6:10 PM
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Konark is a town in Puri district of the state of Odisha, India, on the Bay of Bengal, sixty-five kilometers from the capital city of Odisha, Bhubaneshwar. The construction of the temple dates back to the 13th-century during the reign of King Narasimhadeva-I (AD 1236-1264) of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty. This temple has been built to look like the Chariot of Lord Surya (sun, considered as God by Hindus) and it is heavily decorated with the marbles and precious stones. The whole architecture is designed as a huge chariot of Lord Surya is being drawn by seven horses on twelve pairs of artistically decorated wheels.Konark Sun Temple is one among the world's famous heritage destinations. The main structure of the temple has the towering height of about 230 feet. The 12 huge wheel on either side...
Friday, June 29, 2012
Fountain Fantasies - Indoor Fountains – The New Trends in Interior Designing
Interior designing is a creative and innovative aspect in which various techniques and ideas are applied to make the interiors of a living space more attractive and unique. Interior decoration of a building or house reflects the lifestyle and class of people. It seems like the trends in home decor are drifting away from heirloom pieces and traditional design, and are moving forward in a more modern direction where the actual design instead speaks for itself. This is great and there is no need to argue with popular demand, but there are many ways to creatively transform some of your favorite memories into extremely innovative interior accents...
From Pieces to Masterpieces...Mosaic Art
The aesthetic value and creativity can help assess the worth of a house or a structure. To beautify their houses and make them look attractive and alluring, people generally apply vibrant paints and coordinate them with vivid tiles and flooring etc. Nowadays however, people are using Mosaic Art to improve the look and décor of their house. Mosaic is the art of coordinating colorful glass and beautiful stones to create patterns and pictures which enhance the aesthetic look of the house. Mosaic is an ancient art which was prevalent in the 3rd and 4th Century BC.
The Mesopotamians, Greeks and Macedonians widely used this art. While Greeks...
Monday, June 25, 2012
A slice of Europe - Made in China
The Chinese have done it again! Attempted something that had never been tried before, that is. They've built themselves their own slice of Europe!
Hallstatt, Austria
China has cloned the original Austrian village, Hallstatt, a UNESCO protected heritage site. Every last detail of the village has been copied in this replica dubbed Hallstatt See by the China Minmetals Corporation, located in the Guangdong province. The $940 million dollars project was announced by the Corporation in June, 2011 and now, in just about a year, the village is open to visitors. With an acreage of about a million square meters the village is intended...
Friday, June 22, 2012
Fountain Fantasies - Indoor Fountains – The New Trends in Interior Designing
Interior designing is a creative and innovative aspect in which various techniques and ideas are applied to make the interiors of a living space more attractive and unique. Interior decoration of a building or house reflects the lifestyle and class of people. It seems like the trends in home decor are drifting away from heirloom pieces and traditional design, and are moving forward in a more modern direction where the actual design instead speaks for itself. This is great and there is no need to argue with popular demand, but there are many ways to creatively transform some of your favorite memories into extremely innovative interior accents like the indoor fountains.
A pre-designed fountain for the interior that mimic commercial copper, tempered and glass wall fountains, can add...
Make a Home or Pick One? Choosing a Home
Having a home is the biggest wish of everyone. A home is something for which everyone works for years and after saving each day, they get to by a new home. Getting a home of choice is something which matters the most. Many a times, people get confuse in what they should be choosing between building a new home and buying an existing home. There are benefits of both of them. If one plans on building a new home, they can start from scratch and they know that everything will be done as per them, they can design their home so nicely that they really will get what they want, what they always wanted – a customized home that is made by taking views of each member of the family. When ever people chooses on building a new home, they know that the new home will be as per the requirements and as per...
Chirp! Chirp! - Design A Birdhouse For Your Lawn
A lawn in your compound would be pretty bland without a few features added to it. Adding features like a rock garden or a bird house would add beauty to the garden and also attract colorful birds to your garden. Many homeowners find them to be a charming ornament for their gardens. Some people even collect antique bird houses that they put up in secret corners of their garden. These are remarkable conversation pieces for guests. Even children find them quite delightful. For them, birdhouses are like surprises hidden among the leaves and branches in the garden.
When considering to buy a birdhouse, to give a bird a new home, we need to decide on two factors. The first is what bird frequents our garden the most. Smaller birds like sparrows or wrens would prefer smaller birdhouses in which...
Fishing for plastic
If you were to be wandering around the Botafogo Beach in Rio around now, don't be surprised to see two giant fish rearing out of the sand and seemingly aiming for the sky.Glittering with the reflection of the sun's rays or if it's a little later in the evening, glowing a warm blue and red (thanks to little LED lights), juxtaposed against the scenic backdrop of Rio's mountains, they might look like something your beauty-drunk brain made up on its own. But they're real, alright. Well, not real fish but real enough otherwise.
Image by Ascom Riotur
Made out of plastic bottles, these gorgeous fish are not only a spectacular tourist...
Friday, June 15, 2012
Inuit Art - Toronto, An Architectural Destination
Modern architecture grew out of the Thule people's tradition of decorating utilitarian objects. Although the earlier Pre-Dorset, Dorset and Ipiutak cultures also produced artistic objects, these items are much more rare. Contact between the Inuit people and Western whalers and missionaries in the 1500s led to the expansion of Inuit architecture. Over time, sculptures carved in whale ivory, stone and other available materials were created for use in trade rather than for personal or ritual use.
Once previously nomadic groups settled into villages after World War II, the Inuit art movement flourished. Sculptors and other artists were encouraged by the Canadian government to produce small sculptures and other items to sell as a means to self-sufficiency. Although these items originally reflected...
