Buenos Aires' neighborhoods offer an impressive sampling of the city's heritage and utopian ambitions.

A French neoclassical building on Avenida Independencia in Buenos Aires. (Julia Kumari Drapkin/GlobalPost)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Wander the neighborhoods of Buenos Aires and it's hard not to wonder about the mix of architecture. The house next door, the corner pizza parlor, even parking garages have features that tickle the curiosity.

Most are artifacts of the city's building boom from 1880 through the 1920s, when Buenos Aires was one of the world's richest, fastest growing cities. The capital was a blank canvas and its architects wanted to create their dream city at the beginning of a brand new century.
The resulting architectural styles reflect the utopian ambitions of the designers as well as their immigrant heritage. At the height of the great European migration to Argentina in 1914, 30 percent of the population was foreign born. Neighborhood architects built in their own styles flavored by their home country or that of their patron.
Take a tour of Buenos Aires with architecture detective Alejandro Machado, who rigorously documents the architectural heritage of edifices across the city.

A guide to Buenos Aires architecture
It's not hard to be an architecture detective in Buenos Aires. Just pick a street and take a walk. While some neighborhoods are known for certain styles, most offer an impressive sampling of the city's architectural heritage.
The overall style of a neighborhood building can tell you a lot about when it was built and the people who built it. Three styles dominate the neighborhoods of Buenos Aires: neoclassical, art nouveau and art deco.

Dubai is the most populous and second largest emirate of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is located in the Middle East, bordering the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, between Oman and Saudi Arabia. The UAE was formed 1971 when the Trucial States of the Persian Gulf coast (previously under control of the United Kingdom) merged.

Today UAE's per capita GDP is on par with those of leading West European nations. Dubai has however received its world-wide attention as a result of numerous enormous innovative real estate projects such as:

• The world tallest hotel, Burj Al Arab.
  
• The world's tallest building, Burj Dubai is under construction with a planned height of over 800 meters.
  
• Dubailand, the world's largest theme park (280 square kilometers) is under construction (more than twice the size Walt Disney World in Florida).
  
• Bawandi, a development of 31 hotels featuring 29,000 rooms, including the world's largest hotel with 6,500 rooms (MGM Grand in Vegas has 5,034 rooms).
  
• Palm Jumeirah and Palm Jebel, the world's largest man-made islands.
  
• Hydropolis, an underwater hotel.
  
• Business Bay, a central business district under construction, will have upwards of 230 buildings.
  
• and more ...

This 71 minute film is an overview of Dubai's megaprojects.
Enjoy this eye-popping city with it's highlights without leaving home!




Enjoy your time!

Grand design, the french style, Jacques Rougerie, a French architect, is one of the most interesting architects/designers out there. He has drawn space stations, sea vessels and underwater habitats. He will be my project for the next few weeks, here is a list of his upcoming work:

• Aquaspace, a trimaran
• Aquascope
• The Galathée houses or the structures Hippocampus and Aquabulle.
• Sea To orbit, in collaboration with the oceanographer Jacques Piccard and the astronaut Christian Jean-Wolf.
• The underwater archaeological museum of Alexandria in Egypt

Here some pictures of this amazing underwater archaeological museum:

If you are looking for a great dose of culture then cities like Rome and Paris automatically spring to mind. Why not try something a little different? Why not try a city that most people would never think of?

If you think of Helsinki, you would not ordinarily think that the city is steeped in history and culture. In fact, not much is known about this Finnish city. In order to really experience culture with a difference, you need to book as early as possible. Helsinki is fast becoming a popular holiday destination. Booking early also allows you to get better prices in the better hotels.

The cultural scene in Helsinki is not only based on the physical structures. The culture is deeply embedded in the food, drink and in the way those who live in Helsinki live their lives. However, there are several architectural and cultural wonderments that adorn the city.

One such breathtaking site is the Lutheran Cathedral. Situated in the older parts of central Helsinki, this behemoth of a structure towers into the sky. The interior is even more impressive than the exterior as it is painted in green and white to give the building a soothing and welcoming aura. The cathedral shares the Senate Square with the presidential palace and one of the biggest universities in Finland. Depending on what time of year you are visiting Helsinki, you could find yourself witnessing some of the incredible services in the Lutheran Cathedral or being able to watch one of the many parades on Senate Square.

As far as museums go, Helsinki has several. The most notable of these museums is the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art which is a huge attraction all year round especially in the winter months when outdoor activity is avoided by most of the citizens of Helsinki. This museum is home to some of Finland's best artists and designers modern artwork. There are even exhibitions of international work. The museum is also a popular place to hold high class events and launches and this is therefore a great place to see the upper echelon of the Helsinki society.

Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art

The best place to stay in Helsinki if you are interested in finding out as much as possible about the culture is in the older parts of the city. In the summer months the climate is mild enough to spend all day outside. You can stay in one of the many fine hotels on offer and more often than not these hotels will be architectural wonderments in themselves.

You could also consider staying in a self-catering holiday apartment so that you are not tied to specific meal times and you can come and go as you please. However you choose to do it, Helsinki is a city worth visiting.

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The recent "acqua alta" (high water) in Venice, Italy reached a depth of 1.56 meters (5 ft, 1 in.) on Monday - the deepest flood in 22 years, and the fourth highest flood level in recent history, claimed Venice's Tide Center. The water began to subside on Tuesday, while residents and tourists made their way through the city, hip-waders or not - one man even took the opportunity to ride his wakeboard through Piazza San Marco (until police stepped in). Although this flood was severe enough for the mayor to ask tourists to temporarily stay home, Venetian floods are fairly routine, several occurring every year, and residents usually take it all in stride. (25 photos total)

Venice 'under water' after worst floods for 20 years:

Venice has been hit by the worst flooding in more than 20 years, as high winds and days of heavy rain pushed the level of the city’s lagoon to more than five feet above its average height.

By Nick Squires in Rome
Last Updated: 11:43AM GMT 02 Dec 2008 From telegraph.co.uk



More than 95 per cent of the historic city centre, including St Mark’s Square, was under water as the city was swamped by the most severe flood since 1986.

Tourists and residents were stranded in hotels and houses as the duckboards and pontoons which normally cope with Venice's high tides simply floated away.

Elderly people had to be carried to safety and shops and homes had to use pumps to bail out the water.

Venice’s mayor, Massimo Cacciari, advised tourists hoping to visit the city to “think again”.

The situation was worsened by a transport strike affecting Venice’s famous vaporetto ferries.

The governor of Veneto province, of which Venice is a part, criticised transport workers for choosing such a bad time to strike.

“I’d like to give them a medal for their sense of responsibility,” Giancarlo Galan said with heavy sarcasm.

Venice’s lagoon often rises to 40 inches above its normal level during 'acqua alta’ or high tides, particularly in autumn and winter.

But anything above 50 inches risks flooding the city and causing chaos for its 60,000 permanent residents and the tens of thousands of tourists who descend on it each day.

The worst flood in modern times was in 1966, when the lagoon rose more than six feet and caused widespread damage.

Experts say the severity and frequency of floods is becoming worse due to silt deposits raising the floor of the lagoon and a rise in sea levels caused by global warming.

After years of argument and indecision, Venice has started building a system of moveable barriers to control the inflow of water from the Adriatic Sea, but it is not expected to be finished until 2012.

Bad weather has affected much of Italy in recent days, with snow storms in the north, heavy rain in Umbria and Tuscany and thunder storms over Rome and as far south as Sicily.