Google Earth recently relaunched with a host of new features to help people explore the world in even more detail without ever having to leave the air-conditioned comforts of their homes.
One of the most fascinating new features is known as Voyager and it allows people to “experience interactive stories from around the world.” Anyone can now take guided, interactive tours of famous cities, cultural landmarks, and lost civilizations. These tours have been curated by entities such as BBC Earth, DigitalGlobe, and The Ocean Agency.
Two tours, specifically, will be of interest to anyone with a passion for architecture: Frank Gehry Buildings and Architecture by Zaha Hadid.
Frank Gehry Buildings showcases eight of the architect’s designs from around the world such as the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany, Dancing House in Prague Czech Republic, and Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle Wash. Each building comes with a short blurb explaining the building’s main function.
Frank Gehry's Dancing House. Courtesy Google Earth.
Architecture by Zaha Hadid features six of the late architect’s buildings such as the London Aquatics Center, the Bergisel Ski Jump in Innsbruch Austria, and Havenhuis in Antwerp, Belgium.
As one moves from building to building, the map zooms out, moves over the globe to the next landmark’s location, and then zooms back in. Once at the site, one is free to move around and zoom in and out as one pleases, or allow Google Earth to automatically pan slowly around the building. Building’s can be viewed in either 2D or 3D. Each building can be explored in Street View, as well.
Voyager allows people to view these often times very familiar structures in a more macro context. Instead of the professional pictures everyone has come to associate with a building like Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall or Hadid’s MAXXI, people can now gain a better understanding of how the buildings fit into their site and the overall city.
Zaha Hadid's MAXXI museum. Courtesy Google Earth.
Other current Voyager tours include Museums Around the World, Lost Civilizations from Above, Hemingway’s Hangouts, and Following Charles Dickens.
Related Stories
| Oct 11, 2010
MBMA Releases Fire Resistance Design Guide for metal building systems
The Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) announces the release of the 2010 Fire Resistance Design Guide for Metal Building Systems. The guide provides building owners, architects, engineers, specifiers, fire marshals, building code officials, contractors, product vendors, builders and metal building manufacturers information on how to effectively meet fire resistance requirements of a project with metal building systems.
| Oct 11, 2010
Rhode Island is the first state to adopt IGCC
Rhode Island is the first state to adopt the International Green Construction Code (IGCC). The Rhode Island Green Buildings Act identifies the IGCC as an equivalent standard in compliance with requirements that all public agency major facility projects be designed and constructed as green buildings. The Rules and Regulations to implement the Act take effect in October 2010.
| Oct 8, 2010
Union Bank’S San Diego HQ awarded LEED Gold
Union Bank’s San Diego headquarters building located at 530 B Street has been awarded LEED Gold certification from the Green Building Certification Institute under the standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council. Gold status was awarded to six buildings across the United States in the most recent certification and Union Bank’s San Diego headquarters building is one of only two in California.
| Oct 6, 2010
Windows Keep Green Goals in View
The DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has almost 600 window openings, and yet it's targeting LEED Platinum, net-zero energy use, and 50% improvement over ASHRAE 90.1. How the window ‘problem’ is part of the solution.
| Oct 6, 2010
From grocery store to culinary school
A former West Philadelphia supermarket is moving up the food chain, transitioning from grocery store to the Center for Culinary Enterprise, a business culinary training school.
| Sep 30, 2010
Luxury hotels lead industry in green accommodations
Results from the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s 2010 Lodging Survey showed that luxury and upper-upscale hotels are most likely to feature green amenities and earn green certifications. Results were tallied from 8,800 respondents, for a very respectable 18% response rate. Questions focused on 14 green-related categories, including allergy-free rooms, water-saving programs, energy management systems, recycling programs, green certification, and green renovation.
| Sep 22, 2010
Michael Van Valkenburg Assoc. wins St. Louis Gateway Arch design competition
Landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh and a multidisciplinary team of experts in “urban renewal, preservation, commemoration, social connections and ecological restoration” have been picked for the planning phase of The City+The Arch+The River 2015 International Design Competition.
