SEATTLE CENTRAL LIBRARY

The first official building to house Seattle's public library was built in 1891 on Pioneer Square, eventually moving to a block bounded by Fourth and Fifth Avenues and Madison and Spring Streets. In 1998, Seattle voters embraced a $196.4m makeover of the library, dubbed 'Libraries for All'.

The initiative includes plans to double the square footage in Seattle's 22 libraries, including the building of new branches – but the icing on the cake is the new $169.2m Central Library at 1,000 Fourth Avenue, designed by Rem Koolhaas' Netherlands-headquartered Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in joint venture with local LMN Architects.

Partnering Koolhaas on the OMA team was another well-known name, Joshua Prince-Ramus, now of REX Architects in New York. 37 library staff groups and 11 public work groups were involved as well, according to a library statement.

SEATTLE CENTRAL LIBRARY FEATURES

OMA / LMN's creation opened in 2004 after 2.5 years of construction as an 11-floor, 412,000ft² library.

It includes such innovative features as a 'book spiral' on levels 6-9 that displays the entire non-fiction collection in a continuous run, and a 50ft-high living room alongside Fifth Avenue, all housed in a distinctive diamond-shaped glass and steel skin.

4,644t of conventional steel columns not only carry the weight of the building but support lateral loads such as wind and earthquake movement and the weight of the exterior building skin or curtain wall. The diamond-grid 'smart glass' was made by Okalux and custom-made by Germany's Seele.

Five platform areas allow form to follow function, each corresponding with different aspects of the million-book Central Library programme. The interior has been described as awash with natural light and space, inspiring users to read and borrow actual books in today's world of online texts and multimedia presentations.

The 'Mixing Chamber' on level 5 hosts a customer help centre, including 132 of the building's 400 public computers.

The 'Living Room' on level 3 features a teen centre, family fiction collection, shop, coffee bar, auditorium, the Library Equal Access Project and spaces to read or study. 'Living Room' flooring uses a recycled product called Worthwood made by Oregon Lumber.

A 'Seattle Room' on level 10 houses Seattle history and genealogical services. This level also houses the reading room, which has panoramic city views. Level 9 hosts a map room and writers' room. A children's centre on level 1 has special reading rooms.

A cross section of the new Central Library shows the 'mixing chamber'
customer help area and several purpose-built reading rooms.

HIGH-RISE MODIFICATION

"By modifying the superposition of floors in the typical American high-rise, a building emerges that is at the same time sensitive (the slopes will admit unusual quantities of daylight where desirable), contextual (each side can react differently to specific urban conditions) and iconic. Its angular facets form a plausible bracketing of Seattle's new modernity," OMA wrote.

Black wall tiles were made from a porous bead foam sound silencer called EPP-ARPRP sold by Acoustical Surfaces. Carpets were designed by Petra Blaise of Inside / Outside in Amsterdam, using Ege carpet of recyclable nylon or polyamid, from the UK. Level 10's 'pillow' ceiling is acoustic panels wrapped with ripstop nylon.

There are 731 seats at study tables without computers and 190 lounge seats, not counting seats for meeting rooms, out of a total $6.4m furniture budget. It includes a 275-seat auditorium and parking for 143 vehicles. The Central Library now sees two million physical patrons a year.

According to a statement from OMA, the library seems threatened, a fortification ready to be taken by potential enemies. "New libraries don't reinvent or even modernise the traditional institution; they merely package it in a new way," the architects wrote.

OMA's vision was to redefine the library as no longer exclusively dedicated to books but as more of an information store, where all media can be presented. "In an age where information can be accessed anywhere, it is the simultaneity of all media and the professionalism of their presentation and interaction that will make the library new," OMA wrote.

LIBRARY AWARDS

Seattle's new Central Library has won various awards, including the American Institute of Architects 2005 Honor Award, the American Council of Engineering Companies' 2005 Platinum Award for Innovation and Engineering and achieved a silver rating from the US Green Building Council.

