The New Beijing

My friend Scott, who works as a graphic designer and illustrator for The West Australian (our State paper), is always on the lookout for interesting, innovative and arresting ideas and designs.

Today he sent through to me a link to an article published in the New York Times online which details some of the architectural wonders that have recently been unveiled in Beijing ahead of the country hosting the Olympic Games next month.

All I have to say is WOW.

The weblet has animations on how these various structures were designed (impressive), some amazing pictures (the exterior of the National Theatre in particular looks like something out of a science fiction movie, where humans have finally colonised worlds beyond Earth); and there is a cogent commentary from Nicolai Ouroussoff, the architecture critic for the paper, who seems at times both impressed by but also a little disturbed at China's leap forward to distinguish its city - as he questions, at what civic cost?

Have a look for yourself at:

Architectural Monuments in a Reshaped Beijing

Travelling in style...

Seriously, I'm one month out from my flight to Beijing so I thought I'd get a little organised and have a look at the nitty gritty of my travel details.
I got a pleasant surprise when I checked the Singapore Airlines website - I will be flying on the brand new Airbus A380, purported to be the largest and most comfortable passenger aircraft in the world! It's only on the leg between Singapore and Beijing, but how cool is that?! :) It's the world's first double decker aircraft.

Virtual Tour of Singapore Airbus A380

Singapore Airlines to operate Airbus A380 to Beijing