Architecture & Design: Top 8 Facadist Renovations, from Melbourne to Bucharest [SLIDESHOW]

By Stephen Smith | February 03 2012 1:01 PM

Photo: Wikipedia

Russell Street Police Headquarters, Melbourne

The original art deco building was erected in the 1940s, an though the structure went through a number of renovations throughout the years, the most prominent is a glassy, modernist tower perched atop the old building. The building was bombed in 1986 and later abandoned as a police station, until the "Concept Blue" addition was built in 2005 and the whole complex was turned into apartments.

Photo: Flickr/kalevkevad

Tallinn, Estonia

Building in the center of Tallinn.

Photo: Flickr/kalevkevad

Microsoft hands out free Windows 7 keys after servers fail

Microsoft Corp. has begun handing out unlimited free license keys for the Windows 7 beta, after its license servers were unable to handle a huge surge in applications.

Due to very heavy traffic we're seeing as a result of interest in the Windows 7 Beta, we are adding some additional infrastructure support to the Microsoft.com properties before we post the public beta, said Windows 7 team member.

More keys may be available at the following addresses to anyone with a freely available Microsoft Live.com account. It may be necessary to use the Live.com account to sign into http://technet.microsoft.com before visiting the key generation page.

https://www.microsoft.com/betaexperience/scripts/gcs.aspx?Product=tn-win...

and

https://www.microsoft.com/betaexperience/scripts/gcs.aspx?Product=tn-win...

A Windows 7 beta DVD image can be downloaded from Microsoft. Here are direct links to the 32-bit version and 64-bit version (Warning: file size is 2.4 GB)

Photo: Wikipedia

Bowyer Block, Singapore General Hospital

The Bowyer Block renovation is subtler than others, but no less visually arresting. The neoclassical structure was built during the early twentieth century, and renamed the Bowyer Block in memory of a hospital administrator who died during the Japanese occupation of Singapore during World War II. In recent years it has been renovated and now serves as a museum.

Photo: Wikipedia

Hamas leader says Gaza attacks have killed chance of talks with Israel

A top leader of Palestinian paramilitary group Hamas said Saturday the war in Gaza has killed the last chance for settlement and negotiations with Israel.

In a televised speech in Damascus in Arabic, Hamas' leader Khaled Meshaal said Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip were a holocaust and called for an end to them and the removal of the forces from Gaza, according to the Associated Press.

Let Israel pull out first, let the aggression stop first, let the crossings open and then people can look into the issue of calm, said Meshaal, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile Israel sent tanks deeper into Gaza today and threatened to intensify the attacks.

The United Nations Security Council called on Thursday for an end to the fighting. Currently Hamas is in Cairo, Egypt to negotiate a cease of fire with Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak.

A facadist renovation of a 19th century building in Moscow

Architecture has traditionally been built in a single unified style, but within the last few decades, a new style as emerged that mixes old and new: facadism. As the name suggests, old facades (and sometimes even more substantial portions) are left intact while the interior and other less visible portions of the building are demolished to make way for something new--usually a glassy, modern building.

The style is often reviled by architects and design critics as only a superficially preservation of the past, and many facadist buildings are rightly criticized for their random juxtapositions and out-of-scale pieces. The style aims to strike a balance between redevelopment pressures and architectural preservation, and while developers are often pleased with the sky-high rents they can charge for rehabilitated historical structures, preservationists are often left satisfied with the small sliver left behind.

While there may be some who will never accept a shiny modernist tower plopped in the middle of a staid neoclassical structure, some of the projects turn out nicely--here's a tour of eight of the best from around the world.