Green Design and Earth-Friendly Architecture

Green Design is a term used to describe economical, energy-saving, environmental friendly, sustainable development. These resources explore the relationship between architecture and ecology, and show how you can use concepts of green design in your own home.

Green building-
Green building is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings use resources — energy, water, and materials — while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better sitting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal — the complete building life cycle.

A similar concept is natural building, which is usually on a smaller scale and tends to focus on the use of natural materials that are available locally. Other commonly used terms include sustainable design and green architecture.

Green building materials-
Building materials typically considered to be 'green' include rapidly renewable plant materials like bamboo and straw, lumber from forests certified to be sustainably managed, dimension stone, recycled stone, recycled metal, and other products that are non-toxic, reusable, renewable, and/or recyclable (e.g. Trass, Linoleum, sheep wool, panels made from paper flakes, baked earth, rammed earth, clay, vermiculite, flax linen, sisal, seagrass, cork, expanded clay grains, coconut, wood fiber plates, calcium sand stone. Building materials should be extracted and manufactured locally to the building site to minimize the energy embedded in their transportation.

Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago

Cloud Gate is a public sculpture by Anish Kapoor in Millennium Park, Chicago. The sculpture is shaped like an ellipse, and its legume-like appearance has caused it to be nicknamed “The Bean”. It is made of 168 highly polished stainless steel plates, and stands at 33 feet high, 66 feet long, and 42 feet wide, weighing 110 tons. From a distance it could be mistaken for a huge drop of mercury, while up close its highly reflective surface captures and transforms the skyline, the downtown cityscape and even the passers-by into a wonderfully warped new vista.

The artist, Anish Kapoor, has referred to the sculpture as “a gate to Chicago, a poetic idea about the city it reflects.” The 12-foot underbelly is called the "omphalos" or navel and multiplies reflections in a vortex.

National Grand Theater, Beijing, China

Designed by Paul Andreu Architect, the National Grand Theater of China is Located near Tiananmen Square , the 490,485-square-foot glass-and-titanium National Grand Theater, scheduled to open in 2008, seems to float above a man-made lake.

Intended to stand out amid the Chinese capital's bustling streets and ancient buildings, the structure has garnered criticism among Bejing's citizens for clashing with classic landmarks like the Monument to the People's Heroes (dedicated to revolutionary martyrs), the vast home of the National People's Congress, or Tiananmen Gate itself (the Gate of Heavenly Peace).

The project located in Beijing with area of 149,500 m2. According to the project description, this theater is composed by an opera, a concert hall and 2 theater. It is also mentioned as a city of theaters, and as you can seen on the picture above, the complex is look like a transparent island in an artificial lake.

French architect Paul Andreu is no stranger to controversy -- or to innovative forms.

A generation ago, in 1974, his untraditional design for Terminal 1 of Paris 's Charles de Gaulle airport was criticized for its unusual curves, yet Andreu's groundbreaking, futuristic building later was seen to distinguish de Gaulle from more generic European and international air hubs. (The same airport's Terminal 2E, also designed by Andreu, gained attention in 2004 when it collapsed, tragically killing four people.)

Beijing 's daring National Grand Theater is as much a spectacle as the productions that will be staged inside in the 2,416-seat opera house, the 2,017-seat concert hall, and the 1,040-seat theater. At night, the semi-transparent skin will give passersby a glimpse at the performance inside one of three auditoriums, a feature that highlights the building's public nature.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, North America

St. Patrick's Cathedral is the largest decorated Neo-Gothic-style Catholic cathedral in North America. It is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and a parish church, located at 50th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, just across the street from Rockefeller Center.

Can Green buildings save India from going grey?

A layman is very likely to show little interest in a speech or a discussion on green buildings. But, when the same person learns that there are only eight years left for us to save Mother Earth from the throes of emissions induced destruction, sitting up and taking notice is the only way out.

• What is a green building and what are the key requisites for constructing a green building?
  

