Hi everyone! I’ll make this quick since I have an examination to sit for in less than 9 hours. Thanks so much for being patient with our lack of updates.

Jo and I are still drowning in exam week(s). But tomorrow I have a small window of opportunity to update! I promise to write as swiftly as I possibly can, hopefully faster than it takes for me to cough out 4 economics essays (*bleagh*) and with the wonders of wordpress’ schedule funtion, you’ll hopefully have some eye-candy to see and read in the week ahead.

Hang tight! And hope you are having a good week. (At least it isn’t raining as much as it was last week)

- Sarah, who should be studying.

Nous visitons souvent dans le hors-saison entre Avril et Octobre pour obtenir les meilleures offres sur l'hébergement, bien que cette année les Jeux olympiques d'hiver de 2010 signifie que les taux resteront probablement plus élevé jusqu'à ce que le battage est terminée. Pour les meilleurs tarifs et des offres promotionnelles en cours check out www.hellobc.com et www.tourism jo vancouver.com.

D'événements culturels gratuits pour tous les âges durant les Jeux feront en sorte que les familles, même avec les billets de spectacles limitée (ou même aucun billet à tous) peuvent l'expérience de l'atmosphère culturelle des Jeux olympiques. L'Olympiade culturelle au centre-ville de JO 2010 et de Whistler Live! Événements à Whistler Blackcomb apportera des artistes internationaux dans ces deux villes avec musique en direct, l'art, le théâtre, les médias numériques et des productions de la rue pour le plaisir du public.

New West peut même aider à sécuriser les billets d'événements olympiques et les transferts terrestres aux transports publics, permettant aux voyageurs de vivre toute l'excitation des Jeux de jo vancouver, sans les tracas. Le Norwegian Star restera amarré à seulement 10 minutes du centre-ville de jo vancouver et à moins d'une heure et demie de Whistler.

Le navire est particulièrement commode pour les familles qui veulent vivre l'excitation des Jeux olympiques, mais ont une place à la retraite plus chaud du divertissement. Lorsque les enfants se lassent de longues journées dans l'agitation à froid, les parents peuvent profiter d'un des nombreux clubs du navire ou salons tandis que les enfants peuvent rencontrer de nouveaux amis pendant que les jeunes encadrés par des moniteurs certifiés. Une fin de nuit les enfants et les adolescents centre 'permet même aux parents de profiter de la vie nocturne de Norwegian Star, en restant ouvert 9-1.

Certains des projets sont encore dans les œuvres et sont voués à la réalisation, avant les Jeux olympiques de 2010 à jo vancouver. Cet article vous jetez un oeil à quelques-uns des plus grands «vertes» ou des projets durables qui seront intégrés à temps pour les Jeux olympiques de 2010 à JO 2010.

Des toilettes à double chasse d'eau utilise l'eau de pluie stockée. Utilisation de l'eau de pluie stockée pour les toilettes signifie que la consommation d'eau potable pour les bâtiments sera réduite de 40% – 50%.

Dining in vancouver 2010 devient cher, mais un fabuleux restaurant, nous avons visité un certain nombre de fois et valent le prix est le Cannery Seafood House. Ce restaurant emblématique Cannery Row a opéré sur le front de mer de travail pour près de 40 ans, mais ils seront de clôture Mars 2010, car ils ont perdu leur bail en raison de considérations de sûreté portuaire et ne peut pas trouver un autre emplacement à rouvrir. Obtenez vos réservations avant qu'il ne soit trop tard
www.thecanneryseafood.com. Boo Hoo!

Les Jeux olympiques peut être une expérience magique pour les enfants et une grande leçon de la culture mondiale. Heureusement, il ya beaucoup de façons de prendre des vacances familiales pour les Jeux de vancouver 2010 2010, sans casser leur tirelire.

Entre-temps, bien que des chambres d'hôtel de vancouver 2010 continuera à se remplir à des prix toujours plus élevés, une option d'hébergement unique offre un amusement et une alternative abordable pour les familles cherchant à tirer le meilleur parti de leur expérience de vacances.

