Polish builders have demolished an 18th Century chateau in French Bordeaux belonging to a Russian businessman, apparently by mistake, reported The BBC. Mr Stroskin, who runs an import business in Warsaw, Poland, was shocked, when he heard about mistake, as had only ordered them to knock down an adjacent outhouse. The local mayor in the nearby French village of Yvrac and residents are said to be furious. The original 13 thousand square meters chateau, which featured grand horseshoe steps and a once palatial ballroom, was previously hired out for wedding receptions and functions. "The Chateau de Bellevue was Yvrac's pride and joy, the whole village is in shock," former owner Juliette Marmie told Associated Press. "How can this construction firm make such a mistake?" The businessman said he understood the anger among local residents in the town of Yvrac, but said he will not be prosecuting the builders for their appalling mistake. "The damage has been done," he added. He has vowed to "rebuild an identical Bellevue" including the chateau's grand hall, which could host up to 200 people. A Polish architect has already drawn up plans and local masons have received a 1.5 million-euro contract to rebuild the chateau over two years.

The thinnest house in the world built between two tower blocks in Warsaw. The house measures 1.2 meters at its widest point and 71 centimeters at its narrowest. The building has been designed by Jakub Szczesny, who took his inspiration from the work of Israeli writer Etgar Keret. The new house is only 1.2 meters, but it comes with a bathroom, a kitchen and a bedroom. Architect Jakub Szczesny said that he designed the two-story aluminum and plastic house three years ago to fill a narrow space between a pre-war house and a modern apartment block in downtown Warsaw. The Foundation of Polish Modern Art and Warsaw Town Hall helped fund the project, which they consider an art work. But it may not be easy for the tenants. The triangular building runs 10 meters deep at the base and stands 9 meters tall. Metal and aluminum pipes hold the structure nearly 3 meters above the ground, and visitors will climb a metal staircase and squeeze through a hole to enter the building. The ground floor contains a toilet and shower, a kitchen with a sink and cupboards, a table for two, and a bean bag sofa. Another metal ladder goes to the second floor, which has a nearly double-size bed, a table and a chair. Szczesny told that the building achieves two goals: filing an empty city space and linking Warsaw's World War II tragedy, when more than half the city was destroyed, with modern buildings that went up afterward. The first tenant Etgar Keret, an Israeli writer whose ancestors died in Poland during the Holocaust, moved to the house. "It is a kind of a memorial to my family," said Keret, explaining that his mother's and father's families died in the Holocaust under Nazi Germany's occupation of Poland, and his paternal grandfather died in Warsaw's 1944 uprising against the Nazis. The structure has been named Keret House after the Israeli writer. He said he only visits Warsaw twice a year, so other tenants will be able to try out the tight quarters of the non-profit building for free, too.

The crazy, twisting ArcelorMittal Orbit observation tower in London is now complete and final preparations are underway for visitors. Set to open right before the games begin in July, the spiraling red steel tower will provide views of the Olympic Park. The tower was designed by Anish Kapoor, engineered by Cecil Balmond, and is sponsored by ArcelorMittal, a sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and a global leading steel company. The tower, which is both a structure and a work of art, has been constructed out of 60% recycled steel and reaches a height of 114.5 meters. The ArcelorMittal Orbit is an observation tower located in the heart of London's Olympic Park and stands at almost 4,500 feet tall. The sculpture was designed by Anish Kapoor, and structural engineering was done by Cecil Balmond. Visitors to the tower will ascend via an elevator in the core to enjoy the observation deck at the top. The platform will afford panoramic views of up to 20 miles, encompassing the entire Olympic Park and London's skyline beyond. After their visit is over, visitors will be encouraged to descend via the 455 steps that were designed to make the visitors feel as if they were orbiting around the structure. Or just get really dizzy. ArcelorMittal, the sponsor of the tower and the Olympics, is a leading steel manufacturer and provided the material for the sculpture. Construction of the ArcelorMittal Orbit took 18 months and required 560 meters of tubular red steel to form the lattice superstructure. Almost 60 percent of the 2,000 tonnes of steel used in the sculpture were drawn from recycled sources. Steel was chosen for its unique properties including strength, modular structure, advantages of weight and speed of construction and recyclability. The exterior of the structure is outfitted with 250 colored spotlights that can be controlled and programmed for special effects. Cecil Balmond: "Anish and I were conscious from the beginning that the ArcelorMittal Orbit would be a lasting legacy to the city and so we wanted to stretch the language of the icon as far we could go. The Orbit is a hybrid, a network of art and structure, and its dynamic is the non-linear. You read into it multiple narratives in space."

This New Year began with the news that artificial islands -The World are slowly sinking into the sea. The World consists of 300 islands, with 232 kilometers of coastline and a total area of 55 square kilometers. Things have not gone well for The World from the very moment of its creation; unlike another exclusive development project Palm Jumeirah, The World couldn't attract investments. Today the development of the events surprised everyone! Last week Google announced that it is going to buy those man-made troubled islands and rearrange it into the Google logo. According to Google report, after completion of the project the big "G" in Google, that will be formed from five islands, is going to be used as company's headquarter in Dubai and a staff private resort. The rest of Google- shaped islands will be sold through the auction the highest bidder. Among the reported implicit bidders on the remaining islands are Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio, who had already reserved part of The World. Google is well known for its green and sustainable lifestyle and The Google Islands will be not an exception; they will be equipped with wind turbines, photovoltaic panels and even tidal power in order to maintain self-sufficient and premium life on the islands. Google will also hire top engineers to define the damage that the islands have sustained and reinforce them.

Creative artists from all over the world arrived to Swedish Lapland to create the largest Ice Hotel in the world. The winter season 2010/2011 will be the 21th for the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden. The idea of Ice Hotel was born in 1990's; Jukkasjarvi has been always attracting ice carving artists, as it is located beyond the Arctic Circle. One winter day in 1990, when French artist Jannot Derid was holding an exhibition of his ice carvings in the igloo (a snowhouse originally built by the Inuit) , the number of visitors turned to be larger than it was expected and lack of available rooms forced some of them stay in that igloo at night. Locals covered blocks of ice inside the igloo with reindeer skin and let visitors sleep on them, inside their sleeping bags. In the next morning, the visitors, who spend the night in igloo, were enthusiastically speaking about the "magic" opportunity to sleep inside the ice shed and also clamed that it was not cold inside at all. In the second half of November, when in Jukkasjarvi temperature drops, locals scrape tons of ice blocks and snow from nearby Torne River. This year merely 22 tones of snow and ice was used to create the Ice Hotel on 5500 square meters area. Main bearing columns are equipped with steel rods from inside, which help to prevent them form collapse. These columns are created by spraying snow on the steel construction and allowing it to freeze into rock solid mass. Then, ice walls are built around the columns and large blocks of ice are placed inside the rooms, to let the artists to carve on them. The construction works continues for at least one month. Usually the Ice Hotel is completely ready at the end of December, but this year visitors can admire a real "Ice Miracle" from the beginning of the month. The guests can stay in any of 60 rooms, and also visit the ice church, bar, Art Suits and etc. The price for per night stay in world's original and largest Ice Hotel starts from $458! Yes, it's not cheap, but given the fact that it takes one month work of 50 skilled artists, and soon in Spring the hotel will melt back into the Torne River, the price is quite acceptable. Well before the opening of the next Ice Hotel-tourist season, Jukkasjarvi invites everyone to special snow carving lessons.