A green building is the one that makes the greatest possible use of natural light and air and least possible utilization of energy and water. It uses industrial byproducts, emphasizes on recycling of waste water, harvesting of rain water, least use of air-conditioning, less production of carbon dioxide and tries to safeguard the environment in every possible way. Making a building green begins at the planning stage. The aim has to be kept in mind throughout. Secondly, safety is paramount in case of a green building. If a labourer dies while the construction is on, the building is never given a green certification.

After the construction is over, it is not possible to make a building green. There are various requisites for planning and constructing a green building.

Firstly, identifying a site for the construction of the building is very crucial. Ideally the site should be located in a centralized place so that the inhabitants can use public transport and less or no fossil fuel run vehicles.

Energy utilization should be optimum in a green building. Care should be taken to reduce the load of air conditioning on the power system.

Water discharge should be zero in a green building. Good green architecture reduces wastage of water in a big way. A green building should ideally have all waste water biologically treated and recycled. Ample structural specifications are incorporated in green buildings for harvesting rainwater. Grey water (water left after washing utensils and clothes) can be used for gardening and flushing purposes.

Maximum effort should be made in use of recycled materials in the construction of the building. Effort should be made to use fly ash Ready Mixed Concrete (20% fly ash + 100% cement) in construction. Aerated concrete blocks can be used instead of bricks for better insulation and heat rejection. Roof insulation should be done with clay rather than chemicals. Maximum bamboo products should be used for flooring.

• What is THE primary consideration while making a green building?
  

Though the term ‘green building’ says that it is about taking care of the environment, the comfort and considerations of the occupant is paramount. There is a standard to determine how good the Indoor Air Quality is, Carbon Dioxide content inside the building should be 400ppm over the ambient CO2 level.

Green buildings have the option of fresh air on demand. Coupled with effective and efficient cooling mechanism, green buildings can let occupants have a wonderful experience.

Frank Gehry's architectural designs in Lehi to be unveiled in August.

The public will finally be able to see what the much-anticipated Frank Gehry-designed project in Lehi will resemble when the famed American architect's artistic renderings are unveiled in early August.

"The designs will show what the hotel looks like, what the (10,000-seat) arena will look like, how retail plays in, and what some of the homes will look like," Provo entrepreneur and owner Brandt Andersen told the Daily Herald on Tuesday.

Public interest in the multi-billion-dollar mixed-use project, which showcases what is potentially Utah's tallest building -- a 450-foot tall hotel -- has been strong since it was first announced last February because of Gehry's involvement. Gehry is the creative genius behind architectural icons like the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain.

An unexpected discovery of thermal water beneath the 80-acre site, in addition to ample wind and solar energy sources, provided the inspiration for an architectural design with a new "green" emphasis, Andersen said. About 30 percent of the project could be fueled by green energy, he said.

Inspired by the natural architecture found in Utah's slot canyons such as The Narrows at Zion National Park, the Lehi project will include the 250-room hotel; a signature 500,000-square-foot, 10,000-seat arena; an amphitheater; 3.6 million square feet of residential space or 2,500 condo and multi-floor residential units, and 1.12 million square feet of retail space. The project also includes a boating lake, a wakeboard cable water park and 61 acres of open space.

"Pending final approvals by the city, we will also disclose some letters of intent from national and local tenants for the project by the end of summer. Retail interest is strong because they know of Frank's involvement, the specialized nature of the project and its proximity to the ski resorts," Andersen said.

Once the final project approvals are given this summer, construction will begin on the hotel, the arena as well as the two wakeboarding lakes, Andersen said.

As a precursor of the Gehry project, Andersen, also the owner of Utah Flash, will also be remodelling the Open Court, an 80,000 square foot recreational center in Lehi that he bought a month ago to be the new headquarters of the NBA affiliate. The building, which cost between $5 million and $10 million, will be renamed The Factory and will resemble what he called a "postmodern luminescent cube."

The Factory, located on 4425 N. Thanksgiving Way in Lehi, will also be used as a practice space by the Utah Flash, and will host community basketball camps.

