Oddity Central

Filipino Restaurant at the Foot of a Waterfall
A Cathedral Made from 55,000 LED Lights at Ghent Light Festival
Italy’s Natural Cathedral Is Made of Growing Trees

Filipino Restaurant at the Foot of a Waterfall

Posted: 01 Feb 2012 03:48 AM PST

Located in the Quezon province of the Philippines, Villa Escudero is a nice hacienda-style resort with cozy rooms and an exotic atmosphere. But what brought its international fame is the waterfall restaurant that allows tourists to enjoy a nice meal right at the foot of a small waterfall.

In most cases, getting too close to a waterfall can prove deadly, but not at this particular restaurant, at Villa Escudero. Here, people are actually encouraged to take off their shoes and get as close to the falls as possible. Set right at the foot of Labasin Falls, this special place invites customers to taste popular Filipino dishes, while fresh spring water from the falls flows under and over their feet, making this an unforgettable experience. As you can imagine, it’s nowhere near as impressive as Niagara, but visitors who don’t mind getting their clothes wet can sit right under the rushing waterfall and get their pictures taken. Words just don’t do this fantastic tourist attraction justice, so I’ll let the photos and video do the talking.

via Luxatic

Filipino Restaurant at the Foot of a Waterfall was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

A Cathedral Made from 55,000 LED Lights at Ghent Light Festival

Posted: 01 Feb 2012 02:55 AM PST

Created by Cagna Illumiations, the light cathedral made from 55,000 LEDs, for the 2012 Ghent Light Festival is one of the most beautiful light displays you’ll ever see.

Designed as a symbolic entrance to the Ghent Light Festival, the colorful cathedral imagined by Italian company Luminarie De Cagna stole the show at this year’s event. The gigantic colonnade was adorned with around 55,000 colorful LED bulbs that shine so bright you’d think they consume enough electricity to power a small town, but in reality, the entire installation consumes only 20 Kwatt/h. Inspired by Romanesque and Renaissance architecture, the LED cathedral towered 28 meters high.

Photo © Stijn Coppens

This project seems even more impressive when you think Luminarie de Cagna was founded in 1930, as a family business that illuminated buildings and squares with oil and carbide lamps, on festive occasions. They then turned to electric light and since 2006, only LEDs are used for their light projects. Bulbs are joined together to make large curtains of light able to illuminate entire streets and squares.

Photo © Sacha Vanhecke

Photo © Zeldenrust

Photo © Rudy Denoyette

Photo © Jeroen Fassaert

via This Is Colossal

A Cathedral Made from 55,000 LED Lights at Ghent Light Festival was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Italy’s Natural Cathedral Is Made of Growing Trees

Posted: 01 Feb 2012 02:06 AM PST

Located on the outskirts of Bergamo, at the foot of Monte Arena, the tree cathedral created by Italian artist Giuliano Mauri is one of the world’s most impressive example of organic architecture.

Giuliano Mauri created “natural architecture” by blending organic materials like trunks and branches with classic architectural elements, creating impressive large-scale edifices. In 2001, his love for nature inspired him to draw up the plans for a project that took his art to a whole new level and left the people of Bergamo stunned – a cathedral made only of trees. The artist envisioned a unique organic building desinged in such a way that the branches of the trees forming its pillars would extend and arch to become its roof and walls. Unfortunately, Mauri died unexpectedly in 2009, and never got to see his grand plan come to life, but as a homage to his life’s work, the project was initiated in 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity.

Photo by Sandro & Cristina

The frame of the tree cathedral of Bergamo consists of 42 columns made with fir trunks and branches of chestnuts and hazelnuts forming supporting structures around the young trees. Withe time, they will grow stronger and the wooden structures will slowly deteriorate offering a seamless transition from a man-made structure to a completely natural creation. Right now the 6,000 meters of supporting branches around the 1,800 fir trees are held together with nails and string, but as the beeches grow, they will wither away and eventually be dismantled.

Photo via Pieroweb

The growing tree cathedral covers an area of approximately 650 square meters and measures 90 feet by 80 feet. It will take a few more years for it to be finished, but even now, it is an amazing monument to Giuliano Mauri’s work.