Tag Archives: Buildings

Dunnottar Castle

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Dunnottar Castle

Dunnottar Castle famous for its romantic spots and… constant destruction.

  • Dunnottar Castle is a ruined castle located in Scotland’s north east, in the United Kingdom in Europe, that was originally built in the medieval period.
  • Dunnottar Castle covers an area of 3.5 acres (1.4 hectares), and sits on a sea cliff that rises to 50 metres (160 feet) in height.
  • ‘Dùn Fhoithear’ is the Scottish-Gaelic for Dunnottar Castle, and means ‘fort on the shelving slope’.
  • The date the first castle was built on the Dunnottar Castle site is uncertain, although it, or a fort, was possibly erected before the 7th century, as there is reference to a siege in the area in the late 600s.
  • Dunnottar Castle was a significant administration location in the county, under the rule of King William the Lion who reigned from 1165 to 1214.
Dunnottar Castle, Brown, Ruins, Sea Cliff, All, View, Ten Random Facts, Scottish, medieval, Flickr
Dunnottar Castle
Image courtesy of Christian Kadluba/Flickr
  • Dunnottar Castle was bought in 1720 by the York Buildings Company, who removed much of the interior including the floors and roof.
  • Restoration of some parts of Dunnottar Castle began after new owner, the 1st Viscount Cowdray, Weetman Pearson from Yorkshire in England, purchased the property in 1925, and it was eventually passed down to one of his great grandsons, Charles Pearson, who was the owner in 2014.
  • Dunnottar Castle is open to the public and has become a popular tourist attraction, and was visited by approximately 52,000 tourists in 2009.
  • William Keith, a Marischal of Scotland, and his family, were the predominant owners of Dunnottar Castle from the 1300s to 1700s, and it was seized from them by the king in 1716.
  • Throughout its history, Dunnottar Castle was burnt to the ground a number of times, sometimes by the Scottish to kill the invading English.
Bibliography:
Dunnottar Castle, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunnottar_Castle
Ross D, Dunnottar Castle, n.d, Britain Express, http://www.britainexpress.com/scotland/ruins/Dunnottar-Castle.htm

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Taipei 101

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Taipei 101

Taipei 101, a record holder.

  • Taipei 101 is a blue-green coloured skyscraper that was the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2010.
  • ‘Taipei 101’ is also known as the ‘Taipei World Financial Center’ or ‘Taipei Financial Center’.
  • Taipei 101 is located in the city of Taipei, in east Asia’s Taiwan, and it cost US$1.76 billion to build.
  • When the building was finished, Taipei 101 was the tallest sundial in the world, it contained the largest and heaviest tuned mass damper sphere (like a pendulum to keep the building more stable), the largest countdown clock, and had the fastest elevator.
  • Taipei 101 is made to withstand severe typhoons and earthquakes, using its tuned mass damper sphere, 380 foundation piles rammed 80 metres (262 feet) into the earth, and other features.

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Taipei 101
Image courtesy of Luke Ma/Flickr
  • Taipei 101 has 101 floors, symbolising a new century, the coming of new years, and perfection, and it contains 8 sections, referring to the symbolic Chinese number for prosperity.
  • Taipei 101 is the home to apartments, observatories, offices, meeting centres, a club and restaurants, and has an attached shopping mall.
  • Since its construction, Taipei 101 has been the home to New Years Eve firework displays each year, with the longest display lasting 288 seconds in 2010/2011, and in 2011/2012 it is said that 30,000 rocket fireworks were launched.
  • Taipei 101’s architect was the Chinese company, C.Y. Lee & Partners, and planning started in 1997, construction began in 1999/2000, and the building opened on New Years Eve, 2004.
  • Taipei 101 boasts a height of 509 metres (1,670 feet), surpassing the 1998 built Petronas Towers in Malaysia on completion, and being surpassed by Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010.
Bibliography: Clancy R, The Building of the Taipei 101 Skyscraper, 2009, Property Forum, http://www.propertyforum.com/emerging-property-markets/230-the-building-of-the-taipei-101-skyscraper.html
Taipei 101, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_101

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New York City

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New York City

“I ♥ New York City.”