Coop Himmelb(l)au

Coop Himmelb(l)au’s BMW delivery center in Munich is, marvels Giovannini, “a huge building supported by a funneling column that looks like a tornado.

It rivals the Guggenheim in Bilbao in sheer spectacle and intelligence.”

Alnwick Castle

Alnwick Castle, home to Ralph and Jane Perry, the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, has played a role in such historical films as Becket (1964), Mary, Queen of Scots (1972) and Elizabeth (1998).

More recently, the castle was used as a setting for Hogwarts School in both Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s StoneHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).

The 11th-century, 6,000-acre English estate includes semicircular towers dating to the 18th century along the castle’s perimeter wall.

Anantara Golden Triangle

The Chiang Saen Retreat Captures the Mysterious Essence of the East.

For centuries Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle the intersection of the Mekong and Ruak rivers, where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar all converge—was famous chiefly as the center of the world’s opium trade, an amorphous narcotics bazaar spreading over three nations but subject to no law save that of supply and demand. Today, with drug laws strictly enforced, the region happily traffics in a variety of perfectly legal intoxicants: the sight of the early-morning sun breaking through a fogbank to warm a mountainside, for instance, or the sound of a far-off elephant’s roar heard during an evening walk, or the taste of a fiery red curry washed down with a cold beer.

In the northern most province of Chiang Rai sits Chiang Saen, the town overlooking the confluent rivers that define the Golden Triangle. Curious visitors have always travelled here to absorb the natural beauty and to engage with the local hill tribes, whose artworks and handicrafts are among Thailand’s most popular exports. Now they have yet another reason: the Anantara Resort & Spa, a unique destination that offers guests a new take on classic Thai traditions.

Donghia

Angelo Donghia’s original 5th Avenue sofa—designed in the 1970s for Ralph Lauren’s New York apartment—“reinvented seat construction,” says designer Jacques Saint Dizier. “An overscale cloud of a seat almost floats on the minimal base.”

Sofa by Shelton Mindel

The sofa depends on the appropriateness to a time and space. What may be ideal for one space may not work for another. The best sofa would be one that appears to be seamless in the space it occupies.

Framed in leather, the sofa pictured was custom-designed by Shelton Mindel.

Sheer Kitchen

“It’s an example of thinking outside the box,” designer Penny Drue Baird says of the modular kitchen developed by Drag Design for the Italian company Sheer. The split-sphere base includes a cook-top, a sink and an extendable steel dining table.

Now see this stuff………………….

This is taken from world's tallest building "Burj Dubai" @ 2,620 ft / 801m!!!

What do you think guys…………………?

Really amazing...............

Look at the edge (uppermost right corner) of the picture, you can almost see the turn of the earth.

The persons who are working on the upper most Girders can see the "ROTATION OF EARTH"
So terrifying…..

St. Basil’s Cathedral

“The vivid colors and onion domes continue to inspire me,” says William Stubbs.
The cathedral on Red Square, in Moscow, was originally built by Postnik Yakovlev for Ivan the Terrible in 1555-61.

John Portman

“Architecture is not a private affair; even a house must serve a whole family and its friends, and most buildings are used by everybody, people of all walks of life. If a building is to meet the needs of all the people, the architect must look for some common ground of understanding and experience.”



The open lobby of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Louis Kahn

“Architecture is the reaching out for the truth.”



Considered Kahn’s finest residential project, the Korman House in Pennsylvania was recently restored.

Dining Rooms

On Nantucket, Massachusetts, a couple commissioned Botticelli & Pohl Architects and interior designer Elissa Cullman to create their seaside retreat. “The dining room,” says Cullman, “with its hand-painted scenic canvas by Chuck Fischer, is the most vibrant room in the house.”



“The space itself was inspirational,” designer Charles Allem says of a penthouse he remade for a Manhattan couple. Walnut doors, fitted with bronze hardware, open to the dining room. Hanging over the expansive walnut table is an 18-foot-long bespoke fixture. Fabricated using 105 sandblasted-glass cylinders of varying heights, it gives off “incredible shades that reflect all over the room,” Allem remarks.



