Krzywy Dom { POLAND }The Krzywy Domek is an irregularly-shaped building in Sopot, Poland. Its name translates in to English as the Crooked House. [1]
The Krzywy Domek was built in 2004. It is approximately 4,000 square meters in size and is part of the Rezydent shopping center. It was designed by Szotyńscy & Zaleski who were inspired by the fairytale illustrations and drawings of Jan Marcin Szancer and Per Dahlberg. It can be entered from either Monte Cassino or Morska Streets.[2] |
Dennis Oppenheim { CANADA }Dennis Oppenheim (September 6, 1938 – January 21, 2011) was an American conceptual artist, performance artist, earth artist, sculptor and photographer.
Oppenheim's parents were Russian immigrants and his father was Jewish.[1]Oppenheim was born in Electric City, Washington while his father was working on the Grand Cooley Dam[2] Soon after, his family returned to their home in the San Francisco bay area. In 1964, he earned his BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California, and an MFA from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, in 1965.[3] He moved to New York in 1966 where he first taught nursery school and then high school art[citation needed] while working toward his first one-person exhibition in New York, held in 1968[4] when he was 30 years old. He lived and worked in New York City until his death from liver cancer on January 21, 2011, aged 72.[1][4] Coming out of the conceptual art movement, Oppenheim's early work was associated both with performance/body art and the early earthworks/land art movement.[5] From 1966-68, Oppenheim's ephemeral earthworks included shapes cut in ice/snow — such as "Annual Rings" (1968), a series of rings carved in the snow on the U.S.A./Canada border,[6] and "Gallery Transplant" (1969), in which he cut the outline of a gallery in the snow,[4] patterns cut in wheat fields with combine harvesters[6], and giant overlapping fingerprints representing the artist and his son Eric sprawled across several acres of a spoils field in Lewiston, NY.[7] He was included with Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson and Robert Morris in the important 1968 Earthworks show at the Dwan Gallery in New York.[5] Also in 1968, Oppenheim became friends with Vito Acconci and he began producing body art,[5], such as "Reading Position for Second Degree Burn" (1970), for which he lay in the sun for five hours with an open book on his chest.[4] In the early 1970s, he was in the vanguard of artists using film and video in relation to performance.[4] In the early 1980s, he began his "machine pieces", complex, space-filling devices, and after the mid-1980s, he worked on the "transformation of everyday objects in art."[4] From the mid-1990s, he created a number of large-scale public art pieces in major cities around the world, some of which proved controversial.[4] He received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He was included in both the Venice Biennale and the Johannesburg Biennale in 1997. In 2007, he was recognized for Lifetime Achievement at the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale.[8] |
EMP Museum {USA}The EMP Museum (formerly known as Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame or EMP|SFM) is a museum dedicated to the history and exploration of popular music, science fiction and pop culture located in Seattle, Washington. The Frank Gehry-designed museum building is located on the campus of the Seattle Center, adjacent to the Space Needle and the Seattle Center Monorail, which runs through the building.
The EMP Museum was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and opened its doors in 2000. EMP struggled financially in its early years; as a result, Allen established the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame (SFM), which opened in 2004 in the south wing of the EMP building. When SFM opened, EMP and SFM were treated as separate museums, and visitors had the option of purchasing admission to one museum, or, at a higher cost, a combined admission to both. In 2007, after mounting criticism, EMP|SFM ended the separate admissions policy and began charging a single admission price for entrance to both the EMP and SFM wings.[1] Although the Science Fiction Museum as a permanent collection was de-installed in March 2011, a new exhibit named "Icons of Science Fiction" is scheduled to open in June 2012.[1] EMP has provided funding for radio station KEXP in partnership with the University of Washington.[2] EMP was also the site of the demo and concert program for the first international conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME-01) and the Pop Conference, an annual gathering of academics, critics, musicians and music buffs. The EMP in collaboration with SIFF operates the Science Fiction Fantasy Short Film Festival (SFFSFF). Sffsff takes place annually every winter in Seattle, Washington at the world renowned Seattle Cinerama Theater. The festival brings together industry professionals in filmmaking and the genres of science fiction and fantasy to encourage and support new, creative additions to science fiction and fantasy cinema arts. |
Museo Dalí { SPAIN }This unusual and looking awesome building is museum and also the major attraction of the town. It is world well-known and the next frequented visited museum of Spain, after the Prado in Madrid.The Dali Museum is truly a strange museum. The designer himself hard worked various years in the developing. The museum is his greatest art work and provides also artworks of other designers, such as Marcel Duchamp. Those who are want to visit this unique museum, should be conscious of process beforehand to avaoid standing in a line for minimum half hour. In the summer season, there will be crowds of people going to the museum.
