Helsinki South Harbour By Macyauski Research & Design

This Helsinki’s new South Harbor proposal, designed by Macyauski Research & Design, is envisioned as the iconic gateway into the heart of the city that serves its tourists and travelers aesthetically and effectively. Its strong urban connection between the waterfront and the city has been simplified to efficiently activate Helsinki’s South Harbor. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Programmatically the required terminals have been concentrated into one fluid and pristine envelope. The museum, tourist center, and market place have been redesigned to respond to its contextual adjacencies while remaining within the language set forth by the terminal.The proposed landscape transforms its pre-existing industrial zone into a modern public plaza, market place and urban park that provides the residents of Helsinki with an activated urban environment. The sheer size of the site’s perimeter allows for users to experience the project while exercising along a 4K elevated jogging and bike path. Views to and from the site are carefully considered to not impede any previous vantage points from Helsinki’s historic buildings and harbor.

Agora Gardens Tower

The building, named the Agora Tower, is to be built on the largest and last piece of residential land in the city. Agora was a public space used for assemblies and markets in ancient Greece. This building re-imagines the agora as a lush urban mecca of suspended orchards, organic vegetable gardens and and medicinal greenery all growing from the building to limit it’s inhabitants ecological footprint

Cave of Melody

The Cave of Melody is the beautiful geometric columns that make up the walls were formed by lava, and the echoes of the waves create an eerie melody when they bounce off the arched roof. The cave has a large arched entrance and is filled by the sea. Several local companies include a pass by the cave in sightseeing cruises from April to September. However, it is also possible to land elsewhere on the island and walk to the cave overland, where a row of fractured columns forms a walkway just above high-water level permitting exploration on foot. From the inside, the entrance seems to frame the island of Iona across the water.

Electric Hot Tub Boat

Hot tub electric boat? This is the electric boat with a hot tub built into its deck. This sea vessel is a wooden boat that is actually just a hot tub that floats on water. So while cold water is all around the boat, one can relax comfortably in a whirlpool on hot water.

Engineered and built in Seattle, WA by a marine carpenter that specializes custom house boats, in customized house boats, the craft’s Vinylester hull is topped with a slatted deck handcrafted from African teak. The hot tub measures 8′ L x 4′ W x 24″ D and is positioned on the boat’s center of buoyancy, providing the boat exceptional stability. It drafts only 20″, even when filled with its maximum load of 2,100 lbs. of water and six adult bathers.

Ideal for carefree fun and relaxation on the water, moving or stationary. A waterproof stereo system plays music from your MP3 player through two flush-mounted 50-watt speakers that pop-up from the deck.Four ice chests built into the deck provide ample storage for your preferred libation with additional storage compartments fore and aft. A teak swimstep provides easy entry into and from the surrounding water. A 24-volt electric motor propels the boat up to 5 mph on calm water, steered via a joystick.

Giant Buddha of Leshan China,

The Leshan Giant Buddha is located near Leshan City in the province of Sichuan in China and is the largest stone Buddha ever created in the world as well as the biggest and tallest existing statue from the ancient times. It has been listed a a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996 and is one of the main landmarks in the Chinese province of Sichuan. The Buddha statue sits at 71 metres tall and 28 metres wide and depicts a seated Maitreya Buddha.

Baptist Fort in Berlenga Islands in Portugal

The Fort of São João Baptista das Berlangas, or simply known as the Fort of the Berlangas, is located off western coast of Portugal, on the largest island of the archipelago of the Berlengas, The fort is located in the waters off the southeastern coast of Berlenga Grande, on a small islet connected to the island by a causeway/arch-bridge and anchorage to the north

Mitchell Falls, Australia

Mitchell Falls are a chain of four waterfalls located in the remote north of the Kimberley Region (WesternAustralia, a little more than 2,000 kilometers northeast of Perth.).

It is a part of Mitchell River National Park (one of the protected areas of Western Australia), Mitchell Falls are probably one of the park’s main attractions.

Jean Balladur

The most important realizations of the architect Jean Balladur belong to the 60s and 70s. At that time his plansrepresented significant changes for the structure of the French seaside town and indeed for the philosophy oftourism related to these areas. One of the most significant works of Balladur responds to the name Grande Motte:the architect designed an entire beach area from virgin territory. The main buildings are shaped like a pyramid andinspired by typical pre-Columbian constructions of Mexico known as the Ziggurat. For the first time buildings weredesigned perpendicular to the coast, so was eliminated the traditional hierarchy between houses more or less exposed to the sea. The buildings were built with facades of sixty degrees that would allow a different view everyhome that was served with a balcony.

Jesolo Magica by Zaha Hadid

The Biennial International Prize for Architecture “BARBARA CAPPOCHIN” 2009 in collaboration with the Order of Architects of Padua have invited architect Zaha Hadid to present her latest design for the town of Jesolo, Italy. The exhibition will take place this October 31st and run through March 10th, 2010 at the medieval town hall building the Palazzo della Ragione in Padova, the Veneto region of Italy.

On display will be Ms. Hadid’s design of the Jesolo Magica, a new retail and commercial center strategically located between the town center and the Lido di Jesolo, a 15km (or 9.3 miles) long beach, both traversing the town’s main street Via Roma Destra.

The plan is for a 5 star hotel, with conference centers, a health spa, offices, and a restaurant with panoramic views, located on the east of Via Roma. On the west, the architect plans to build a two floor retail space, a club, and a gymnasium, while the immediate surrounding is a mix of walking pathways, greenery, and parking space.

The new center would breathe a whole new life to the medieval town of Jesolo. The complex will allow the town to compete in the hotel, conference, and retail industries adding to the town’s economy, which is currently largely based on tourism.

sarcastic fringehead

a ferocious fish which has a large mouth and aggressive territorial behaviour. They can be up to 30 centimetres (12 in) wide and are mostly scaleless with great pectoral fins and reduced pelvic fins. With highly compressed bodies, some may be so widened as to appear eel-like. They tend to hide inside shells or crevices. After the female spawns under a rock or in clam burrows the male guards the eggs. They are found in the Pacific, off the coast of North America, from San Francisco, California, to central Baja California and their depth range is from 3 to 73 metres (9.8 to 240 ft)."

Plug It On The Window

The Window Socket offers a neat way to harness solar energy and use it as a plug socket. So far we have seen solutions that act as a solar battery backup, but none as a direct plug-in. Simple in design, the plug just attaches to any window and does its job intuitively.

Facts Pod