Architectural icon

New York City’s popular architectural icon, the Empire State Building, was in the news in mid-October, when for the first time it was lit up green for three nights to mark the Muslim festival of Id ul-Fitr.

The illumination of the building for Id will become an annual feature, in the same tradition of the yearly lighting for Christmas and Hannukah (the Jewish festival of lights), it has been announced.

Completed in 1931, the Empire State Building stands 1,454 feet (443 metres) tall and is second only to Chicago’s Sears Tower, as the tallest building in the United States. It was first lit up in 1976 with red, white and blue lights to mark the American Bicentennial, the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

The Empire State Building was also in the news early this year when it topped the list in a public poll of the 150 best works of US architecture conducted by Harris Interactive and the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

The White House in Washington, DC, came second in the poll. Another notable structure that made the list was the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, which secured the fifth place.

Even the fallen World Trade Centre twin towers in New York City figured in the list, being ranked 19th. Washington’s public buildings and memorials — including the Washington National Cathedral, Jefferson Memorial, the Capitol and Lincoln Memorial — dominated the poll’s ‘top ten’ list, but New York City led the list for the sheer number of structures in the ‘top 150’.

Located on the 86th floor of the 102-floor Empire State Building, one of New York’s main tourist attractions, the Observatory offers panoramic views from within a glass-enclosed pavilion and from the surrounding open-air promenade. Since the Observatory opened to the public in 1931, almost 110 million visitors have thrilled to the awe-inspiring vision of the city beneath them. The building offers a variety of activities for its visitors. One can tour the Observatory 365 days a year, day and night, rain or shine, for breathtaking views of Manhattan and beyond.

Towering new landmark for coastal resort

One of the most successful tourist attractions in the United Kingdom is the iconic London Eye, giving visitors to the capital a bird’s eye view of the city. Now, the people behind the enormous wheel-like structure on the south bank of the River Thames have come up with an even brighter idea to attract more visitors to one of southern England’s most popular coastal resorts — Brighton.

Brighton Council granted planning permission last year for the Brighton i360 observation tower, designed by the award-winning London Eye architects, husband-and-wife team David Marks and Julia Barfield. At a height of 183 metres and the observation pod rising to 139 metres, the ‘Pier in the sky’ i360, will be the UK’s highest observation tower and taller than the London Eye (at 135 metres). It is expected to be completed in 2008.

Visitors will board a giant, fully-enclosed glass and steel pod, more than nine times the size of a London Eye capsule. During their 20-minute ride, the pod carrying up to 100 people will rise gradually to a height of about 139 metres, giving visitors stunning 360-degree panoramic views of up to 40 kilometres (25 miles) on a clear day.
Brighton i360 will be located on the seafront on the site of the original Victorian west pier, which was devastated by two fires in 2003. The i360 will provide an income stream for the West Pier Trust to finance its heritage works and the future of the sea-based pier.

The design will include restoration of the original Victorian toll booths and seating, and the creation of a Heritage Centre. It will fund the tidying up of the beach and removal of the wrecked pier, while retaining a nearby island where thousands of starlings flock at dusk.

Brighton, which is 80 kilometres south of London and is close to the Channel seaports and Gatwick airport, is one of the UK’s most popular destinations, attracting eight million visitors a year. The designers of the i360, Marks Barfield Architects, have become known for their environmental work. They recently unveiled plans for ‘The Beacon’, a new form of urban wind generation which can be located in cities that benefit from the fact that 30-50 per cent of energy is lost through transmission. About 20 per cent of the energy required to operate the i360’s pod will come from silent wind turbines at the top of the spire.