Al Noor Tower

Casablanca, Morocco / Barad-dur, Mordor 

This article is about a tower called "Al Noor Tower," which right now is in construction, but will be finished in 2018. It is located in Casablanca, Morocco, which is very favorable because it would be in the gateway between Europe and Africa, so, it would make Morocco an attractive location for development.
The particularity of this tower is that it looks like the dark fortress of Sauron, from The Lords of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R Tolkien, and illustrated in the TLOR movies from the director Peter Jackson.
Al Noor Tower is going to be the highest tower in Africa, it would have 540 meters tall. The heigh of the building was designed in recognition to the 54 countries in Africa. And it will contain 114 floors, which represents each chapter of the holy Islam book: Quran. And it will include offices, apartments, a luxury hotel, an art gallery, and a luxury arcade of shops.
After constructed it will be the fifth tallest building in the world, just before the One World Trade Center that is 541 meters tall.

There are 3 things why I liked this article.

First I like that this architect is bringing development and improvement to Africa. We all know that right now Africa is not developed as other countries, but this tower is the beginning of the break of that reality. A time of changes will come, which will benefit to the African citizens. More people will invest, and the continent will become more attractive and more touristic for foreign people that want to visit them.

Second, I like development. As I said before, Africa is not so developed as European countries or American countries, but it can change. We are humans, and humans evolve, so I like the evolution of the African countries, I feel is very important that they have the chance to do something different and to live in a different era in which most of the countries are all living: an era of changes and improvement thanks to the technology.

And finally, I love discovering that the building has a deeper meaning that it seems. First, I'm fan of The Lord of The Rings, so I love the style of the building. Second, is very impressive that it would be 540 meters tall symbolizing the 54 countries in the continent, and that the 114 floors represents each chapter of the Quran. These last 2 facts gives a sense of unity to the Africans, because it unifies all of them, the tower represents the majority of them. And third, this building is also the gate of development in Africa, because I believe that Africa is a very potential continent, it's just that the people don't know yet.


Article: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/13/africa/morocco-africas-tallest-building/

Ribbon Chapel

Onomichi, Japan.

This article is about a wedding chapel, designed by the Japanese architect Hiroshi Nakamura, in Onomichi, Japan. This chapel consists on two different stairways that goes into a doble espiral, which are joined at the top. This model refers to the union of a marriage: the stairways start at different locations and they form a singular estructure at the end.

The structure is designed with glasses, so the people can have a beautiful view of the trees and the coast near the chapel. This creates a close relationship with the surrounding environment. And the external estructure has panels made of titanium zinc, which is resistant to damage from the sea breeze.
And, the top of the structure has an observation platform that is 15.4 meters above the ground, allowing the married to see coastal vistas.

I loved the design of this chapel, and the meaning of its structure.

I think is amazing the fact that in a moment of the wedding, the wife and the husband walk to the top of the building where their paths are connected. But I feel that in some way it has a deeper meaning, and that at the end of their own paths they both unite in order to start a new path together.

But anyways, apart from its magical meaning, I was very impressed with the structure, I really liked the building as it is, that place is like a dream. Or, as the Spanish proverb says: "parece sacado de un cuento" (english: it is like something taken out from a fairy-tail). The fact that is near the sea and has a beautiful environment makes a perfect surrounding. The place fits to the chapel, and the chapel to the place too. It doesn't exist a better place to construct that building that in Onomichi.


Article: http://www.designboom.com/architecture/hiroshi-nakamura-nap-ribbon-chapel-spiral-hiroshima-japan-01-28-2015/

The Big Apple

New York City, USA

Have you ever asked yourself why Manhattan is often called "The Big Apple"?
Me too.
This article explains the origin of the word:
One time the New York Morning Telegraph sports writer, John J. Fitz Gerald, listened a man calling Los Angeles as "The Big Apple," but he really liked that name, so in his horse racing column he used the nick name "Around the Big Apple."
Since then he began every column with the header: “The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There's only one Big Apple. That's New York.”
So, its popularity started to spread out from the horse-racing context, and the people started to use that term for NYC.

I was very curious about why NYC was called "The Big Apple," how it started, and who came with the idea if calling the city with that nickname. I liked this article because it explains exactly who came with the nickname, and how this man did to spread out the term throughout the population in 1924.

What I liked the most was the fact that John Fitz Gerald used the New York Morning Telegraph to spread out the term, especially because in that time it was more difficult to diffuse something, and T.V. didn't exist, but he made it.

And the people really liked the idea of giving that nickname to NYC, which is the most amazing thing, because, for me, it gives a sense of unity to the citizens living there.


Article: http://mentalfloss.com/article/31841/why-new-york-city-called-big-apple

'The Martian' desert

Etyek, Hungary

We have seen the recent movie "The Martian" with Matt Damon, who is an astronaut surviving in Mars, and we all have had the same question if the film was shoot in Hollywood, or not. This article is about all the places where the movie was filmed:

Budapest, Hungary

• Etyek, Hungary: They filmed at the Korda Studios in ‘Hungary’s Napa Valley’ in the city Etyek, which is 20 miles away from the capital Budapest
• Budapest, Hungary: Cast-members practiced indoor skydiving at the SkyWard centre’s gravity-defying, 260km-wind tunnel
• Wadi Rum, Jordan: Know as the "Valley of the Moon" is a red desert that pretended to be "Mars"

Wadi Rum, Jordan

Something I really like about movies, is looking for the location where it was filmed. For me, it is very fascinating and interesting to search that type of information because it makes me think and analyze all the effort the people did to achieve the movie, including the places where they needed to go to shoot the movie.

When I first read the article I was very impressed when I saw the "Valley of the Moon" in Jordan, because I didn't know that this place existed. I had the doubt about the place where the movie was filmed because I had no idea that here in Earth we had a red desert. So, it was a total surprise when I realized that it is totally red. From the rocks, to the sand, which is the perfect landscape for movies related to Mars. 

We don't know every city and place in the world. We can be in a country without knowing which interesting places we would like to discover. But, for me, one of the main sources to know more these places are the movies, which always are showing us interesting places around the world. Like this case: I didn't know about the "Valley of the Moon" until I saw "The Martian."

Article: http://www.readersdigest.co.uk/travel-adventure/guide/martians-out-world-filming-locations