Air Force Academy Chapel - Colorado Springs, CO

Air Force Academy Chapel - Colorado Springs, CO.

The most recognizable building at the United States Air Force Academy is the 17-spired Cadet Chapel, and is often used as a symbol of the Academy itself. The subject of controversy when it was first built, it is now considered among the most beautiful examples of modern American academic architecture. The structure consists of 100 identical aluminum tetrahedrons, with colored glass in the spaces between the tetrahedrons. The chapel reaches a height of 150 feet, with an overall length of 280 feet and a width of 84 feet. Architect Walter Netsch said he was inspired in his design by the Sainte-Chapelle cathedral in Paris, the Cathedral of Chartres, and the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi in Italy. The Cadet Chapel is built on two levels. The upstairs portion houses a 1,300 seat multi-denomination Protestant chapel; downstairs are a 500-seat Catholic chapel, a 100-seat Jewish chapel, and interfaith rooms used for services of other religions.

Washington Monument - Washington, D.C.

Washington Monument - Washington, D.C.

The cornerstone was laid in 1848, site problems having caused delays; then, when the monument was some 150 feet high, the Civil War postponed further constuction. Mills died in 1855. In 1876, when construction recommenced, George P. Marsh, who was ambassador to Italy, was among those asked for advice concerning completion of the monument. As a student of Egyptian obelisks—there are thirteen in Rome—he immediately suggested that Mills's projected height of 600 feet be reduced to the standard Egyptian proportions of ten times base to height, or 555 feet, a 55-foot width having been established. Marsh also strongly recommended that the circular 'temple' base be eliminated and that no decorative trim be used. Finally, he proposed a pyramidal capping of aluminum, a pioneering material for the time. At 555 feet tall, the Washington Monument is one of the highest all-masonry towers in the world.

TAJ MAHAL AGRA INDIA.

TAJ MAHAL AGRA INDIA.

Taj Mahal is regarded as one of the eight wonders of the world, and some Western historians have noted that its architectural beauty has never been surpassed. The Taj is the most beautiful monument built by the Mughals, the Muslim rulers of India. Taj Mahal is built entirely of white marble. Its stunning architectural beauty is beyond adequate description, particularly at dawn and sunset. The Taj seems to glow in the light of the full moon. On a foggy morning, the visitors experience the Taj as if suspended when viewed from across the Jamuna river.
Taj Mahal was built by a Muslim, Emperor Shah Jahan (died 1666 C.E.) in the memory of his dear wife and queen Mumtaz Mahal at Agra, India. It is an "elegy in marble" or some say an expression of a "dream." Taj Mahal (meaning Crown Palace) is a Mausoleum that houses the grave of queen Mumtaz Mahal at the lower chamber. The grave of Shah Jahan was added to it later. The queen’s real name was Arjumand Banu. In the tradition of the Mughals, important ladies of the royal family were given another name at their marriage or at some other significant event in their lives, and that new name was commonly used by the public. Shah Jahan's real name was Shahab-ud-din, and he was known as Prince Khurram before ascending to the throne in 1628.
Taj Mahal was constructed over a period of twenty-two years, employing twenty thousand workers. It was completed in 1648 C.E. at a cost of 32 Million Rupees. The construction documents show that its master architect was Ustad ‘Isa, the renowned Islamic architect of his time. The documents contain names of those employed and the inventory of construction materials and their origin. Expert craftsmen from Delhi, Qannauj, Lahore, and Multan were employed. In addition, many renowned Muslim craftsmen from Baghdad, Shiraz and Bukhara worked on many specialized tasks.
The Taj stands on a raised, square platform (186 x 186 feet) with its four corners truncated, forming an unequal octagon. The architectural design uses the interlocking arabesque concept, in which each element stands on its own and perfectly integrates with the main structure. It uses the principles of self-replicating geometry and a symmetry of architectural elements.
Its central dome is fifty-eight feet in diameter and rises to a height of 213 feet. It is flanked by four subsidiary domed chambers. The four graceful, slender minarets are 162.5 feet each. The entire mausoleum (inside as well as outside) is decorated with inlaid design of flowers and calligraphy using precious gems such as agate and jasper. The main archways, chiseled with passages from the Holy Qur’an and the bold scroll work of flowery pattern, give a captivating charm to its beauty. The central domed chamber and four adjoining chambers include many walls and panels of Islamic decoration.
The mausoleum is a part of a vast complex comprising of a main gateway, an elaborate garden, a mosque (to the left), a guest house (to the right), and several other palatial buildings. The Taj is at the farthest end of this complex, with the river Jamuna behind it. The large garden contains four reflecting pools dividing it at the center. Each of these four sections is further subdivided into four sections and then each into yet another four sections. Like the Taj, the garden elements serve like Arabesque, standing on their own and also constituting the whole.

