Enough of architecture... I'm going to take about coffee this time. Being a coffeeholic i do seem to spend as much money on starbucks n stuff as food. It got me thinking, how can people not get bore? No matter which country I go in the world there seem to be one just round the next corner, but whats most frustrating is how you always have to wait for a year to get your coffee then you find out they made you a mocha instead of the gande latte that you ordered. So in high school I started using french press but even that was too much fuss for a lazy bugger like me. Then I came across the nespresso capsule, it seemed pretty interesting and the espresso is actually pretty good too. What caught my eyes were the new-ish Citiz range. Hence the name, they got the idea from skyscrapers and the atmosphere of cities. They managed to make the espresso machine pretty thin so it doesn't take up too much kitchen space. And capsule system they have made the whole brewing process a lot easier and it never create a mess, perfect for me!
Hamburg has always been important for Germany, famous for its free port. Other than that, its just a lovely city be in. When the old docks became too small for the big ships and the increasing amount of goods that go through the harbour, it moved to the other part of the city. The old dock quarter was left abandoned for a while, until the government announces number of plans to completely redevelop the whole area. Compare to other similar redevelopment projects this is a huge success. With the backing of government and private investors, it attracts some of the world's biggest name in the architectural field such as Rem Koolhaas, David Chipperfield and so on. One major feature of this project is that the whole are is floor proof, none of the flat is located on the ground floor, garage doors are also use as flood gate and a whole series of footbridge network to ensure that people does not get trap. The whole project is not schedule to finish in the next 10 - 20 years but the first phrase was already complete when I was there. For me it was quite a good place to chill out after spending a day in the area around Jungfernstieg. The list of things to do is constantly adding up as more and more projects are being complete, is you want a good panoramic view of the Hafen city and the harbour, you should head to the bright orange observation tower called View Point. For more information, go to hafencity.com
The capital was famous for its historic sites, the forbidden city and so on... Then 2 years ago all the attention came on the bird nest and blue cube with which sit just outside of the city, both for the olympic game. For china it was a prefect opportunity to show the rest of the world what it has, well i personally can't deny that it was truly spectacular for a traditional city like beijing to have something so impressive and untraditional. But for them this is only the beginning, the news of big projects being announce and complete at the speed of light is nothing new. While the olympic stadiums are being left to rot, I turn my attention to other things that they are actually planning to use for a little while longer.
Here it is, an office block that looks like a giant pair of trousers (at least thats what the local thinks) designed by OMA. It's next to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel which completely burnt down before it even opens its door. The office block will be the headquarter for the national TV station, it is seen as one of the most amazing structure ever built in modern time. To see more, just go to the OMA website, they have plenty of pretty pictures and CAD drawing up there which looks way better than the ones that I took last year.
