Travel

10 BEAUTIFUL PLACES TO SEE SHINE AFTER DARK NOW

Vivid Sydney at The Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia by Nasya Bahfen.

by Nasya Bahfen. Vivid Sydney. Sydney Opera House. Sydney, Australia.

While we are happy about getting out more to enjoy the sunshine that spring and summer bring, we really love to see exceptional architecture designed to beautifully shine at night. We are sharing 10 of our favorites, from around the world, with you today.

1. VIVID SYDNEY -- SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

Vivid Sydney is a unique annual event of light, music, and ideas. The city of Sydney, Australia, shines in the most beautiful, colorful, and creative ways, as artists and designers transform iconic buildings and landmarks with light. You’re in for some fantastic music, world class food, and a host of very cool happenings when you go. (05.22.15 -- 06.08.15).

2. LOTUS BUILDING -- JIANGSU, CHINA

The Lotus Building and the 3.5 hectare People’s Park, in Jiangsu, China, has been designed, by Studio 505, to act as a cultural anchor and civic landmark.

This petal-shaped building is clad with white, beige, and stainless steel hexagon mosaic tiles on all external and internal surfaces. There is a bespoke 7m high chandelier suspended from the apex.

The night lighting system includes a series of changing color combinations, which last for 20 seconds before transitioning. Better still, the Beautiful Shine is eco-friendly. The property includes over 2,500 geothermal piles driven through the base of the artificial lake.

3. YAS VICEROY ABU DHABI HOTEL -- ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi Hote l is built across the F1 Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

The Hotel, designed by Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture, principals of New York based Asymptote Architecture, has one tower set in the race circuit and another set in the marina itself.

The buildings are linked by a steel and glass bridge and a 217-meter sweep of curvilinear glass and steel known as the Grid Shell, which is outfitted with 5,389 pivoting diamond-shaped colour changing LED panes. This shine looks like an atmospheric veil from miles away.

4. TIVOLI VREDENBURG -- UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS

The recently opened TivoliVredenburg Music Center, in Utrecht, Netherlands, is a cluster of different kinds of concert halls, each suited for a different genre of music, designed by architectuurstudio HH, aTA, jo coenen, and NL Architects.

The lighting design echoes the eclectic nature of the Center, letting different colors, shapes and textures shine through and complement each other.

5. AC HOTEL BELLA SKY COPENHAGEN -- COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

The AC Hotel Bella Sky Copenhagen is a 4-star conference hotel in the Ørestad district of Copenhagen, Denmark.

6. ORIENTAL PEARL RADIO AND TV TOWER -- SHANGHAI, CHINA

The Oriental Pearl Radio & TV Tower in Shanghai, was designed by Jiang Huan Chen, Lin Benlin, and Zhang Xiulin. The tower is brightly lit in different LED sequences at night. It adds to the total beauty of this city after dark.

7. CANTON TOWER -- GUANGZHOU, CHINA

Canton Tower, in Guangzhou (formerly Canton), Guangdong, China, was designed by the Dutch architects Mark Hemel and Barbara Kuit, of Information Based Architecture, together with British design and engineering firm Arup. At 600-metre (1,969 ft), it briefly held the title of tallest tower in the world.

The unique shape of the tower is formed by two ellipses, on a rotated intersection, to form a twist. At night, the tower glows with eco-friendly LED technology, designed by Arup Lighting. Seven thousand LED light fixtures form a continuous Beautiful Shine.

8. AURILLAC HALL -- AURILLAC, FRANCE

The Aurillac Hall, in Aurillac, France, is a concert venue, designed by London architects, Brisac Gonzalez.

The main design features are ribbons of prefabricated concrete panels with a regular grid of glass bricks. Fluorescent lights within make the building shine in a continuous change of colors throughout the night.

9. BUSAN CINEMA CENTER -- BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA

The Busan Cinema Center (also called "Dureraum," meaning enjoying seeing movies all together in Korean), in Centum City, Busan, South Korea, was designed by Austrian architectural design firm Coop Himmelb(l)au.

The center has two steel roofs. The Big Roof is 163 m long x 60 m wide with an 85 m cantilever portion and weighs 6,376 (metric) tons. It holds Guinness World Record for the longest cantilever roof. The Big and Small roofs sport 23,910 and 18,690 LED lights, respectively, to deliver an awesome Beautiful Shine.

10. DUTCH INSTITUTE OF SOUND AND VISION -- AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

The Dutch Institute of Sound and Vision, in the Hilversum neighborhood of Amsterdam, houses 2,000,000 photographs, 20,000 objects, and 700,000 hours of images and sounds that were key to the Dutch television industry.

The building is faced with a giant television screen that lights up and shines when night falls.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

Photo: by Nasya Bahfen. Vivid Sydney. Sydney Opera House. Sydney, Australia.
Image: Courtesy of Vivid Sydney. Sydney Opera House. Sydney, Australia.
Image: Courtesy of Studio 505. The Lotus Building. Jiangsu, China.
Image: Courtesy of Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi Hotel. Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Track. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Images: Courtesy of NL Architects. TivoliVredenburg. Utrecht, Netherlands.
Image: Courtesy of AC Hotel Bella Sky Copenhagen. AC Hotel Bella Sky Copenhagen. Copenhagen, Denmark.
Photo: by Shawn Clover. Through the Roof of the Night. Oriental Pearl TV Tower. Pudong, Shanghai, China.
Photo: by Eric. Courtesy of China Travel. Canton Tower. Guangdong, China.
Image: Courtesy of Brisac Gonzalez Architects. Aurillac Hall. Aurillac, France.
Image: Courtesy of Coop Himmelb(l)au.The Busan Cinema Center. Busan, South Korea.
Image: Courtesy of Neutlings Riedijk Architects. The Dutch Institute of Sound and Vision. Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Photo: by Lynda. Vivid Sydney. 2014 Darling Harbour. Sydney, Australia.
Image: Courtesy of Vivid Sydney. Sydney Opera House. Sydney, Australia.