Inspiring awe by their sheer designing strength and art with a purpose, there are architectural marvels around the world that are masterpieces in their own right even in this age of technology. Taking a step further with design principles and corelating with built environment as well as people, here we enlist five of the most breathtaking modern architectural wonders of the world.
1. Capital Gate, Abu Dhabi – Leaning tall at 160m and 35 storeys, the Guiness World Records certified this skyscraper as “World’s Furthest Leaning Man-made Tower”. The leaning fame is owing to an engineering technique called pre-cambering. Under pre-cambering floor plates are put together vertically first, up to 12th storey, and then piled up one over the other to achieve this marvellous effect.
2. City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia, Spain – Situated on the now drained riverbed of Turia, it comprises an IMAX cinema, planetarium, laserium, an interactive museum resembling whale’s skeleton, a lanscaped walk, an opera house and performing arts centre, a covered plaza and a suspension bridge.
3. Sunrise Kempinski Hotel, Beijing, China – Situated on the Yanqi lakeside, flanked by the Yanshan Mountains, this magnificent hotel is shaped like the rising sun and symbolizes harmony, infinity and unity. The exterior is built with about 10,000 glass panels arranged such that the top reflects the sky, the middle reflects the Yanshan mountains and the bottom reflects the Yanqi lake.
4. Cumulus, Nordborg, Denmark – An exhibit hall of a science and technology museum, the quaintly shaped building earned its place in the 2007 Conde Nast Traveler as the “new seven wonders of the architectural world”.
5. Nagoya City Science Museum, Nagoya City, Central Japan – Designed in the form of a sphere placed between rectangular holders with a 35 meter projection dome, the building is powered by photovoltaic equipment.