The 2015 Leading Culture Destinations Awards are the ‘Oscars’ of Museums but how can the judges decide when they’re all Meryl Streep caliber? At this year’s 2015 Leading Culture Destinations Awards held recently in London, England the most spectacular museums in the world, competed in five categories to celebrate those deemed the most visionary and connecting culture with tourism worldwide: …
A Spectacular $350-Million Wood Pagoda Design By Herzog & de Meuron Unveiled for New Vancouver Art Gallery
Like an immense cantileverd square wooden Pagoda in the sky, the 230-foot-tall, seven-floor design for the new downtown Vancouver Art Gallery, may change Vancouver’s nickname as ‘the city of glass’, forever. Following an international competition, Swiss architecture firm, Herzog & de Meuron, recipient of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, was selected in April 2014 for the new Vancouver Art Gallery project. …
Executive Chef David Hawksworth & Hawksworth Restaurant: Cutting Edge Design is as Dazzling as the Food
Hawksworth Restaurant is an homage to a bygone era where food, service and cutting edge design converge to create an unparalleled sensory experience. Billie Holiday’s soothing vocals create the vibe. Gazing up at the Art Deco-inspired gilded rosettes strewn across rich chocolate mahogany and marble interiors of The Rosewood Hotel Georgia, in Vancouver, Canada, it’s difficult to imagine Executive Chef David …
Photographer, David Burdeny’s “A Bright Future,” Spectacular Architecture & Art Inside Moscow to St. Petersburg Metro Stations
Steep, descending escalators lead down 74 meters at the deepest point, to a cavernous underground that is one of Moscow’s hidden treasures. Suddenly one enters what looks to be a turn-of-the century theatre, so opulent that you expect to see Vaslav Nijinsky of the Ballet Russe, leap from behind one of the towering Art Deco arches. Instead, blasé Muscovites check …
A Modern Twist On The Biblical Sukkah, Brings A New Dimension To Public Art
High atop a building’s roof in Tel Aviv, ephemeral pavilions resemble a colony of high-tech shelters for ‘glamping’ enthusiasts. On the other side of the world, multi-hued, vertically suspended canvas panels, like Joseph’s coat of many colors, create a shelter that’s a contemporary riff on the Bedouin nomadic tent. Another structure is a serpentine nest of braided rope that looks like the …
From Sleepless In Seattle To Sleeping Underwater Near Dubai, Floating Homes Are Making Waves As An Alternative Lifestyle
Imagine exploring the emerald waters of the warm Arabian Gulf, where diverse coral reef ecosystems of purple sea anemones and beckoning sponges hide vibrant clownfish and steely moray eels. A sea turtle swims nonchalantly by your floor to ceiling glass walls – an underwater panorama viewed from your master bedroom and Jacuzzi bathtub! Welcome to The Floating Seahorse. 42 luxurious, floating …
Israel’s Dip-Tech Digital In-Glass Printing Changes the Face of Architecture
More Than Just A Façade: Dip-Tech Integrates Bold Design With Functional Architecture In Moscow, a lush 3-D forest of dense green trees reaches the rooftop and encircles the AFIMall, a new retail and entertainment center. Folded faux marbleized pages jut out across the Paris Barclay Bank exterior like gigantic cutout origami fans. From airport and subway murals, hotel lobbies and …
Omer Arbel – Seeing The Light
Designer, Omer Arbel Combines Alchemy and Science To Produce Interdisciplinary Magic From different perspectives, one sees amorphous cumulus clouds or a colony of opaque jellyfish, each alive with their own bright light. At night, they resemble benign icebergs – no fear of colliding – because they are trapped in fabric and suspended from the ceiling on braided coaxial cable. This …
Home Away From Home: Celebrity Home Rentals
When Seth Rogen, Steven Spielberg or Channing Tatum are on location, what celebrity digs do they call home? When Calgary-based film production co-ordinator, Kim Goddard-Rains was asked to scout 25 luxury properties from which character, Hugh Glass, aka Leonardo DiCapprio, shooting The Revenant in Calgary, would select a celebrity home rental accommodation, she worked day and night from a long list of requirements. “It’s an …
Jan Kath International Carpet Designer Inspires Israeli Gili Ungar’s ‘Home Styling’
Like a time traveler flying back and forth straddling ancient cultures German carpet designer, Jan Kath has captured the best of all worlds as a “couturier for floors.” Playing with long established hand-knotted techniques with reverence to bygone motifs, he skews rules of composition and color to create contemporary carpets that are so striking you might prefer to hang them …