Unusual houses

Houses are amazing not only because they are the place where we live but also because they can be designed in many different ways. We can find a house model for almost every kind of preference that we think of.

The roundhouse is a type of house with a circular plan, originally built in western Europe before the Roman occupation using walls made either of stone or of wooden posts joined by wattle-and-daub panels and a conical thatched roof. Roundhouses ranged in size from less than 5m in diameter to over 15m. In the later part of the 20th Century modern new designs of roundhouse eco-buildings started to be built using techniques such as cob, Cordwood or straw bale walls and reciprocal frame green roofs.

Beautiful Butchart Gardens

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has traditionally been a more general one. Zoos, which display wild animals in simulated natural habitats, were formerly called zoological gardens. Western gardens are almost universally based on plants, with garden often signifying a shortened form of botanical garden.

The Butchart Gardens is a group of floral display gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada, located near Victoria on Vancouver Island. The gardens receive more than a million visitors each year.

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Amazing golf course

A golf course consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick (pin) and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes. Some, however, only have nine holes and the course is played twice per round, while others have 27 or 36 and choose two groups of nine holes at a time for novelty and maintenance reasons. Additionally, par-3 courses also exist, consisting of nine or 18 holes, all of which are a Par 3. Many older golf courses, often coastal, are golf links, of a different style to others. For non-municipal courses, there is usually a golf club based at each course, and may include a pro shop.

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Bungalows Garden Pool

A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many of these definitions include being detached, low-ris, and the use of verandahs. Such houses were traditionally small, only one story and thatched, and had a wide veranda.

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Beautiful Terrace Garden

In gardening, a terrace is an element where a raised flat paved or gravelled section overlooks a prospect. A raised terrace keeps a house dry and provides a transition between the hard materials of the architecture and softer ones of the garden.

Since a level site is generally regarded as a requisite for comfort and repose, the terrace as a raised viewing platform made an early appearance in the Persian gardening tradition, where the enclosed orchard, or paradise, was to be viewed from a ceremonial tent. Such a terrace had its origins in the far older agricultural practice of terracing a sloping site. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon must have been built on an artificial mountain with stepped terraces, like those on a ziggurat. Lucullus brought back to Rome first-hand experience of Persian gardening in the hilly sites of Asia Minor; the villa gardens of Maecenas, which included libraries open to scholars, incurred the disdain of Seneca. At Praeneste during the early Imperial period, the sanctuary of Fortuna was enlarged and elaborated, the natural slope being shaped into a series of terraces linked by stairs.

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Amazing Japanese rock garden

Japanese gardens are gardens in which the plants and trees are ever changing with the seasons. As they grow and mature, they are constantly sculpted to maintain and enhance the overall experience. The underlying structure of a Japanese garden is determined by the architecture; that is, the framework of enduring elements such as buildings, verandas and terraces, paths, tsukiyama (artificial hills), and stone compositions. Over time, it is only as good as the careful maintenance that it receives by those skilled in the art of training and pruning.

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Beautiful house landscaping

Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including:

1. living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly referred to as gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal of creating a beautiful environment within the landscape.
2. natural elements such as landforms, terrain shape and elevation, or bodies of water;
3. human elements such as structures, buildings, fences or other material objects created and/or installed by humans; and
4. abstract elements such as the weather and lighting conditions.

Landscaping is both science and art, and requires good observation and design skills. A good landscaper understands the elements of nature and construction, and blends them accordingly.

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Beautiful English garden

Four Seasons Garden / English garden for all seasons. Winner Daily Mail National Garden Competition 2007. Winner Walsall in Bloom 2006. Maria and Tony Newton, were married 34 years ago and have always had a passion for gardening. In 1982 they moved to his home in Walsall, West Midlands. During the past 20 years, they have completely changed the landscape garden.

