Reflecting on class

In the past 8 weeks, as I have written this blog, I have found out many great things. To all those who checked out my blog I say, “Thanks,” but this doesn’t mean it is over. As I keep discovering the achievements of architecture in the world I will keep posting on here. I learned that by having a greater audience other than just the teacher or the fellow classmates, I have put more effort in trying to make this blog a more exceptional piece of writing. The greater audience and knowing that this will stay here for me to keep developing it makes me feel accomplished and want to keep going with the project. Just because the class might be over, does not mean the project ends here.

Visual Assignment

The Burj Al Arab is a sail-shaped hotel in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. The sail shape of the building tells us that the winds of the world are pushing Dubai, which is why Dubai is one of the most architecturally advanced cities in the world, it has mixed various types of architecture and the culture of many people to build the “City of the Future”, as it has become known. When one sees the size of the Burj Al Arab, one must feel overwhelmed (pathos) at seeing how big it is. The Burj Al Arab is the world’s second tallest hotel that has been completed. The Burj Al Arab has become the symbol for Dubai, just like Sydney has the Opera House, or Paris has the Eiffel Tower, now Dubai has its symbol, the Burj Al Arab, giving the people of Dubai something that represents them (mythos).

The Burj Al Arab is also the world’s only seven (7) star hotel and has one of the highest located tennis courts. One might think, “Is that safe?” The tennis court is at about 250 meters in the air. But yes, the court has a net that goes around its base in case either tennis balls or, hopefully this will never happen, people. So when people see this net, they lose their fear of being there and feel safer knowing there is something that will catch them if they happen to fall. The island on which the hotel is built on is also very safe, before the hotel was built, the foundation laid out for it consisted of 230 concrete columns that were driven into the sand, each is 40 meters (about 130 feet) long. If more people that go there knew this, they would feel safer when in the building, they will trust the structure (ethos).

Another building that might play with one’s emotions is the Ryugyong Hotel, in North Korea, which has never been completed and was recently started to be worked upon in the year 2009. When one looks at this building, one might think that it is the headquarters of some alien life form that has taken over Earth (pathos), messing with our feelings and making us feel scared of being dominated. The shape was never used before, it is like a broken triangle, which also somewhat resembles a pyramid, a shape of power. The building was planned to be a hotel, but it was never completed and construction stopped during 1992, just before the building was complete. Most of the structure exists, except for all the glass and furniture inside. And since the shape of the Ryugyong Hotel is almost the same as a pyramid, it will surely not fall over and stood by itself without any maintenance for 16 years (ethos).

Burj Al Arab. (2010, April 30). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:18, April 30, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Burj_Al_Arab&oldid=359256922

Burj Al Arab (n.d.) Retrieved April 29, 2010, from World Wide Web. http://petruccieurotrash.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/burj-al-arab.jpg

Ryugyong Hotel (n.d.) Retrieved April 30, 2010, from World Wide Web. http://maochan.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/ryugyong-hotel.jpg