Looking out from our hotel in this resort area were several huge colorful dancing figures placed on the beach with Hong Kong in the background. These were very well designed, giving a festive character to the beach. They were quite wonderful in terms of color and graceful positions.

This area of town had other sculptures interspersed in the entertainment district, but none were as good as these. The city is making an effort to create a true resort feeling in this otherwise benign urban area.

The tower is a major visual focus, and the new year ribbons at the base were great. Mac and I stopped to make write some wishes on them for our friends, family, and business. However, as we traveled upward, the messy condition were visible. The elevator floor was falling apart and rust was everywhere. At the terminus was the typical vendor drawing people’s pictures. Of course, he wanted to do mine since I was so “special.” There were some funny signs, and also a tacky shop selling all kinds of merchandise and blocking the vista. Overlooking that, it was a great experience.

I’ve enjoyed spending time with these people as you can see from these rare photos I’m posting of myself and our client in Fuzhou.

The tofu topped with scallops and a bit of sauce was beautiful and quite yummy. Dessert was carefully cut fruit slices.

This restaurant certainly knew the importance of good culinary presentation.

I guess the old adage is true: “The eye eats first.”

As a bonus, I’ve also attached a picture of a cup of coffee I enjoyed. See the dragon?

You can see in these shots that Bohemia has finally made its way over the Great Wall, both in the eclectic Western styles of the shops and the disarray of the surrounding neighborhood.

A modern Peninsula Hotel was built a few years ago, yet it has a sophisticated art deco look. The canopies are well done, and the lanterns stand off nicely.

The dramatic lighting is generally fantastic.

I took pictures of the hotel and the larger area using my new iPhone. It takes pretty good pictures. You can see downtown Shanghai with its skyscrapers in the background in some shots.

The entire museum ramp was emptied so his work could viewed from a distanc. This is where this kind of atrium museum excels in having the opportunity to hang such a unique installation.

The WTC memorial is well done and very powerful. Michael Arad, a graduate of the Georgia Tech’s architecture program, along with Peer Talker, have done a great job designing the landscape, which is very supportive of the emptiness of the architecture.

The simple geometry of this space is by far the very best gesture.

The fountains are amazing as they disappear into the void below. The museum under construction above grade is, sadly, a non event. In fact, it’s kind of annoying with its dysfunctional geometry, appearing to have fallen into the ground. It reminds me of some of the spiky buildings originally planned by Liebeskind. It isn’t worthy of this space. A better choice would have been a Renzo Piano creation.

The new buildings appear non-descript, reflecting nothing but their neighbors. The message is surreal emptiness. The architectural presence in the area is going to be nil except for the drama of the upcoming Santiago Calatrava project–it will be the architectural hero of the space.

The names of the remembered are engraved through a three quarter piece of bronze cut with lasers throughout the entire plate of metal. The spray of raindrops is eerie but spirited. The names float on the plates like Maya Lin’s Vietnam memorial.

The site is very very secure. One has to get an entry pass a few blocks away with a time stamp and then wait in another line near the construction site.

I assume the security will not be as rigorous once everything is finished. Now, however, I can see embedded cameras in the very lovely light poles.

The simplicity of the landscape surrounded by the non event buildings and the power of the memorial is unforgettable and very appropriate to honoring those who died in this tragic American event. I look forward to this space being open for all to enjoy in the future.

Just as Corbusier and Wright designed buildings before their time and before appropriate techniques had been invented, Hadid designed the Guangzhou Opera House, which had no place being built in such a short timeframe by unskilled labor. Take a look at these images. Any close examination of this building reveals significant faults. The seams are already warping, and the detailing is extremely wanting.

The city rushed to realize this masterpiece of contemporary architecture, and now we have a building that is going to fall apart in the next decade–it’s already falling apart. It already looks like it is 20 years old. The concrete is a fluid material and was done well, but the cutting of granite tiles (applied in a way resembling tiles on the space shuttle) in compound curves was not supposed to done in a hurry with inexperienced staff.

The low quality of the building is also present in the surrounding park. Everything here was done as quickly as possible, and is suffering for it.

It’s a sin to spend this kind of money and get this kind of slop in a city deserves much better.

