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Miami Travel / Historical Travel / Architectural Travel / Art Deco / → All Tags

Break Out the Spats and Pin Curls for Miami's Art Deco Weekend

Miami may kick off the year as vice city for hordes of NYE revelers, but as January gets underway, the beach goes back to its pre-Cocaine Cowboys roots to celebrate all things Deco.

From January 13–15, the Miami Design Preservation League (the folks who keep South Beach looking so pretty) kick up their heels Charleston style with the annual Art Deco Weekend.

This year's three-day festival will include a fashion show, car show, musical performances, furniture fair and, as always, a lineup of walking tours to show off all the glorious buildings the MDPL has managed to save over the years.

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Observation Decks / Skyscrapers / Dubai Travel / Architectural Travel / → All Tags

What to Expect at the World's Highest Observation Deck in Dubai's Burj Khalifa

The Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, opened its observation deck this month in Dubai and we did some digging to see what the experience is supposed to be like. Perched on the 124th floor, the observation deck is supposed to give an airplane-like view of the area.

To get to "At the Top," the observation deck's, you have to enter through The Dubai Mall’s lower-ground level. Before you pop your ears on the elevator up, brush up on your knowledge of Dubai and the building with multimedia displays like "Dubai Then and Now," "From Earth to the Sky" and "From Vision to Reality." You'll also see a big illuminated model of the Burj Khalifa, formerly called the Burj Dubai, where you can learn about the skyscraper.

A video of the view, after the jump.

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Willis Tower / Sears Tower / Skyscrapers / Architectural Travel / Observation Decks / Chicago Travel / Tourist Traps / → All Tags

We Lived On The Edge And Visited Willis Tower's New Ledge

The Willis Tower installed "The Ledge," these new glass boxes that jut out 4.3 feet from the skyscraper to give you that standing-on-the-edge feeling in the pit of your stomach, on the west side of the building's Skydeck on the 103rd floor.

With a name like that, you'd think it was an amusement park ride. Adding to the amusement park novelty are shirts, mugs and other paraphernalia for sale that boast "Dare to Stand Out" and professional photographers on hand to take a souvenir snapshot of you in the floating box that will be printed and framed by the time you leave the building.

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Skyscrapers / Architectural Travel / Sears Tower / Observation Decks / Views / → All Tags

Look Down: Sears Tower Jumps on the Glass Floor Bandwagon

Not content with the regular views from its 103rd-floor Skydeck, the Sears Tower - which will soon be renamed the Willis Tower - is adding four enclosed glass-floored balconies where visitors can look straight down past their toes to the street 412 meters below. Building managers say that the inspiration for the innovation came from the hundreds of forehead prints left on the windows every day by people looking for the sensation of flight. They're also following the lead of several other observation decks around the world, including the Grand Canyon Skywalk, Canada's CN Tower, and Australia's Eureka Tower. If all goes according to plan, "The Ledge" should be completed next month.

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NYC 400 / Attractions / Henry Hudson / Botanical Gardens / Architectural Travel / → All Tags

From Old to New Amsterdam: New York Turns 400

If it ain't Dutch, it ain't much: New York City celebrates the 400th anniversary of its founding this year with Dutch cultural exhibits under the NYC 400 banner and a special present from the folks who dubbed it New Amsterdam.

Henry Hudson first landed on the island that would later be known as Manhattan in 1609, and museums like the Met and the Frick are getting in on the act with exhibits of Rembrandts, Vermeers, van Goghs and others. At the Museum of the City of New York (1220 Fifth Avenue), Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: The Worlds of Henry Hudson, opening April 4, will explore Hudson's trip with artifacts like the maps and sextants that steered him there. The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx will show off the tulips and other native plants of the Netherlands with "The Glory of Dutch Bulbs," opening April 1st.

In honor of New York's founding, Amsterdam is sending a stone plaza that will be installed in the Battery with a snack bar and LED-embedded sculpture. We'll withhold judgment on the New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion until we see an actual photo -- it's not really the Dutch government's fault someone already sent Lower Manhattan something cool.

Related Stories:
· Official list of all NYC 400 events so far [NYC Go]
· Ben van Berkel's New Manhattan Project: Battery Goes Dutch [Curbed]
· Dutch to Help New York Celebrate Hudson’s Journey [New York Times]

[Artist's rendering of the Plein & Pavilion: dezeen.com]