NO REGRETS. JUST LOVE.

In class, we were asked to determine the design styles of the groups of photos that were shown to us. We were shown three groups of pictures in our class: iconic, technological and contextual. I did a research on some of the edifices that were shown to us so I could know more about them. I want to familiarize myself with more structures in the field of architecture.

The first group of photos belongs to the iconic group. Iconic in a sense that it was monumental, it’s well-known and it sticks to the minds of the people. Some photos that were shown were the Shanghai Tower, Eiffel Tower in Paris, Sydney Opera House, Empire State Building, PETRONAS Twin Tower in Malaysia, Bird’s Nest or Beijing Olympic Stadium in China and more. As we all know, everything that was mentioned are famous. Even the lay people know about this.

Shanghai Tower is designed by Gensler, an architectural firm. This tower is the 4^th  tallest towers in the world and it’s the tallest in China. It was built to complete the trio tall towers in PuDong China. It looks like a remote control or a soda bottle opener. The open space on top was intentionally opened for less air resistance. 

Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue opera house in Sydney, Australia. It is supposed to look like the segments of an orange that has been carefully sliced open. It is one of the most iconic buildings ever created in the 20^th century.

The Burj Al Arab is design by an architect name Tom Wright. He wanted to create his building synonymous to Dubai like the Eiffel Tower known in Paris and the Sydney Opera House in Australia. The Burj Al Arab or the Tower of Arabs is a luxury hotel located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is the fourth tallest hotel in the world. It stands on an artificial island few meters away from the beach beside it called Jumeirah beach and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. It looks like a sail ship, and it fits it because it’s along a shore.

Beijing Olympic Stadium or also known as the Bird’s Nest in China was supposed to be traditionally designed. A group of architects talked about it and they ended up in a nest scheme because China wanted something new for their country. For me, it’s looks kind of literal but not kichi. On the other hand, the  Beijing National Aquatics Centre also known as the National Aquatics Centre is an aquatic centre that was built beside the Beijing Olympic Stadium. It was created by the PTW Architects, and architectural from in Australia. It is also known as the Water Cube because of its shape. It’s like a 3 dimensional rectangle that has bubbles as its exterior design.

The structure that struck me the most was the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Yes, it is very famous in all parts of the world. When it was first shown to us, I thought our professor was kidding. I just found out that it was really part of architecture. In the first place, it doesn’t have any function at all, it’s as if it was built for displaying purposes. For me it  is the most iconic of all the photos that were shown, because when I was young, I already know about it. That’s how famous it is. 

Technological architecture is a design that uses high-tech modernism by use of materials. For me it shows honesty in terms of the materials that were used; it uses glass and shows the skeleton of its structure. It creates a pleasing effect inside and out, people would go in to feel what’s inside.

The last category is contextual. For one structure to be contextual, it has to have a connection to the other structures around it. It has to blend with the environment, and does not want to interfere the other structures around it.