Art, books and light fill author and historian Barbara Goldsmith’s Manhattan apartment, designed by Mica Ertegun, of MAC II. “Instead of jewelry,” says Goldsmith, “books have become my Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” For the dining room/library, Ertegun bought an Art Déco table at a Paris flea market; the chairs were designed by MAC II. At rear is Three Weeks, 1957, by Larry Rivers.



Combining raw, native materials with a modern sensibility, interior designer Mariette Himes Gomez and architect Jim Morter created a singular retreat in Wyoming for Anne and Allen Dick and their children. An English Arts and Crafts leather screen adds texture to the dining area. The chairs, with a Larsen tweed, were designed by Gomez.

White Interiors

In East Hampton, New York, architect and designer Russell Groves gave a modern beach house “a fresh outlook.” Groves designed the sofa, armchairs and the travertine-topped low table in the double-height living room, which he opened up with new fenestration and neutral hues.

Interior designer Jennifer Post maximized drama in a minimalist Tribeca penthouse by using strong contrasts, rich materials and abundant natural light. The family room—“the evening hub and entertainment area,” says Post—leads out to a walled private terrace. As with the other public rooms, comments the wife, “I was very adamant that we not have draperies because of the openness and the clean lines.”

Fashion designer Ralph Lauren and his wife, Ricky, bought a Jamaican villa on Round Hill, near Montego Bay, some 20 years ago. “It’s a place where you really love where you are,” he says. Marble floors were installed in the living room.



A Tribeca penthouse’s dramatic spaces and stylish, streamlined look evolved out of a couple’s collaboration with design firm Sills Huniford and architect Robert Kahn. Bead-board cabinetry adds “warmth and texture” to the kitchen, which is “clean and sleek,” observes James Huniford. The bleached table, originally a glossy black, was formerly the wife’s writing desk. “We reused beautiful or loved things the couple already owned.”



Light and elemental purity distinguish an apartment designed by architects Michael Gabellini and Kimberly Sheppard that virtually floats above the panoramic New York City skyline. The kitchen appliances and millwork contribute to the clarity and harmony of the apartment as a whole, in which light, form and material coexist within a minimal envelope,” says Gabellini.

Interior designer Mariette Himes Gomez and architect Oscar Shamamian together handled the conversion of two separate apartments into a single, unified whole for a Manhattan family. The resulting 5,000-square-foot duplex penthouse’s entrance hall has a circa 1820 cherrywood center table and a circa 1830 French mahogany fauteuil, both from Lee Calicchio. Chair fabric, Rogers & Goffigon.

Living Rooms

Designers Stephen Sills and James Huniford, of Sills Huniford, worked with architectural designer Robert Rich to expand a couple’s 18th-century saltbox in upstate New York into a weekend retreat. The designers retained the living room’s original wood floors and incorporated a soothing palette. “This house is not about moldings,” says Huniford. “It’s about light and comfort.”

Richard Meier

In designing the interior architecture and décor of an apartment in one of Richard Meier’s Glass Towers on Manhattan’s Hudson river, Peter L. Shelton and Lee F. Mindel carved out serene spaces while honoring the building’s modernist aesthetic. Midcentury furnishings, like the Poul Kjaerholm rattan chairs in the living area, set the tone.

For the Rachofsky House in Dallas, Meier created a space for both an individual to live as well as an international private collection of artwork. Meier made “art a part of the experience” in the house, with a focus on light and hard lines.

Living Rooms

From Classic to contemporary, a few of the most inviting and stylish living rooms :


A tranquil palette characterizes a Los Angeles living room designed by Mariette Himes Gomez.

Richard Meier & Partners’ recent expansion of the Friesen House in Los Angeles involved adding a story perched on a platform straddling the original 1953 structure. Besides acting as a backdrop for the fireplace in the master bedroom, the concrete shear wall adds lateral stability to the house and supports the second story construction.

