Warm weather. Cool architecture.
Palm Springs Modernism Week: February 12 -21.

Alexander House

From the 1940s through the ’70s, a group of modernist architects including Donald Wexler, E. Stewart Williams, William F. Cody and Albert Frey designed an impressive array of buildings in the desert oasis of Palm Springs, California. Thanks to their talents, many of the city’s commercial buildings, civic buildings and custom built homes rose from the desert soil like never-before-seen flora and fauna. Churches, hotels and motels took on new forms, too, befitting an optimistic future and a trove of new ideas. Entire neighborhoods of sleek, low slung, stylish homes built by the Alexander Construction Company in the late ’50s and early ’60s ennobled suburban streets. (more…)

Tenerife, Canary Islands

By Daniel Quitério

Island paradise. Typical landscape: white sand, blue ocean, palm trees-everything in a Corona ad. Who ever imagines a snow-capped mountain and caves off the coast of Africa? That’s part of what makes Spain’s seven Canary Islands so interesting. Tenerife is the archipelago’s largest island and home of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the islands’ capital and second largest city. Situated off the coast of Morocco, Tenerife preserves its traditional flavors beneath the protection of Mt. Teide, all the while offering its inhabitants and visitors a variety of outdoor pastimes and beautiful weather.

Standing in the center of the island, one could turn in any direction and discover something special. The island’s southern region is composed of several beaches and the majority of hotels and resorts. The picturesque countryside rests in the north, cradling the beautiful architecture of traditional towns like Garachico and the shops of cosmopolitan towns like Puerto de la Cruz. Situated in the northeast are the cities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and San Cristóbal de La Laguna, which are rich in culture and urban living. (La Laguna is home to the University of La Laguna and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.) (more…)

Avia Napa is a bourgeois hotel in the heart of downtown Napa Valley, California—one of the premier travel destinations in the world fitted with year-round warm temperatures, countless wineries, and picturesque rolling hills that soak up the west coast sun. Like most (if not all) top travel locations, Napa Valley features countless exquisite hotels, offering similar views, meals, and quality. However, Avia Napa sets itself apart from the typical Napa Valley experience in one simple manner: customer service.

Avia Napa is a boutique hotel that treats its customers with the attention of a well-informed host family. Ask for a particular type of evening and they will create an itinerary for you that fits your perfectly (and won’t suggest mostly in-hotel restaurants and bars to earn profit). Yet, the hotel has its own treasures that make the travelers’ days much more convenient: ground floor wine bar and restaurant, garden terrace with fire pit and swings, spacious lobby, and modern architecture throughout. (more…)

Leaving Barcelona is probably the worst part of taking a vacation to this Catalan metropolis. This port city has become the it city to visit in Spain and rightly so: there are countless places to visit and there is a neighborhood for all types of travelers. Whether you are bohemian, rich, gay, etc. you could call Barcelona home.

Barcelona is a sea-level city with beautiful natural parks surrounding it that seem like mountains. These parks (Parc Güell, Montjüic) provide you with amazing views of the Mediterranean sea, the city, and the landmarks that make up the skyline of Barcelona. Visit Montjuic Park and you see a great fountain show that illuminates the night. This park is also home to the Olympic buildings and stands behind the pompous entrance of Plaça Espanya. (more…)

Nantes, the home town of Jules Verne, is located in western France. Here, near the river Loire a giant deep-sea diver sleeps gently, waiting for his task to begin. Sadness marks his face even as he sleeps. He has been searching the world over for his missing niece and although he may not know it, the end of his search is coming. The diver or scaphandrier as he is known in French will be paraded through the streets of this historic city at the beginning of the Estuary 2009 arts festival. The biannual festival gives the French mechanical marionette street theater company Royale de Luxe the opportunity to unveil their latest creation. (more…)

Located in the 9th district on Rue La Fayette, Hotel Jules is a 3-star “design” hotel of Paris whereby its inhabitants experience the crossroad of bohemian lifestyle and high-end shopping. Newly renovated yet constructed at the turn of the 20th century, this charming hotel is beautifully architected with modern furniture and an appeasing colour theme of chocolate brown and cream. This six-floor edifice offers four different room styles all decked with LCD televisions, fitness centre, bar, and breakfast room. With the price, expect Parisian standards: super clean, excellent service, subtly classy. Such “standards” leave visitors, nevertheless, with impressions ranging from the “perfect hotel in Paris” to “nothing special.” This is where the surrounding makes the distinction between the many beautiful hotels in Paris: the aforementioned Grands Boulevards. (more…)

Perhaps Turkey isn’t the first place on your list of dream vacation destinations. Honestly, what do we really know about the place? Is its history and culture rich like Europe’s? Are its beaches clean and waters blue like those in the Caribbean? Perhaps what makes Turkey so interesting is its mystery. Or perhaps that’s just a cop out. There’s got to be more to it than its “mystery”-something tangible. Some place we can explore and think, “Wow! This is Turkey.” That place is Cappadocia.

Resting comfortably in Central Anatolia is a region of Turkey that looks like something plucked out of The Flintstones. (And I mean that in a good way.) Those who didn’t think it was all that realistic for people to live in cave-like dwellings with modern conveniences like televisions and telephones would be surprised to learn about Cappadocia. The very real (but no less animated) region encompasses several towns and is characterized by its rugged, yet striking terrain. Millions of years ago, volcanic eruptions dramatically altered the land, forming caves and clefts from the earth, leaving the area appearing prehistoric, even well into the Internet age. Cappadocia is characterized by such formations, its “fairy chimneys” among them. These earthen cone structures populate the landscape and are often so elaborate that they contain caves and labyrinths that were once used by Christians as early as the third century as they fled from the Romans in fear of persecution, and then later by invading Muslims. (more…)

Scandinave Les Bains Vieux-Montréal is the newest addition to the Scandinave spa line-up. Located in Old Montreal and close to the Old Port, the 12,000-square-foot spa is the first urban undertaking of the Scandinave team, spearheaded by Benoît Berthiaume, co-founder and executive VP of the Gestion Rivière du Diable group. (more…)

Cinque Terre, which is a train ride Pisa or Firenze (Florence)  is composed of five connecting villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore which are nestled on the mountainous Italian Riviera.  The rugged terrain and natural beauty is a must stop for all nature buffs, beach dwellers, and small town shoppers.  Cinque Terre, which translates to “Five Towns”, “Five Islands”, or “Five Lands”, is accessible by train from the village of Levanto which begins at the La Spezia and ends at the Genoa stops.  However, the best way to travel is on foot.  Many travelers opt for the step, narrow, and physically challenging approximately 5 hour hike which for a small fee can take the more adventurous traveler through all five towns. (more…)

Danfoss Universe is a science park in Denmark, embedded in the agricultural landscape of Nordborg next to the founder’s home and the Danfoss HQ. It opened in May 2005 and is already enlarging due to its considerable success. The masterplan for Danfoss Universe Phase 2 includes an exhibition building (Curiosity.Center) and a restaurant (Food.Factory) which extends the summer based outdoor park into the winter months by enclosing spaces for exhibitions and scientific experiments.

The new buildings rise up from the ground and provide spaces which articulate the fusion of outdoor landscape and indoor exhibition. This active ground modulates according to program and location in the park. The endpoints of the buildings blur the line between building and park by offering inside-out spaces as display areas and projection surfaces related to the temporary exhibitions inside. Silhouettes, as groups of land formations, define the unique newly programmed horizon line of Danfoss Universe.

View more of Danfoss Universe (more…)