  • New York City is a city located in the New York State, in the United States of America, and it is the home of many well known places, notably Times Square; the Statue of Liberty; the World Trade Centers; New York Stock Exchange; the Unisphere; Brooklyn Bridge; and Central Park.
  • ‘New York City’ is also known as ‘New York’, ‘City of New York’, ‘NYC’, ‘NY’, ‘Big Apple’ and ‘The City’.
  • During 1785 to 1790, New York City was the capital of the United States of America, and since then, it has had the greatest city population in the US , with an estimated 8.4 million people living in the city itself in 2013 and approximately 20 million in the metropolitan area,
  • New York City was visited by an explorer from Italy, Giovanni da Verrazzano, for the French monarchy, in 1524, which was the first recorded visit by Europeans.
  • New York City itself covers a total area of approximately 1,214 square kilometres (469 square miles), and the metropolitan area extends to 34,490 square kilometres (13,318 square miles).

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Skyline
Image courtesy of Rakkhi Samarasekera/Flickr
  • In 2011, New York City was the home to 5,937 high rises,including the new One World Trade Center, the highest building in the Western hemisphere.
  • New York City has five districts, or boroughs, and is the home to 500 galleries of art, 1,200 schools, four of the costliest sporting stadiums on earth and 113 square kilometres (43.75 square miles) of parkland.
  • It is estimated that more than 800 languages are spoken in New York City, and the city is popularly known for its bagels, pizza and cheesecake, as well as other foreign cuisine.
  • Fifty-two percent of New York City’s families do not own a car, and therefore the city has numerous taxis, the largest and one of the most used subways of rapid transit in the world,  and some of the busiest airline and ferry services.
  • New York City is visited by approximately 55 million people every year, is one of the most significant centres for commerce and business in the world, and in 2010 it had a GMP (gross metropolitan product) of US$1.28 trillion.
Bibliography:
New York City, 2014, History, http://www.history.com/topics/new-york-city
New York City, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City

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Burj Khalifa

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Burj Khalifa

Can you stand the height of these Burj Khalifa facts?

  • Burj Khalifa, located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Middle East, was the tallest building and man-made structure in the world at its completion in 2010.
  • The Burj Khalifa, ‘burj’ meaning ‘tower’, was originally known as ‘Burj Dubai’, but it was renamed after the United Arab Emirates’ president and ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan at its official opening, which is said to be the result of Abu Dhabi bailing Dubai out of a financial crisis just before the building was completed.
  • Burj Khalifa is a centrepiece of an area developed in the city of Dubai, built for a variety of purposes including tourism and fame for the city, and the building has won numerous awards.
  • Burj Khalifa has the height of 829.8 metres (2722 feet), has 163 official floors, and has a floor area of 309,473 square metres (3,331,100 square feet).
  • Burj Khalifa is said to be able to house over 35,000 people at once, has over 24,000 windows and 900 apartments, includes offices and a hotel, and when it opened it had the highest nightclub, restaurant and observation deck, and was host to the highest fireworks display.
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Burj Khalifa
Image courtesy of Joi Ito/Flickr
  • It is believed that the Burj Khalifa was originally going to use the scrapped Melbourne, Australia’s planned Grollo Tower design, a 560 metre (1837 feet) skyscraper, but the building was later completely redesigned by United States architect Adrian Smith from Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.
  • Burj Khalifa was constructed by South Korea’s Samsung Engineering and Construction, mostly using thousands of migrant workers from south Asia, and during the building process, there was only one reported fatality although the number of actual deaths is believed to be much higher.
  • Burj Khalifa was constructed with 330,000 cubic metres (431,600 cubic yards) of concrete and 55,000 tonnes (61,000 tons) of steel and cost approximately US$1.5 billion.
  • Work on the Burj Khalifa site started in January 2004, and the building was officially opened with 10,000 fireworks and other light and sound effects, on 4th January 2010, although the interior was not complete at that stage.
  • The Burj Khalifa is based on the design of a Hymenocallis, a desert flower, and the spire at the top of the building is said to sway 1.5 metres (4.9 feet) and is visible 95 kilometeres (60 miles) away.
Bibliography:
Burj Khalifa, 2014, The Skyscraper Center, http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/dubai/burj-khalifa/
Burj Khalifa, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa
Burj Khalifa, 2014, Burj Khalifa, http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/en/

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Sydney Opera House

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Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House – an iconic landmark.

