Think of beautiful and unusual architecture, and the first buildings that spring to mind are the Taj Mahal (with or without Princess Diana on a marble bench), Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona and the Sydney Opera House.
A very lovely building, that reminds me a bit of the
Opera House, is the Lotus Temple in New
Delhi, India.
Its 27 "petals" are similar in shape to the "sails" of the
Opera House. The temple is a Bahai House of Worship, but is interdenominational
in the sense that worshippers of any religion are allowed to read or chant
inside it, in any language. Sermons and ceremonies are not permitted. Any
religious music may be sung a capella,
but no instruments may be used.
The design was inspired, as the name indicates, by the
lotus flower. (I suspect it was also inspired in part by Jorn Utzon's work!)
The temple, surfaced in white marble, can seat up to 2.500 people. It is
surrounded by nine ponds and 26 acres of gardens.
The spectacular Opera House in Beijing
certainly rivals that of Sydney
for unusual design. It was designed by a Frenchman, Paul Andreu, and took seven
years to build. The design is ellipsoid: a dome set in a reflective lake, so
that it looks like a giant egg. The entrance to the vast glass and titanium
structure is via a hallway that goes under the lake. Inside are three theatres,
two seating over 2,000 people and a "small" one that seats only
1,200.
From stately elegance to frivolity and fun … in Sopot, Poland,
we find Krzywy Domek, the Crooked House. Inspired by the fairy tale
illustations of Jan Marcin Szancer (the Mem Fox of Poland), this jolly, cartoonish
structure is not a house but a shopping centre.
It belongs in Diagon Alley, the shopping street in the
Harry Potter books! I like to imagine that inside there are curious shops like
Flourish and Botts' Magic Book Shop and Ollivander's Fine Wands, but I suppose
in reality it's all K-Mart and Target and those kiosks where they want to sell
you a mobile phone that can play chess and launch a rocket ship.
As someone who has spent a large slice of my life in
libraries (on both sides of the counter), my favourite unusual building has to
be the Kansas City Public Library. The "community bookshelf" which
runs along the south wall of the building, showcases 22 book spines, eight
meters high and two wide. It clads the multistorey car park, so it is not
obscuring any windows in the library itself.
The selected titles were voted for by the local
community and provides an interesting view of what the good citizens of Kansas City like to read. The
chosen works include such iconic books as Catch 22, To Kill a Mockingbird and
The Silent Spring. Shakespeare, Dickens and Tolkien get a guernsey, but
Tolstoy, Hemingway and Joyce don't. The only poetry is that of Langston
Hughes. What, no Keats?
The non-fiction includes the Journals of Lewis and Clark and a biography of Harry Truman. Go figure. Is he the most interesting American
president? Weell, I suppose he does hold the record for obliterating cities and
killing people. Maybe George Bush killed more, but it took him a few years.
Harry did it in one fell swoop. OK, two swoops. Anyway, they love him in Kansas.
There are eight children's titles, among them Winnie
the Pooh and The Wizard of Oz. Dr Seuss makes the cut, but Lewis Carroll
doesn't.
I wonder what a WAS Community Bookshelf would look
like? Let's find out! E-mail me your choice of three favourite adult and three
children's books (fiction or non-fiction) and I'll compile a list. Get your
friends and family to vote too: we need a lot of entries so we can be sure of
getting it right before we start putting up the scaffolding round the Highway
Gallery!
