1.
Maastricht
–
Maastricht is a city and a municipality in the southeast of the Netherlands. It is the city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the Meuse river, at the point where the Jeker River joins it, Maastricht developed from a Roman settlement to a Medieval religious centre, a garrison town and an early industrial city. Today, Maastricht is well-regarded as an affluent cultural center, Maastricht has 1677 national heritage sites, which is the second highest number in a Dutch town, after Amsterdam. It has become known, by way of the Maastricht Treaty, as the birthplace of the European Union, European citizenship, and the single European currency, the town is popular with tourists for shopping and recreation, and has a large growing international student population. Maastricht is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network and is part of the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion, the name Maastricht is derived from Latin Traiectum ad Mosam, meaning crossing at the Meuse, and referring to the bridge built by the Romans. The Latin name first appears in documents and it is not known whether this was Maastrichts official name during Roman times. A resident of Maastricht is referred to as Maastrichtenaar whilst in the local dialect it is either Mestreechteneer or, colloquially, there is some debate as to whether Maastricht is the oldest city in the Netherlands. Some people consider Nijmegen the oldest, mainly because it was the first settlement in the Netherlands to receive Roman city rights, Maastricht never did, but it may be as old or older as a settlement. In addition, Maastricht can claim uninterrupted habitation since Roman times, a large number of archeological finds confirms this. Nijmegen has a gap in its history, there is no evidence of habitation in the early Middle Ages. Neanderthal remains have been found to the west of Maastricht, of a later date are Palaeolithic remains, between 8,000 and 25,000 years old. Celts lived here around 500 BC, at a spot where the river Meuse was shallow and it is not known when the Romans arrived in Maastricht, or whether the settlement was founded by them. The Romans built a bridge over the Meuse in the 1st century AD, the bridge was an important link in the main road between Bavay and Cologne. Roman Maastricht was probably relatively small, remains of the Roman road, the bridge, a religious shrine, a Roman bath, a granary, some houses and the 4th-century castrum walls and gates, have been excavated. Fragments of provincial Roman sculptures, as well as coins, jewelry, glass, pottery, according to legend, the Armenian-born Saint Servatius, Bishop of Tongeren, died in Maastricht in 384 and was buried there along the Roman road, outside the castrum. According to Gregory of Tours it was bishop Monulph who, around 570, built the first stone church on the grave of Servatius, the city remained an early Christian diocese until it lost this position to nearby Liège in the early 8th century. In the early Middle Ages Maastricht was part of the heartland of the Carolingian Empire along with Aachen, the town was an important centre for trade and manufacturing
Maastricht
–
View of Maastricht city centre with its partly medieval bridge on the
Meuse river
Maastricht
–
View of Maastricht from the church tower of Saint John's
Maastricht
–
Remains of Roman baths at Onze Lieve Vrouweplein
Maastricht
–
View of Maastricht, coloured engraving by Philippo Bellomonte, 1580/82
2.
Capitol Cinema (Ottawa)
–
The Capitol Cinema was the largest movie theatre ever built in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and was the citys only true movie palace. Opened in 1920, the 2530-seat cinema was regarded as one of the best cinemas designed by famed theatre-architect Thomas W. Lamb. The Capitol was located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Queen Street and Bank Street, the train was greeted by the Governor Generals Foot Guards band and thousands of movie fans. A motorcade took the visitors to the City Hall on Elgin Street, after a short tour of the city, the visitors were greeted by James Alexander Lougheed on Parliament Hill, and then taken to their accommodations in the Château Laurier. The crowds that greeted the motorcade at each stage of its procession through the city were described by the Ottawa Citizen as throngs with unrivalled scenes of enthusiasm. The opening performance that consisted of two films, D. W. Griffiths The Love Flower and a comedy entitled Cheer Up. Crowds of people who were unable to obtain tickets for the sold-out show lingered on the sidewalks outside the theatre throughout the evening. One city councillor, Napoléon Champagne, later defended his attendance at the party in the Ottawa Citizen by claiming that he had looking after the married men. In the era of the movie palaces, theatres were typically built with a narrow entrance on the main thoroughfare. This enabled the bulk of the building to be constructed on cheaper land well away from the thoroughfare, Ottawas Loews