En tirant parti de la famille de logements de vacances convivial et le libre accès aux événements culturels, les familles peuvent rencontrer les Jeux Olympiques de 2010 sans faire des dépenses inutiles.

Certains des projets sont encore dans les œuvres et sont voués à la réalisation, avant les Jeux olympiques de 2010 à vancouver 2010. Cet article vous jetez un oeil à quelques-uns des plus grands «vertes» ou des projets durables qui seront intégrés à temps pour les Jeux olympiques de 2010 à Vancouver 2010.

Toits récolte de l'eau – alors que la moitié des toits du village olympique aura des toits verts, l'autre moitié des bâtiments sera traditionnels toits plats. Ceux-ci seront utilisés pour recueillir la pluie. L'eau de pluie seront stockées dans d'immenses, des citernes souterraines pour une utilisation dans les bâtiments.

Météo JO 2010 peut être frais et pluvieux, mais comme avec n'importe quel niveau de la mer du Nord-Ouest locale, on peut pleuvoir une minute et ensoleillée l'autre. Pack ces couches et de mener un parapluie et vous n'en mourrez pas quelle que soit la nature met à votre façon. N'oubliez pas d'apporter des chaussures confortables. Le centre-ville est facilement déplacer à pied, et les passerelles expansive autour du parc Stanley et le long des cours d'eau offrent aux touristes une fabuleuse vue et la possibilité de se mêler aux gens du pays à travailler et jouer. Vous pouvez louer des vélos ou patins à roues alignées faire le tour des 12 digue promenade mile aussi.

Nos sites incontournables à visiter tout à JO 2010 comprennent: le parc Stanley et l'Aquarium de Vancouver 2010, l'île de Granville et son marché, des boutiques de la rue Robson, les passerelles digue, et tout ce qui convient à votre fantaisie. Il ya tant de choses à voir et à faire dans cette belle ville que l'on visite ne sera pas suffisant. Bon voyage!

New West peut même aider à sécuriser les billets d'événements olympiques et les transferts terrestres aux transports publics, permettant aux voyageurs de vivre toute l'excitation des Jeux de JO 2010, sans les tracas. Le Norwegian Star restera amarré à seulement 10 minutes du centre-ville de JO 2010 et à moins d'une heure et demie de Whistler.

En tirant parti de la famille de logements de vacances convivial et le libre accès aux événements culturels, les familles peuvent rencontrer les Jeux Olympiques de 2010 sans faire des dépenses inutiles.

Les neuf blocs de village olympique, où près de 10.000 des athlètes séjourneront pendant les Jeux Olympiques, est construit avec de nombreuses initiatives vertes. Le projet de condos appelé Millénaire de l'eau, se compose de 200 unités. Les unités de condo sont à prix de 450.000 $ à 3,5 millions de dollars et le développeur promet de dire les propriétaires dont les athlètes sont restés dans leur condo. Le US Green Building Council est prévu de donner au village olympique d'une certification LEED or pour ses initiatives écologiques.

Toits récolte de l'eau – alors que la moitié des toits du village olympique aura des toits verts, l'autre moitié des bâtiments sera traditionnels toits plats. Ceux-ci seront utilisés pour recueillir la pluie. L'eau de pluie seront stockées dans d'immenses, des citernes souterraines pour une utilisation dans les bâtiments.

Nous visitons souvent dans le hors-saison entre Avril et Octobre pour obtenir les meilleures offres sur l'hébergement, bien que cette année les Jeux olympiques d'hiver de 2010 signifie que les taux resteront probablement plus élevé jusqu'à ce que le battage est terminée. Pour les meilleurs tarifs et des offres promotionnelles en cours check out www.hellobc.com et www.tourismJO Vancouver.com.

Les Jeux olympiques peut être une expérience magique pour les enfants et une grande leçon de la culture mondiale. Heureusement, il ya beaucoup de façons de prendre des vacances familiales pour les Jeux de JO Vancouver 2010, sans casser leur tirelire.

