AI-generated Architecture: “Gaudism” by Ariadna Gimenez.

Designer Ariadna Giménez creates AI-generated ‘Gaudism’ project that explores aspects of Catalan Modernism. Gimenez explains ‘Gaudism — from Gaudí, is a project exploring aspects of Catalan Modernism at different scales and translating it into a contemporary minimalist expression of natural forms, focusing on the curves, the dynamism, the beyond fairytale aspect or fantastic feel that this movement generates.’

Architectural Drawing by Adelina Gareeva

Follow Adelina’s art and various projects on her Instagram @li.adeli. 

Amazing Sand Sculptures by Ray Villafane

While Ray Villafane is best known for his expertise in the art of food carving, he is also recognized for his magnificent, remarkably realistic sand sculptures. Using just sand and water, the artist sculpts incredibly detailed figures that tower above him as he works. Funny-faced people, nativity scenes, and hellish creatures from Dante’s Inferno appear so life like that it’s hard to believe they were formed from humble grains of sand. 

Villafane only began sand sculpting in 2008 after accepting a challenge in Jesolo, Italy.

Despite not having any experience working with the medium, he wowed viewers with his exceptional craft, and since then has received invitations from all over the world to take on new sand sculpting projects.

Visit www.villafanestudios.com for more!

Gravity-Defying Stone Balancing Art By Michael Grab

Canada-born and Colorado-based artist and photographer Michael Grab is a master of stone balancing. Perhaps magician’s a better word for it, actually, as it’s difficult to comprehend how he could have created his graceful works of balance art.

Fortunately, Grab’s videos shows the artist engage in the meditative process behind these works of art, which require enormous amounts of patience and care.

“Over the past few years of practicing rock balance, simple curiosity has evolved into therapeutic ritual, ultimately nurturing meditative presence, mental well-being, and artistry of design,” writes Grab on his artist statement. “Alongside the art, setting rocks into balance has also become a way of showing appreciation, offering thanksgiving, and inducing meditation.”

More info: gravityglue.com | Facebook | Vimeo | Twitter

Top 10 Strangest Buildings in the World

1. Krzywy Domek - The Crooked House, Poland

The Krzywy Domek is an irregularly-shaped building in Sopot, Poland. Its name translates into English as the Crooked House. 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. Dancing Building, Czech Republic

The Dancing House or Fred and Ginger is the nickname given to the Nationale-Nederlanden building in Prague, Czech Republic, at Rašínovo nábřeží (Rašín's riverbank). It was designed by the Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić in co-operation with the renowned Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry on a vacant riverfront plot. The building was designed in 1992 and completed in 1996.

3. La Pedrera, Spain

Casa Milà, better known as La Pedrera, is a building designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built during the years 1906–1912. It is located at 92, Passeig de Gràcia in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was a controversial design at the time for the bold forms of the undulating stone facade and wrought iron decoration of the balconies and windows, designed largely by Josep Maria Jujol, who also created some of the plaster ceilings.

4. The Niteroi Contemporary Art Museum, Brazil

The Niterói Contemporary Art Museum is situated in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and is one of the city’s main landmarks. It was completed in 1996. Designed by Oscar Niemeyer with the assistance of structural engineer Bruno Contarini, who had worked with Niemeyer on earlier projects, the MAC-Niterói is 16 meters high; its cupola has a diameter of 50 metres with three floors. The museum projects itself over Boa Viagem (“Bon Voyage,” “Good Journey”), the 817 square metres (8,790 sq ft) reflecting pool that surrounds the cylindrical base “like a flower,” in the words of Niemeyer.

5. Stone House, 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. [Source]

6. Habitat 67, Montreal, 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 recognizable and significant buildings in both Montreal and Canada.

7. Montreal Biosphere - Quebec, Canada

The Biosphère is a museum in Montreal dedicated to the environment. It is located at Parc Jean-Drapeau, on Île Sainte-Hélène in the former pavilion of the United States for the 1967 World Fair Expo 67. The structure is used prominently in the original Battlestar Galactica television series episode, "Greetings from Earth". Scenes for Robert Altman's post-apocalyptic ice age film Quintet were shot on site as well.

8. Cubic Houses - Rotterdam, 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.

9. Cathedral of Brasilia, Brazil

The Cathedral of Brasília is the Roman Catholic cathedral serving Brasília, Brazil, and serves as the seat of the Archdiocese of Brasília. It was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, and was completed and dedicated on May 31, 1970. The cathedral is a hyperboloid structure constructed from 16 concrete columns, weighing 90 tons each.

10. National Centre for the Performing Arts, China

The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), and colloquially described as The Giant Egg, is an opera house in Beijing, People's Republic of China. The Centre, an ellipsoid dome of titanium and glass surrounded by an artificial lake, seats 5,452 people in three halls and is almost 12,000 m² in size. It was designed by French architect Paul Andreu. Construction started in December 2001 and the inaugural concert was held in December 2007.

Source

L'histoire du Palais Garnier à Paris

A statue of Apollo holding a lyre at the Palais Garnier in Paris

The Palais Garnier in Paris is most commonly known as the Paris Opera, and is considered one of the most important structures in Paris. A 2,200 seat opera house, it became the successor to the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique, which burned down in 1873. This landmark is a prime example of Beaux-Arts architecture movement, drawing on the17th century Classical Roman Baroque style of emphasizing drama and grandeur, as well as symmetry.

The Palais Garnier was commissioned during the reconstruction brought on by Napoleon III – civic planner Baron Haussman was given the task to clear enough land to build the opera house in 1858, and architect Charles Garnier's design was chosen from a competition held in 1861.

Palais Garnier model

The building was designed to be an extravagant experience – a lush, richly decorated space with over the top elements such as a six-ton central chandelier, bronze busts of composers, and multiple columns, friezes and statues. The enormous stage could accommodate up to 450 people at one time, an attention to space only matched by the building’s cavernous corridors and stairwells.

Construction began in 1862, and very soon was plagued with setbacks and delays. It turned out the foundation was unwittingly laid upon a swamp, which took roughly eight months to drain. Then the Franco-Prussian War and the subsequent fall of Napoleon III also caused long interruptions between construction periods.

Front view

It wasn’t until the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique (1821 – 1873) burned down that there was a groundswell of motivation that finally gave Garnier a chance to finish, and he did so by the end of 1874. The Palais Garnier was inaugurated on January 15, 1875. However, the name Palais Garnier is only a recent title – by the time it was renamed as such in 1989 it had gone through two other names. Its first was Académie Nationale de Musique - Théâtre de l'Opéra and was so until 1978 when it was renamed as the Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris. 

Palais Garnier became the official name when the Opéra Bastille was built in 1989 to replace the older opera house – luckily, the Palais Garnier stillremains and continues to house performances. The survival of the Palais Garnier is thanks to the public that still considers it to be and refers to it as the Paris Opera.

The Grand Staircase

The Grand Foyer at The Palais Garnier

A view of the stage

The ceiling of the auditorium, decorated by Marc Chagall

 The stage overlooking the seats, the boxes, and the famous chandelier

Source:

http://www.francethisway.com