Trekvliettracée: Versailles-style high speed road

Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) announces the completion of a research study for a new masterplan in The Hague. The study, undertaken on behalf of BPF Bouwinvest, Rabo Vastgoed and the city of The Hague, considers the 125 hectare site known as Binckhorst.

The project for the new masterplan is the proposed Trekvliettracée, a tunnel facilitating faster connection between Rotterdam and The Hague.

Complete redevelopment for Binckhorst is expected by 2020.The project is lead by OMA partner Floris Alkemade, whose previous work includes the Zeche Zollverein Kohlenwäsche building and masterplan in Essen; as well as masterplans for Almere, Orchard Road in Singapore, Euralille and the Universal Studios Headquarters. Alkemade is joined by OMA project architects Joshua Beck and Mark Veldman.

Take a look at the project: a Versailles-style park with a road that comes into it and disappears under the water alley. (click to enlarge) Wow! Those towers are really weird though...

World's top shopping street: Fifth Avenue, NY

New York’s Fifth Avenue has retained its top position as the world’s most expensive shopping street in the world, according to Main Streets Across the World. An average 93 m² unit on Fifth Avenue, at its most expensive stretch near the junction with 57th Street, now costs around €1.07 million a year.

Ranking 2006 (top 10):

1 USA, New York,5th Avenue

2 Hong Kong , Hong Kong, Causeway Bay

3 France, Paris, Avenue des Champs Elysées

4 UK, London, New Bond Street

5 Japan, Tokyo, Ginza

6 Ireland, Dublin, Grafton Street

7 Switzerland, Zurich, Bahnhofstrasse

8 Australia , Sydney, Pitt Street Mall

9 South Korea, Seoul, Myeongdong

10 Germany, Munich, Kaufingerstraße

The world ranking sees little movement at the top, with Hong Kong (Causeway Bay) retaining its second place and Paris (Avenue des Champs Elysées) its third place. The biggest riser is the Indian capital of New Delhi, with the most expensive location being Khan Market, having gone up 17 places to now be in 24th place.

(from an annual report by Cushman & Wakefield)

Théatre des 5 Diamants

Il existe à Paris une multitude de petits théatres, qui ont chacun leur spécificité, leur charme, leur ambiance.
Moi, j'ai découvert le théatre des 5 Diamants par hazard et à chaque fois que j'y retourne, je reste sous le charme: une salle toute petite dans le 13me arrondissement, les bancs à deux pas de la scène et des acteurs, une ambiance chaleureuse où les acteurs donnent leur coeur au public. Ce week-end, j'ai découvert leur création 2006: "Celui qui écoutait le coeur de la forêt" de Tchekov.
C'est une pièce qui ne laisserait personne indifférent, car elle parle de l'amour et de la mort, des hommes et des arbres, de la tendresse, de la haine et de l'indifférence.
C'est une pièce qui montre des hommes russes qui aiment et qui en parlent, qui boivent et dancent, qui souffrent et qui veulent tellement être heureux.
C'est une pièce de Tchekov.

Self-made миллиардерша

Bладелица компании по переработке макулатуры Nine Dragon Paper Чжан Инь заняла первую строчку в списке самых богатых людей Китая в 2005 году по версии китайского издания Fortune – журнала «Хужунь», передает «Интерфакс».

Сбережения 49−летней Чжан Инь из Гонконга составляют 3,4 млрд долларов. В прошлом году госпожа Инь занимала лишь 36−ю строчку. Совершить такой скачок предпринимательнице помогла регистрация ее фирмы на Гонконгской бирже в марте 2006 года. Компания, созданная Чжан Инь в 1985 году, импортирует макулатуру из США и перерабатывает на своих фабриках в упаковочный картон, распространяемый среди ритейлеров. Сейчас Чжан Инь богаче популярной американской телеведущей Опры Уинфри и английской писательницы Джоан Роулинг, создавшей книжный сериал о Гарри Поттере. Как отметил Руперт Худжверф, составитель списка богатейших людей КНР с 1999 года, «китайские женщины становятся все более заметными в бизнесе».