Domestic gardens are, essentially, private places – and the best ones always are. One of the reasons why we are happy to drive long distances to visit gardens like Hidcote in Gloucestershire or Sissinghurst in Kent is that they are as much a glimpse into the private lives of their original makers as a horticultural masterclass.

source:  fourseasonsgarden.co.uk

Amazing Bungalov Interior

A bungalow is a type of house, with varying meanings across the world. Common features to many (but not all) of these definitions include being detached, low-rise (single or one-and-a-half storeys), and the use of verandahs.

Bungalow houses may reflect many different architectural styles, and the word Bungalow is often used for any small 20th century home that uses space efficiently. Bungalows are advertised in various locations as an alternative to motels or hotels for holidaymakers

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Weirdest Train Stations in the World

I think most of us would have been in one of these (odd train stations that is) at one time or another. Especially all you avid globetrotters out there. It seems the minute that you arrive you get that damn awful feeling in the pit of your stomach, as you look up from your train timetable, wondering whether you should book your rail tickets, or just make a run for it and hire a car instead of travelling by train. I mean, with how weird the station is, what is the train going to be like and there is no way for you to just get off once the trains on the move. You couldn’t even climb out a window. Yes, some train stations leave us with serious doubts about our well being and safety. But then that’s part of the reason that we all enjoy travelling the world so much as we get to have some adventure and in the excitement of it all we begin to make decisions on a whim that we would never go ahead with at home!

Some of these train stations wouldn’t look out of place in your worst nightmares, I don’t really know why anyone would venture into them, never mind travel anywhere from them. But perhaps I am just not the adventurous type?!

Some Stations of course are just merely weird looking or even just a little over designed or simply trying too hard to be something they are not. I sometimes wonder why they go to all that effort, after all it’s just a Train station. You don’t seem to see the same being done to Bus Shelters, do you? Here are some of the weirdest train stations I have discovered that exist around the world.

Brockenheimer Warte, Frankfurt

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You need a sense of humour to travel from this station, anyone who has panic attacks about trains derailing, shouldn’t visit this station! It’s like something out of a Harry Potter movie isn’t it?! Very upside down looking and isn’t exactly inviting.

Michigan Central Station, Detroit

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Built in 1913, Michigan Central Station is an iconic building in many ways, especially to the people of Detroit, but this behemoth is under orders to be demolished very soon. It seems such a shame but then it’s probably to huge to renovate which means this this monster has just been left to rot.

Amazing Park Güell, Barcelona

Park Güell is a garden complex with architectural elements situated on the hill of el Carmel in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built in the years 1900 to 1914. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Works of Antoni Gaudí”.

Antoni Gaudi Park Guell Entrance Dragon FountainThe park contains amazing stone structures, stunning tiling and fascinating buildings. You can see from this picture the Gaudi dragon fountain that is at the entrance to Guell park. This dragon is adorned in beautiful coloured tiling and there is something rather hypnotic and magical about it.

Antonio gaudi parc guell – large organic looking columns made from stone. Here you can see a walkway supported by twisting rock pillars that seem to be growing out of the ground like tree trunks.  Gaudi was strongly influenced by natural shapes and used them in his work.  The vibrant colours of the tiles are truly breathtaking.

Beautiful Casa Milà and Casa Batlló

Casa Milà, better known as La Pedrera (Catalan for ‘The Quarry’), is a building designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built during the years 1905–1910, being considered officially completed in 1912. It is located at 92, Passeig de Gràcia  in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

It was built for the married couple, Rosario Segimon and Pere Milà. Rosario Segimon was the wealthy widow of José Guardiola, an Indiano, a term applied locally to the Catalans returning from the American colonies with tremendous wealth. Her second husband, Pere Milà, was a developer who was criticized for his flamboyant lifestyle and ridiculed by the contemporary residents of Barcelona, when they joked about his love of money and opulence, wondering if he was not rather more interested in “the widow’s guardiola” (piggy bank), than in “Guardiola’s widow”. Casa Mila have better Home Interiors than all houses we ever seen online.

