Tuesday, December 31, 2013

The Brihadeesvarar Temple

The Brihadeesvarar Temple

  The Brihadeesvarar Temple or Big Temple or commonly known as Periya Kovil by its natives was built by Raja Raja Cholan 1 in 1010(11th century) stands for 1000 years is the symbol of excellence of ancient architecture of South India. The temple comes under UNESCO Heritage Site

Brihadeesvarar Temple

The temple basement is covered with inscriptions that give details of Cholas administration, valuable historical information. The minute works on statues show the craftsmanship of Cholas. Many statues there are monolithic, made upon one large stone. The size of deities show the affection of Cholas towards God. The temple occupies an area of 750 feet by 400 feet. But it is really a wonder that how could they had designed such a magnificent structure and make it out without any modern contrivances. The temple is unbeatable because of its perfect geometry and architecture. The carvings on the walls make the temple delight for historian purposes. The languages used in these murals are Tamil, Thai and some other Southeast Asian languages. The murals on the walls of the temple narrates the Shiva’s might. The temple has vimanam, the top of the seat of the deity is built up with stones with bonding. The topmost stone which weighs 80 tons had been carefully placed at a height of 66 metres is a great wonder till now.
Nandhi Carved out of one stone

The wish to build a marvellous temple like this is said to have occurred to Raja Raja Cholan- I while he stayed at Sri Lanka as an emperor. The esteemed architect and engineer of the temple was Kunjara Mallan Raja Raja Perunthachan as stated in inscriptions found at the temple. The temple was built per ancient texts called Vaastu Shastras and Agamas.The huge 8.7 m height Lord Shiva linga in karuvarai and Nandhi statue reflect the munificence of Cholas


Monday, December 30, 2013

Shanghai Financial Centre

The Shanghai World Financial Centre
The Shanghai World Financial Centre is a super tall skyscraper located in the Pudong district of Shanghai, China. It was designed by Kohn Pederson Fox and Leslie.E.Robertson as its structural engineer. It is a mixed-use skyscraper, consisting of offices, hotels, conference rooms, observation decks, and ground-floor shopping malls. Park Hyatt Shanghai is the tower's hotel component, comprising 174 rooms and suites. Occupying the 79th to the 93rd floors, it is the second-highest hotel in the world.


In 2008 it was named by architects as the year's best completed skyscraper. In 2013, the SWFC was exceeded in height by the adjacent Shanghai Tower which is due for completion in 2014. Together, the SWFC, Shanghai Tower and Jin Mao Tower form the world's first adjacent grouping of three super tall skyscrapers.
The tower's trapezoid aperture is made up of structural steel and reinforced concrete. A large number of forces, such as wind loads, the people in the building and heavy equipment housed in the building, act on the SWFC's structure. These compressive and bending forces are carried down to the ground by the diagonal-braced frame (with added outrigger trusses). The design employs an effective use of material, because it decreases the thickness of the outer core shear walls and the weight of the structural steel in the perimeter walls. 

Tokyo Sky Tree


Tokyo Sky Tree

Tokyo Sky tree is a broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower in Sumida,Tokyo, Japan. It became the tallest structure in Japan in 2010 and reached its full height of 634.0 metres (2,080 ft.) in March 2011, making it the tallest tower in the world, displacing the Canton tower and the second tallest structure in the world after Burj Khalifa (829.8 m/2,722 ft.).
. One of its main purposes is to relay television and radio broadcast signals; Tokyo's current facility, Tokyo Tower with a height of 333 m (1,093 ft.), no longer gives complete digital terrestrial television broadcasting coverage because it is surrounded by many high-rise buildings. The project was completed on 29 February 2012, with the tower opening to the public on 22 May 2012.

Tokyo Sky Tree
The tower has seismic proofing, including a central shaft made of reinforced concrete. The main internal pillar is attached to the outer tower structure 125 meters (410 ft.) above ground. From there until 375 meters (1,230 ft.) the pillar is attached to the tower frame with oil dampers, which act as cushions during an earthquake. According to the designers, the dampers can absorb 50 percent of the energy from an earthquake.

Chesapeake Bridge-Tunnel

Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is a wonder in field of engineering which has been termed as “Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement” by the American Society of Civil Engineers. It consisting of artificial islands, tunnels, and bridges. The bridge provides a two lane highway between Cape Charles, on the eastern shore of Virginia, and the Norfolk-Virginia Beach area on the state’s mainland. The Bridge-Tunnel closes the last water gap on the North-South Ocean Highway and cuts at least 90 minutes from the driving time between the New Jersey Turnpike and Jacksonville, Florida.


Chesapeake Bridge
The Chesapeake Bridge-Tunnel measures 17.6 miles (28.4 km) and is considered the world’s largest bridge-tunnel. The Bridge was initially named as Lucius J. Kellam, Jr. Bridge Tunnel in August 1987 to honour Kellam who was a member of the commission from 1954 to 1995. In order to conserve the identity of structure and recognition of name, they made it to be known as Chesapeake Bay Brighe-Tunnel