Penthouses.com: The Weblog

One of the most expensive hotels is Intercontinental Tahiti Resort: The only thing that can enhance the beauty of an already-idyllic location is a resort that has a truly beautiful luxury swimming pool that compliments and pays homage to the surrounding environment.

If this part of the world could have gotten any better, it did so when the pools of this resort became an additional part of its landscape.

Italian architect David Fisher is building his first skyscraper, the Dynamic Tower, and it happens to be one of the most ambitious construction plans since the Pyramid of Khufu. Every floor of the 80-story self-powered building rotates according to voice command, and nearly the entire structure of the $700 million building is pre-fabbed.

The Dynamic Tower offers infinite design possibilities, as each floor rotates independently to create a building that constantly changes shape, resulting in a unique and ever evolving architectural structure.

The Tower is environmentally friendly and the first building designed to be self-powered, with the ability to generate its own electricity, as well as for other nearby buildings, it achieves this feat with wind turbines fitted between each rotating floor, An 80-story building will have up to 79 wind turbines, making it a true green power plant,’ Dr. Fisher stated.

Click here to read more.

The painting “Le bassin aux nymphDeas,” or “Water Lily Pond,” was sold by Christie’s for £40,921,250, ($78.8m) including buyer’s premium, making it the most expensive work of art ever sold by the auction house in Europe.

It was part of a four-work collection of water lily paintings that Monet put up for sale during his lifetime, all of which are signed and dated by the artist in 1919. He saw the oil paintings of his water garden as a cumulative work in progress, and rarely sold them.

Record prices were also reached for other artists’ work including Edgar Degas’s Danseuse a la barre which went for £13.4m ($26.3m) and Natalia Goncharova’s Les Fleurs that sold for £5.5m (£10.8m).

Click here to read more and to watch a live recording of the auction taking place.

40 year old Christian Boros, a German advertising executive has announced plans to turn a former Nazi air-raid shelter, designed to protect 2,000 Berliners from Second World War bombing, into a luxurious penthouse complete with its own art gallery.

Mr Boros may have come to the rescue with his plans to lend one of the city’s ugliest buildings a touch of flair. He plans to turn the top of the bunker into a penthouse measuring 450 square metres that would be Berlin’s most luxurious city centre apartment. However he refused to disclose what he paid for the building or how much the conversion will cost.

‘It will be like James Bond ” very cool ” with exposed concrete and glass,’ he promised. But will this be enough to disguise the fact that once upon a time it was occupied by the Red Army and used as a prison for German soldiers.

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The “Gold Flakes Supreme” is ultra-premium vodka produced in France. It is quadruple distilled using crystal clear underground spring water, however the basic ingredients are unknown. What’s unique about this drink is that we can see 24-carat gold flakes floating in it. The Gold Flakes Supreme will be imported and marketed in the U.S. by the Shaw-Ross Importers. The beverage costs around $60 per 750ml bottle in selected outlets in the U.S.

“DIVA Premium Vodka” is triple distilled vodka produced by the Blackwood Distillers of Scotland. The drink is unique because it is filtered through a sand of crushed diamonds and gemstones. And also, in the middle of each of the bottle we can find precious stones, including diamonds.The price per bottle is between GBP 2,000 (equivalent to $3,700) and GBP 540,000 (equivalent to $1 million), depending on the choice of precious stones used in the bottle, which is probably the most expensive vodka in the world.

I can’t help thinking that I’d rather a stone on my finger than in a drink, and with a price tag like that…i think i will be sticking to the trusty old smirnoff!

German architects Manfred Dick (who sought a patent for his concept) and Johannes Kauka want to give drivers the opportunity to park their cars right on their appartment’s balcony.

You would literally drive your vehicle straight into a ‘vehicle elevator’ of sorts and up you & your vehicle go on to your balcony garage or ‘Carloggia’ as they are look to call it. The architects are keen to point out that safety and comfort are two of the major advantages that come with this garage concept; it’s easier to unload groceries, your car in sight & your family are better protected when entering your building. Nifty idea if you ask me.

From Land + Living