Theme Week Singapore – Singapore River, where it all began

30 March 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture Reading Time:  8 minutes

Singapore River, where it all began © flickr.com - William Cho./cc-by-sa-2.0

Singapore River, where it all began © flickr.com – William Cho./cc-by-sa-2.0

The Singapore River is a river in Singapore that flows from the Central Area, which lies in the Central Region in the southern part of Singapore before emptying into the ocean. The immediate upper watershed of the Singapore River is known as the Singapore River Planning Area, although the northernmost part of the watershed becomes River Valley. As the Central Area is treated as a central business district, nearly all land surrounding it is commercial. It is one of about 40 rivers in Singapore and its islands.   read more…

Theme Week Sylt – Kampen

26 March 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Rotes Kliff Beach © Bin im Garten/cc-by-sa-3.0

Rotes Kliff Beach © Bin im Garten/cc-by-sa-3.0

Kampen is located north of the island’s main town, Westerland. The municipality is part of the Amt Landschaft Sylt. The local economy is dominated by tourism. The name Kaamp means “a marked out field”.   read more…

Theme Week Sylt – Rantum

25 March 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Rantum Harbor © Michael Redecke

Rantum Harbor © Michael Redecke

Rantum is located south of Westerland. The name is frequently associated with the marine goddess Rán (Rantum = Rán’s place). It is, however, more likely that the name derives from the old spelling of Raantem, i.e. “settlement at the edge”. Rantum today is located at the narrowest part of the island with a width of only 600 metres. East of the village are the Rantum-Inge, an ample area of salt marshes and the Wadden Sea. To the west, beyond the dunes, the beach faces the open North Sea.   read more…

Theme Week Sylt – List auf Sylt

24 March 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

List auf Sylt © Ralf Roletschek/cc-by-sa-3.0

List auf Sylt © Ralf Roletschek/cc-by-sa-3.0

List auf Sylt is the northernmost municipality in Germany, close to Denmark. List was originally a Danish settlement. It was first mentioned in 1292 (Lystum). The original village was destroyed by the great flood of 1364. The settlement was rebuilt further east from the previous location. In the mid-15th century, a church named St. Jürgen was mentioned. In a treaty of 1460, Schleswig and Holstein were linked to the Danish crown, but List remained part of the royal enclaves, small areas of the Kingdom of Denmark situated within the Duchy of Schleswig, but directly controlled by the Danish king.   read more…

Theme Week Sylt – Keitum

23 March 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Friesenhaus from 1784 © Hajotthu/cc-by-sa-3.0

Friesenhaus from 1784 © Hajotthu/cc-by-sa-3.0

Keitum is located on the Wadden Sea side of the island. The village fronts on the sea at what is called the Grünes Kliff (green cliff), a mostly vegetation-covered (hence green) escarpment. It stretches along the coast for around 3 kilometres from the eastern edge of the village to the church of St. Severin, north of the village. In 2013, Keitum had a permanent population of around 880. Another 900 people have second homes in the village.   read more…

Theme Week Abu Dhabi – Masdar City

23 March 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Architecture, Design & Products, Energy, Building Automation, Green Buildings, Green Technologies, Intelligent Buildings, Living, Working, Building, Materials, Sustainability, Environment, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  15 minutes

© fosterandpartners.com

© fosterandpartners.com

Masdar City is a planned city project in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Its core is being built by Masdar, a subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, with the majority of seed capital provided by the Government of Abu Dhabi. Designed by the British architectural firm Foster and Partners, the city relies on solar energy and other renewable energy sources. Masdar City is being constructed 17 kilometres (11 mi) east-south-east of the city of Abu Dhabi, right beside Abu Dhabi International Airport. Masdar City will host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The city is designed to be a hub for cleantech companies. Its first tenant is the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, which has been operating in the city since it moved into its campus in September 2010.   read more…

Theme Week Sylt – Westerland

22 March 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Westerland Beach © Toksave/cc-by-sa-3.0

Westerland Beach © Toksave/cc-by-sa-3.0

Westerland is the largest resort on the island, the local transportation hub and the centre of Sylt’s tourist industry. Westerland is located on the western shore of the island. It lies 70 km northwest of Husum, 74 km west of Flensburg, 134 km northwest of Kiel and 186 km northwest of Hamburg. Thanks to its affluent, glamorous lifestyle and thriving tourism industry, Westerland has been called the Beverly Hills of Germany. Westerland is the central hub for supply, retailing, and numerous services that are provided to the inhabitants and visitors on the island of Sylt. The twin town is St. Moritz in Switzerland.   read more…

Theme Week Sylt

21 March 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  14 minutes

© flickr.com - Tobias Mandt/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Tobias Mandt/cc-by-2.0

Sylt is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian Islands and is the largest island in North Frisia. The northernmost island of Germany, it is known for its tourist resorts, notably Westerland, Kampen and Wenningstedt-Braderup, as well as for its 40-kilometre-long (25-mile) sandy beach. Since 1927, Sylt has been connected to the mainland by the Hindenburgdamm causeway. In latter years, it has been a resort for the German jet set and tourists in search of occasional celebrity sighting. The island was used during the filming of The Ghost Writer, as an alternate location for Martha’s Vineyard, due to travel restrictions on the film’s director, Roman Polanski. A starring role plays the ferry between the islands of Sylt and Rømø.   read more…

Theme Week Havana – Malecón

16 March 2016 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Velvet/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Velvet/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Malecón (officially Avenida de Maceo) is a broad esplanade, roadway and seawall which stretches for 8 km (5 miles) along the coast in Havana, from the mouth of Havana Harbor in Old Havana, along the north side of the Centro Habana neighborhood, ending in the Vedado neighborhood. New businesses are appearing on the esplanade due to economic reforms in Cuba that now allow Cubans to own private businesses.   read more…

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