Entre-temps, bien que des chambres d'hôtel de JO Vancouver continuera à se remplir à des prix toujours plus élevés, une option d'hébergement unique offre un amusement et une alternative abordable pour les familles cherchant à tirer le meilleur parti de leur expérience de vacances.

En tirant parti de la famille de logements de vacances convivial et le libre accès aux événements culturels, les familles peuvent rencontrer les Jeux Olympiques de 2010 sans faire des dépenses inutiles.

Les neuf blocs de village olympique, où près de 10.000 des athlètes séjourneront pendant les Jeux Olympiques, est construit avec de nombreuses initiatives vertes. Le projet de condos appelé Millénaire de l'eau, se compose de 200 unités. Les unités de condo sont à prix de 450.000 $ à 3,5 millions de dollars et le développeur promet de dire les propriétaires dont les athlètes sont restés dans leur condo. Le US Green Building Council est prévu de donner au village olympique d'une certification LEED or pour ses initiatives écologiques.

Le village olympique sera également un site de ramassage de compost de large et un égout sanitaire système de récupération de chaleur qui aidera dans le chauffage des bâtiments.

La flamme olympique des JO de vancouver 2010, a vancouver2010 été allumée Jeudi dernier au cours d’une cérémonie dans vancouver2010 une ambiance anthique sous un soleil de plomb.

Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) has made the decision to postpone the start of Phase 3 ticket sales to Saturday, November 14 at 10am Pacific Time. Vancouver2010.com experienced visitors that were not able to purchase tickets as Tickets.com, the official ticket service provider, experienced problems with the configuration of their ticketing transaction site.

“VANOC, Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, is responsible for organizing, financing and staging of the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the X Paralympic Winter Games in 2010.” Most know this, but the question stands. Where will you score some 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic tickets?

YouTube.com offers a view into a little game called the golf Olympic Challenge. If you think you can beat Michael Phelps in a game of putt-putt golf then you can win a spot to go to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Let's see what you got!

For an outrageous amount of $3,999 you can purchase a couple of Men 6 2010 Winter Olympics Hockey team tickets. 2 for February 19th / CZE vs. LAT, 2 for February 21st / CAN vs. US, or 2 for CAN games. As of today you have until November 19th to bite. This transaction falls under item # 200396361886 as the seller offers a “or better deal” option. Remember this is Ebay.com, no refunds. Find them here.

If Hockey is not your cup of tea, try the other Winter Olympic selections through Ebay. For various events, opening and closing ceremony tickets visit Ebay.com.

StubHub.com offers a buy or sell process on 2010 Winter Olympic tickets for various events. On this website you will find event, location, date and price range. Some tickets are available, some are not, but it's worth the time if you do strike gold. Here is a link to the snowboarding event tickets available through StubHub.com.

As for November 14, 2009 the Winter Olympic fans will be dipping their pockets to grab a pair of Olympic tickets. You can journey to Vancouver2010.com, GoTickets.com, or any of the above available link suggestions. Are you prepared to cross that ticket finish line? Map out your plan today!

La flamme olympique a été allumé par une actrice jouant une grande vancouver2010prêtresse, dans la pur tradition au vancouver2010milieu des ruines du site des anciens Jeux Olympiques.

La torche olympique des JO 2010, a été allumée Jeudi dernier au cours d’une cérémonie dans une ambiance anthique sous un soleil de plomb.

The judging may still be subjective, but figure skating remains the most popular spectator Olympic sport. And for good reason. The years of early-morning at the rings all come down to four or five minutes skating in front of Olympic judges and a worldwide performance. Ice skaters who happen to peak at that moment will become a role model for young girls everywhere. If you peak at another time, plan on a life of obscurity and hope for a career as a coach or choreographer.

This article has links to the top ladies figure skating performances, short or long, available through YouTube. There's a few that aren't available…Debbie Thomas at the 88 nationals, Elaine Zayak in 82 and Tiffany Chin in 84 come to mind. But enjoy these beautiful performances that are, through the miracle of technology, preserved for fans.

For those that love only the off-the-rink drama, I'll prepare you. Nancy and Tonya aren't on my list. If you're a fan, feel free to state your case. Perhaps we'll have a part II of this article.

