eiffEl tOwEr

EIFFEL TOWER

Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower is the tallest building in Paris.More than 200,000,000 have visited the tower since its construction in 1889,including 6,719,200 in 2006,making it the most visited paid monument in the world.Including the 24 m (79 ft) antenna, the structure is 325 m (1,063 ft) high (since 2000), which is equivalent to about 81 levels in a conventional building.

Eiffel Tower October 2007
When the tower was completed in 1889 it was the world's tallest tower — a title it retained until 1930 when New York City's Chrysler Building (319 m — 1,047 ft tall) was completed.The tower is now the fifth-tallest structure in France and the tallest structure in Paris, with the second-tallest being the Tour Montparnasse (210 m — 689 ft), although that will soon be surpassed by Tour AXA (225.11 m — 738.36 ft).

The metal structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tonnes while the entire structure including non-metal components is approximately 10,000 tonnes. Depending on the ambient temperature, the top of the tower may shift away from the sun by up to 18 cm (7 in) because of thermal expansion of the metal on the side facing the sun. The tower also sways 6–7 cm (2–3 in) in the wind.As demonstration of the economy of design, if the 7300 tonnes of the metal structure were melted down it would fill the 125 meter square base to a depth of only 6 cm (2.36 in), assuming a density of the metal to be 7.8 tonnes per cubic meter. The tower has a mass less than the mass of the air contained in a cylinder of the same dimensions, that is 324 meters high and 88.3 meters in radius. The weight of the tower is 10,100 tonnes compared to 10,265 tonnes of air.

rOsE tOwEr

ROSE TOWER

The Rose Tower is a 333-metre (1,093-feet), 72-story skyscraper on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Originally, the tower was to be 380 m (1,247 ft.) high, but its projected height was reduced in further design modification. Construction began in 2004. ACC (Arabian Construction Co.) was the general contractor. On 24 October 2006, the building reached its full height with the addition of the spire. Although the tower was expected to open in April 2008, it still had not opened by October 2008. Once open, it is expected to become the world's tallest hotel.This hotel, known as "Rose Rotana Suites", will surpass both the 321m (1,053ft) Burj Al Arab, and the incomplete 330m (1,083ft) Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea.

stRata tOwEr

STRATA TOWER

Strata Tower is a forty-story luxury residential building, designed by Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture of Asymptote Architecture, currently being built on Al Raha Beach, scheduled for its completion in 2011. It is developed by Aldar Properties.Asymptote designed the tower to have a curvaceous and innovative design, including a cantilevered exoskeleton structure which allows a fair amount of light to bathe the building's interiors. Strata Tower will have the height of 160 meters, doominating the skyline of the Al Dana precinct.

hEaRst tOwEr (cHarlOttE)

HEARST TOWER (CHARLOTTE)

The Hearst Tower in Charlotte, North Carolina is a 47-story skyscraper that rises 659 feet (201 m) in height. It was first opened on 14 November 2002 and is the 2nd-tallest building in Charlotte. The 32-story tower rest atop a 15-floor podium. Located within the podium is a three story, 180,000 square-foot trading floor designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and operated by Bank of America. The building is currently owned by Bank of America, although the Hearst Corporation also has offices in the building. The building's reverse floorplate design makes the upper floors averaging 24,000 square feet compared to an average of only 20,000 square feet for the lower floors. There are brass railings designed by Edgar Brandt, which were rescued from an Au Bon Marche department store in Paris, located in the College Street lobby. The Hearst Plaza, a 160 by 65 foot public plaza lined with restaurants, shops, and the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, is located next to the main entrance off North Tryon Street. In front of the plaza is a 10-foot glass and bronze sculpture crafted by Howard Ben Tre entitled the Castellan, which translates to "keeper of the castle." Within in the lobby is the Bank of America Gallery, it contains priceless pieces of art and is open to the public during regular business hours. It is located across the street from the Bank of America Corporate Center and 201 North Tryon.

hEaRst tOweR (nY)

HEARST TOWER (NY)

