Ballroom Under a Lake

I am fascinated by this "ballroom" under the lake. It was originally designed as a billiard room by the original owner. I've found several articles and some in depth Flicker photos of this place.

You can see the weeds and algae, after years of neglect, are covering up the windows.

The statue sits on the top of the dome, and when the room is lit up, it creates a great effect on the lake.

You can see the spiraling staircase that leads to the room.

Just beyond the statue and room is an island that has glass skylights in the ground to illuminate the room below the island.

The underground pumping chamber house

Another view from the pumping house

A spar pool, whatever that is...

I would love to go check this place out someday! It's called Witley Park in England.

Check out these links for more pictures and articles on the place.

The Ballroom Under the Lake

The Gentleman of the Lake

Witley Park – Urban Exploration

31 Pics of Witley Park, Surrey

23 pics of Witley Park

And my fave of 66 pics The Witley Wonder

Rotating Room Furniture

Via Neatarama

Dirk Dieter, who lives in a single-family home on a sliver of land not much wider than the grass strip that parallels some sidewalks. His home, a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean south of San Francisco, occupies literally 250 sq. ft. He could use one of these designs, perhaps!

Of course one of the several weaknesses of these ideas is that when one function is in use, the other is unavailable.

Visit Steven M. Johnson at his website.

Future Structures

I found this interesting article today about an auto-sufficient amphibious city.

It's 2100. Humans haven't gained control of their carbon emissions. The earth has warmed up. The oceans have risen. Millions of ecological refugees have nowhere to go. Unless, of course, they had the foresight to build Lilypads.

The brainchildren of Vincent Callebaut Architectures, the Lilypad is a design for an auto-sufficient amphibious city. If you've seen Wall-E, it's a bit like the Axiom spaceship - a giant city with everything needed for humans to survive a major catastrophe. It also looks a bit like something that might be built off the coast of Dubai.

As Lilypad's creators suggest, though, anything built on or off the coast of Dubai right now will probably be under water by 2100. A floating ecopolis, however, will be immune to such problems, rising above the water, no matter how much of the polar icecaps melt. Watching your atolls sink? No problem. Add a Lilypad. Instant atoll.

Lilypads have a further benefit. Build one or two off the coast of Dubai, Hong Kong or Monaco - and, flood or no flood, you can significantly increase the size of your kingdom or principality. Lilypads house 50,000 people, as well as plants and animals. They have lakes and mountains, schools and multiplexes.

Inspired by the great lilypad of the Amazonia Victoria Regia, the floating eco-city is designed to be made of titanium dioxide, which absorbs atmospheric pollution. It'd also be carbon-neutral, self-sufficient and entirely recyclable. Nice idea.