Wednesday, July 23, 2008
U2's Bono, Edge win Dublin hotel legal battle
By Shawn Pogatchnik, Associated Press Writer
DUBLIN — U2 stars Bono and The Edge won a four-year legal battle Thursday to reshape their old-fashioned Dublin hotel, the Clarence, into a futuristic landmark — a decision that appeared to fly in the face of Ireland's conservative planning laws.
Ireland's planning board approved a $235 million plan produced by British architect Lord Norman Foster to gut and drastically expand the riverside hotel. The new complex would more than triple the number of its rooms to 166 and would feature a massive, floodlit glass roof atrium.
Bono, The Edge and their property-development partner Paddy McKillen said that the verdict was "great news for Dublin and for Temple Bar in particular." Temple Bar is the neighboring cobblestone-street tourist district packed with pubs and music.
Their opponents said, however, that the decision demonstrated the exceptional political clout wielded by Dublin's most famous musical sons.
"We would obviously condemn the decision. It undermines national legislation on architectural heritage because of the number of protected sites being demolished," said Ian Lumley, an officer with An Taisce, Ireland's heritage-protection organization.
Lumley said Foster's grandiose design was "a very impressively conceived scheme but in the wrong place. This would not be allowed in areas of comparable sensitivity in any other European countries."
The planning authority ordered the developers to preserve the facades of six buildings: the 1930s Art Deco original hotel and five other adjacent Georgian and Victorian properties being swallowed up by the future Clarence. It also ordered that an archaeologist be on the construction site at all times.
The planning panel said Foster's envisioned hotel "would provide a building of unique quality and architectural distinction" that would "in time become a significant feature in vistas along the Liffey (River) and would ensure the continued historic hotel use of a signature building."
Conservationists had successfully blocked an earlier, even bigger design for the hotel's redevelopment and fought the scaled-down Foster plans. The Irish government's environmental department also opposed the plans, as did a council-hired conservation architect, Claire Hogan.
Bono, The Edge and U2's other members — bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen — are among Ireland's wealthiest residents. In 2006 the band moved its royalties-collection company to Amsterdam, Holland, to maintain the tax-free status of their music profits, even as they have continued to amass a property portfolio in their homeland.
A Foster-designed U2 Tower has also been approved by planning authorities to become Ireland's tallest building. The planned 400-foot building is to be built by 2012 further east on the Liffey waterfront in a run-down area. U2's new recording studios will be at the top.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
DUBLIN — U2 stars Bono and The Edge won a four-year legal battle Thursday to reshape their old-fashioned Dublin hotel, the Clarence, into a futuristic landmark — a decision that appeared to fly in the face of Ireland's conservative planning laws.
Ireland's planning board approved a $235 million plan produced by British architect Lord Norman Foster to gut and drastically expand the riverside hotel. The new complex would more than triple the number of its rooms to 166 and would feature a massive, floodlit glass roof atrium.
Bono, The Edge and their property-development partner Paddy McKillen said that the verdict was "great news for Dublin and for Temple Bar in particular." Temple Bar is the neighboring cobblestone-street tourist district packed with pubs and music.
Their opponents said, however, that the decision demonstrated the exceptional political clout wielded by Dublin's most famous musical sons.
"We would obviously condemn the decision. It undermines national legislation on architectural heritage because of the number of protected sites being demolished," said Ian Lumley, an officer with An Taisce, Ireland's heritage-protection organization.
Lumley said Foster's grandiose design was "a very impressively conceived scheme but in the wrong place. This would not be allowed in areas of comparable sensitivity in any other European countries."
The planning authority ordered the developers to preserve the facades of six buildings: the 1930s Art Deco original hotel and five other adjacent Georgian and Victorian properties being swallowed up by the future Clarence. It also ordered that an archaeologist be on the construction site at all times.