The Dalí Theatre-Museum, the largest surrealistic object in the world, occupies the building of the former Municipal Theatre, a 19th century construction which was destroyed at the end of the Spanish Civil War. On its ruins, Dalí decided to create his museum. |
Dom postawiony na głowie { POLAND }The Upside Down House is a project created by a Polish businessman and philanthropist named Daniel Czapiewski, and is located in Poland in the tiny village of Szymbark, and here are a few pics with this house. Rather than simply being a bizarre tourist attraction this house, managed to attract thousands of tourists. The house is also meant to be a profound statement about the Communist era and the state of the world. Czapiewski’s company would normally take three weeks to construct a house, but this one took 114 days because the workers were disorientated by the strange angles of the walls. Many tourists who visit complain of mild seasickness and dizziness after just a few minutes of being in the structure. Now let’s take a look at some pictures with this house.
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Anomaly { USA }The Longaberger Company is an American manufacturer of handcrafted maple wood baskets and offers other home and lifestyle products, including pottery, wrought iron, fabric accessories and specialty foods. It is one of the primary employers in the southeastern Ohio area near Dresden, Ohio. Started in Dresden, the company is now headquartered in Newark, Ohio. A family-owned and operated business, the Longaberger Company was started by Dave Longaberger, and after his death is owned by daughters Tami Longaberger and Rachel Longaberger.
Although Longaberger is a family-owned business, there are approximately 45,000 independent home consultants located throughout the U.S. who sell Longaberger products directly to customers, a method of direct marketing similar to Tupperware parties. Each basket is signed and dated by the maker and the company's stamp is placed on the bottom. The Longaberger corporate headquarters on State Route 16 is a local landmark and a well-known example of novelty architecture, since it takes the shape of their biggest seller, the "Medium Market Basket".[1] The basket handles weigh almost 150 tons and can be heated during cold weather to prevent ice damage.[2] Originally, Dave Longaberger wanted all of the Longaberger buildings to be shaped like baskets, but only the headquarters was completed at the time of his death. After his death, further basket-shaped buildings were vetoed by his daughters. Basket-making started with Dave's father J.W. Longaberger in 1919 when he took an apprenticeship with The Dresden Basket Factory. Eventually J.W. came to love and perfect the art of basket making. Even when The Dresden Basket Factory closed as a result of The Great Depression, he still made baskets on the weekends. He and his wife Bonnie Jean Longaberger (Gist) eventually raised enough money to purchase the closed basket factory and start a business of their own.[3] |
三芝飛碟屋 the UFO house in Sanjhih { TAIWAN }This bizarre looking building in Sanjhih is actually an abandoned resort project. The Taiwanese locals call it The UFO House because of it’s somewhat extra-terrestrial design. Cypherone (Taipei) has a Flickr set with over 40 photos of this abandoned holiday resort in Taiwan.
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Stone house { PORTUGAL }What do you think of this crazy stone house tucked into the Fafe Mountains in Portugal? Constructed between two giant stones and linked with a concrete mix, the house is rumored to be inspired by the popular American Flintstones cartoon. Although quite unusual, the prehistoric-looking residence does feature some traditional components such as windows, a front door, and even a shingled roof. As you might expect, the house’s design attracts thousands of tourists each year.