Living Rooms

Interior designer Jennifer Post maximized drama in a minimalist Tribeca penthouse by using strong contrasts, rich materials and abundant natural light. The limestone fireplace and ebonized-white-oak cabinetry establish the palette that prevails in the living/dining room, as throughout.

Shelton, Mindel & Associates conceived and arranged a Manhattan loft for Claude Arpels. “The gestures of the design are in keeping with the original industrial vernacular of the building,” explains Lee F. Mindel. Near a Poul Kjaerholm armchair and sofa in the living room is a Charlotte Perriand wood bench. “Most of the furnishings we chose are by architects who understood the technology of their time. Their design philosophies are present in the furniture,” Peter L. Shelton says.

Interior designer John D. Lightbody

Interior designer John D. Lightbody describes the aesthetic as “a contemporary interpretation of classic Thai.” In the lobby, a massive carved wood candleholder is supported by three wood elephants. “They represent strength, wealth and longevity,” he says.

Marco Aldaco

“I try to collaborate with nature to create vivacious designs,” says Marco Aldaco, the prominent Mexican architect whose buildings are celebrated for their soulfulness and sculptural drama.

“I work with the eternal materials—brick, cement, wood, stone, stucco, marble. I have not found any better materials—none more practical, none cheaper—than the traditional ones.”

Amarvilas- Agra

In 1631, when Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of India’s Shah Jahan, died in childbirth, her grief stricken husband erected what may be the most beautiful building in the world, the Taj Mahal, as a mausoleum and memorial for her. Crafted from shimmering white marble that changes aspect at differing hours of the day, domed, minareted, the Taj has inspired the awe of generations of travelers, writers and artists and is the reason for most visits to Agra, if not to India itself.

A structure like this one throws down a nearly unmeetable challenge to any architect contemplating building in its shadow. But when the Oberoi Group, which owns and operates luxury hotels in Asia, Australia and Africa, asked the Bombay-based architect Prabhat Patki, along with the Malaysian firm Lim, Teo + Wilkes Design Works, to build a new hotel on a site about six hundred yards from the Taj, the challenge proved irresistible.

Patki’s brief was to create a haven for guests that would embody the exotic grandeur of the monuments they have come to Agra to see and at the same time enfold them in luxury and serenity. All this while respecting complex zoning and design regulations imposed by Amarvilas’s unmatchable location.

“We had to be very careful in our design style,” says Patki, whose previous work for Oberoi included the opulent Rajvilas hotel just outside Jaipur. “Putting a contemporary building so close to the Taj would have had severe heritage re-percussions, but traditional Indian style would have competed with it, so we opted for a variant of traditional design—Asian in content, but with Indian accents.”

The size and siting were also issues: Regulations forbid building higher than the domes of the Taj, so in order to achieve the desired room count, he designed setbacks that allowed for guest room terraces on three levels, and he staggered interior corridors, creating octagonal lobbies to break up their length. And since the master plan called for each of the 112 guest rooms and suites to have a view of the Taj Mahal, says Patki, “we had to stretch the whole hotel lengthwise along the plot.” But he avoided monolithic monotony by placing rooms in two wings, accented by Ottoman-style bays and setting the building behind a colonnaded forecourt paved with traditional glass tiles and enlivened by frescoes painted with ground-semiprecious-stone pigments and gold leaf, in the Mughal style.

The result looks like a palace in a Mughal miniature, and guests could be forgiven if they felt they’d found themselves in an Indian fairy tale. Passing into the forecourt of the ceremonial entrance pavilion, they encounter fountains, filigreed stone bridges and tall pillars topped by torches; the lobby has a geometrically painted dome, a tiled floor and huge arched windows that frame a breathtaking vista of the Taj. Flanking the windows are a teak-paneled bar dominated by an antique map of the Taj Mahal and an elegant French-influenced tea lounge. Even the restaurants—the all-day Bellevue, with its hip Asian-Mediterranean fusion cuisine, and the more formal Esphahan, which serves signature Indian dishes—seem to tell a story about themselves and the people in them.