Hearst Tower in New York City, New York is located at 300 West 57th Street, 959 8th Avenue, near Columbus Circle. It is the world headquarters of the Hearst Corporation, bringing together for the first time their numerous publications and communications companies under one roof, including among others Cosmopolitan, Esquire and the San Francisco Chronicle.
The former six-story headquarters building was commissioned by the founder, William Randolph Hearst and awarded to the architect Joseph Urban. The building was completed in 1928 at a cost of $2 million and contained 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m2). The original cast stone facade has been preserved in the new design as a designated Landmark site. Originally built as the base for a proposed skyscraper, the construction of the tower was postponed due to the Great Depression. The new tower addition was completed nearly eighty years later, and 2000 Hearst employees moved in on 4 May 2006.
The tower – designed by the architect Norman Foster, structural engineered by WSP Cantor Seinuk, and constructed by Turner construction – is 46 stories tall, standing 182 m (597 ft) with 80,000 m² (856,000 ft²) of office space. The uncommon triangular framing pattern (also known as a diagrid) required 9,500 metric tons (10,480 tons) of structural steel – reportedly about 20% less than a conventional steel frame. Hearst Tower was the first skyscraper to break ground in New York City after September 11, 2001. The building received the 2006 Emporis Skyscraper Award, citing it as the best skyscraper in the world completed that year.
Hearst Tower is the first "green" high rise office building completed in New York City, with a number of environmental considerations built into the plan. The floor of the atrium is paved with heat conductive limestone. Polyethylene tubing is embedded under the floor and filled with circulating water for cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. Rain collected on the roof is stored in a tank in the basement for use in the cooling system, to irrigate plants and for the water sculpture in the main lobby. The building was constructed using 80% recycled steel. Overall, the building has been designed to use 25% less energy than the minimum requirements for the city of New York, and earned a gold designation from the United States Green Building Council’s LEED certification program.
The atrium features escalators which run through a 3-story water sculpture titled Icefall, a wide waterfall built with thousands of glass panels, which cools and humidifies the lobby air. The water element is complemented by a 70-foot (21.3 m) tall fresco painting entitled Riverlines by artist Richard Long.

sEa miNK

SEA MINK

The Sea Mink, Neovison macrodon, is an extinct North American member of the Mustelidae family. It is the only mustelid, and one of two mammalian carnivore species to have gone extinct in historic times, along with the Falkland Islands Wolf. It was significantly longer than the closely related American Mink (N. vison), and bulkier, leading to a pelt that was almost twice the size of the other species. The longest specimen recorded was said to be 82.6 cm (32.5 in). The fur of the Sea Mink was said to be coarser and redder than the American Mink's, and to give off a distinctive odor.
It was found along the rocky coasts of New England and Atlantic Canada, as far north as Nova Scotia. It was not a truly marine species, being confined to coastal waters. The Labrador Duck, with which it co-existed, may have been a prey item.
Due to its highly prized fur, this mink was hunted to extinction. The animal's remains are often found in Native American shell-heaps on the coasts of the islands of Maine, but while indigenous hunting may have had some contribution to the Sea Mink's decline, it was the competitive European fur trade that led to its extinction.
The last known member of the species was said to have been captured in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1894, although there is some debate if this was a specimen of N. macrodon or N. vison. The last substantiated report has led to an estimated extinction date of around 1860,although a specimen was reported as sold to a fur-buyer in Maine in 1880.
Although well known to fur hunters, it became extinct before being scientifically described, and therefore little is known about its habits. Existing data suggests it was nocturnal and solitary.
The Sea Mink is sometimes considered a subspecies of the American Mink, in which case the name Neovison vison macrodon is used

taRpaN

TARPAN

The Tarpan, Equus ferus ferus, was the Eurasian wild horse. The last specimen of this species died in captivity in Ukraine in 1876. The name Tarpan is from a Turkic language (Kyrgyz or Kazakh) name for the horse.
Several attempts have been made to re-create the Tarpan, beginning in the 1930s. The breeds that resulted included the Heck horse, the Hegardt or Stroebel's horse, and a derivation of the Konik breed - all of which closely resembled the original Tarpan.