  • The Sydney Opera House is an iconic building that is mainly dedicated to the performing arts.
  • The Sydney Opera House is located in one of Australia’s state capitals, Sydney, in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales.
  • The Sydney Opera House was designed by Jørn Utzon, an architect from Denmark, that was the winning design decided upon in an international design competition in 1957.
  • Every year, the Sydney Opera House holds approximately 1500 performances and sees 8.2 million visitors.
  • On 28 June, 2007, the Sydney Opera House was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and at the time, was the youngest building to be added to the list.

Sydney Opera House, White, Sail, Shell, Performing Arts, Music, Centre, Habour, Ten Random Facts, Australia

Sydney Opera House
Image courtesy of Australia Photos (Flickr)
  • The Sydney Opera House has a design type of modern expressionist, with the notable feature of over a million individual white to cream ceramic tiles across the ten ‘shells’ or ‘sails’.
  • The Sydney Opera House is 65 metres (213 feet) in height and 4.4 acres (1.8 hectares) in area, and is located on land that was previously used as a tram depot and even earlier, as Fort Macquarie.
  • Construction on the Sydney Opera House began in 1959 and cost $102 million to build, which was over 14 times the proposed budget.
  • The idea of having a ‘Sydney Opera House’ was proposed by Eugene Goossens in the 1940s, who was a composer and conductor, and at the time, the director of NSW State Conservatorium of Music.
  • The Sydney Opera House was officially opened on the 20 October, 1973, by Queen Elizabeth II, but the designer, Utzon, was not credited.
Bibliography:
A Danish architect, an Australian icon: the history of the Sydney Opera House, 2013, ABC News, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-21/anthony-burke-on-sydney-opera-house-history/5034028
Sydney Opera House, History and Heritage, 2014, Sydney Opera House, http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/the_building_history_heritage.aspx
Sydney Opera House, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House

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Chichen Itza

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Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza is positively ancient, but these facts are not.

  • Chichen Itza is an ancient capital city that was built by the Mayan Mexicans, and is now an archaeological site, located in Mexico’s Yucatán state, in America.
  • Chichen Itza sees approximately 1.2 million tourists annually, making it the second most popular site of archaeology in Mexico.
  • Chichen Itza was among the biggest cities in the Mayan empire, and it also had a high population rate.
  • The literal meaning of ‘Chichen Itza’ is ‘at the mouth of the well of the Itza’ in the Mayan language; known as ‘Chichén Itzá’ in Spanish.
  • Chichen Itza was settled in the early to mid 5th century AD and became the capital of the area in the 10th century.

Chichen Itza pyramid El Castillo seen through ruin, Mexico, Maya, Civilsation, Ten Random Facts, Flickr

El Castillo seen through the ruins
Image courtesy of Avery Studio/Flickr
  • Chichen Itza’s power started to decrease from 1250 AD, and by the end of 15th century the city was abandoned.
  • The main structures of the city of Chichen Itza are located on an area of five square kilometres (two square miles) or more, and other residential buildings spread out from this boundary.
  • Chichen Itza is the home of a large temple pyramid, named ‘El Castillo’, which depicts a snake shadow twice a year, and the city has many ancient ball courts, including the largest in the region, originally used for an ancient Mayan ball game.
  • Chichen Itza became one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988.
  • Chichen Itza’s major water source came from two water-collecting sinkholes, natural wells, known as ‘cenotes’.
Bibliography:
Chichén Itzá, 2014, National Geographic, http://travel.nationalgeographic.com.au/travel/world-heritage/chichen-itza/
Pre-Hispanic City of Chichen-Itza, 2014, UNESCO World Heritage Convention, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/483
Chichen Itza, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichen_Itza

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