Хуан Гуаньюй, прежний лидер рейтинга журнала «Хужунь», глава компании GoMe Electronic Appliances, которая занимается производством бытовой электроники, занял вторую строчку в списке с состоянием в 2,5 млрд долларов.

На третьей позиции в списке китайских миллиардеров находится Чжу Мэньи – глава компании по сделкам с недвижимостью Hopson Development Property, чьи активы «тянут» на 2,1 млрд долларов.

Если раньше лидирующие позиции в рейтинге китайских богачей занимали предприниматели IT-бизнеса, то сейчас шестеро из десяти богатейших людей КНР – бизнесмены, чья деятельность связана с недвижимостью. Впервые с 2003 года представители IT-сектора даже не попали в первую десятку. По словам Руперта Худжверфа, около трети вошедших в список бизнесменов являются членами компартии Китая.
За два года китайских миллиардеров стало больше в три раза – 15 человек. Общее состояние 500 китайцев из списка равняется 138 млрд долларов.

There is something I could not miss in that place...
Les vaches de Normandie!

I discovered a window into a beautiful world at my friend's house in Normandie.. Seems like it evec can be a window into a magic world?

A week-end in Normandie

I had a chance to appreciate the splendor of the beaches of Normandie; ignoring danger of being blown away into the ocean, I took some pictures.

Chinese way of doing business

Today everybody announces the 21st century to be the century of China, and this is not without a good reason. Never in the world history has an economy grown that fast for that long. The Chinese economy is opening up since the 1990s.

“The story is told of how the Chinese communist leadership in December 1992 sat through a special performance of Durrenmatt’s Romulus the Great. The barbarians (the Western democrats) are at the gates of Rome (Beijing), and the emperor Romulus (Deng) announces that he intends to save the empire (Communist China) by transforming it. The only hope, he says, is to go into business with the barbarians to avoid a catastrophe – defined as a collapse and annihilation, worse than the introduction of capitalism.” (published in "China: The workshop of the world?" by Jonathan Story in 2005)

Indeed, the Chinese way of doing business can be described as “selling anything possible for a maximum price”. Products manufactured in China for ridiculous costs are then exported to Europe and US with sometimes a 500% margin. If you go to China without the language, you’ll experience aggressive Chinese merchants. They will sell you anything, for a maximum price, and you’ll have a feeling that you made a good deal.

Chinese way of doing business is particular, no use to warn those who’ve already lived in this country. Confucius traditions and Chinese mentality are so specific, that it is makes it impossible to work with them “your way”. The foreign nation that is most successful in business in Beijing is: Germany. For sure, Germans have a very important thing in common with the Chinese colleagues: continuous thirst for…beer! :-)

Jokes apart, when the Chinese do business with you, they will never say "no" to any of your proposals, they will promise to arrange every problem, but it doesn’t mean that they will sign the contract at the end. They will do everything to please you, your business trip to China will be wonderful, but bear in mind that the Chinese always put their profit first. Maybe that’s what makes them most successful businessmen in Asia.

The queen is dead. Long live the queen! ... by Isabelle Adjani

Last Friday we went to the Théâtre Marigny to see the play with Isabelle Adjani, "Marie Stuart".
Only when we went out, it started to rain very hard! in two minutes we were all wet, the umbrella didn't help. Then we got to the subway and during our way we noticed that it was raining in the subway!!! seriously, the subway was LEAKING! there were drops falling from the roof of the car on my sister! no comment...

So, the play was really good. It was splendid. It was mysterious and Isabelle was really good. Charming and provocative, desperate and lonely, innocent and fanatic. She was beautiful. She was the queen. The living queen. The dying queen.

I strongly recommend you to see this play if you are in Paris!