Latest news with #landmark
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Fire destroys Paihia waterfront landmark
history life and society 20 minutes ago There was heartbreak in Northland today after fire destroyed a landmark which has graced the Paihia waterfront for more than 50 years. Once Kelly Tarlton's Museum of Shipwrecks and later a popular restaurant, the Tui had fallen into disrepair in recent years, but it was just about to get a new lease of life. Peter de Graaf reports.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Ipswich's Willis office building designed by Norman Foster is 50
One of the most "revolutionary" office buildings in Suffolk is celebrating its 50th all-glass exterior Willis building in Ipswich was opened on 2 June 1975 with a roof-top garden and an indoor swimming was one of the first buildings designed by Norman Foster - one of Britain's foremost architects whose other buildings include London's Gherkin, the main terminal building at Stansted Airport in Essex and the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich. The Willis building was described by world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid as "a timeless classic, a vision of what is possible". The Grade I listed building, occupied by WTW (Willis Towers Watson), is one of the landmarks in Ipswich town centre with its contours based on the curvy glass vases of the 1930s. Its glass exterior changes colour with the light and reflects the buildings, streetlights, traffic and skies on the corner of St Peters Street and Franciscan the building's interior is lit up at night, the pipes and workings can be seen through the glass. Speaking to BBC Radio Suffolk last month, Lord Foster said: "It was revolutionary then and perhaps in many ways it still is."He said in the 1970s a typical office building would have been a tower, but building "low and deep" in the winding Medieval street layout would have "been revolutionary at that time".The architect said the new style of building was dubbed by the developers as "groundscrapers"."So this was the first of a kind, and was very much a response to the DNA, the vanity of a market town," he said."It meanders and is more intimate." The interior of the building is open-plan which was less commonplace at the light pours in from the glass ceiling, while escalators enabled access to the floors above instead of walls were painted yellow and the floors green to reflect the Sounds: Norman Foster remembers VE DayBBC Four: Building Sights - the Willis building"Being able to see your neighbour, to communicate... it's the opposite of everything about the workplace," Lord Foster said. "The idea that everyone would have the same standards, again was and still is in many ways revolutionary."Egalitarian, flexi-time, you could bring your family to the swimming pool, you didn't have to work nine to five." The swimming pool has long been covered over with flooring, but the roof garden remains. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
29-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Giant's Causeway: Tourists asked not to wedge coins into rocks
Have you ever thrown money for good luck or to make a wish?Well, tourists at one landmark in Northern Ireland are being urged to keep their spare change in their to the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland have been asked not to wedge coins between the famous National Trust, which looks after the site, says the coins left between the basalt columns expand and rust, damaging the rock. What's happened? The Giant's Causeway is one of Northern Ireland's most famous and important landmarks, with hundreds of thousands of people visiting the site each practice of jamming coins into the rocks started many years ago – but the National Trust believes it has increased significantly in the past say that the coins quickly rust and expand, which causes the rock to flake, and it also leaves reddish-brown coloured streaks.A trial to remove coins safely has been successful, and now it is hoped the money - which comes from all over the world – will be removed across the the tidy-up operation is expected to cost more than £30,000 to remove them Cliff Henry, from the National Trust, said the rocks are affected in many explained: "People see others put coins in, so they copycat, they take a coin out of their pocket and they might take a stone off the ground to hammer the coin in."But they might miss and chip the stone itself so that's doing damage."According to the Trust, signs will be put up around the site, and visitors will be warned not to insert the coins by tour guides. What is the Giant's Causeway? Giant's Causeway is located in County Antrim in Northern was formed around 60 million years ago when volcanic eruptions created 40,000 basalt stone the ancient lava cooled, the stones formed into six-sided shaped patterns called hexagons. Legend has it that it was actually an Irish giant called Finn McCool who created the causeway to prove how strong he was to Benandonner, a rival Scottish giant across the Causeway is a Unesco World Heritage Site which means it has cultural, historical and scientific importance.
Al Arabiya
23-05-2025
- Al Arabiya
The 'Arts Tower' shines along Riyadh's Sports Boulevard
A prominent landmark along Riyadh's Sports Boulevard encapsulates the future of the city. The colorful 'Arts Tower' includes several different elements, shapes and colors. Saudi artist Abdulnasser Gharem said the purpose of the landmark is to continuously change with the sun, clouds and different angles. The 83.5-meter icon has 691 colored panels to bring the façade to life. Gharem said he was inspired to include so many colors based on the spectrum of colors from older homes. The triangular shape is for people to feel a sense of belonging, and the shape represents a constant presence in Saudi civilization. 'The wind taught me that no project should resist nature but rather learn humility before it. Therefore, the number of slices was not just a technical decision, but a dialogue with the air, with life, with our limits as human beings,' Gharem said.
CBC
18-05-2025
- CBC
Tall ship crashes into Brooklyn Bridge, injuring 19
9 minutes ago News Duration 0:27 A Mexican Navy sailing ship festooned with lights and a giant flag crashed into the landmark Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday night, shearing the top of its masts and causing several injuries.