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Library Parking Garage { USA }The Kansas City Public Library is a public system headquartered in the Central Library in Kansas City, Missouri.[1][2]
The system operates its Central Branch and neighborhood branches located in Kansas City, Independence, and Sugar Creek. Founded in 1873, it is the oldest and third largest public library system in the metropolitan Kansas City area. Its special collections, housed in the Central Library's Missouri Valley Room, has a collection of Kansas City local history, including original and published materials, news articles, post cards, photographs, maps, and city directories dating from the community's earliest history. The Library's Ramos Collection includes books, pamphlets, journal articles and other materials relating to African-American history and culture. "The Community Bookshelf [Central Library Parking Garage] is a striking feature of Kansas City's downtown. It runs along the south wall of the Central Library's parking garage on 10th Street between Wyandotte Street and Baltimore Avenue. The book spines, which measure approximately 25 feet by 9 feet, are made of signboard mylar. The shelf showcases 22 titles reflecting a wide variety of reading interests as suggested by Kansas City readers and then selected by The Kansas City Public Library Board of Trustees." This structure routinely appears on the email list of UNIQUE BUILDINGS IN THE WORLD. |
dan and the house { USA }The Texas "Hole House" as it became known was in existence for only a few months in 2005. A disaster of the space time continuum? A tragic and curious result of an earthquake? An ominous omen? Just what the heck was going on with this extremely bizarre and short lived building? Of course the answer is nothing so outlandish or alien; it turns out that in the spring of 2005 two houses slated for demolition were turned into a limited time art project that came to be known...
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Erwin Wurm: House attack { AUSTRIA }Due to the ‘House Attack’ by famous Austrian sculptor Erwin Wurm the Vienna Museum of Modern Art (MUMOK) got into the list of the strangest buildings in the world. It seems like the house fell from the sky and landed in the center of the Austrian capital dashing right into the building of MUMOK. A little house, hanging upside down on its roof, attracted a lot of tourists’ attention all over the world in the end of 2006, when it was specially installed for Erwin Wurm’s exhibition taking place in the museum.
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SOHO { CHINA }SOHO China Limited (SEHK: 0410), founded in 1995, is the largest real-estate developer in Beijing, China . The company is incorporated in Cayman Islands. The founders are Pan Shiyi (潘石屹), a former Oil Ministry employee, and his wife Zhang Xin (张欣), a former Goldman Sachs employee.[2] The couple ranked the 237th richest 'person' in China a Forbes ranking in 2006.[3]
According to the Wall Street Journal, when Ms. Zhang and Mr. Pan set up their own property company in 1995, they decided to market units based on Japan's "Small Office, Home Office," or SOHO, concept, with homes doubling as offices.[4] The company focuses on acquiring properties in Beijing's Central Business District[2]. The company has developed and has completed the construction of approximately 1.75 million square meters of gross floor area (GFA) in central Beijing, more GFA than any other real estate company, with another 1.75 million presently under development. With the slogan of "building city center prosperity", SOHO China has played a leading role in China's urbanization, with several of its developments becoming landmark structures in Beijing's emerging skyline. SOHO China's completed projects and projects currently under construction in Beijing include: SOHO New Town, Jianwai SOHO, SOHO Shangdu, Chaowai SOHO, Guanghualu SOHO, Guanghualu SOHO II, Beijing SOHO Residences, ZhongGuanCun SOHO, Sanlitun SOHO, Qianmen Avenue, Chaoyangmen SOHO I, Chaoyangmen SOHO II, and Galaxy SOHO (formerly, Chaoyangmen SOHO III). SOHO China also has built internationally-recognized avant garde projects, Commune by the Great Wall in Beijing and Boao Canal Village in Boao, Hainan Island. SOHO China's developments are notable for not being gated, which is unusual for upscale residential complexes in China. On 8 October 2007, SOHO China was listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with a capital raising of HK$12.8 billion.[citation needed] |
CUBE HOUSE { Netherlands }Kubuswoningen, or cube houses, are a set of innovative houses built in Rotterdam and Helmond in The Netherlands, designed by architect Piet Blom and based on the concept of "living as an urban roof": high density housing with sufficient space on the ground level. Blom tilted the cube of a conventional house 45 degrees, and rested it upon a hexagon-shaped pylon. His design represents a village within a city, where each house represents a tree, and all the houses together, a forest.[1]
Three test versions were first constructed in 1974, and in 1977 18 houses were constructed in Helmond.[2] The many houses required for a "woonwoud" (English: living woods) were never realized. The houses in Rotterdam were designed in 1977 in a plan of 55, of which 39 were built.[3] The cube houses in Helmond surrounded a theater, Theater 't Speelhuis, which was destroyed by a large fire on 29 December 2011.[4] |
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao { SPAIN }The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art, designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, built by Ferrovial,[3] and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain.
