THE ATOMIUM:
This building it’s in Brussels.
The Atomium was built for the Universal Exhibition of 1958 ( so it was made during the 20th century) It was planned to stay six months in the city. However, it quickly became a tourist attraction, so it has a touristic function.
It consists of nine steel spheres of 18 meters in diameter each and it’s made of aluminium and steel. So it has a spreheric shape and the tubes that connect the different spheres are cylinders.
Three of the four upper spheres lack of vertical support and therefore are not open to the public for safety reasons, on the other hand, the top sphere is open to the public.
It’s located on the outskirts of the city, in the Heizel neighborhood. It was designed by André Waterkeyn.
André Waterkeyn was a belgian engineer. He was born in Wimbledon and he is mainly known for the designing of the Atomium.
Waterkeyn was director of a metallurgical company when in 1954 he was invited to design a structure for the 1958 World Expo that would symbolize Belgium's efforts in engineering. The design he made was this monument (the atomium).
The architects who carried out the project were:
Jean Polak and André Polak.
These architects are at the origin of a large number of buildings, mainly in Brussels and Belgium, including the emblematic Atomium built in 1958 in collaboration with the engineer André Waterkeyn. They participated actively in the transformation of Brussels after the Second World War working for the real estate development.
This building is very modern. It is tall, impressive, big. It is also bright and beautiful. It is a good symbol for the city and I think many people are going to visit it.
And everyone says it's awesome.
THE TOWER OF GOLD :
This building it’s found Seville (Spain), close to the Guadalquivir river.
The Tower of Gold began to be built on the 30th of march of 1220 and finished to be built on the 24th of february of 1221. It was built to defend this city (Seville) and it was the strongest and most important point of defense because this building defend the port. It was built by order of the Almohad governor of Seville, Abù l-Ulà and it closed the way to the Arenal through a stretch of wall. Being part of the walls of Seville that defended the city and the Real Alcázar.
It consists of three parts, this three parts are cylinders and each one is smaller than the other. The first and second part are dodecagonal-shaped and the third one is cylinder-shaped
with a golden dome on top (semi-sphere-shaped).
There are different persons that constructed this tower: the first part, was constructed by Abù l-Ulà, the Almohad governor, from 1220 and 1221 (this part was the one used to defend Seville). The second part, was constructed by Pedro I the cruel in the XIV century, and the third part, was constructed by the military engineer Sebastian Van der Borcht in 1760.
The Tower of Gold was declared a historical-artistic monument in 1931 and has been restored several times.
Is named because of the luster produced by the mortar of lime and pressed straw that presented. Despite this, there are several theories about the name of the building, most false.
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