The planning panel said Foster's envisioned hotel "would provide a building of unique quality and architectural distinction" that would "in time become a significant feature in vistas along the Liffey (River) and would ensure the continued historic hotel use of a signature building."
Conservationists had successfully blocked an earlier, even bigger design for the hotel's redevelopment and fought the scaled-down Foster plans. The Irish government's environmental department also opposed the plans, as did a council-hired conservation architect, Claire Hogan.
Bono, The Edge and U2's other members — bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen — are among Ireland's wealthiest residents. In 2006 the band moved its royalties-collection company to Amsterdam, Holland, to maintain the tax-free status of their music profits, even as they have continued to amass a property portfolio in their homeland.
A Foster-designed U2 Tower has also been approved by planning authorities to become Ireland's tallest building. The planned 400-foot building is to be built by 2012 further east on the Liffey waterfront in a run-down area. U2's new recording studios will be at the top.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
10 Top Traditional Hotels
10 Top Traditional 'Hotels'
Jul 16, 08 1:59 am
By Don Willmott
Authentic accommodations around the world
In Picture: The 10 Top Traditional 'Hotels'.As the world globalizes at a frantic pace, travelers have come to expect that many hotel rooms in Capetown, Amsterdam, Rio and New York will pretty much look the same. While you may be the type who finds such predictability comforting, it's our guess that if you're a true traveler, you find it deadly dull-and you're eager to seek out accommodations that more closely match the culture you've come to visit. After all, when in Rome, why not try to sleep like a Roman?
Opportunities to discover what might be called "indigenous" lodgings abound around the world. Let's start in Spain, the country that leads the way in promoting the concept of traditional lodging and puts its money where its mouth is. Back in 1928, they created an entire network of state-run hotels retrofitted into magnificent old buildings, castles, fortresses, convents and monasteries. Credit good ol' King Alfonso XIII for coming up with the idea as a way to preserve traditional architecture.
Today there are 92 paradores (translation: "places to stop") averaging 61 rooms apiece scattered across the Spanish countryside. They've recently undergone a multi-year $500 million renovation including the addition of new properties to bring the total number of locations to more than 100 by 2010.
"Staying at our hotels, travelers can follow routes such as Don Quixote, the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route or the white villages of Andalusia," says Juan Peiro of Paradores de Tourismo. The idea has proved so successful and so important from the cultural preservation perspective that it's been emulated in other Latin countries-most notably Portugal, where there are now 42 pousadas, and Puerto Rico.
Another authentic Latin-flavored lodging can be found all the way down in Argentina. In America, we have dude ranches, but in the pampas, where cowboys are called vaqueros or gauchos (and have the pants to match), they're known as estancias. You'll typically find a large main manor house converted into elegant lodging and lording over rolling countryside where cattle and sheep graze. On the menu: barbecue and strong red wine. This is how Eva Peron would unwind after a particularly stressful week.
Even if you travel all the way to China, you'll find that avoiding corporate hotel conformity can be a challenge. It can be a bit chilling to witness the speed with which this amazing country is racing to leave its architectural past behind. In Beijing, for example, the Grand Hyatt features an indescribably huge indoor pool that looks as if it were imported palm tree by palm tree straight from Vegas. Fun, sure, but not very Chinese. And yet just a few steps away down narrow streets you can find an entirely different hotel experience.
In the good old days, the Chinese merchant class lived in low-slung courtyard homes, which featured several pavilions arranged around a central space. After the revolution, most were divided up and assigned to several families. Today such traditional neighborhoods are under siege by voracious developers, but several courtyard homes have been lovingly recrafted into exclusive, high-end hotels. It's old China, made new again.
In Japan, where tradition maintains a much stronger hold, you can slide open an unmarked door, step inside a silent entryway with racks of slippers and kimono, and be instantly transported back in time to experience traditions of Japanese hospitality that haven't changed significantly in 400 years. You've arrived at a ryokan. Take off your shoes and enjoy some truly Japanese atmosphere.