theater was different, as it occupied the entirety of a prime downtown corner site. This enabled Lamb to design a grander lobby for the theater, with a marble staircase and balustrade, a colonnaded mezzanine. The auditorium was equally impressive, with its ornate proscenium arch, hand-painted ceiling dome, box seats, the Capitol was considered to be among the finest movie palaces in North America. In Palaces of the Night, John Lindsay wrote, many feel the Ottawa Capitol was the most attractive of all of Lambs theatres, with the grandest split staircase and lobby anywhere. Loews main competitor in Canada, Famous Players, promised a larger flagship theatre on Sparks Street to trump the Loews cinema on Queen Street. With a population of 150,000 at that time, however, in 1924, Loews sold off its Canadian theatres, and the American Keith theatre circuit was able to outbid Famous Players for the Ottawa Loews. The cinema was renamed Keiths Vaudeville, and shortly thereafter the marquee was changed again to the RKO Capitol, for five years, Famous Players continued to announce on an annual basis that it would be building a competing cinema on Sparks Street. In 1929, however, Famous Players merged with RKOs Canadian operations, the name of the theatre was ultimately changed to simply the Capitol. Despite the end of the era, the Capitol continued to host musical concerts, plays and other events, along with its main film programming
Capitol Cinema (Ottawa)
–
Capitol Cinema lobby
Capitol Cinema (Ottawa)
–
The Capitol Cinema auditorium in 1943
3.
Ottawa
–
Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It stands on the bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of southern Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, the two form the core of the Ottawa–Gatineau census metropolitan area and the National Capital Region. The 2016 census reported a population of 934,243, making it the fourth-largest city in Canada, the City of Ottawa reported that the city had an estimated population of 960,754 as of December 2015. Founded in 1826 as Bytown, and incorporated as Ottawa in 1855, the city name Ottawa was chosen in reference to the Ottawa River nearby, the name of which is derived from the Algonquin Odawa, meaning to trade. The city is the most educated in Canada, and is home to a number of post-secondary, research, and cultural institutions, including the National Arts Centre, Ottawa also has the highest standard of living in the nation and low unemployment. It ranked second out of 150 worldwide in the Numbeo quality of life index 2014–2015, with the draining of the Champlain Sea around ten thousand years ago the Ottawa Valley became habitable. The area was used for wild harvesting, hunting, fishing, trade, travel. The Ottawa river valley has archaeological sites with arrow heads, pottery, the area has three major rivers that meet, making it an important trade and travel area for thousands of years. The Algonquins called the Ottawa River Kichi Sibi or Kichissippi meaning Great River or Grand River, Étienne Brûlé, the first European to travel up the Ottawa River, passed by Ottawa in 1610 on his way to the Great Lakes. Three years later, Samuel de Champlain wrote about the waterfalls of the area and about his encounters with the Algonquins, the early explorers and traders were later followed by many missionaries. The first maps of the area used the word Ottawa to name the river, philemon Wright, a New Englander, created the first settlement in the area on 7 March 1800 on the north side of the river, across from Ottawa in Hull. He, with five other families and twenty-five labourers, set about to create a community called Wrightsville. Wright pioneered the Ottawa Valley timber trade by transporting timber by river from the Ottawa Valley to Quebec City, the following year, the town would soon be named after British military engineer Colonel John By who was responsible for the entire Rideau Waterway construction project. Colonel By set up military barracks on the site of todays Parliament Hill and he also laid out the streets of the town and created two distinct neighbourhoods named Upper Town west of the canal and Lower Town east of the canal. Similar to its Upper Canada and Lower Canada namesakes, historically Upper Town was predominantly English speaking and Protestant whereas Lower Town was predominantly French, Irish, bytowns population grew to 1,000 as the Rideau Canal was being completed in 1832. In 1855 Bytown was renamed Ottawa and incorporated as a city, William Pittman Lett was installed as the first city clerk guiding it through 36 years of development. On New Years Eve 1857, Queen Victoria, as a symbolic, in reality, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald had assigned this selection process to the Executive Branch of the Government, as previous attempts to arrive at a consensus had ended in deadlock
Ottawa
–
Centre Block on Parliament Hill, the
National War Memorial in
downtown Ottawa, the
National Gallery of Canada, and the
Rideau Canal and
Château Laurier.
