Europe Tour Part 03

After visiting Paris, I headed to Amsterdam next week. It was my dream to visit Amsterdam. I reached Amsterdam on 28th April 2012 night. Though It was cold and windy, I got out with my camera to take some amazing night shots of Amsterdam.

Amsterdam at Night

Amsterdam is the largest city and capital of Netherlands. The name is derived from the dam on the river Amstel. With my dutch friends John and Aukje, we visited different parts of the city and buildings. We made a boat trip through the canals of Amsterdam. I ate totally raw haring fish in pure dutch style. We also visited a small craft museum, where we saw traditional wooden shoes, cheese, clothing etc.

Me with my friend John and Aukje

Traditional wooden shoes

We visited Nemo, designed by Architect Renzo Piano. It is a kids science museum, which looks like a ship. Beneath it there is a road tunnel connecting other part of the city. We also visited Whale a residential building resembling whale in shape. It is designed by Architekten Cie. It was quite a impressive building in terms of massing, fenestration.

Nemo by Architect Renzo Piano

The whale by de Architekten Cie

Inner Court of the whale

The traditional pitched roof brick houses were impressive.  There was a hoisting steel plate at the top of each house to lift goods to different floors through large windows. There are numerous famous buildings all around Amsterdam. Unfortunately I couldn’t able to visit all of them in time. I wish I could spend few weeks in Amsterdam to explore all the places.

Europe Tour Part 02

I made a trip to Paris on 21st April 2012 from Antwerp, Belgium. It was great as well as romantic as I saw in the movie"Midnight in Paris". In my opinion it is the best among other european cities I visited. The calm Seine river, trees, walkways, parks, huge boulevards, tourists, beautiful modern, post modern, classical buildings made Paris an unforgettable city.

Notre Dame Cathedral from the bank of river Seine.

Glass Pyramid lobby of Louvre Museum

I went to magnificent Louvre Museum where I saw Monalisa, the Captive by Michelangelo, apartments of Napoleon  and numerous paintings, sculptures. Glass pyramid lobby of Louvre museum designed by Architect I M Pei was impressive. The collection of paintings and sculptures of Musee de Orsay was also impressive, where I saw the paintings of impressionist artists like Van Gogh, Claudia Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, Edouard Manet etc. I also visited world famous cathedral Notre Dame. As the name of my college was also same in Bangladesh, it was a great opportunity for me to visit that cathedral. It was the finest example of French Gothic Architecture in medieval time. It was highly decorated with sculptures of christian beliefs and with most delicate stained glass.

Georges Pompidou Center

Me infront of Arab Institute

I visited some of the famous modern architecture in Paris like, Georges Pompidou Center, Arab Institute, La Defense. Transparency of Pompidou Center was amazing, where anyone could see the structure of the building, mechanical facilities as well as circulation of the building. Arab Institute was famous for its facade which was constructed with series of shutters. These shutters could open or  close automatically depending on solar radiation penetration through the facade. But unfortunately these were not working anymore. La Defense was a business district where you could see modern skyscrapers. Grand Arch of La Defense was outstanding. It was a complete frame which was axially connected with city center. It was designed by Johann Otto Von spreckelsen.
It was worthless to visit Paris without seeing Eiffel Tower. Eiffel Tower was a master piece of delicate steel work. It was huge in height as well as beautiful. It was breath taking to see Eiffel Tower from distance against city fabric.

Grand Arch La Defense, Paris

Eiffel Tower, Paris

Europe Tour Part 01

It was a great Europe tour.I traveled so many places. I visited four countries Germany, Belgium, France and Netherlands. I started my journey from 6th March 2012 in Dessau, Germany where I attended my 3rd semester in IMS. Then me with some of my Indian friends made a trip to Munich on 18th March, it was a "membrane tour". We stayed there for three days and visited Olympic stadium, Allianz Arena, BMW Welt. We also visited a material exhibition at Messesee, Munich.

Then on 21st March I traveled to Antwerp, Belgium for my Internship training in Nomad Concept. Antwerp was a great city. There were so many things to see, luxury shops and nice pedestrian walkways in Meir street, great plaza of Grote Markt, 572m long pedestrian tunnel under the river Scheldt, greatly sculptured Antwerp Cathedral with a huge tower which could be seen from all parts of the city were some of the jewels of the city.

Antwerp at night, Meir Street.

Antwerp at night was spectacular. Roads and walkways were flooded with light. There were fountains illuminated with light. Some significant buildings were also washed with light. There were diamond shops in Antwerp. Lights from glittering diamonds also add more lights to city fabric. It was very pleasing to walk around at night and enjoy the beauty of the city.
There were some architectural jewels in Antwerp like MAS museum of Antwerp which was a great modern museum, Antwerp Courthouse by Architect Sir Richard Rogers was another great architecture to visit and the Centraal Rail Station of Antwerp was truly magnificent with its huge vaulted lobby. It was a nineteenth century architecture but a new extension with modern design was built which was also very impressive and spectacular.