It is built alongside the Nervion River, which runs through the city of Bilbao to the Atlantic Coast. The Guggenheim is one of several museums belonging to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The museum features permanent and visiting exhibits of works by Spanish and international artists. One of the most admired works of contemporary architecture, the building has been hailed as a "signal moment in the architectural culture", because it represents "one of those rare moments when critics, academics, and the general public were all completely united about something."[4] The museum was the building most frequently named as one of the most important works completed since 1980 in the 2010 World Architecture Survey among architecture experts.[4 |
Habitat 67 { CANADA }Habitat 67, or simply Habitat, is a model community and housing complex in Montreal, Canada designed by Israeli–Canadian architect Moshe Safdie. It was originally conceived as his master's thesis in architecture at McGill University and then built as a pavilion for Expo 67, the World's Fair held from April to October 1967. It is located at 2600 Avenue Pierre-Dupuy on the Marc-Drouin Quay next to the Saint Lawrence River.
Habitat 67 is widely considered an architectural landmark and one of the most famous and significant buildings in both Montreal and Canada as a whole.[1][2] Safdie's design for Habitat 67 began as a thesis project for his architecture program at McGill University. It was "highly recognized" at the institution, though Safdie cites its failure to win the Pilkington Prize, an award for the best thesis at Canadian schools of architecture, as early evidence of its controversial nature.[3] After leaving to work with Louis Kahn in Philadelphia, Safdie was approached by Sandy van Ginkel, his former thesis advisor, to develop the master plan for Expo 67, the world's fair that was set to take place in Montreal during 1967. Safdie decided to propose his thesis as one of the pavilions and began developing his plan.[3] After the plans were approved in Ottawa by Mitchell Sharp, the federal cabinet minister responsible for the exhibition, and Lester B. Pearson, Safdie was given the blessing of the Expo 67 Director of Installations, Edward Churchill, to leave the planning committee in order to work on the building project as an independent architect.[3] Safdie was awarded the project in spite of his relative youth and inexperience—he was in his twenties and had never built a building—and later described the opportunity as "a fairy tale, an amazing fairy tale".[3] The development was financed by the federal government, but is now owned by its tenants, who formed a limited partnership that purchased the building from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in 1985. Safdie himself still owns a penthouse apartment in the building.[4][5] Habitat 67 comprises 354 identical, prefabricated concrete forms arranged in various combinations, reaching up to 12 storeys in height. Together these units create 148 residences of varying sizes and configurations, each formed from between one to eight linked concrete units.[6] The complex originally contained 158 apartments,[7] but several apartments have since been joined to create larger units, reducing the total number. Each unit is connected to at least one private terrace, which can range from approximately 225 to 1,000 square feet (20.9 to 93 m2) in size.[6] The development was designed to integrate the benefits of suburban homes, namely gardens, fresh air, privacy, and multilevelled environments, with the economics and density of a modern urban apartment building.[1] It was believed to illustrate the new lifestyle people would live in increasingly crowded cities around the world.[8] Safdie's goal for the project to be affordable housing largely failed: demand for the building's units has made them more expensive than originally envisioned.[1] In addition, the existing structure was originally meant to only be the first phase of a much larger complex, but the high per unit cost of approximately C$140,000 prevented that possibility.