The California Palace of the Legion of Honor is a beautiful Beaux-arts building housing a fine-art collection in San Francisco, California, Built to commemorate the 3,600 Californian soldiers who died in World War I. San Francisco’s most beautiful museum displays an impressive collection of 4,000 years of ancient and European art. It owns more than 70 sculptures by Auguste Rodin, including a bronze cast of the artist’s best-known monument, The Thinker (cast c. 1904).

credit: dalecruse

Calgary sits in the sunny eastern foothills of Canada’s Rocky Mountains, where the Bow and Elbow rivers meet. It is the major urban centre for the entire southern half of the province of Alberta, and is surrounded by an area of profound beauty with an unspoiled, resource-rich natural environment. Calgary is both the largest city and largest metropolitan area in province. The Calgary region is home to more than 1.3 million people. The average age in Calgary is 35.7 years. Like in all youthful cities, you can expect a lot of partying, sports, romance and a sizzling entertainment scene. The tallest building in the city is Brookfield Place. Standing at 56 stories, 247 m, it is the tallest building in Canada outside of Toronto. The second-tallest building in the city is The Bow, standing at 58-storeys, 236 m. The third-tallest building in the city is Suncor Energy Centre, standing at 215 m tall with 53 storeys, which is to be overtaken by Telus Sky in 2018, standing at 222 m and 59 storeys tall. The newest pedestrian bridge in Calgary is the Peace Bridge. Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the bridge is unique, red and made of 850-metric-tonne steel.

credit: jan_mosimann

Laboral University of Gijon is a monumental combination of buildings. This contemporary art and cultural centre is located in the Laboral University premises, 3 km from the city of Gijon and just 800m from Quinta Duro. Built between 1946 and 1956, is the most important architectural work built in the 20th century in Asturias. The university site covers over 270,000 square metres of land and the walls of the different buildings would make up a surface of 55,000 square metres. As well as being the largest building in Spain it also encloses the biggest elliptical church in the world. To top this off, the Laboral Clock Tower stands defiant at 130 metres tall, once again the tallest stone construction in the country. The design of the tower was inspired by Alexandria Lighthouse and Seville’s Torre del Oro.

credit: David A.L.

Cincinnati Music Hall, an elegant century-old building, stands majestically at the corner of 14th and Elm – just a short walk from the city’s center. It serves as the home for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, May Festival Chorus, and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. Completed in 1878, and it has been recognized as a National Historic Landmark since 1975. The 372 foot long building consists of 3,858,000 red pressed bricks. It covers an area of 2 -1/2 acres in the busy city of Cincinnati. Over the years, it has been renovated and updated to be 4 different areas for different needs of the community :

• Springer Auditorium – This glorious theatre with state-of-the-art acoustics has seating for 3,516. It serves as the home for the Cincinnati Symphony, the Cincinnati Opera and the May Festival Chorus.
• Music Hall Ballroom – This huge, newly renovated room has 20,000 square feet, and can hold up to 1,300 people, making it the second largest room in the city for large receptions, fashion shows, conventions, class reunions and gatherings over breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Corbett Tower – Perfect place for events for 300 seated people, ranging from weddings & receptions to dinners and parties. It has a stage, a dance floor, kitchen and bar facilities, controlled sound and light.
• Critic’s Club – A dining club which seats 50 people.

credit: Ohio Redevelopment Projects – ODSA

The Colorado State Capitol Building is located at 200 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, Colorado. Capitol sitting high atop Denver is not just domed meeting place for the Colorado General Assembly, but also an homage to the American governmental process. The capitol building was built in the 1890’s and in 1908 they used 24 karat gold to plate the dome. There are sixteen stained-glass windows in the dome of capitol, each one illustrating a pioneer who was an important influence on Colorado’s development.

credit: kruder396

credit: krossbow

credit: Ken Lund

credit: Jeffrey Beall

credit: Justin A. Wilcox

credit: Justin A. Wilcox

credit: Justin A. Wilcox

credit: wanderstruck

credit: wanderstruck

credit: wanderstruck

credit: imbowen0306

Europe’s tallest building stands at 310 metres (1,016ft) and is fully clad in glass. Facilities will include a hotel, restaurant, viewing platform, flats and offices. The Shard will be open to the public with a viewing gallery and observation deck on the 72nd floor. Work on the Shard began in February 2009 and an estimated £450million has been spent on its construction so far. The tower has two main tenants lined up – Shangri-La Hotels, who will be occupying floors 34-52 – and Transport for London who will take some of the office space.

credit: Dave Catchpole

credit: Dave Catchpole

credit: Dave Catchpole

credit: EEPaul

credit: a_marga

credit: George Rex

credit: slideshow bob

credit: Nick J Webb

credit: Dave Catchpole

credit: victoriapeckham

credit: zoonabar

credit: EEPaul

credit: Duncan

credit: Duncan

credit: garryknight

credit: DancesWithLight

The Palace of Culture was a typical structure of the Eastern bloc. A building was dedicated to sports, education and culture. The huge buildings were central point for people to enjoy all kinds of recreational activities in Pripyat. Pripyat (1km from the reactor) was designed as an exemplar of Soviet planning for the 50,000 people who worked at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant till 1986. But the result of soviet planning was the worst nuclear accident in history. Now Pripyat is in a radioactive exclusion zone unfit for human habitation. It must have been a beautiful place before the accident.

credit: Timm Suess

The Atomium is a monument built for Expo 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. It was designed by André Waterkeyn. It stands 332 feet (102 meters) high and consists of nine spheres of 59 feet (18 m) diameter connected by tubes measuring 94 feet (29 m) in length and 10 feet (3 m) thick. Spheres are connected by fast escalators. Restaurant is situated in the topmost atom. The monument was originally planned to remain standing only six months, but it became a symbol of modern architecture and Brussels. It represent a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times. The Atomium is open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily from April through August, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. September through March. The basic ticket price is €6 for adults and €3 for children.

credit: marjakamp

credit: hangatyr

credit: Jaymzxyz

credit: utrebo

credit: servethecity

credit: spottico

credit: netherhanes

credit: ChongaUK

credit: ctaffine

credit: ctaffine

credit: abbysadventure

credit: jbarcell

credit: viaggimiei

credit: alex_chiapas

credit: alex_chiapas

credit: zanapictures