The design by Gaudi was not followed in some aspects. The local government objected to some aspects of the project, fined the owners for many infractions of building codes, ordered the demolition of aspects exceeding the height standard for the city, and refused to approve the installation of a huge sculpture atop the building—described as “the Virgin”—but said by Gijs van Hensbergen in his biography of Gaudi, to represent the primeval earth goddess, Gaia.

Casa Milà was in poor condition in the early 1980s. It had been painted a dreary brown and many of its interior color schemes had been abandoned or allowed to deteriorate, but it has since been restored and many of the original colors revived.

Casa Batlló (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈkazə bəʎˈʎo]), is a building restored by Antoni Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol, built in the year 1877 and remodelled in the years 1904–1906; located at 43, Passeig de Gràcia, part of the Illa de la Discòrdia in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Spain. 

Thatched houses in England

Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge, rushes and heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates. Thatch is still employed by builders in developing countries, usually with low-cost, local vegetation. By contrast in some developed countries it is now the choice of affluent people who desire a rustic look for their home or who have purchased an originally thatched abode.

Amazing Depreciated Church

Wooden church in the village Paltoga Vologda region, not far from Lake Onega. The church was built in 1733, and 19 th century is edged with boards, covered with iron and painted with white paint. In 1810, a number of built brick Znamenskaya church.

The best gardens in Japan

Adachi Museum of Art (Adachi Museum of Art) was founded in 1980, Adachi Zenkov. In this project, he combined his passions – the Japanese art and garden design. Owner Adachi Museum Zenkov traveled throughout Japan collecting varieties of conifers, mosses and stones for the garden.

Amazing Aihole Temple

Aihole is a temple complex in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka, India. It is a very popular tourist spot in north Karnataka. Aihole is to the east of Pattadakal, along the Malaprabha River, while Badami is to the west of both.

Early inscriptions call this town Āryapura and Ārya-vole. According to hindu mythology Aihole is the place were parshuram washed his axe after killing Kshathriya’s. He saw a pond(Hole in Kannada) with exclamation he called it as “Ayyo Hole” thus the name Aihole came to existance since from then. Aihole has its own historical significance and is called as cradle of Hindu rock architecture. Many temples and caves of historical importance can be found at Aihole.

Aihole was the first capital of the early Chalukyas. Here they built over 125 temples in various styles and is said to be a laboratory of experiments in rock cut architecture.

Aihole, was the cradle of ancient Hindu temple architecture. It has more than 70 temples. The experimentation

The Float at Marina Bay – The Only Floating Stadium in the World

The Float at Marina Bay’, is an architectural treat to the eyes. It is the only stadium in the world that literally floats. At 120 meters long and 83 meters wide, this floating stage is the largest in the world. Located on the Marina Reservoir in Marine bay, this massive stage has the capacity of seating 9000 people. The total weight capacity of it is 1,070 tones.

The stadium can hold 30,000 people in its seating area. Built within a short span of 13 months, in April 2007,

The Hobbit Motel

The Hobbit Motel is a brilliant motel made with a creative bent. Located at Woodlyn Park in Waiton, the motel has a warm and homely feel. The world’s first hobbit Motel started as the only motel with a U –Drive Jet course. Later Billy Blacks Kiwi Cultural show attracted and amazed people from all around the globe. The motel also has a bar and restaurant to entertain people. In other words, The Hobbit motel adds a unique dimension to the culture of New Zealand.

Each room in the motel comes fully furnished with shower toilet facilities and a Kitchen. The ambience of the

Tokyo Storm Water Discharge Channel

Advance planning that leads to the security of the citizens of the country is always welcomed, more especially if it is something related with the natural catastrophes. These natural disasters are simply unpredictable and dealing with them looks like an insurmountable task.

Though hugely expensive, but it is worth taking over, for the millions of people residing in the realm of such dangers. Best example is regarding the inhabitants of the metropolitan city of Saitama, Japan, who had been facing the water calamities very often.

Croatia’s “Great Wall of China”

Everybody must have heard about the great wall of China, but what about the great wall of Croatia? Not lot of people know about it, but it goes by the name Walls of Ston, and it is actually hundreds of years old. An impressive thing about it is that it is the longest complete fortress system around any town of Europe with more than five kilometers in length.

