The new bridge over the Jiaozhouwan Bay is 42 km long: its construction lasted 4 years and cost 2.25 billion US dollars, according to The Guardian. Relying on 5,000 pillars, the structure shortens the route between Qingdao Port and Huangdao Industrial Region by 20 km. Today it is the longest sea bridge in the world.
The previous record was held by the Hangzhou Bay Bridge (36 km) between Shanghai and Ningbo, and the next one will also be Chinese: a 50-kilometer Y-shaped bridge will connect the coast of Guangdong province in the south of the country with Hong Kong and Macau. The Telegraph newspaper has prepared a selection of the oldest, largest and highest bridges in the world in connection with the commissioning of the Jiaozhou Bridge.
But not all structures in China are as spectacular and functional as these bridges. The bulk of the "products" of the construction boom are typical residential areas, office parks and even entire cities. But despite the growing population, these buildings do not find their buyers and tenants, so many neighborhoods, suburbs of varying degrees of comfort, and even the city of Ordos in Inner Mongolia have turned into ghost settlements. A spectacular photo reportage about them was prepared by Business Insider.
Californian architect David Hertz turned out to be much more economical and attentive to environmental issues than developers from the PRC: for his clients from Malibu he built a house from Boeing 747 parts. Unlike most similar structures, at best related to kitsch, the villa looks quite decent. According to The Architect's Newspaper, its building materials were not only environmentally friendly recyclable materials, but also a profitable purchase: the decommissioned plane cost $ 50,000, and it was enough for the villa itself and for 6 additional buildings.
The program of young architects at the New York Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and the MAXXI Museum in Rome was conceived of not at all utilitarian. This summer in New York, for the 12th time, the courtyard of the MoMA PS1 branch turns into a space for recreation and entertainment of citizens: this year, the “Holding pattern” project by Interboro Partners has been implemented there, consisting of a white ribbon canopy, upholstered furniture and trees in tubs …
In Rome, the program is being implemented for the first time (the museum itself, the building of Zaha Hadid, opened only last year). The courtyard has been transformed into a hilly garden with a stream and huge red plastic flowers; installation authors Whatami - Italian bureau stARTT; its purpose is a stage for concerts and performances.
Reminds of a temporary installation, a completely permanent project - Federico García Lorca Square in Salobrenia, a town on the southern coast of Spain. Architect Jesús Torres has arranged opaque white glass “objects” to simulate folded sheets of paper. The texts of poems and drawings of the poet are applied on them, and inside each of them children can play during the day, and young people can relax in the evening.
The project was created during the crisis years and therefore has a modest budget, but it has successfully achieved its goal: a recreation space has been created in the city center in every sense of the word.
Tadao Ando thought about a vacation in another city, much more noisy and large, while working on a water installation in front of the entrance to the London Connaught Hotel. The metal surface, covered with a thin layer of water, from time to time hides in a cloud of fog - this is both an allusion to the British climate and a piece of nature in the center of the metropolis.
Meanwhile, in England, to the numerous organizations that preserve monuments of architecture and history, one more was added - the Challenge Fund, created by Andrew Lloyd Weber. According to The Telegraph, the foundation will support volunteer restorers and community activists who are rescuing Britain's crumbling historic buildings.
A completely different scheme of interaction with heritage is becoming popular in Germany: instead of the usual excursions, sightseeing, they offer sightrunning - sightseeing on the run, combining information content with health benefits. The German television channel n-tv says that in Dusseldorf this service has been offered since 2009, and in Berlin there are several similar excursion bureaus that are actively competing with each other. Other cities of the country are not lagging behind.
The Moscow landmark attracted the Dutch photographer Iwan Baan: for the Abitare magazine he took a series of photographs of David Adjaye at the Skolkovo School of Management. The most spectacular of his chosen angles is the view from the territory of the neighboring cemetery.
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