While returning from China, I visited the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. I experienced great gratitude that America has such great architects and sympathetic clients to execute their visions correctly. People and organizations like the Getty Museum, which let Richard Meier build his UN compound-esque, curved buildings on the hillltop in L.A. It took 10 years and lots of money, but it brings tears to my eyes how one organization can project such a beaming example of civilization to the world through this building.

The Guangzhou Opera House could have been something much grander than it is.

The town was founded in 1880 at mile high elevation. Its houses clutch the edge of the hillsides and run into the main town center in the base of the valley. One enters the town on a road that passes through western lore Tombsone, and through a tunnel that has made the journey easier then in the past.

Bisbee is filled with wonderful turn of the century and early 20th century buildings that allowed this town to survive. Another town wonderful place is Jerome, just north of Phoenix, but not in the same great shape. Because of the hippies, both towns have become places for art and beautiful scenery.

Today, Bisbee is coming back with galleries, restaurants, cafes, and bed and breakfasts. The mines are even purported to be opening once again.

Bisbee has thousands of stairs like the town of Italy called Cinca Terre (“five earths”). The journeys up and down are exhausting.

One of the locals, a man named Will, has lived there since the late 70s. He wanted to get away from it all. His son works for a Tucson company that reinvented the horse shoe: it clips onto the horse with Velcro and allows much easier wear of the horse hoof. Will walks down the hill to town and walks back up on a road. We walked up to his house that overlooks downtown. He has a battery-powered tricycle that he powers up when he needs to leave town. He does not have a care in such a remote place. Will;s house is full of his home spun sculptures of found objects, including his VW bus that is also a part of his home fence.

As we made our way back down the hill from Will’s house we saw many examples of what could be called houses and some places that had outdoor art experiences. I observed such a richness of texture even in the beautiful rust of a Ford truck and in the collaged elements on the houses. There was a theatre- like building filled with three dimensional collages, and another in a park-like setting that had art covering all of its surfaces.

Further into the valley one can see newer homes, including one that was bright yellow with a red roof and had wonderful (cast iron?) Caratid figures holding a shade structure. They appeared like the Acropolis Caratid columns on the ancient buildings but in a modern setting. The Graffiti tags were of Louis Armstrong and maybe Marlena Diedrich. Paint experiments are quite special here and could be wonderfully photographed in different stages of the sun.

Almost every building is filled with the artistic expression by its owner or occupant. A you walk into town, you get a sense of its history through its architecture. The old Bank of America is seen with the fluted marble columns. The bathroom sign depicts a woman and man miner beautifully on the doors. The new Mexican restaurant and hotel has a new sign but it fits into the town’s spirit in a great way. The details in the masonry are reminiscent of Aspen. I believe this will become another Aspen (aside from the heat).

The courthouse built in 1931 has a great Art Deco spirit and sits in front is a statue of a miner that is similar to the Soviet realism sculptures of the common man seen on the Palace of Culture in Warsaw. The miner is heroic with big hands. The bulling is a wonderful Art Deco expression, the door made of dark stone and the rest cast in place concrete with accents that come from the desert. The columns terminate beautifully in the base, and the entry has a great cast bronze door of the heroic miner. The fountain and the lanterns appear to have a Frank Lloyd Wright feeling reminiscent to the wheat patterns in his windows.

The ROCA restaurant doors are a la METROPOLIS figure from the movie. We could not get a table at this four star restaurant as they were booked all night. Instead, we went to a wonderful vegetarian place down the street. (I forgot the name but my stomach remembers the food and wonderful juice fondly.)

The entire town is rich in architectural heritage and artistic expression. It should should become a mecca of southwestern art. The windows are filled with unique antiques and folk art, some with typical McDonald’s toys but others unique expressions.

I am looking forward to spending a week here photographing in different light and staying at a bed and breakfast.

The plaza contains some of Heloise Crista’s sculptures that are also in Taliesin West. Given Wright’s part-time life in Arizona, some of the surrounding buildings have been inspired by his architecture. (They’re not as good as FLW, but close.)

The sun plays with the tower as does inner lighting . I have seen it internally lit and will try to find some of those shots in the future–it’s wonderful. The corner posts that hold the overhead cover are also inspired by the wonderful wheat patterns that Wright created in the Midwest. Even the bus stop is FLW-inspired.

The plaza is a great tribute to one of Scottsdale’s finest and the greatest American architect.