The New Extraterrestrial Design by Zaha Hadid

What you are looking at is the new design for the new Cultural Centre and Opera House in Dubai by Zaha Hadid.

It is said that; “The design calls for an exciting new cultural centre in the new Seven Pearls district of Dubai. This landmark development will accommodate an opera house, playhouse, arts gallery, performing arts school and themed hotel on an island in Dubai Creek just off the mainland part of the district. All of these facilities will be state of the art to host world class performances and exhibitions. The opera house will have a seating capacity of 2,500 while the playhouse will have a seating capacity of 800.”

To read more about the dune-shaped building proposed for an island off Dubai Creek, go here.

Mile-High Skyscrapers and Floating Cities That Never Were

Wired.com has compiled a portfolio of “promised skylines we never got to see — and a few that may yet come to be — as seen from the imagined eyes of those who live there.” The picture above is Frank Lloyd Wright’s “This Illinois”, which was supposed to shoot 5,278 feet above Chicago. Other “alternate reality architectures” include

Welthauptstadt Germania: The projected renewal of the German capital Berlin by Adolf Hitler

X-Seed 4000: Home to 500,000 of Tokyo’s finest.

The Arcologies, 2070: Sets of architectural design principles aimed toward the design of enormous habitats (hyperstructures) of extremely high human population density.

London: The Whole Town Being Painted?!

It is reported that Banksy’s friend and rival artist Nick Walker is taking the street’s art battle to the entire London. A handout image provided to media of the Houses of Parliament dripping in colours, showing that the town will be painted red, yellow, purple, pink and green. However, Walker is not using spray paint anymore, but a giant laser beam to colour some of British capital’s landmarks.

By the way, Banksy has just created his largest work in London to date. It was also completed after he managed to erect a three storey scaffolding behind a security fence under cover of darkness while CCTV cameras looked on.

For those who don’t know or can’t remember Banksy’s works, here are some to jolt your memory:

Real-life Spiderman coming to HK

Alain Robert, a.k.a. the real-life Spiderman who’s famous for climbing skyscrapers is coming to Hong Kong for a talk. But we all know what’s his real agenda is, to climb the skyscrapers of Hong Kong (DUH!). For those who don’t know, I’ve posted a shot of some of the skyscrapers of Hong Kong below.

Anyway, here’s the info:

Monday 14th April – special dinner with Alain Robert, the real-life Spiderman – $400 including 3 course dinner, glass of wine and coffee/tea with talk and presentation by Alain at Soho Soho Restaurant & Bar.

Inquiries: 2850-5065 or visit www.asia-city.com/events

National Geographic: 20 Photos for 2008

Here are the photos chosen by National Geographic for the year 2008, enjoy.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.