Centraal Rail Station Antwerp, Belgium

MAS Museum Antwerp, Belgium

Antwerp Courthouse by Architect Richard Rogers

I will never forget my stay in Antwerp for 2 months. It has so many things to remember but the breath taking view of Antwerp at night from the bank of the river Scheldt was unforgettable.

I also visited other cities of Belgium like Ostende, Ghent, Leuven, Tongeren, Turnhout, Mechelen, Liege, Brugge and Brussels. Liege rail station was a magnificent structure designed by Architect Engineer Santiago Calatrava. Ostende was a beach town where I saw blue north sea. Central African Museum at Terfuren Brussels was great.

Me at Liege rail station

Munich tour, March 2012

Me, Imran bhai, Siddique bhai and Milind made a trip to  München (Munich) on 18th March 2012. We were focused to see membrane structures of Munich. We visited Olympic stadium, Allianz Arena, BMW welt. We were amazed to see the details of Olympic stadium of Munich. Architect of this stadium was Frei Otto, one of the pioneer of tensile membrane structures. It was built for Olympic games in 1972. Another great stadium in Munich was Allianz Arena. Its a very impressive stadium. It was designed by Architect Harzog & de Meuron. Exterior facade of Allinaz Arena is made of translucent ETFE foil. There are lighting system to illuminate facade with different color depending on the teams playing there. The station near to the Allianz Arena was also very impressive. Roof of that station was made of translucent white membrane. Another exiting building we had visited was BMW Welt. It was designed by Coop Himmelb(l)ou. Spaces inside was very fluid and lofty. Columns or supporting structures were subdued and sometimes hidden in huge volume of space. 

We also visited a material exhibition at Messesee, Munich. Where we had the opportunity to see different kinds of materials available and technological progress.

Munich city itself was very beautiful. I specially enjoyed beautiful classical architecture on the banks of river Isar. It was a great tour. I will miss Munich very much.

The town hall, Munich

BMW Welt lobby

BMW Welt entry lobby

Interior view of central fluid space of BMW Welt 

Munich Olympic Stadium Complex

Relative size of the corner in Munich Olympic Stadium 

Munich Olympic Stadium 

Allianz Arena Station

Night view of Allianz Arena Station

Me infront of Allianz Arena

Exterior lighting system of Allianz Arena

Our group in Munich

Berlin Tour, September 2011 Part02

Reichstag Dome, Berlin

We made a short trip by boat in Berlin, which was a one of the most memorable events to me. We saw the beauty of Berlin, as ferry went through the canal in the heart of Berlin. After that in afternoon we went to parliament building of Germany which they called Reichstag. It was almost destroyed by bombing during World War II, later in 1992 through a competition Architect Lord Norman Foster renovated it. The glass dome of the building was the most striking feature, it contained a huge mirror cone which reflects sunlight below the parliament chamber. There were circular spiral stairs up to the top level of the glass dome. Finally our journey to Berlin ended there. It was a great experience to me. 

Water ways of Berlin.

Life near the water way

Journey by ferry in Berlin waterway.

A bridge by Architect Santiago Calatrava

Parliament offices, Berlin

Parliament offices

Home of German Chancellor.

Inside view of Reichstag.

Reflected light from dome above.

Light reflector in dome

Spiral walkway

me in Reichstag

Berlin Tour, September 2011 Part01

Potsdamer Platz, Berlin

Last September, we went to see the largest and greatest city of Germany, Berlin. Potsdamer platz is the city center of Berlin with hightech and modern architecture. Potsdamer platz was   devastated during World War II by allied forces. After reunification of Germany, a huge development scheme was undertaken to reestablish its past glory. Architects around the world were asked to design Potsdamer Platz. Among these architects were Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, Arata Isozaki. Sony Center was one of the most magnificent structure, I ever visited. The centre was designed by German architect Helmut Jahn. Its a huge complex containing shops, restaurants, a conference centre, hotels, condominiums, offices, art and film museums, cinemas under a single huge tensile roof. I really enjoyed Sony Center. Use of glass and steel in modern buildings of Berlin attracted me.

Architecture by Renzo Piano, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin

Architecture by Renzo Piano, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin

Architecture by Renzo Piano, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin

Architecture by Renzo Piano, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin

Sony Center tensile roof, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin

Sony Center tensile roof, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin

Sony Center beneath tensile roof, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin

Architecture by Richard Rogers, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin

A peculiar building in Berlin.

A modern building in Berlin

Modern glass facade building in Berlin.

Me in Potsdamer Platz, Berlin