Throughout Amarvilas, the traditional crafts and materials that are a hallmark of the Oberoi style lighten the grandeur of chandeliers and opulent furnishings. Creamy sandstone walls are frescoed or finished with a lime plaster; teak paneling, hand-knotted silk rugs and block-printed draperies soften the contours; the swimming pool is recessed into a terraced garden; guest rooms and suites are furnished with custom-built pieces and handwoven fabrics.

Modern technology underlies Amarvilas’s spa. Traditionally crafted iron gates, latticed windows and inlaid-stone floors are complemented by mosaic-lined whirlpool tubs, sauna and steam rooms and therapy suites, where Ayurvedic and anti-stress massages and skin treatments are available.

After a day of such pampering, guests should be ready for a full dose of sight-seeing. In-room guides to Agra’s monuments are only the beginning: The hotel will provide golf carts for the journey to the Taj, anits fleet of vintage automobiles is available for transport to any of the other attractions in the area. These include the Red Fort, the lacy stonework of Itmad-ud-Daulah’s tomb and—beyond Agra—the wildlife and bird sanctuaries at Bharatpur and the Chambal ravines, as well as the deserted city of Fatehpur Sikri.

But always visitors return to Amarvilas and to its view of the place Rudyard Kipling called “the Ivory Gate through which all good dreams come.” The Taj Mahal, he wrote, “seemed the embodiment of all things pure, all things holy.–.–.–.–That was the mystery of the building.” And that is the gift Amarvilas gives its guests.

Akshardham Temple, New Delhi

Akshardham is a Hindu temple complex in New Delhi, India. The megha Akshardham temple complex was opened to the public on 8th November 2005 by Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the spiritual leader of BAPS (the organization responsible for the creation of Akshardham) and ceremoniously dedicated to the nation by the President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam and the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.

Sitting on the banks of the Yamuna River, adjacent to the proposed Commonwealth Games village, the complex features a large monument, crafted entirely of stone, permanent exhibitions on Bhagwan Swaminarayan and Hinduism, an IMAX cinema, musical fountain, and large landscaped gardens.

The temple which depicts the Hindu mythology and Indian culture promises to attract lakhs of tourists’ every year with its religious tourism.

Build over an area of 100 acres on the banks of the River Yamuna, it took more than 2 years for construction and costed around Rs.2 billion, funded by millions of Bochasanvasi Aksharpurushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) followers worldwide.

The temple has 234 ornate pillars, 20,000 statues and many arches. Besides the Swaminarayan temple the complex consists of the main monument, exhibition halls, an IMAX theatre and a musical fountain, surrounded by a garden. It also got a restaurant modeled on the Ajanta and Ellora caves and an Ayurvedic bazaar.

The monument was constructed by BAPS Foundation, the builders of the various Swaminaryan Temples across the world. It took over 300 million man hours of services rendered by 11,000 volunteers, sadhus and artisans.

The Akshardham monument, Built inch to inch according to the ancient Sthaapatya shastras of India, is built without steel, and is entirely composed of sandstone and marble.

consists of 234 ornately carved pillars, 9 ornate domes, 20 quadrangled shikhars, a spectacular Gajendra Pith (plinth of stone elephants) and 20,000 murtis and statues of India's great sadhus, devotees, acharyas and divine personalities.

It is one of the biggest and most intricate religious places of worship ever constructed. Combining several completely different and contrasting architectural styles of Hindu temple architecture of northern India -- Rajasthani, Orissan, Gujarati, Mughal and Jain -- the Akshardham Monument is entirely constructed of marble and the red-sandstone that Delhi is famous for, and that so many of her monuments are constructed of. So after years of waiting, the Temple was opened to the public -- and to photographers.

At its inauguration, it is widely being heralded as one of the greatest monuments India has ever produced. The monument is a fusion of several architectural styles of pink stone and pure white marble. Pink stone symbolizes bhakti (devotion) in eternal bloom and white marble of absolute purity and eternal peace.

It is one of the wonders of the modern world, and the wonders of modern India.