1. Nicole Bobek at the 1995 Nationals (the same performance was given at the worlds)
This is Nicole's personal best and one of the best choreographed performances of all time. This performance has left figure skating fans shaking their heads for the past ten years, wondering why she could be this could one year and just-shy-of-great for the rest of her career. Unfortunately, this was a non-Olympic year, although Bobek made two lackluster Olympic appearances.

2. Sarah Hughes 2002 Winter Olympics
Wow…this may be the most perfect performance ever. She's making triple-triples look like she's flying, with tight rotations and such height. She doesn't even bop on her landings. Her graceful footwork and dance moves are far better than her more mature and experienced competitors. And the best part about it? Sarah enjoys every moment. If she's nervous, it doesn't show. I don't know if I have ever seen a skater so relaxed.

3. Kristi Yamaguchi
Even today, the skater who can perform a sharper triple lutz is rare. In watching this, I feel Kristi can control every muscle in her body…her work is that disciplined. OK…there is that one little slip but it is on one of skating's more difficult moves. And it comes late in the program before the current system, which rewards skaters for daring leaps and spins during the second half of the program. She truly remains one of the greatest American figure skaters.

4. Tara Lipinski
Young Tara Lipinski became the youngest skater to earn the gold in 1998. I've saved these two for last, as this match-up and the resulting Tara/gold and Michelle/silver likely remain one of the more controversial decisions made by Olympic judges. In my opinion, it could have gone either way. Tara is the better athlete; Michelle the better artist.

5. Michelle Kwan
Of course, no list of great American ladies figure skaters would be complete without Michelle Kwan. This is one of her best performances ever, the 1998 silver medal-winning performance. She finished just below Tara Lapinski. Michelle recently announced that she would not be competing in the 2010 Olympics, so this remains her best Olympic performance.

La flamme olympique a été allumé par une actrice jouant une grande prêtresse, dans la pur tradition au milieu des ruines du site des anciensJeux.

Brazilian footballers tend to take a more cavalier approach to making the distinction between given names and nicknames. Hence a good proportion of the boys in yellow run around with something a little out of the ordinary written across their shoulders. This ranges from the amusingly prosaic like Fred, Jo or my personal favourite, Tim, to the scatalogically infantile such as Kaka and Dudu. 

But sometimes the choice of moniker can represent an unfair advantage. During England’s one-sided friendly in Doha last week Givanildo Vieira de Souza was brought on to make his debut. Otherwise known as Hulk. The provenance of this sobriquet is disputed but what is certain is that it strikes fear into the heart of any opposition defence. Hulk is aptly named: muscular, stocky and a generally a nuisance. Particularly when he’s angry.

I’d argue that Fifa should introduce a law that entitled every international team to adopt this relaxed approach to the naming of squad members, but Wazza, Crouchy and JT don’t really share that same sense of menace.

Dr. Leisinger Sensei (7th Dan Aikikai)

Aiki-jo & -ken
Dinsdag 24 Oktober
20:15 – 21:45

Shin Shin Buken Dojo

Bosh and the Raps stare down Miami tonight

Ah yes, home sweet home. After seven of eight out west, the Raptors are back at the ACC tonight to face Dwyane Wade and the Heat. The boys escaped the trip at 2-5 (wins in New Orleans and LA) and sit at 5-7 on the year — to be honest, a mark I’m pretty, pretty pleased with at this point. As always, a full preview for tonight’s game is available at Raptors Republic, including my world-famous simulation.

Miami enters tonight’s game at 7-4, but don’t be deceived: The Heat’s schedule has been the opposite of Toronto’s — not to hate on the Knicks and Nets, but it’s been a walk in the park, highlighted by eight of 11 at home. With apologies to first-class citizen Jermaine O’Neal, the Heat really have nothing going for them aside from Wade. Case in point: The Band-Aid Man was 6-of-18 for 15 points in Atlanta Wednesday and Miami was pasted 105-90. If the Raptors can keep Wade from going out of his mind, this should be a comfortable win.

