Tag: Architecture
Pod Hotels: Not Just For Japanese Salarymen Anymore
by Eva Holland | 11.09.07 | 7:57 AM ET
In Japan, pod hotels are old news. The first one, Capsule Inn Osaka, opened in 1977. Writes Karen Burshstein in a National Post story: “With more than a passing resemblance to the drawers in a morgue, it was a weird but nifty addition to Japan’s space-starved cityscapes.” Now, though, the concept has spread, and mini-hotel rooms are popping up in London, New York, Amsterdam, Vancouver and elsewhere. They range from the garish yet economical (the low-cost and bright orange easyHotels,) for instance, to trendy and high-tech (like Dutch company Qbic‘s LCD TV screens and changeable color schemes that match your mood, pictured) and many are available for only a few hours at a time, neatly filling the gap between a red-eye landing and the start of a long day of museum or gallery hopping.
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Yahoo! BuzzThe Eiffel Tower: A View From Underneath (Pig Fat Included)
by Terry Ward | 09.18.07 | 10:27 AM ET
Photo by rayced, via Flickr (Creative Commons).
A story from the always intriguing Time Zones series in the Washington Post gives a view of Paris few tourists see—and from the city’s most iconic landmark, no less. Molly Moore’s foray into the inner workings of the Eiffel Tower, as experienced alongside the head of services for the tower’s operations, one Fabrice Fevai, gives a ground-up view of Gustave Eiffel’s coup de grace. “People enter the Eiffel Tower as though it’s a monument with lots of iron,” Fevai tells Moore, while threading his way through a sea of milling tourists. “But the Eiffel Tower is like a factory—they don’t even realize what’s underneath.”
Hope and Squalor at Chungking Mansion
by Karl Taro Greenfeld | 08.13.07 | 11:24 AM ET
Photos via Wikipedia. 
Karl Taro Greenfeld explores Hong Kong's notorious black-market bazaar and budget accommodations, and one possible over-populated, multi-ethnic future for us all
Iowa Town Pins Hopes on ‘American Gothic’ Tourism
by Michael Yessis | 08.06.07 | 12:05 PM ET
Grant Wood’s American Gothic hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago, but the house in the iconic 1930 painting still stands in Eldon, Iowa, a town of 975 people in the state’s southeast corner. To boost its struggling economy, Eldon used government grants, bake sales and raffles to fund a $1 million visitors center it hopes will help keep travelers in town for longer than it takes to pose in front of the house with a pitchfork.
The Lost World of Nigeria
by Frank Bures | 07.30.07 | 11:41 AM ET
Photo by Frank Bures. The Eredo once formed a boundary between the real and spirit worlds, and could easily contain Manhattan. Frank Bures goes in search of one of the planet's forgotten architectural wonders.
New Seven Wonders of the World Named
by Michael Yessis | 07.09.07 | 7:51 AM ET
Stonehenge Welcomes ‘Druids, Drummers, Pagans and Partygoers’
by Michael Yessis | 06.21.07 | 3:23 PM ET
They partied like it was 3,000 B.C. at Stonehenge today. It’s the summer solstice, and according to the AP, more than 20,000 people made the pilgrimage to the mysterious prehistoric monument on the Salisbury Plain. They’re giving it love, but we hope not too much.
The Seven Wonders of Canada, or More Proof the Country Isn’t Boring
by Michael Yessis | 06.19.07 | 9:07 AM ET
Last week I happily waved my Maple Leaf flag in support of Canada’s above averageness, citing, among other things, an abundance of moose and snowboarding the Canadian Rockies. I now have more ammunition. CBC Television’s The National and BCB Radio’s Sounds Like Canada conducted a search to determine the Seven Wonders of Canada, and earlier this month they announced the results. The wonders, based on this criteria, are: The canoe, Niagara Falls, Pier 21 in Halifax, the Rockies, The igloo, Old Quebec city and Prairie Skies.
Rome’s Trevi Fountain Flows Despite Aqua Virgo Damage
by Michael Yessis | 06.14.07 | 10:44 AM ET
Aqua Virgo, a more than 2,000-year-old underground Roman aqueduct responsible for feeding the globally-famous, coin-filled Trevi Fountain (pictured), has been damaged during the construction of an underground garage. The accident caused the water to stop flowing to the fountain, but, according to the BBC, water from another aquduct has been “redirected to the Trevi to avoid the spectacle of it running dry.” Travelers to Rome, then, will be able to continue to throw their coins in the fountain to ensure a return trip to the Eternal City.
Las Vegas Gets Its First Frank Gehry Building
by Jim Benning | 06.07.07 | 6:00 PM ET
And no, it’s not a one-third scale replica of his Bilbao museum for a new Spanish-themed casino and hotel. It’s not even on the Strip. But the 67,000-square-foot Lou Rivo Brain Institute—Gehry’s first in the city—is sure to become a tourist attraction. Construction began in February and it’s scheduled to open in late 2008.
Global Warming, Tourism Among Threats to Cultural Sites
by Jim Benning | 06.07.07 | 10:43 AM ET
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