Seven wonders of the world

[hena thomas]

Hello
A good building provides shelter, storage, housing. But a great building? Well, there's no limit to what it can do. This year's class of wondrous structures are responsible, variously, for transforming a neighborhood (just look at the New Museum, which towers over its gritty corner of Lower Manhattan like some fabulous spacecraft), revitalizing a landmark (see the exuberantly beveled extension to Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum), and breaking all limits of what a building can be (for proof, see Dubai's still-in-progress Burj Dubai, which, once completed, will be the world's tallest tower, with 160-plus stories). Collectively, they're proof not only of the golden age of architectural ingenuity in which we currently find ourselves but also of our desire to be dazzled, to be made to look again at a place we thought we knew.

[skiholiday]

The way we enjoy our time on holiday is changing. People are not as content to spend a fortnight on a sun-lounger as they used to be, and, for many of us, our hard-earned vacations are a good chance to try out new activities, or spend time on active hobbies we already enjoy. Indeed, holidays may be the only time we can do the things we love. So there has been a real rise in activity breaks and activity holidays in recent years.