With “defensive stopper” Antoine Wright expected out for Toronto, the Raptors will be forced into throwing a host of defenders at Wade, none of which, I’m sure, will be Jose Calderon. With Udonis Haslem unlikely to dress for the Heat, Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani should be set for field days against O’Neal and big softy Michael “Supercool” Beasley. No excuses for Andrea — time to get back to work after a couple nightmarish games.

The Raptors and Heat get it popping at seven.

• AT&T please invest in your shitty network and not lawsuits. Hello?
• visitronix.com website migration. What a mess!
• More Cheryl Merkowski craigslist ads!
• Church of Debra does porn chat lines!

Leave a review on itunes, please! visitronix.com/itunes
Thanks to Marina @ I Love Lard for today’s album art!

Help support the show by making a purchase from the new digital downloads store at digistore.visitronix.com or donating via paypal to visitronix@gmail.com.

C’est sans notre commissaire Jean-Michel qu’a eu lieu hier soir le Monday Night Hockey at Mont-Saint-Hilaire. Le line up semblait équilibré, les joueurs des Rangers étaient mêmes un peu confiants de l’emporter… Oufff, quelle dégelé ! C’est un CH en feu qui s’est présenté sur la glace de l’aréna 2. Sans merci. Sans pitié. Une dégelé que je vous dis : 10 – 4 la marque finale pour la Sainte-Flanelle !

Il faut dire que nos Glorieux étaient vitaminés par le duo de Jo et Mathieu “2 girls, 1 cup”. Deux recrues dans la LNHSH mais deux joueurs qui sont en train de laisser leur trace. Je dois l’avouer, je crois avoir perdu un patin sur une des feintes de Jo en troisième période ! Il faut dire que l’ajout d’un joueur d’expérience comme Jean-Pierre pour compléter leur trio a fait le plus grand bien. Jean-Pierre “golden shower” et Mathieu “2 girls, 1 cup”… On dirait un site de cul ici !!! Je suggère de baptiser ce trio “The shit shower”… D’autres suggestions ?

Un gros merci à Fergy pour le line up… pas facile à faire !!! Jean-Mi, tu peux te la garder ta job de commissaire… on l’a veut pas !

Bonne semaine

Yannis

I did a shoot a couple months back for my friend Kelly Jo which got her in to the Playboy Mansion for the annual Midsummer Nights Dream party. Here are a few of the photos from that shoot.

Casi ya por la mitad de la temporada, os traigo el trailer del episodio número 10 de la quinta temporada de Sobrenatural. Lleva por título “Abandon all Hope”.

Sinopsis: Sam, Dean y Castiel encuentran en colt y van en busca de lucifer. Para ayudarles forman un equipo de cazadores, Bobby, Ellem y Jo, y se juntan en la que podrá ser su ultima noche.

Csáz!

hát sok minden történt a héten. : D először is.