Ottawa
–
Bytown in 1853. Military Barracks on hill top was occupied by "A" Company of the
Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment, presently home to
Parliament Hill.
Ottawa
–
Centre Block on
Parliament Hill under construction in 1863
Ottawa
–
Looking east down
Rideau Street. In view: the
Union Station on the right, and the (now demolished)
Daly Building on the left. 1922
4.
Ontario
–
Ontario, one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada, is located in east-central Canada. It is Canadas most populous province by a margin, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all Canadians. Ontario is fourth-largest in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and it is home to the nations capital city, Ottawa, and the nations most populous city, Toronto. There is only about 1 km of land made up of portages including Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border. Ontario is sometimes divided into two regions, Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. The great majority of Ontarios population and arable land is located in the south, in contrast, the larger, northern part of Ontario is sparsely populated with cold winters and is heavily forested. The province is named after Lake Ontario, a thought to be derived from Ontarí, io, a Huron word meaning great lake, or possibly skanadario. Ontario has about 250,000 freshwater lakes, the province consists of three main geographical regions, The thinly populated Canadian Shield in the northwestern and central portions, which comprises over half the land area of Ontario. Although this area mostly does not support agriculture, it is rich in minerals and in part covered by the Central and Midwestern Canadian Shield forests, studded with lakes, Northern Ontario is subdivided into two sub-regions, Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario. The virtually unpopulated Hudson Bay Lowlands in the north and northeast, mainly swampy. Southern Ontario which is further sub-divided into four regions, Central Ontario, Eastern Ontario, Golden Horseshoe, the highest point is Ishpatina Ridge at 693 metres above sea level located in Temagami, Northeastern Ontario. In the south, elevations of over 500 m are surpassed near Collingwood, above the Blue Mountains in the Dundalk Highlands, the Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern region of the province. A well-known geographic feature is Niagara Falls, part of the Niagara Escarpment, the Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies roughly 87 percent of the area of the province. Point Pelee is a peninsula of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario that is the southernmost extent of Canadas mainland, Pelee Island and Middle Island in Lake Erie extend slightly farther. All are south of 42°N – slightly farther south than the border of California. The climate of Ontario varies by season and location, the effects of these major air masses on temperature and precipitation depend mainly on latitude, proximity to major bodies of water and to a small extent, terrain relief. In general, most of Ontarios climate is classified as humid continental, Ontario has three main climatic regions
Ontario
–
Algonquin Provincial Park, Cache Lake
Ontario
–
Flag
Ontario
–
Summer at
Sandbanks Provincial Park on Lake Ontario.
Ontario
–
The
Niagara Escarpment on the
Bruce Peninsula.
5.
Bilbao
–
Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the province of Biscay and in the Basque Country as a whole. Bilbao is the tenth largest city in Spain, with a population of 345,141 As of 2015, Bilbao is also the main urban area in what is defined as the Greater Basque region. Bilbao is situated in the part of Spain, some 16 kilometres south of the Bay of Biscay, where the economic social development is located. Its main urban core is surrounded by two mountain ranges with an average elevation of 400 metres. This was due to its port activity based on the export of iron extracted from the Biscayan quarries, at the same time an extraordinary population explosion prompted the annexation of several adjacent municipalities. The official name of the town is Bilbao, as known in most languages of the world, there is no consensus among historians about the origin of the name. Generally accepted accounts state that prior to the 12th century the independent rulers of the territory, the symbols of their patrimony are the tower and church used in the shield of Bilbao to this day. One possible origin was suggested by the engineer Evaristo de Churruca and he said that it was a Basque custom to name a place after its location. For Bilbao this would be the result of the union of the Basque words for river and cove, the historian José Tussel Gómez argues that it is just a natural evolution of the Spanish words bello vado, beautiful river crossing. On the other hand, according to the writer Esteban Calle Iturrino, the first, where the present Casco Viejo is located, would be called billa, which means stacking in Basque, after the configuration of the buildings. The second, on the bank, where now Bilbao La Vieja is located, would be called vaho. From