Central Television Headquarters (Beijing, China)

25. The Egg (Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York, USA) 

26. Ripley’s Building (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada)

27. Ripley’s Believe It or Not! (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada) 

28. Fuji television building (Tokyo, Japan)

29. Olympic Stadium (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) 

30. Blur Building (Yverdon-les-Bainz, Switzerland) 

31. The Puerta de Europa towers (Madrid, Spain) 

32. Gas Natural headquarters (Barcelona, Spain) 

33. Wonderworks (Pigeon Forge, TN, USA) 

34. Habitat 67 (Montreal, Canada) 

35. Manchester Civil Justice Centre (Manchester, UK)

36. Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles, California, USA)  

37. Shoe House (Pennsylvania, USA) 

38. The National Library (Minsk, Belarus)

39. Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, Spain) 

40. Air Force Academy Chapel (Colorado, USA)

80+ Strange and Fantastic Buildings Architecture (part I)

Architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation. As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter. As a profession, architecture is the role of those persons or machines providing architectural services. As documentation, usually based on drawings, architecture defines the structure and/or behavior of a building or any other kind of system that is to be or has been constructed.

In the late 20th century many new concept was included in the compass of both structure and function. Now days, before performing any action we keeping future in our visions. same applies in Architecture also. In the selection below, we present over 80 Strange & Fantastic Buildings Architecture of modern world. All photographs are linked and lead to the source – the respective photographers.



To restrict the meaning of (architectural) formalism to art for art’s sake is not only reactionary; it can also be a purposeless quest for perfection or originality which degrades form into a mere instrumentality”.

Among the philosophies that have influenced modern architects and their approach to building design are rationalism, empiricism, structuralism, poststructuralism, and phenomenology.

On the difference between the ideals of “architecture” and mere “construction”, the renowned 20th C. architect Le Corbusier wrote: “You employ stone, wood, and concrete, and with these materials you build houses and palaces: that is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say: This is beautiful. That is Architecture”.

Please Amaze yourself by go through with all the Buildings Architecture photographs below which are linked and lead to the source photographers. Also do not forget to explore further works of these talented photographers.

Please notice that the collection presented here is supposed to only give you brief idea about modern Architecture, it always can and should be extended; Please feel free to join us as you are always welcome to share your thoughts even if you have more reference links related to Architectural Inspiration that our readers may like.

01. Device to Root Out Evil (Vancouver, Canada)

02. The Crooked House (Sopot, Poland)

03. Museum of Contemporary Art (Niteroi, Brazil)

04. ING Headquarters (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

05. Experience Music Project (Seattle, Washington, USA)

06. Dancing Building (Prague, Czech Republic)

07. Druzhba Holiday Center (Yalta, Ukraine)

08. Lotus Temple (Delhi, India)

09. Forest Spiral Building (Darmstadt, Germany)

10. The Torre Galatea Figueras (Spain)

11. Upside Down House (Szymbark, Poland)

12. The Basket Building (Ohio, USA)

13. The Ufo House (Sanjhih, Taiwan)

14. Stone House (FAFE, Portugal)

15. Kansas City Public Library (Missouri, USA)

16. Stata Center (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)

  

17. The Hole House (Texas, USA)

18. Ryugyong Hotel (Pyongyang, North Korea)

19. Container City (London, UK)

 

20. Erwin Wurm: House Attack (Viena, Austria)

New Method Could Revolutionize Dating of Ancient Treasures

Science Daily (Mar. 23, 2010) — Scientists have developed a new method to determine the age of ancient mummies, old artwork, and other relics without causing damage to these treasures of global cultural heritage. Reporting at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), they said it could allow scientific analysis of hundreds of artifacts that until now were off limits because museums and private collectors did not want the objects damaged.

"This technique stands to revolutionize radiocarbon dating," said Marvin Rowe, Ph.D., who led the research team. "It expands the possibility for analyzing extensive museum collections that have previously been off limits because of their rarity or intrinsic value and the destructive nature of the current method of radiocarbon dating. In theory, it could even be used to date the Shroud of Turin."

Rowe explained that the new method is a form of radiocarbon dating, the archaeologist's standard tool to estimate the age of an object by measuring its content of naturally-occurring radioactive carbon. A professor emeritus at Texas A&M University College Station, Rowe teaches at a branch of the university in Qatar. Traditional carbon dating involves removing and burning small samples of the object. Although it sometimes requires taking minute samples of an object, even that damage may be unacceptable for some artifacts. The new method does not involve removing a sample of the object.

Conventional carbon dating estimates the age of an artifact based on its content of carbon-14 (C-14), a naturally occurring, radioactive form of carbon. Comparing the C-14 levels in the object to levels of C-14 expected in the atmosphere for a particular historic period allows scientists to estimate the age of an artifact. Both the conventional and new carbon dating methods can determine the age of objects as far back as 45,000 to 50,000 years, Rowe said.

In conventional dating methods, scientists remove a small sample from an object, such as a cloth or bone fragment. Then they treat the sample with a strong acid and a strong base and finally burn the sample in a small glass chamber to produce carbon dioxide gas to analyze its C-14 content.

Rowe's new method, called "non-destructive carbon dating," eliminates sampling, the destructive acid-base washes, and burning. In the new method, scientists place an entire artifact in a special chamber with a plasma, an electrically charged gas similar to gases used in big-screen plasma television displays. The gas slowly and gently oxidizes the surface of the object to produce carbon dioxide for C-14 analysis without damaging the surface, he said.

Rowe and his colleagues used the technique to analyze the ages of about 20 different organic substances, including wood, charcoal, leather, rabbit hair, a bone with mummified flesh attached, and a 1,350-year-old Egyptian weaving. The results match those of conventional carbon dating techniques, they say.

The chamber could be sized to accommodate large objects, such as works of art and even the Shroud of Turin, which some believe to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, Rowe said. He acknowledged, however, that it would take a significant amount of data to convince museum directors, art conservators, and others that the new method causes no damage to such priceless objects

The scientists are currently refining the technique. Rowe hopes to use it, for instance, to analyze objects such as a small ivory figurine called the "Venus of Brassempouy," thought to be about 25,000 years old and one of the earliest known depictions of a human face. The figurine is small enough to fit into the chamber used for analysis. Funding for this project is provided by the National Science Foundation, the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, and Texas A&M University.