hétfőn – voltam Karival festeni/rajzolni. meg beszélgettünk és ilyenek.
kedden – voltam Balázsnál dobolni, a brand new otthonában, egész kellemes kissé kupis egyelőre : D
szerdán – zenekar. kilét meg ilyenek
csütörtökön – úgy volt, hogy találkozok Doóval, csak beteg lett : ( viszont, voltam Szunyáék próbáján. Meglepődött mert úgy volt, hogy nem megyek de örült, hogy elmentem : ) megígértették velem, hogy elmegyek másnap koncertjükre ;D
aztán még este Karival beszélgettünk egy hosszút.. kivoltam már nagyon és kellett.. azt hiszem. szép kék lett a szemem reggel pedig alig bírtam kinyitni xD
pénteken – suli blabla . gólyabál volt, szóval ott fotózgattam. hazajöttem összepakolásztam a cuccaim beszélgettem a Kittával, majd elindultam vissza a suliba fotózni egy háromnegyedórát. jó végeztem, rohanni haza töltőért meg a kulcsért. aztán negyed hatkor nyugatinál találkoztam Rékával és beültünk a California Coffee Company-be. : )
beszélgettünk arról, ki hogy látja összevetve mindent a kapcsolatát, meg arról, hogy érezzük magunkat. ezek a tipikus lányos témák : ) de jó volt, örültem neki <3
aztán Örs. villamossal bazdmeg.. jött mind a kettő nem tudtam melyikre szálljak fel.. na most miközben Szunyával telefonáltam rohangáltam a két villamos között egyik oldalról a másikra. najó felszálltam a jóra. megkérdeztem, hogy ez megy e az Ónodi utca felé? hát ők nem tudják. jó leszálltam a következőnél átrohantam a másikra villamosra. kilihegtem magam és megkérdeztem egy nőt, ez megy e az Ónodi utca felé. hát nem a másik. mondom kurvajó xD leszálltam és át a másikra. majdnem elkéstem.. akkor koncert lezajlott jó volt ;D aztán mentünk és mentünk.. majd buszra fel és baross utcánál leszálltunk. sétálunk sétálunk kombinóra felszállunk hopp. oktogonnál leszálltunk megnéztük bakegérben kurvasokan voltak.. akkor ott ácsorogtunk vagy fél órát. majd át egy másik helyre ami minimum 10 perc sétára van onnan nem baj tényleg. utána az is televolt. remek majd onnan nyugatihoz de meg kell mondanom egy kurva nagy kört tettünk! bazdmeg hihetetlen jó elmentünk de legalább 20 percet sétáltunk nekem a faszom kivolt anyám is baszogatott szal ültem egy húszpercet ott majd hazajöttem.

a szombat ennél már komplikáltabb volt : D
elmentem anyáékkal kajálni, haza majd muszáj volt este menni valahova. bennem volt. Karival beszéltem.

alterego?
komolyan gondolod?
aha..
oké. ;D

akkor készülődés, minden ami kell. negyed 10-kor keletinél találkozás Karival meg Izuval. el deákra Bogiért be a match-ba, ahol beállt a sorba elénk egy csávó és cserébe megvette helyettünk a sört.. aztán végeztünk és odajött egy csaj meg a barátja, hogy kérünk e pezcukorkát meg pillecukrot mert nekik ez túl sok, hát jó köszi xD át a másik oldalra, leültünk a padra, jött egy csaj, hogy négy szál cigiért cserébe odaad egy bontatlan szilvapálinkát. óó kérlek xD két pezsgő meg még ez is..  jött két Finn, akik a morrisonst keresték. bevetettem fenomenális angoltudásom. (nekik se volt jobb xD) jó aztán mondták, hogy valami közelebbi nincs-e szóval elküldtem őket a picsába a szimplába, ami a király utca másik oldalán van igazából mindegy xD jó. lementünk pont jött a metró, mázli. vártuk Fruzsit, majd indulás alteregoba, útközben én nád a házam tetejét énekeltem, ahh nem kellett volna xD na mindegy. bementünk, oké Kari ismerőseihez odaszalad bemutatkoz szia én ez és ez vagyok oké pá. aztán jöhetett a buli : D

táncoltunk, ittunk, elvoltunk. - rúdtánc bazdmeg =O az milyen fárasztó el se hinnétek xD

5ig voltunk ott asszem, elmentünk Mcreggeliztünk fel kombinóra, metró, villamos, Kariék. háh valami hatkor értünk haza na ja Kari lefürdött én kajáltam egyet, átöltöztem jihááá good charlotte- os póló xD aztán bedőltem az ágyba fél hétkor beállítottam az ébresztőórát és ihajcsuhaj. alcsi : )

álmos vagyok. nagyon. de rohadt jól éreztem magam. : ) majd max Kari még kiegészíti a dolgokat ;D addigis jó vasárnapot mindenkinek.

Interview by Sandra Hiari published on JO

Whether experimenting with the traditional stone facade or building crystal towers, Jafar Tukan has been one of the driving forces in Jordanian architecture. Sandra Hiari ponders the themes of his influential career.

Jafar Tukan at home in his apartment. (Joseph Zakarian)

THERE WAS A TIME when architecture students in the Jordanian school system were taught that there were two pioneer architects in Jordan, and only two.

