A molecular biologist from Madurai, our quizmaster enjoys trivia and music, and is working on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion’. @bertyashley
Quiz | Easy like Sunday morning: on architecture
The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed, commonly known as Saint Basil’s Cathedral, is one of the popular cultural symbols of which country?
START THE QUIZ
1 / 10 |
Born this day in 1918, Jørn Utzon was a Danish architect who won a International Design competition (and £5000) for a landmark building, which is the symbol of an entire continent. After 14 years and $102 million, it was finally opened in 1973. Built to look like shells on a beach, what is the name of this UNESCO Heritage building?
2 / 10 |
The Marina Bay Sands is a resort in Singapore which, when it opened in 2010, was the world’s most expensive casino property. Its three massive towers with a three-acre skypark could hold more than 3,000 people and a 500 feet swimming pool. What did the skypark look like?
3 / 10 |
Saint Basil’s Cathedral, built in 1561, is one of the most popular cultural symbols of this country. It has nine domes, each corresponding to a different church and is designed to look like a bonfire rising into the sky. From 1928 to 1991, it was confiscated by the atheist government and secularised. It is now a world heritage site and has church services. With ‘Red Square’, being its address, in which country would one see this?
4 / 10 |
The Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany was built in 1886 as retreat for King Ludwig II. The inspirations for the design of the castle were two operas written by composer Richard Wagner. The beautiful combination of Romanesque, Gothic and Byzantine architecture make it a unique work of art. It was the inspiration for a fairy tale castle which later became the logo of a company. Which company’s logo is this?
5 / 10 |
British architect Norman Foster designed the Khan Shatyr, a neo-futurist Entertainment centre in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. A transparent plastic roof covering 35 acres is supported by a web of cables from a 150-metre-tall slanting mast. Purported to be the largest of its kid, it is a tribute to what feature found in the vast plains in the country?
Answer : Tent (based on a Bedouin tent)
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6 / 10 |
The Evolution Tower is a 246-metre-tall skyscraper in Moscow known for its unique shape. Each of the 51 floors is rotated three degrees relative to the previous one, so the entire building is swirled by more than 150 degrees. This gives it the distinctive shape of what important molecule?
7 / 10 |
The Beijing National Stadium built for the 2008 Summer Olympics can hold 90,000 people. The design was inspired by Chinese ceramics, and steel beams to hide the support for the retractable roof. By what name is it popularly known thanks to how it looks?
8 / 10 |
The Science Museum Príncipe Felipe in Valencia was designed by Santiago Calatrava and houses interactive exhibitions and scientific programmes. The building has a unique look inspired by something enormous that is found on the ocean floor, but when on the beach is usually towed back to sea. What is this that sounds macabre but looks beautiful?
9 / 10 |
The Bahá’i House of Worship in Delhi was designed and built by Fariborz Sahba and is open to all regardless of religion. Its iconic structure is, thanks to 27 free standing marble ‘petals’, arranged in clusters of three to form nine sides. Thanks to the design by what name is this temple known as?
10 / 10 |
The dhow are traditional boats which are known for their large triangular sails and have been used by traders to cross the Red Sea and Arabian sea for hundreds of years. A luxury hotel in Dubai, which is one of the tallest hotels in the world, is based on the design of a dhow. What hotel is this, which has a helipad on which Red Bull landed a plane and an F1 car?