[9] The theme of Expo 67 was "Man and his World", taken from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's memoir Terre des hommes (literally "land of men", though it was published under the title Wind, Sand and Stars). Housing was also one of the main themes of Expo 67. Habitat 67 then became a thematic pavilion visited by thousands of visitors who came from around the world, and during the expo also served as the temporary residence of the many dignitaries visiting Montreal. As one of the major symbols[10] of Expo 67, which was attended by over 50 million people during the year it was open, Habitat 67 gained world-wide acclaim as a "fantastic experiment"[4] and "architectural wonder".[2] This experiment was and is regarded as both a success and failure—it "redefined urban living"[5] and has since become "a very successful co-op",[1] but at the same time ultimately failed to revolutionize affordable housing or launch a wave of prefabricated, modular development as Safdie had envisioned.[1] Despite its problems, however, Habitat's fame and success "made [Safdie's] reputation"[10] and helped launch his career; Safdie has now designed over 75 buildings and master plans around the world.[5] Even now, more than 40 years after Habitat, much of Safdie's work still holds to the concepts that were so fundamental to its design, especially his themes of reimagining high-density housing and improving social integration through architecture, which have become "synonymous" with his work.[11] |
Manchester Civil Justice Centre in {Manchester, UK}The Manchester Civil Justice Centre in Manchester, England houses the Manchester County Court and the Manchester District Registry of the High Court, Manchester City Magistrates’ Family Courts, the District Probate Registry, and the Regional and Area Offices of the Court Service.[3]
The building was the largest civil court to be built since the Royal Courts of Justice and is known for its distinctive architecture. The building was nominated for the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2007 and has been nicknamed the filing cabinet due to its distinctive cantilever floors at the end of the building.[4] The Civil Justice Centre was constructed between 2003 and 2007 in the Spinningfields district to the west of Deansgate. The western side of the 80 metres (260 ft), 17-storey building faces the River Irwell, which marks the border between Manchester and Salford. It is currently the joint sixth tallest building in Manchester City Centre. Its entrance opens onto Bridge Street. The tower was designed by Australian architects Denton Corker Marshall with engineers Mott MacDonald following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions. The building is notable for the "fingers" at each end that are cantilevered over the lower levels. On the western facade is an 11,000-square-metre (120,000 sq ft) suspended glass wall, the largest in Europe. It is the first major court complex in Britain since George Edmund Street's Royal Courts of Justice in London's Strand, completed in 1882.[5] On 18 January 2007, during the Kyrill storm, several pieces of aluminium cladding were blown off the building, one of which struck a woman walking along Bridge Street.[6] Manchester Civil Justice Centre has won several awards for its sustainability credentials, innovative engineering design and striking architecture. Some of the key ones include [7]: RIBA Award 2008 - Royal Institute of British Architects National Awards[8]: Project of the Year 2008 – Building Awards (organised by the leading magazine, Building) Project of the Year – North West Regional Construction Awards 2008 (organised by Constructing Excellence) Project of the Year - National Constructing Excellence Awards 2008 Major Project of the Year – Green Construction Awards 2007 Architecture Grand Prix Gold Award – Rose Design Awards 2007 Gold Award – Best Public Building Awards 2007 |
United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel { USA }The United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel, completed in 1962, is the distinguishing feature of the Cadet Area at the United States Air Force Academy north of Colorado Springs. It was designed by renowned architect Walter Netsch[2] of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill of Chicago. Construction was accomplished by Robert E. McKee, Inc., of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Originally controversial in its design, the Cadet Chapel has become a classic and highly regarded example of modernist architecture. The Cadet Chapel was awarded the American Institute of Architects' National Twenty-five Year Award in 1996[3] and, as part of the Cadet Area, was named a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 2004.