Usually located in a rural location chosen for its natural beauty and its proximity to a relaxing hot spring, a ryokan should be considered a special treat on your Japanese itinerary. Even the Japanese themselves can find the ryokan experience intense (in many ryokan, visitors eat and sleep on the ryokan schedule and spend most of their time alone in quiet contemplation), and usually indulge for just a night or two when they need a weekend of stress relief.
External source: To read complete article 'Click Here' Source: Forbes Traveler
Jul 16, 08 1:59 am
By Don Willmott
Authentic accommodations around the world
In Picture: The 10 Top Traditional 'Hotels'.As the world globalizes at a frantic pace, travelers have come to expect that many hotel rooms in Capetown, Amsterdam, Rio and New York will pretty much look the same. While you may be the type who finds such predictability comforting, it's our guess that if you're a true traveler, you find it deadly dull-and you're eager to seek out accommodations that more closely match the culture you've come to visit. After all, when in Rome, why not try to sleep like a Roman?
Opportunities to discover what might be called "indigenous" lodgings abound around the world. Let's start in Spain, the country that leads the way in promoting the concept of traditional lodging and puts its money where its mouth is. Back in 1928, they created an entire network of state-run hotels retrofitted into magnificent old buildings, castles, fortresses, convents and monasteries. Credit good ol' King Alfonso XIII for coming up with the idea as a way to preserve traditional architecture.
Today there are 92 paradores (translation: "places to stop") averaging 61 rooms apiece scattered across the Spanish countryside. They've recently undergone a multi-year $500 million renovation including the addition of new properties to bring the total number of locations to more than 100 by 2010.
"Staying at our hotels, travelers can follow routes such as Don Quixote, the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route or the white villages of Andalusia," says Juan Peiro of Paradores de Tourismo. The idea has proved so successful and so important from the cultural preservation perspective that it's been emulated in other Latin countries-most notably Portugal, where there are now 42 pousadas, and Puerto Rico.
Another authentic Latin-flavored lodging can be found all the way down in Argentina. In America, we have dude ranches, but in the pampas, where cowboys are called vaqueros or gauchos (and have the pants to match), they're known as estancias. You'll typically find a large main manor house converted into elegant lodging and lording over rolling countryside where cattle and sheep graze. On the menu: barbecue and strong red wine. This is how Eva Peron would unwind after a particularly stressful week.
Even if you travel all the way to China, you'll find that avoiding corporate hotel conformity can be a challenge. It can be a bit chilling to witness the speed with which this amazing country is racing to leave its architectural past behind. In Beijing, for example, the Grand Hyatt features an indescribably huge indoor pool that looks as if it were imported palm tree by palm tree straight from Vegas. Fun, sure, but not very Chinese. And yet just a few steps away down narrow streets you can find an entirely different hotel experience.
In the good old days, the Chinese merchant class lived in low-slung courtyard homes, which featured several pavilions arranged around a central space. After the revolution, most were divided up and assigned to several families. Today such traditional neighborhoods are under siege by voracious developers, but several courtyard homes have been lovingly recrafted into exclusive, high-end hotels. It's old China, made new again.
In Japan, where tradition maintains a much stronger hold, you can slide open an unmarked door, step inside a silent entryway with racks of slippers and kimono, and be instantly transported back in time to experience traditions of Japanese hospitality that haven't changed significantly in 400 years. You've arrived at a ryokan. Take off your shoes and enjoy some truly Japanese atmosphere.
Usually located in a rural location chosen for its natural beauty and its proximity to a relaxing hot spring, a ryokan should be considered a special treat on your Japanese itinerary. Even the Japanese themselves can find the ryokan experience intense (in many ryokan, visitors eat and sleep on the ryokan schedule and spend most of their time alone in quiet contemplation), and usually indulge for just a night or two when they need a weekend of stress relief.
External source: To read complete article 'Click Here' Source: Forbes Traveler
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