Fairy-tales and horror stories

Just take a look at some of the current projects in Dubai, China, Indonesia and Kazakhstan. In China there is Fushun city. Imagine the most unusual, almost absurd building, in the shape of a huge steel ring. One which is 157m tall. It is called ?The Ring of Life' and is supposed to symbolise the gate to paradise. The building is an impressive example of engineering craftsmanship. But is it anything more than that? Not really. It is simply a symbol - if it is possible to create such a structure, let's build it. And at a cost of USD 16 mln, using 3 tonnes of steel and 12,000 LED lamps. The people behind this creation claim that the building's calibre matches that of the Eiffel Tower.

Let's move to Indonesia, to stifling and muggy Jakarta. An unusual structure is to be developed in this city of nearly 10 mln inhabitants - Peruri 88, which is to be a 400m tall monstrosity, a self-sufficient city within a city. It is intended to be the new symbol of Jakarta. This gigantic enterprise seems to defy the laws of physics - the building will consist of huge cuboids that are to be placed on top of one another. It resembles the sort of structure we get while playing Jenga (the game that involves removing wooden blocks from a simple tower, at the end of which its individual elements are displaced and seem to be hanging in the air). This is what Peruri 88 will look like. It has been designed by an international team consisting of the MVRDV, Jerde Partnership and Arup architectural studios. This vertical city will include offices, apartments, a luxury hotel, a four-storey car park, a wedding parlour, a mosque, an Imax cinema and a gigantic outdoor amphitheatre, which is to be suspended somewhere in the middle of the building. The entire structure is designed to comply with the requirements of ecological buildings. And it is not only in Asia, America or the Middle East that you can come upon fairy tale projects. In Europe there are also architects who come up with designs resembling something you might have seen in a science fiction movie. One example can be found in Denmark, in the town of Randers on the Guden? river. Architects from the Danish Cebra studio would like to move a piece of the Alps to this locality. How? By creating the biggest ski run in the world. The vision involves slinging three gigantic intersecting arches (each with a length of 700m) over the river. They would reach a maximum height of 110m. From above, the structure would resemble a huge snow flake. The interiors of the arches have been designed to include all-year-round pistes, a hotel, a park, shops and restaurants with beauty spots. Gazing at the beautiful photos and renderings of these ?modern icons of architecture', it might seem as though we are living in a world where anything is possible. But there are some true horrors lurking behind these fairy-tale pictures. After all, China is a totalitarian state with little time for human rights. Jakarta is a megapolis where skyscrapers cast their shadows onto vast slums, which (horror of horrors) are regarded as one of the local tourist attractions. In Europe such contradictions are less evident, but we must not forget about the credit crunch, the growing unemployment rate and the increasing unrest in Greece and Spain. How can we reconcile the two worlds: amazing buildings, which transcend engineering and financial horizons, with the world of totalitarianism and the threat of global recession? An answer is not readily available. I hope this question prompts you, the reader, to think about this. Christmas and the New Year is a special period for many of us. It is time for taking stock of our lives and looking to the future. Let's not forget then about those who have not managed to succeed.