the union of these two derives the name Bilbao, which was written as Bilvao and Biluao, as documented in its municipal charter. An -ao ending is present in nearby Sestao and Ugao. Titles Bilbao holds the historic category of borough, with the titles of «Very noble and very loyal and it was the Catholic Monarchs who awarded the title «Noble borough» on 20 September 1475. Philip III of Spain, via a letter in 1603 awarded the borough the titles of «Very noble, after the Siege of Bilbao, during the First Carlist War, on 25 December 1836, the title of «Unbeaten» was added. Remains of an ancient settlement were found on the top of Mount Malmasín, burial sites were also found on Mounts Avril and Artxanda, dated 6,000 years old. Some authors identify the old settlement of Bilbao as Amanun Portus, cited by Pliny the Elder, or with Flaviobriga, ancient walls, which date from around the 11th century, have been discovered below the Church of San Antón. On 21 June 1511, Queen Joanna of Castile ordered the creation of the Consulate of Bilbao and this would become the most influential institution of the borough for centuries, and would claim jurisdiction over the estuary, improving its infrastructure
Bilbao
–
Clockwise from top: Panorama from mount
Artxanda,
Church of San Antón,
Bilbao Guggenheim Museum, a
fosterito, and the
Euskalduna Palace
Bilbao
–
First engraving of the city, made by
Franz Hohenberg in 1554 and first published in 1574. Many notable buildings can be seen, like the
Santiago Cathedral, and the
church of San Antón.
Bilbao
–
The
Battle of Luchana.
Bilbao
–
Bilbao in the 1950s.
6.
French language
–
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
French language
–
The
"arrêt" signs (French for "stop") are used in
Canada while the international stop, which is also a valid French word, is used in France as well as other French-speaking countries and regions.
French language
–
Regions where French is the main language
French language
–
Town sign in
Standard Arabic and French at the entrance of
Rechmaya in
Lebanon.
French language
–
An obsolete 100
Lebanese pound note with the French language inscriptions "Banque du Liban" and "Cent livres".
7.
Palace of Versailles
–
The Palace of Versailles, Château de Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. Versailles is therefore not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime. First built by Louis XIII in 1623, as a lodge of brick and stone. The first phase of the expansion was designed and supervised by the architect Louis Le Vau and it culminated in the addition of three new wings of stone, which surrounded Louis XIIIs original building on the north, south, and west. After Le Vaus death in 1670, the work was taken over and completed by his assistant, charles Le Brun designed and supervised the elaborate interior decoration, and André Le Nôtre landscaped the extensive Gardens of Versailles. Le Brun and Le Nôtre collaborated on the fountains, and Le Brun supervised the design. During the second phase of expansion, two enormous wings north and south of the wings flanking the Cour Royale were added by the architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. He also replaced Le Vaus large terrace, facing the garden on the west, with became the most famous room of the palace. The Royal Chapel of Versailles, located at the end of the north wing, was begun by Mansart in 1688. One of the most baffling aspects to the study of Versailles is the cost – how much Louis XIV, owing to the nature of the construction of Versailles and the evolution of the role of the palace, construction costs were essentially a private matter. Initially, Versailles was planned to be a residence for Louis XIV and was referred to as the kings house. Once Louis XIV embarked on his campaigns, expenses for Versailles became more of a matter for public record. To counter the costs of Versailles during the years of Louis XIVs personal reign. Accordingly, all materials that went into the construction and decoration of Versailles were manufactured in France, even the mirrors used in the decoration of the Hall of Mirrors were made in France. While Venice in the 17th century had the monopoly on the manufacture of mirrors, to meet the demands for decorating and furnishing Versailles, Colbert nationalised the tapestry factory owned by the Gobelin family, to become the Manufacture royale des Gobelins. In 1667, the name of the enterprise was changed to the Manufacture royale des Meubles de la Couronne, the Comptes meticulously list the expenditures on the silver furniture – disbursements to artists, final payments, delivery – as well as descriptions and weight of items purchased. Entries for 1681 and 1682 concerning the silver used in the salon de Mercure serve as an example. 5 In anticipation, For the silver balustrade for the bedroom,90,000 livres II
Palace of Versailles
–
Aerial view of the Palace from above the
Gardens of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
–
Bust of Louis XIV by
Bernini in the
Diana Salon of the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
–
View of the Palace from the garden
Palace of Versailles
–
Marble Court
8.
