Photo Of The Day: Colonial Architecture In Burma

by Anna Brones on

When we think of Southeast Asian architecture we often think of old temples and ancient statues, but the influence of colonial times on this area of the world has had just as much of an influence on the local infrastructure and design.

Flickr member R A L F captured this beautiful building facade in Yangon, Burma (Myanmar). The city, also known as Rangoon, has the largest number of colonial buildings in the region.

Have your own travel photos featured on “Photo Of The Day” by submitting your photos to the Gadling Flickr pool or via Instagram by tagging your photos with #gadling and mentioning us @gadlingtravel.

[Photo Credit: R A L F]

Photo Of The Day: The Shanghai Tower Rises

by Jonathan Kramer on

Today’s Photo Of The Day comes from Lawrence Wang, who captured this astounding image of the Shanghai Tower currently under construction. After its completion, the Shanghai Tower will be the tallest building in China and second tallest building in the world, after the almighty Burj Khalifa. This image perfectly captures the chaotic landscape of Shanghai, dominated by glass, steel and concrete.

Pudong, the district of Shanghai that the tower resides in, is a central financial hub of China and has undergone an extraordinary amount of development in the past two decades. Going from nothing but grass and trees to having some of the tallest buildings in the world. It is nothing short of spectacular and indicative of the economic progress that China has seen in the modern age.

As always, if you have a great photo you’d like to share with us, upload them to our Gadling Flickr Pool and it may be selected as our Photo Of The Day.

[Photo credit: Lawrence Wang]

Photo of the Day (9.26.09)

by Brenda Yun on

Having just come from the concrete jungle that is New York City, I’ve come to appreciate the urban landscapes that only large cities can offer. When the sky opens up in bright blue above the towering skyscrapers I have to pinch myself at the great modern progress that the world has made in just a century. There’s something really grand and angular about cities that make them perfect inspiration for photographers.

This particular shot that was taken in Toronto caught my eye because of the great symmetry of the buildings and the cloud positioned perfectly in between. The square shadow on the lower left building adds to its angular appeal, don’t you think?

Today’s Photo of the Day comes to us from bgilbert, a Canadian with a great urban eye. If you have some great travel shots you’d like to share, be sure to upload them to the Gadling pool on Flickr. We might just pick one as our Photo of the Day!

Seven must-see abandoned wonders

by Jerry Guo on

Here’s a nice gallery of seven derelict structures around the US that you can visit. Yes, I know, I’m two months late on this one (Halloween), but by the looks of these pictures, the places look like they would be cool to visit year-round.

There’s one that I didn’t expect on the list: the old headquarters of Sun Microsystems in Palo Alto. Isn’t real estate in Silicon Valley going through the roof? It’s incredible that there’s all these abandoned buildings in the middle of bustling metropolises.

For something closer to home, there’s Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh (I wrote for a paper there this summer). For some reason, there’s apparently lots of abandoned prisons in that region that are catering to tourists now. I dug up this nice article that a colleague of mine from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote about a prison tour he went on.

Now, my question is does anyone know of urban exploration clubs around New York (or anywhere else) that arrange expeditions to these kind of places?

A city within a building: Dubai’s latest “Pearl”

by Abha Malpani on

The latest soon-to-sprout architectural bewilderment in Dubai is the Dubai Pearl.

It’s hard not to be entertained by Dubai’s fetish for constructing (well, wanting to construct) rare-shaped buildings: a cube, a chess piece, a tulip, numbers (1 and 2), a wave, a sail and an iPod, are amongst some of the ‘only-fathomable-in-Dubai’ types. It was therefore a pleasant(?) surprise that this Pearl plan, isn’t in the shape of a pearl. I quite like its design — more of a sci-fi scape and less of a monstrosity, in my opinion.

Anyway, to be constructed at a Dubai-throw-away cost of $3 billion, the Pearl is special because not only will it have the usual luxury mall, hotel, spa, and residences, but it will also have a climate controlled pedestrian city — yes, an interior area built for people to walk!

In Dubai, if you are walking on the street (especially in the heat), don’t be surprised if you are the only soul using his feet to commute, or if someone stops to give you a ride because they see you as mad trying to walk anywhere in the city. But, build a space for people to walk, and people will drive there to go for a walk.
City Center — one of Dubai’s main shopping centers has something like “City Strolling” every Friday morning, where you go there especially for a morning walk. Yes, in a mall. Yes, many people go. So a climate controlled “pedestrian city” with sidewalk cafes will probably be a super hit in the city.

The Pearl will also boast a 21st century Covent garden (not sure if this will be inside or outside) and robot valet service! (*gasp*) I’m not sure what that means exactly, but I doubt people will be comfortable giving their Lamborghinis to some R2D2 to park.

It also says that the building will be the world’s first column-free structure (what does that mean!?), will have the capacity to cater to 20,000 people, and is due to open in 2010.