The walls are isolated on Peljesac Peninsula that is located about 60 km from Dubrovnik. The purpose of the walls was to protect the important commodity; salt, and today it serves as a center for salt mining. The walls were built by local master builders, and one Italian and a Frenchman also.

Today you can visit the walls of Ston and taste the delicious oysters they have to offer, they claim they got the best oysters in the world – visit and judge yourself. Other attractions of Croatia are these incredibly beautiful lakes, the Plitvice Lakes.

Pont du Gard – Stunning Aqueduct Bridge From Ancient Time

Ancient buildings have always had something magical and powerful over them, and this aqueduct bridge has truly what it takes to be considered both of those things. The Pont du Gard bridge is located in Southern France, and it crosses the river Gard. Even if it is so old it doesn’t seem like that, it is still in pretty good shape, but it is no longer in use though.

The aqueduct is pretty long, about fifty kilometers, and it connects the towns Uzes and Nimes. In the middle ages it clogged up and was therefore used as a toll bridge after the fall of the Roman Empire, because obviously nobody was maintaining it. They used about 15 years to create the bridge, and about a thousand workers participated, and they managed to make the bridge itself 245 meters in length and 49 meters in height, so it was a massive construction on three whole levels. Other ancient stuff are these weird mummy findings in Peru.

Floating Islands on Lake Titicaca

You can say that lake Titicaca in Peru is a really strange lake. It the highest commercially navigable lake in the world because it sits 3,811 meters above sea level, that is about 12,500 feet. But that is not all; the weirdest thing is that it consists of 42 floating islands that actually are artificial because they are made by the Uros people that live there. The so-called floating islands are simply made of floating reeds called totora. They are created by hand, and it must be several meters thick so it can hold all the houses.

The islands are not floating free around the lake, they are tied to the ground of the lake with large logs. The hard thing about the reeds is that they rot, so they must be change four times a year at least. The Uros community are really something special, because they don’t want to have contact with the modern world, so they have their special systems and rules on the islands. Today lake Titicaca is a large tourist attraction. Now that you’ve know what the tallest lake is, then you can take a look at the 10 tallest waterfalls in the world.

Hobbit Tower Or Einstein Tower?

“Why does this building remind me so of LOTR?”, you might wonder. Well this is the Einstein Tower, and no it was not used during filming the trilogy. It is just made in that same style, the early twentieth century. The Einstein Tower is actually an astrophysical observatory and is located in the Albert Einstein Science Park in Potsdam, Germany. It was built by Erich Mendelsohn, and he wanted it to be a symbol for the greatness of Einstein’s work. It is made out of bricks, but mostly concrete, that gives it a smooth design.

The tower is today renovated because it was bombed and destroyed during the WWII. Inside you can find among other things a huge solar telescope that is designed by a man who worked close with Einstein. The genius himself said one word when he saw the tower for the first time; “organic”, he said and didn’t express anything else, so the architect didn’t know if it was positive or negative, and he will probably never know. Speaking of the genius himself; here is his portrait carved inside a thick phonebook.

Creepy Monster Garden of Orsini Family

70 kilometers from Rome you can find this old monster garden. They are located in a part of a woodland near the valley where the famous Orsini family castle. Pier Francesco Orsini built this garden, and his wanted it to be different and non-religious. And you can say that they are unique, but still a bit creepy. Taking a walk through the garden today is far from boring, because you never know what kind of monster monument will wait around the corner.

Orsini created the garden after his wife died, he needed something to put his mind to, and architect Pirro Lugorio helped him a lot with his work. The monuments have no connection with each other; it seems like they are just randomly placed around the garden with no specific plan whatsoever. A part of the sculptures are Pegasus, Poseidon and Proteus, and there are specially one monument that is really powerful: the one of the elephant crushing a Roman soldier. Another different and weird garden is the Dwarf Garden in Salzburg.