Modern architecture
–
Modern architecture or modernist architecture is a term applied to a group of styles of architecture which emerged in the first half of the 20th century and became dominant after World War II. The revolution in materials came first, with the use of cast iron, plate glass, the cast plate glass process was invented in 1848, allowing the manufacture of very large windows. The Crystal Palace by Joseph Paxton at the Great Exhibition of 1851 was an example of iron and plate glass construction, followed in 1864 by the first glass. These developments together led to the first steel-framed skyscraper, the ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago, the iron frame construction of the Eiffel Tower, then the tallest structure in the world, captured the imagination of millions of visitors to the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition. French industrialist François Coignet was the first to use iron-reinforced concrete, in 1853 Coignet built the first iron reinforced concrete structure, a four story house in the suburbs of Paris. Another important technology for the new architecture was electric light, which reduced the inherent danger of fires caused by gas in the 19th century. This break with the past was particularly urged by the architectural theorist, for each function its material, for each material its form and its ornament. This book influenced a generation of architects, including Louis Sullivan, Victor Horta, Hector Guimard, at the end of the 19th century, a few architects began to challenge the traditional Beaux Arts and Neoclassical styles that dominated architecture in Europe and the United States. The Glasgow School of Art 1896-99) designed by Charles Rennie MacIntosh, had a facade dominated by large bays of windows. The Art Nouveau style was launched in the 1890s by Victor Horta in Belgium and Hector Guimard in France, it introduced new styles of decoration, based on vegetal and floral forms. In 1903-1904 in Paris Auguste Perret and Henri Sauvage began to use reinforced concrete, previously used for industrial structures. Between 1910 and 1913, Auguste Perret built the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, because of the concrete construction, no columns blocked the spectators view of the stage. Otto Wagner, in Vienna, was another pioneer of the new style, in his book Moderne Arkchtekture he had called for a more rationalist style of architecture, based on modern life. Wagner declared his intention to express the function of the building in its exterior, the reinforced concrete exterior was covered with plaques of marble attached with bolts of polished aluminum. The interior was purely functional and spare, an open space of steel, glass. The Viennese architect Adolf Loos also began removing any ornament from his buildings and his Steiner House, in Vienna, was an example of what he called rationalist architecture, it had a simple stucco rectangual facade with square windows and no ornament. The fame of the new movement, which known as the Vienna Secession spread beyond Austria. Josef Hoffmann, a student of Wagner, constructed a landmark of early modernist architecture and this residence, built of brick covered with Norwegian marble, was composed of geometric blocks, wings and a tower
Modern architecture
–
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in
New York City (1959), interior, by
Frank Lloyd Wright.
Modern architecture
–
Contrasts in modern architecture, as shown by adjacent high-rises in
Chicago, Illinois.
IBM Plaza (right), by
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is a later example of the clean rectilinear lines and glass of the
International Style, whereas
Marina City, (left), by his student
Bertrand Goldberg, reflects a more sculptural
Mid-Century Modern aesthetic.
Modern architecture
–
The
Salk Institute complex in La Jolla, California, by architect
Louis Kahn.
Modern architecture
–
The
Robie House, 1910, in Chicago, Illinois.
9.
