Embracing Life 生命之恩

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After viewing the art exhibiton at Tate Modern, we walk across the Millennium Foot Bridge to St Paul's Cathedral, and continue the walk to Llyod of London, is an office building.



The extra-ordinary of this building by Richard Roger are the exposing services, concrete columns and stainless steel cladding of the external facade.



The attractive pattern of staircase that claded with Stainless steel which make it stand out.



The use of stainless steel for external cladding make the building like just built, infact, it was completed more than 20 years ago.

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Swiss Re was design by Norman Foster, and it just a stone drow away from Lloyd of London.


The structural load are at the external, thus, can have a column free space inside.


This office tower is surrounded by old shophouses, and is like a lantern to the area.




The lobby at first floor is being setback, a corridor is all round.

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British Museum
The oldest public museum in the world, was established in 1753 to house the collections of the physician Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753). Robert Smirke designed the main part of the building (1823-50), but the architectural highlight is the modern Great Court, with the world-famous Reading Room at its center, opened by the Queen in 2000. Designed by Sir Norman Foster, the Court is covered by a wide-span, lightweight roof, creating London's first ever indoor public square.


The Reading Room itself has been restored to its original design, so visitors can sample the atmosphere which Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi, and George Bernard Shaw found so agreeable.


From the outside, however, it is scarcely recognizable; it is housed in a multi-level construction which partly supports the roof, and which also contains a Center for Education, temporary exhibition galleries, bookshops, cafes, and restaurants.



Quite a warm space during summer, sunlight through this cover area.

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Exploring Spain
Although many visitors to Spain come for the beaches alone, increasingly tourists are drawn by the country's rich cultural heritage. The next destinations are Bilbao and Barcelona, which boast world-class museums and a wealth of medieval and modern architecture.

Second Stop
BILBAO
Is the centre of Basque industry, Spain's leading commercial port and the largest Basque city. It is surrounded by high, bare hills. An urban development scheme has introduced pieces of fascinating modernist architecture to break up the monotone industrial sprawl.


Cathedral Basilica de Santiago as from hotel's window.


A flight of steps leads to hill top open park. By the river, however, is the city's medieval heart, the casco viejo, built in the 14th century.


Bilbao has flourished as an industrial city since the mid 19th century.The city is not beautiful, but it is properous.

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Volantin Footbridge- by Santiago Calatrava


The sophisticated strangeness of its parabolic configuration challenges the ordinariness and conventionality of its urban setting.


The sweeping parabolic form of the arch rests precariously on the extended armatures of the 2-meter wide access ramp's triangular supports.


At night the illuminated bridge becomes a light sculpture- a beacon to enhance the surrounding community.

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Museo Guggenheim Bilbao
The jewel in the areas's cultural crown is a modern and contemporary art museum designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, which opened in 1997.


The museum is part of a redevelopment of the city which includes the expansion of its port and the new metro system.




It is built alongside the Nervion River, which runs through the city of Bilbao to the Atlantic Coast.



The museum features both permanent and visiting exhibits featuring works of both Spanish and international artists.

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It was immediately vaulted to prominence as one of the world's most spectacular buildings in the style of Deconstructivism, although Frank Gehry does not associate himself with this architectural movement. Architect Philip Johnson called it "the greatest building of our time".



The curves on the building have been designed to appear random.



The architect has been quoted as saying that "the randomness of the curves are designed to catch the light".



The museum's design and construction serve as an object lesson in Gehry's style and method.



Like much of Gehry's other works, the structure consist of radically sculpted, organic contours.



Sited as it is in a port town, it is intended to resemble a ship.

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Also in typical Gehry fashion, the building is uniquely a product of the period's technology.


Its brilliantly reflective titanium panels resemble fish scales, echoing the other organic life forms that recur commonly in Gehry's designs, as well as the river Nervion upon which the museum sits.



Computer simulations of the building's structure made it feasible to build shapes that architects of earlier eras would have found nearly impossible to construct.



It is also important to note that while the museum is a spectacular monument from the river, at street level it is quite modest and does not overwhelm its traditional surroundings.



Almost immediately after its opening, the Guggenheim Bilbao became a popular tourist attraction, drawing visitors from around the globe.

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The main entrance to the museum is through a large central atrium, where a system of curvilinear bridges, glass elevators and stair towers connects the exhibition galleries concentrically on three levels.



The rectangular shapes of the building clad in limestone and the more sculptural shapes of the building clad in titanium.



The design of the museum is influenced by the scale and the texture of the city of Bilbao.

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Sheraton Abandoibarra Hotel by Ricardo Legorreta

Inspired in the work of artist Chillida and the solid roots, history and culture of the Vasque Country, the building is treated like a stone block, that is transformed in a "sculpture", to which certain perforations have been tilled.


Library of Bilbao