Tower Bridge - London, England, UK

Tower Bridge - London, England, UK.

In the late 1800's, it was clear another bridge was needed across the Thames River. Because the shipping traffic was important to the London economy, the new bridge could not interfer with the tall ships coming to delivier their goods. Conversely, all of those tall ships would be continually distrupting the surface traffic if a drawbridge was constructed.
Tower Bridge was a compromise to these issues. A drawbridge was designed with towers on either end which were connected by a walkways allowing foot traffic to use stairs and cross above the tall ships.
Today, since the need for tall ships has past, Tower Bridge does not open as frequently, so the upper walkways have been turned into a museum devoted to the history of the bridge, the people of the era, and the engineering feats required to build and operate the bridge. Plus you can get some really great views.
Crossing the bridge at street level is free, but visiting the upper walkways require a fee.

Pennzoil Place - Houston, Texas

Pennzoil Place - Houston, Texas.

The Texas Online Handbook describes Penzoil Place as "a pair of office buildings completed in 1976 in downtown Houston, was one of the most architecturally influential buildings constructed in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s. Its combination of unusual design, high style, and shrewd entrepreneurship made Pennzoil Place a model for the generation of tall office buildings designed during the last quarter of the twentieth century. It propelled its chief designer, the New York architect Philip Johnson (b. 1906), into a new and highly productive phase in his long career.
"Pennzoil Place was dubbed the Building of the Decade in 1975 by famed New York Times architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable due to its dramatic sculptural silhouette." (See Hines Property Management Website as listed below).
The two towers:are 495 feet highcontain 1.8 million gross sq ft of floor spaceare separated by 10 feethave parking for 550 carswere built for 50 million dollars

East Building, National Gallery of Art by I.M. Pei - Washington, D.C.

East Building, National Gallery of Art by I.M. Pei - Washington, D.C.

The East Building of the National Gallery of Art was designed by architect, I.M. Pei, and opened to the public on June 1st, 1978. It houses the gallery's modern collection, temporary exhibitions, as well as a center for research in art history.
Pei's team had to deal with several site constrictions, including a trapezoidal shape to the site, the huge scale of the Mall and its architecture, and also the neighboring West building, designed by Pope in 1941 in a classical style.
The following text is from the National Gallery's page about the East Building and its design:
In a moment of insight, I. M. Pei solved the problem of the site's irregular shape by dividing it into an isosceles triangle and a smaller right triangle. He later recalled, "I sketched a trapezoid on the back of an envelope. I drew a diagonal line across the trapezoid and produced two triangles. That was the beginning."
The early sketch, shows the division of the site into two triangles. The West Building is represented by the lines to the left of the drawing, with the arrow suggesting its strong east-west axis.
During the fall of 1968 and winter of 1969, Pei and his design team explored the underlying geometry governing the structure of the new building. Many of their ideas are recorded in quick working studies, some relating closely to Pei's initial plan based on two triangles and others testing alternative possibilities.
Early in 1969, Pei's design was refined and elaborated to near-final form. The two triangles of the architect's original conception were pulled apart to create a slot that would emphasize the separateness of the two spaces: one for the museum's public functions and the other for its study center. Three towers were beginning to emerge at the corners of the isosceles triangle, balancing the east-west axis of the West Building.
Pei's original plan for the plaza between the East and West Buildings included a circular pool, an echo of the grand rotunda of the original building. Eventually this plan was replaced by scattered skylights ("crystals") and a waterfall to add light and motion to the concourse linking the two buildings underground.Dennis Sharp says this about the building in his book "Twentieth Century Architecture: a Visual History", p 379:
The new East Wing extension to the National Gallery, Washington D.C., sits on a difficult triangular site. However, Pei was able to exploit this feature, giving his wedge-shaped building a marvelous sense of presence and sculptural purpose. A post-tensioned concrete structure, this extension to Washington's major art gallery follows the triangular shape of its Fourth Avenue site. It is situated on an 8.8 acre site with some 110,000 sq ft of main exhibition space and 16,000 sq ft of temporary exhibition areas. This building helped to shape attitudes to museum building throughout the United States in the 1970s and later. Pei was born in China in 1917 and moved to the United States at eighteen to study architecture, and eventually received degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. He opened his own firm in New York City in 1955. Pei has designed some of the world's most notable buildings, including: the Mile High Center in Denver, National Airlines terminal at JFK Airport in New York, the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, Pyramids of the Louvre in Paris, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, the extension building for the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin, and many, many more over his long and illustrious career.