Composite lumber
–
Composite lumber is a material that is a mixture of wood fiber, plastic, and some type of binding agent. These ingredients are put together to form a material that is denser, stronger, and heavier than wood alone, until the 1990s, wood was the material of choice for deck construction. However, new products, composites, began to emerge at this time and these new products offered the look and workability of wood, but they were more water resistant and required less maintenance. Over time, these lower maintenance decking options increased in popularity, working with composite lumber is similar to working with wood. However, composite lumber has the benefit of being less likely to split or delaminate. Some composite lumber is also engineered to be lighter weight for easier handling, Composite lumber is also more stain, scratch, and mold resistant, and is therefore supposed to have a longer life than wood lumber. Composite lumber comes from the manufacturer as a finished product, there is no need to stain, sand, or paint the material. Composite materials usually cost more than lumber, but their long life, many composites are often made partially out of recycled plastics and waste wood, such as Trex Decking, which makes them an environmentally friendly, efficient use of resources. Composite lumber is more costly than normal or treated lumber. Composites may last longer, but the investment is likely to be higher. Many composites are formulated to be fade, scratch, and stain resistant, although composite lumber may resist these marring effects better than other materials, it will still show signs of wear over time. Composite lumber often has a plastic-like or synthetic appearance, although manufacturers do mold the product with a wood grain or brush stroke pattern, some consumers simply do not like the artificial sheen. The growth of products continues to fuel a debate about their environmental value when compared to wood, treated wood, metal. Many suggest that wood decking is made from a more sustainable ingredient, capped composite decking is composite decking, with a thin, approximately 1/16th inch, PVC-like veneer, or cap. This cap provides protection for the composite underneath, the cap is also formulated differently, in order to provide increased fade, stain, and scratch resistance. Capped composite decking is more expensive than both normal composite decking and wood decking because of the more involved manufacturing process in adding the second, capped composites also lack the feel of real wood. Although manufacturers form the product with a wood grain or brush stroke, some contractors. Capped composites, although formulated to resist fading, stains, and scratches, will show some wear over time, manufacturers of capped composite boards will often leave one side uncapped to prevent the material from expanding and mushrooming out of the corners of the boards
Composite lumber
–
Trex Composite Decking
10.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
–
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is one of the most popular green building certification programs used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U. S. LEED also has grown from six volunteers on one committee to 119,924 staff, volunteers, LEED standards have been applied to approximately 83,452 registered and certified LEED projects worldwide, covering around 13.8 billion square feet. Many U. S. federal agencies and states and local governments require or reward LEED certification, however, four states have effectively banned the use of LEED in new public buildings, preferring other industry standards that the USGBC considers too lax. Proposals to modify the LEED standards are offered and publicly reviewed by USGBCs member organizations, GBCI also certifies projects pursuing LEED. LEED has evolved since 1998 to more accurately represent and incorporate emerging green building technologies, the pilot version, LEED New Construction v1.0, led to LEED NCv2.0, LEED NCv2.2 in 2005, and LEED2009 in 2009. LEED v4 was introduced in November,2013, until October 31,2016, new projects may choose between LEED2009 and LEED v4. New projects registering after October 31,2016 must use LEED v4, LEED2009 encompasses ten rating systems for the design, construction and operation of buildings, homes and neighborhoods. Five overarching categories correspond to the available under the LEED professional program. Up to 10 additional points may be earned, four points may be received for Regional Priority Credits. Its owner must share data on the energy and water use for five years after occupancy or date of certification. Each of the categories also have mandatory measures in each category. The weighting process has three steps, A collection of buildings are used to estimate the environmental impacts of any building seeking LEED certification in a designated rating scheme. NIST weightings are used to judge the importance of these impacts in each category. Data regarding actual impacts on environmental and human health are used to assign points to individual categories and measures and this system results in a weighted average for each rating scheme based upon actual impacts and the relative importance of those impacts to human health and environmental quality. The LEED council also appears to have assigned credit and measure weighting based upon the market implications of point allocation, in 2003, the Canada Green Building Council received permission to create LEED Canada-NC v1.0, which was based upon LEED-NC2.0. Many buildings in Canada are LEED certified in part due to their Rainwater harvesting practices, LEED certification is granted by the Green Building Certification Institute, which handles the third-party verification of a projects compliance with the LEED requirements. The certification process for design teams is made up of two applications, one including design credits, and one including construction credits. All of the LEED credits in each rating system are assigned to either the design application or the construction application, the design credits include those that are the purview of the architect and the engineer, and are documented in the official construction drawings
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
–
Tower at PNC Plaza in Pittsburgh, opened in October 2015, is the greenest Skyrise ever built and exceeds the current criteria for a LEED Platinum certified building.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
–
The Gold and Platinum rating of
David L. Lawrence Convention Center in
Pittsburgh, is the first convention center in the world to have such certifications.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
–
1225 Connecticut Avenue, in
Washington, D.C., is the first redeveloped office building on the
U.S. East Coast to receive LEED Platinum status.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
–
Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh has multiple LEED certifications, including the world's only Platinum-certified greenhouse and a Platinum-certified and
net-zero energy Center for Sustainable Landscapes.
11.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
–
A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
Media related to mezzanines at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of mezzanine at Wiktionary
