Hong Kong - Republic of China

Armani Cafe designed by Massimilano Fuxas takes inspiration form the curvy lines of city's many freeways. Avoiding any easy cliché about Chinese decorations this cafe is actually so much expressing the spirit of the city which is ultimately so modern, dynamic and exuberant.

Taiwan - Republic of China

Two very different buildings are standing next to each other in Taipei, Taiwan.

The Grand Hotel which was built in the fifties to recall the grandeur of the historical Chinese palaces and
Taipei Fine Art Museum which was built at the beginning of the eighties. This Museum has extraordinary dynamic floor plans and elevations. Like a sculpture it looks completely different when seen by different points of view and its scheme is so modern that recalls some of the recent project of OMA ( Vitra Art House) and those of few others contemporary architects. I particularly like the position of the windows located at the end of the "tunnels" only.

Republic of South Korea

Rem Koolhas explains how the project works

http://www.prada-transformer.com/

Interview to Minuccia Prada

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y0Gde7zKYk

This temporary pavilion is the latest collaboration between OMA and the Prada, with OMA having designed several of there ‘Epicentre’ stores in New York and San Francisco. The transformer opened in the grounds of Seoul’s 16th-century Gyeonghui Palace in April 2009 and was open for 5 months in total.
It housed art, architecture, film and fashion exhibits. Its three sided steel structure is covered with a tensile fabric which is both easy to change and translucent to allow light into the internal spaces.
The idea of a building changing, and not simply being one thing, is an extremely interesting one, which has been proven by the large amount of media interest in the project. It could be the next step for cultural temporary structures, maybe the Serpentine gallery’s yearly temporary pavilion will evolve and transform in the coming years.

Kingdom of Thailand

Lying Buddha at Pranon Wat Pho - Bangkok

Interesting in Bangkok is the Reclining Buddha in Pranon Wat Pho located in the Phra Nakhon district. Wat Pho is the largest and oldest wat (wat means temple) in Bangkok and houses more than one thousand Buddha images. The Reclining Buddha is one of the largest single Buddha statues around. It was built in the 16th Century surrounded by a quiet fishing village. What is interesting is that this incredibly large sculpture is not located in a proportionally large temple but in a rectangular space which allows the corridor around it for the visitors. It is actually impossible to look at this golden sculpture as a whole but only in partial frames which somehow makes the impression of this sculpture even more spectacular.