In writing about aquatic architecture, I’ve come across some pretty bizarre designs — floating cities, underwater hotels, and oil rig resorts, just to name a few. Now I’ve got another weird idea to add to the pile: JDS Architects’ Venice 2.0. You see, Venice is facing the same problem as so many other seaside communities. Rising water levels…
Category: blog
Top 10 Most Beautiful Freshwater Aquariums of 2012 — Hungarian Edition!
Earlier this week, we took a look at the most beautiful aquariums from Japan’s International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest. The IAPLC accepted entries from all countries, but Japanese entreats accounted for about half of the total number of submissions. We don’t want to be too Asia-centric with our recent features on Wabi-Kusa displays and shishi-odoshis, so we’re going to…
Playing with Light and Shadow in a Silhouette Aquarium
One of the most difficult things to tinker with in an aquarium is light and shadow. The reason is quite simple: many of the organisms in your aquarium require light to survive, so prioritizing aesthetic over light requirements could leave your coral and plants near death. But don’t fret: just because it’s difficult to play with light in…
Let Your Fish Break Out of Aqua-Prison with a Custom Fish Highway
Being a pet is great. They don’t have to worry about being eaten by wild animals, they are lovingly cared for by their owners, and they never have to go hungry. That’s the type of life that most animals in the wild could only dream of. The only catch is that they have to give…
Swim Underground in Utah’s Homestead Crater
A while ago, I featured an underwater swimming pool in Utah as being the world’s coolest swimming pool. Yes, that’s actually putting all subjectivity aside. In 1998, Harvard scientists visited the pool with their newly-invented cooloscopy device and tested the pool. They received a reading of 34 gigacools, more than twice as many gigacool as any…
5 Beautiful Examples of Interior Decoration To Complement Your Aquariums
Aquariums are show-stoppers. As soon as you put an aquarium in a living space, every other art piece pales in comparison (well, unless you happen to be the owner of an original Van Gogh). That puts aquarium owners in a tough position. On the one hand, everything else you put into the living space will look…
The Top 5 Weirdest Coral Species
I love coral, but man are they freaking weird. To start off, they look like some sort of funky alien plant, but they’re actually animal colonies. There’s also very little consistency in how they’re shaped. They’re tall, short, fat, thin, spiky, smooth, colorful, bland, and everything in between. But just how weird can coral get?…
Flowers and Fish: 4 Beautiful Flowering Aquascapes to Inspire Your Next Aquarium
I’ve never been huge on flowers. They’re nice and all, but I’m not the type to go out and get fresh-cut flowers every week. I’m much more of an aquarium type of guy. The only problem is that my better half does like flowers, so my gal and I don’t always see eye-to-eye when it comes to…
Koen Olthuis: Will His Vision for Architecture Sink or Float?
I cover a lot of wacky aquatic contraptions on this blog, including floating megacities, recycled oil rigs, and underwater restaurants. Two names keep popping up: Koen Olthuis and Waterstudio.nl. Olthuis is the founder of Waterstudio.nl, an architectural group that has invented some of the most bizarre, futuristic, and practical aquatic buildings out there. Wait, hold on – practical? Practical doesn’t fit…
The Top 5 Most Famous Bridges on Earth
I wrote about Taiwan’s Rainbow Bridge yesterday, and while it is certainly a beautiful structure, it isn’t very well known. So today, I figured I’d take a look at the top five most famous bridges on Earth. 5. PONTE DE SOSPIRI This tiny bridge in Venice, Italy has a somewhat dark origin. The pathway connects a prison with Doge’s…
You must be logged in to post a comment.