The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C

The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., is among the most architecturally impressive and symbolically important buildings in the world. It has housed the meeting chambers of the Senate and the House of Representatives for almost two centuries. Begun in 1793, the Capitol has been built, burnt, rebuilt, extended, and restored; today, it stands as a monument not only to its builders but also to the American people and their government.
As the focal point of the government's Legislative Branch, the Capitol is the centerpiece of the Capitol Complex, which includes the six principal Congressional office buildings and three Library of Congress buildings constructed on Capitol Hill in the 19th and 20th centuries.
In addition to its active use by Congress, the Capitol is a museum of American art and history. Each year, it is visited by an estimated 3-5 million people from around the world.
A fine example of 19th-century neoclassical architecture, the Capitol combines function with aesthetics. Its designs derived from ancient Greece and Rome evoke the ideals that guided the nation's founders as they framed their new republic. As the building was expanded from its original design, harmony with the existing portions was carefully maintained.
Today, the Capitol covers a ground area of 175,170 square feet, or about 4 acres, and has a floor area of approximately 16-1/2 acres. Its length, from north to south, is 751 feet 4 inches; its greatest width, including approaches, is 350 feet. Its height above the base line on the east front to the top of the Statue of Freedom is 288 feet; from the basement floor to the top of the dome is an ascent of 365 steps. The building contains approximately 540 rooms and has 658 windows (108 in the dome alone) and approximately 850 doorways.
The building is divided into five levels. The first, or ground, floor is occupied chiefly by committee rooms and the spaces allocated to various congressional officers. The areas accessible to visitors on this level include the Hall of Columns, the Brumidi Corridors, the restored Old Supreme Court Chamber, and the Crypt beneath the Rotunda, where historical exhibits are presented. The building is divided into five levels. The first, or ground, floor is occupied chiefly by committee rooms and the spaces allocated to various congressional officers. The areas accessible to visitors on this level include the Hall of Columns, the Brumidi Corridors, the restored Old Supreme Court Chamber, and the Crypt beneath the Rotunda, where historical exhibits are presented. The building is divided into five levels. The first, or ground, floor is occupied chiefly by committee rooms and the spaces allocated to various congressional officers. The areas accessible to visitors on this level include the Hall of Columns, the Brumidi Corridors, the restored Old Supreme Court Chamber, and the Crypt beneath the Rotunda, where historical exhibits are presented.
The second floor holds the Chambers of the House of Representatives (in the south wing) and the Senate (in the north wing) as well as the offices of the congressional leadership. This floor also contains three major public areas. In the center under the dome is the Rotunda, a circular ceremonial space that also serves as a gallery of paintings and sculpture depicting significant people and events in the nation's history. The Rotunda is 96 feet in diameter and rises 180 feet 3 inches to the canopy. The semicircular chamber south of the Rotunda served as the Hall of the House until 1857; now designated National Statuary Hall, it houses part of the Capitol's collection of statues donated by the states in commemoration of notable citizens. The Old Senate Chamber northeast of the Rotunda, which was used by the Senate until 1859, has been returned to its mid-19th-century appearance.
The third floor allows access to the galleries from which visitors to the Capitol may watch the proceedings of the House and the Senate when Congress is in session. The rest of this floor is occupied by offices, committee rooms, and press galleries.
The fourth floor and the basement/terrace level of the Capitol are occupied by offices, machinery rooms, workshops, and other support areas.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Tower of Pisa (La Torre di Pisa) is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is situated behind the cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa's Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square) after the cathedral and the baptistry.
Although intended to stand vertically, the tower began leaning to the southeast soon after the onset of construction in 1173 due to a poorly laid foundation and loose substrate that has allowed the foundation to shift direction. The tower presently leans to the southwest.

The height of the tower is 55.86 m (183.27 ft) from the ground on the lowest side and 56.70 m (186.02 ft) on the highest side. The width of the walls at the base is 4.09 m (13.42 ft) and at the top 2.48 m (8.14 ft). Its weight is estimated at 14,500 metric tons (16,000 short tons). The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase. The tower leans at an angle of 3.97 degrees. This means that the top of the tower is 3.9 metres (12 ft 10 in) from where it would stand if the tower were perfectly vertical.

There has been controversy about the real identity of the architect of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. For many years, the design was attributed to Guglielmo and Bonanno Pisano [5], a well-known 12th-century resident artist of Pisa, famous for his bronze casting, particularly in the Pisa Duomo. Bonanno Pisano left Pisa in 1185 for Monreale, Sicily, only to come back and die in his home town. His sarcophagus was discovered at the foot of the tower in 1820. However recent studies[6] seem to indicate Diotisalvi as the original architect due to the time of construction and affinity with other Diotisalvi works, notably the bell tower of San Nicola (Pisa) and the Baptistery in Pisa. However, he usually signed his works and there is no signature by him in the bell tower which leads to further speculation.