The most striking aspect of the Chapel is its row of seventeen spires. The original design called for nineteen spires, but this number was reduced due to budget issues.[4] The structure is a tubular steel frame of 100 identical tetrahedrons, each 75 feet (23 m) long, weighing five tons, and enclosed with clear aluminum panels. The panels were fabricated in Missouri and shipped by rail to the site. The tetrahedrons are spaced a foot apart, creating gaps in the framework that are filled with 1-inch-thick (25 mm) colored glass. The tetrahedrons comprising the spires are filled by triangular clear aluminum panels, while the tetrahedrons between the spires are filled with a mosaic of colored glass in aluminum frame. The Cadet Chapel itself is 150 feet (46 m) high, 280 feet (85 m) long, and 84 feet (26 m) wide. The front façade, on the south, has a wide granite stairway with steel railings capped by aluminum handrails leading up one story to a landing. At the landing is a band of gold anodized aluminum doors, and gold anodized aluminum sheets apparently covering original windows. The shell of the chapel and surrounding grounds cost $3.5 million to build. Various furnishings, pipe organs, liturgical fittings and adornments of the chapel were presented as gifts from various individuals and organizations. In 1959, a designated Easter offering was also taken at Air Force bases around the world to help complete the interior. The Cadet Chapel was designed specifically to house three distinct worship areas under a single roof. Inspired by chapels at Sainte-Chapelle in France and the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi in Italy, architect Walter Netsch stacked the spaces on two main levels.[5] The Protestant nave is located on the upper level, while the Catholic and Jewish chapels and a Buddhist room are located beneath it. Beneath this level is a larger room used for Islamic services and two meeting rooms. Each chapel has its own entrance, and services may be held simultaneously without interfering with one another. |
Haines Shoe House { USA }The Haines Shoe House is a shoe-shaped house in Hallam, Pennsylvania, along the Lincoln Highway.
Modeled after a work boot, the house was built by shoe salesman Mahlon Haines in 1948 as a form of advertisement.[1] Among his various companies, he owned a company that likes to claim that they raised boots "hoof-to-hoof" because the company did the boot making process starting with raising the cattle.[2] The house, which is 25 feet (7.6 m) tall and contains five stories, was once rented out to couples, and is now open for public tours. It is located on Shoe House Road, next to a shoe-shaped doghouse.[1][3] Haines had the building built by handing a work boot to an architect saying, "Build me a house like this."[3] He lived in the shoe house for a short while but ended up moving into a house across the street. The renters were served by a maid and butler and then received free pairs of shoes when they left. A Shoe House vacation contest was held which was won in 1950 and had all expenses paid by Mahlon Haines. Fire escapes were added to the house in the 1960s.[3] The living room is located in the toe, the kitchen is located in the heel, two bedrooms are located in the ankle, and an ice cream shop is located in the instep. When Mahlon decided to sell the house, it started going to ruin until it was bought by his granddaughter Annie Haines Keller in 1987.[4] The current owners are Carleen and Ronald Farabaugh who bought the house in 2004. The house received a small renovation and new paint in 2007.[3] There is also a stained glass panel that shows Mahlon holding a pair of shoes with a message below it that reads, "Haines the Shoe Wizard".[4] Visitors can stand on the observation platform. During the 2004 opening after the Farabaughs bought the property, boy scouts ran Easter egg hunts there. Mahlon's family told stories about their relative and an author sold copies of his book The Life and Times of Mahlon Haines.[3] The Shoe House was visited in the eighth season of the reality television series The Amazing Race and was featured on HGTV's What's With That House. The Farabaughs are happy about the publicity although they were unable to talk about the house appearing on The Amazing Race until two years later.[5] |
PHOENIX ISLAND {CHINA}
Phoenix Island (simplified Chinese: 凤凰岛; traditional Chinese: 鳳凰島; pinyin: Fènghuáng Dǎo), dubbed the Oriental Dubai,[1][2] is an artificial archipelago forming an island resort currently under construction in Sanya, Hainan Province, China.[3][4][5]
The island is located in Sanya Bay, and is 1,250 metres (4,100 ft) long by 350 metres (1,150 ft) wide and covers a total area of 393,825 square metres (4,239,100 sq ft).[6] It is connected the shore by a 395-metre bridge. The project's program was developed by Leisure Quest International (USA) as was the development's Conceptual Design and Master Plan. The development was sold in 2006 to a Shanghai Developer. The design development of the project was undertaken by Beijing architectural firm MAD Studio, who won the contract in 2007,[3] total investment in the project exceeds 3 billion RMB (approximately $464 million).[4] It is due for completion in 2014.[6] Prices of luxury residential units on Phoenix Island range from 50,000 RMB to 100,000 RMB per square metre, (approximately $7,700 to $15,400 USD), comparable to high-end properties in Beijing and Shanghai.[4] |
DIAMOND RING HOTEL {ABU DUBAI}NO INFORMATION AVAILABLE .
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