When instructors presented slides of “good” Jordanian architecture, it would never be of the vernacular. It would be the work of Rasem Badran, who would be described as a romanticist of the Islamic Arab city, or it would be that of Jafar Tukan, the modernist who reshaped the use of masonry in Jordan altogether.

Like the buildings shown in the classroom slides, these descriptions would be set in stone. In a report on architecture of the 1970s and 1980s in the Middle East, architect and historian Udo Kultermann identified Tukan and Badran as the “two most important Arab architects in Jordan.”

In July 2009, Abdali Investment and Development Psc., the company developing Ammanʼs “new downtown,” announced that it was presenting Tukan with a “Life Achievement Award” to recognize his exceptional work, which “reflects a combination of modern thinking with a deeply rooted historical touch.” The award was presented simultaneously with the first group of “Abdali Innovation Awards,” which the company created to recognize students and young people who came up with innovative solutions to challenges in architecture and engineering.

Tukan himself is a reserved, intellectual figure. Despite his fame, heʼs a quiet person, with a decidedly low-key attitude toward self-presentation.

Professionally, he describes his identity as built around an ideal of function and “rationality” in architecture. He says he considers himself a modernist, and among his favorite architects are famous figures of the movement such as I.M. Pei, Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe.

“The whole idea of architecture was implanted in my mind during the prime era of the rational style, which followed World War II,” he says. “This was really the beginning of the ‘modern movement,ʼ where architecture gave away all the decorations and unnecessary forms to strip down architecture to its most basic functional elements.”

Modernism, he says, means to “be creative in contemporary terms and not simplistically copy the past.”

When he talks about local architects he respects, he also mentions Rasem Badran—perhaps surprisingly, given how their professional philosophies are often set up as total opposites. Badran is commonly described as choosing to extract ideas from local Islamic or Arabic motifs, while Tukan is seen as preferring to localize the international style of architecture.

Certainly the styles they look to are very different. Modernist architects have tended to create open spaces with few visual or physical barriers in them; Islamic architecture takes hierarchical differentiation and the enclosure of space as its fundamentals.

One of Tukan's recent public projects is the still-unfinished Jordan Museum, which is being built next to Amman City Hall (which was also designed by Tukan, along with Rasem Badran). (Courtesy Jafar Tukan Architects)

The Jordan Museum Project (Courtesy Jafar Tukan Architects)

For Tukan, function always came first, and tradition second. In an article he wrote in Alam Al Bena magazine in the late 1990s, about the original and the contemporary in his work, he admitted that he didn’t give much importance to studying Arabic and Islamic architectural heritage during the first 15 years of his career.

Later, he says, he did develop particularly Islamic elements in his work, but only so far as they fit his prevailing framework of rationalism.

“I would initially liberate myself from the strict restrictions of the Islamic style,” he explains, “but when I had completed the functional design and fulfilled the requirements of the projects, I would then introduce some Islamic elements in order to relate the project to the local atmosphere. These elements had to be justifiable, and with a certain function.”

But neither was Tukan looking to upset the status quo or challenge local values with his designs.

For example, women have long faced a form of spatial segregation in much Islamic architecture: not only physically separated from men, but often relegated to lower-quality spaces, basements and the back doors of mosques.

For Tukan, this was a very delicate matter, particularly when he was asked to design mosques. In several cases, he says, he placed womenʼs prayer areas on a mezzanine which overlooked a large cavity in the mosque; in other cases they were put on the same level, and segregated by a screen.

“In one other example, in Kuwait, I used a completely separate hall, and in another project in the Emirates, I designed a separate building for women,” he says. “I would say that I moved with the norm,” rather than challenging it.

TUKAN EARNED HIS BACHELOR’S degree in architecture in 1960, at the American University of Beirut. Shortly afterward he moved back to Amman, where he worked at the Ministry of Public Works, designing a spectrum of government buildings and facilities. But after only a year, he quit and moved back to Beirut.

“At that time Beirut was the hub of culture and arts,” he says. “I had gotten an offer there at a big firm [Dar Al Handasa] that was owned by one of my professors, so I immediately accepted it. …The firm was working beyond Lebanon to include Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and countries of the Gulf, so the opportunities that it had were much bigger.”