Just Use it...One More Time...! Save Environment and its Resources
Environmentally friendly options for your home may seem too expensive. However, there are a lot of little things you can change that are not only better for the environment, but they are better for your family's health as well. Use these tips to inexpensively make small changes around your home that will eventually make a big difference for the environment, your family's health, and your wallet. Recycle, reuse, and utilize old items around your home. Use that old toy box into storage for blankets, pillows and more.
Turn old chairs into planters for your yard. Before you throw something away, figure out how you can utilize the item for something else. When you do buy new items, opt for ones that don't have to be thrown away. Disposable items add so much bulk to landfills and they cost you...
Aquapetz! - Designing A Fish Pond For Your Garden
Some property owners will consider adding a pond or some form of electric waterfall feature to increase the value of their property. Some keen fish lovers may also do this to extend their hobbies into the outside air. When you decide to set up a pond in your garden, the first thing to consider is to choose a proper location. Before you begin any digging, take some measurements, and make sure that you will have enough room for the pond that you intend to use. Good planning is essential during fish pond design. Unlike lawns and borders which are more easily moved or altered, a pond is less easy to change once installed.
When designing, there are several important things to take into account. One of the most important things to consider is choosing a location for the pond. Some people like...
Friday, June 8, 2012
Chill Out In The Land Of Deserts - Ancient Methods of Cooling Down
The ancient way of cooling the building in India was by digging a pond into the ground and surrounding the ground with walls to evaporate the water. This method was developed more than 1,500 years ago. This method was used mainly to escape the harsh desert heat in Rajasthan area by a series of water bodies with descending steps right into the bowel of the earth. The natural evaporation of the water into the spaces kept the entire building cool even without the use of power consumption. These were popularly knows as baolis.
Such a simple but clever technology is now being studied and used by modern architects to cool buildings. Many ancient Indian buildings particularly in Rajasthan were given the Jaali design not so much for decoration but for cooling the interior of the buildings. This...
Pray in Peace - Designing A Praying Room For Your Home
In almost every Indian home, a separate room is allotted to perform 'Pooja' or prayer. Whatever a person's religion is, every household has a 'Pooja' or prayer room. This room is where generally people keep the deities and God's Idols. 'Pooja' rooms are decorated with these idols in silver or chrome frames, with lots of flowers and miniature jewelry or simply idols are painted in beautiful colors and are made of clay. In addition to the idols, there are many items kept for worshiping in the 'Pooja' room. The 'Pooja' room is also used by some for meditation. Even if there a space constraint in the house in any Indian Home, a small space, anywhere in the house is reserved to perform all kind of traditional rituals and pooja.
A typical 'Pooja' room is decorated with pure simplicity. So allocating...
Nature - The Best Therapist - Horticultural Therapy
Stress is a part of everyday life, and more and more people are looking for ways to reduce daily tension. The demands of work, family life, and community obligations can all add up to create a sense of pressure in our lives. There are many ways to deal with stress and the ways include relaxation, exercise, meditation, and enjoying creative hobbies. For instance, gardening is a fantastic combination of all of these ways to attack stress. And, it has the added benefit of providing healthy foods for you and your family.Health professionals have recognized the benefits of gardening, and recommended to many patients. The professionals applied horticultural therapy onto their patients, which brought forth remarkable healing in terms of physical, mental and emotional aspects. Having a garden...
Friday, June 1, 2012
The Architectural Might - Gwalior Fort
Gwalior is an important historical tourist destination in Madhya Pradesh with an array of beautiful monuments, museums and palaces. All these landmarks have been witnessed to numerous ups and downs and have gone through the test of times. These also are rich in history and boast of architectural designs and styles.
Gwalior Fort is well known as most impregnable fortress of North and Central India. It was Raja Man Singh Tomar who constructed this magnificent structure in 15th century. This Fort bounded by solid walls of sandstone, situated in Gopachal is sprawled over an area of 3 square km and stands 35 feet high.
Gwalior Fort consist...
Pampering Snoopy! - Designing Dog Kennels
If you are interested in building a dog kennel from scratch the first thing you are going to need to do is look at the different dog kennels designs to see which one will suit your dog. If you have more than one dog you may want to consider building a duplex dog kennel that is divided into two separate apartments for your dogs if they do not get along with each other well enough to sleep in the same space!
Essentially there are only three main types of dog kennel designs of which the duplex is only one. The other two are the classic peaked roof or "Snoopy" kennel and the flat sloping roof model. Now your dogs are really not going to care...
Postures to Good Health - Yoga Retreats in India
India is rightly known as the World Capital of Yoga and the word yoga is from the Sanskrit language which means to unite or to attach. Yoga is widely believed to be in existence as old as civilization. Yoga poses are known to be found in stone seals from around 3000 B.C, although some believe that yoga was prevalent even before that and another form of body postures 'shamanism' which was similar to Yoga.
Yoga could be classified into four periods namely Vedic period, Pre-Classical Yoga, Classical Yoga and Post-Classical Yoga. Yoga restores balance and peace into our lives and helps in the physical, mental and psychological well being of...
High living!
Talk about living in the clouds. If Tokyo's X- Seed 4000, designed to be the world's tallest tower at a whopping 13,000 ft, were ever to see the light of day that's exactly what its inhabitants would be doing. Seemingly inspired by Mount Fuji in terms of structure the monstrous building would soar even higher than the volcanic mountain. This Utopian project designed by Taisei Corporation is to be a self-contained high-rise built to eco-friendly norms. However, a building that towers over a mountain is no joke and not only would it have to protect its inhabitants from regular things but all from extreme variance in light, temperature, atmospheric...
