BUILDINGS, CONTINUED

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INDEPENDENCE TEMPLE, MISSOURI, USA:

The Temple in Independence, Missouri, is a house of worship and education "dedicated to the pursuit of peace".

It dominates the skyline of Independence and has become the focal point of the headquarters of the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). The temple was built by the Community of Christ in response to a revelation presented at their 1984 World Conference by church prophet-president Wallace B. Smith. The revelation was the culmination of instructions shared over the course of more than 150 years by prior prophet-presidents recognized by the Community of Christ. Groundbreaking for the temple took place on April 6, 1990, and the completed structure was dedicated on April 17, 1994.

The temple evokes the spiral shell of the nautilus with a stainless steel spire that rises 300 feet (91 m). The facility displays art which comprises a collection of modern and traditional religious art from around the world. The temple's main sanctuary has seating for approximately 1,600. The massive bronze exit doors carry the church seal depicting the peaceful lion, lamb, and child from Isaiah 11:6 and the word "PEACE". The wide steps open up onto a world plaza with global map of inlaid brick.

The public is welcomed to the temple, where there is a Daily Prayer for Peace at 1:00 p.m. on behalf of a selected nation of the world. The building has become a popular attraction with guided tours available. Approximately 60,000 people visit the temple each year.

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ZAYED NATIONAL MUSEUM, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES:

Presently under construction, the building was conceived as a monument and memorial to the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding president of the UAE. The museum is planned to be the centrepiece of the Saadiyat Island Cultural District and will showcase the history, culture, and economic transformation of the Emirates. Five solar thermal towers will act as chimneys to draw cool air through the building, the towers being shaped like falcon wings to commemorate Zayed's love of falconry.

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BASKET BUILDING, OHIO, USA:

This building has previously featured in Bytes but is included for an update.

Opened in 1997, the building was the brainchild of exec (or basket case?) Dave Longaberger, head of the Longaberger basket company. The building was the company headquarters and once packed in 500 Longaberger employees, but those numbers dwindled as the company shrunk from its peak of a $1 billion company with more than 8,000 employees in 2000. It permanently closed doors and put away the baskets in 2018.

The building, modelled on the Longaberger medium market basket, has 75-ton handles, a 7-story atrium, 141-seat auditorium, multiple conference rooms, multiple loading docks and bays, warehouse and storage areas, 555-space paved parking lot and 25 underground parking spaces.

Since the company left its headquarters, many have commented on the deterioration of the building exterior and the surrounding grounds, which were once immaculate.

In December 2017, the building was purchased by Steve Coon, a Canton, Ohio–based developer who owns Coon Restoration, and his partner, Bobby George, of Cleveland. By November 2018, the pair had put it up for sale. In 2019, the building had not sold and Coon announced plans to turn the building into a luxury hotel and has been working toward having the building added to the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately COVID killed that idea as well, the property being back on the market for sale with a $6.5m asking price.

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CYBERTECTURE EGG OFFICE, INDIA:

The Cybertecture Egg is a 13-story commercial building located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The building was designed with sustainability in mind and has 33,000 sqm of office space, an elevated garden, and three levels of basement with 400 parking spaces, all in about 15% less space than a traditional office building. The building was designed by a firm based in Hong Kong and boasts of an iconic architecture complimented with environmental design, excellent control systems, and evolutionary engineering. These features create the most exclusive building for the city of Mumbai.

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THE CAPITAL, MUMBAI:

Speaking of eggs in Mumbai, here is another.

The Capital is a 19-story building situated in Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbaim being a commercial building with a mixture of offices, retail and hospitality spaces. It features the world’s largest automated car parking system. The same chap as designed the Cybertecture Egg, James Law, designed The Capital Egg. What is this fascination with eggs?? Un ouef is un ouef.

The egg part is used to project news.

I wonder where his inspiration came from? . . .

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EARTH HOUSE, SWITZERLAND:

Earth House is an architectural marvel styled through the natural terrains for forming the walls of a house. These are homes erected into hillsides, with banked earth situated on the top of the basic structures.

Earth houses are not a new invention. The Native Americans of North America dug dwellings into the ground in the autumn of every year. They covered the opening with tree trunks, grass and soil. A hole in the roof provided the necessary lighting and ventilation. The mound houses are different from this type of building. These are houses that are constructed above ground and then are covered with soil. The Vikings provided the model for this.

Pawnee earth-lodge

Manner of construction of Native American earth-lodge

Viking turf house

The modern form of earth houses was developed, among others, by the renowned Swiss architect Peter Vetsch , who built his first house made of soil in 1974. His dome-shaped residential buildings consist of the following elements:

• a fine-meshed expanding metal mesh, which is welded onto the support reinforcements,
• one layer of shotcrete,
• a 20-centimeter thick polyurethane, rigid foam insulation,
• a non-woven material mat and
• a layer of soil with a thickness of 50 centimetres and three metres.

Large window fronts provide for sufficient light inside. The building is thus incorporated into the landscape and also meets the conditions for safe and comfortable living.

An elaborate earth house, no, wait, that’s Bilbo Baggins’ house.

Earth House, Switzerland