Seven years after that, Tukan opened his own practice in Beirut. In the late 1960s, he established a regional firm with George Rais, and they carried out many projects in the Gulf. But in 1973, Tukan dissolved the partnership, and three years later, after the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War, he moved back to Amman.

“Some of my colleagues from Beirut had taken off to France and Greece, but for me, Amman was a very perfect alternative,” he says. From then onward, Tukan would grant Jordan the lion’s share of his career.

“Well,” he says, in a straightforward manner, “I am Jordanian to begin with.”

Amman in the 1970s welcomed Tukan, who began adapting elements from international post-war trends that he believed were suitable for Jordanian architecture. His first contribution was probably the rejection of adornments and decorations, and the “stripping down” of architecture to basic functional elements.

This choice is functional in an economic sense, as well as an aesthetic one, he says. “Global economics have changed and there are much higher financial demands, so one has to fulfill the functions that are intended for architecture at the minimum initial cost as well as the maintenance cost.”

Like many other exceptional architects, much of Tukanʼs early work focused on private housing. In the 1980s, his work on apartment buildings and villas flourished, and though he also built many commercial projects during this time, it is his iconic residences that are best remembered.

In their monograph on Tukanʼs early work, Mario Pisani and Ali Abu Ghanimeh describe how “innovative solutions to housing problems have been its hallmark, resulting in the construction of the Villa Rizk and the Villa Salfiti.” Likewise, Kultermann cites two houses built by Badran as “of greatest significance for the development of contemporary Jordanian architecture.”

This is, perhaps, unsurprising, for in a sense, iconic architecture has almost always been an elite endeavor. In Amman, a city built under British occupation and grown through migration and refugee crises, the majority of people still build by stacking concrete boxes on hills. In this milieu, the most likely task for an architect who experimented and innovated would be to try to reinvent the villa, enabled by the existence of an upper class that could afford such services. It would be a matter of time before the new building practices introduced in these elite homes would begin to trickle down to more mundane public and private structures, built by and for other classes.

Later in his career, Tukan began to embrace more public-sphere projects, including the Amman City Hall (which he co-designed with Rasem Badran) as well as projects like the SOS Childrenʼs village in Aqaba, the Royal Automobile Museum in King Hussein Park and the National Museum in Ras Al ‘Ein.

But while a number of the famous modernists he admires thought of architecture as a tool to advance a progressive social agenda, Tukan is one of those who see the essential core of the movement in its embrace of simplicity and functionality.

“I donʼt see modernism as a social agenda for planning a city,” he says. “I see it as a natural cultural development that relates architecture to its time and place: functionally, economically and culturally.”

TUKANʼS STORY SHOWCASES THE challenges of trying to introduce Western ideographies into an Arab locale. It’s hard to determine whether the architect was witnessing a rupture between two styles—the modern and the Islamic—or whether he was trying to grasp the best of both worlds.

A close look at his buildings typically reveals two well-defined spheres. The fluid interior spaces are undefined by barriers, in contrast to the conservative outer shells, which adhere to more traditional rules of what a building is expected to look like.

“Open space, in my mind, is basically about flexibility,” Tukan says. “Flexibility can fulfill the most functional requirements, and then it can also help space to adapt to changing programmatic requirements.”

But, he adds, “Iʼm from those people who believe that architecture must blend in its context.”

So as much as his buildings draw on the modernist movement, especially in the interior sphere, Tukanʼs work has generally been contextually driven to suit the Jordanian built environment.

He is known for using stone extensively, and for much of his career has maintained a focus on applying various stone textures to buildings’ facades. Over the course of the day, the changing angle of sunlight would give the buildings a constantly shifting appearance. His villas and other early projects didnʼt challenge their surroundings, at least as far as appearances are concerned—though their interiors were often liberated from external formalities.

As Tukan advanced in his career, his relationship with the city evolved. In 2003 he merged his firm with Consolidated Consultants, a large local engineering company—a move that has become increasingly common in the local architecture scene.

“The nature of projects has changed,” Tukan explains. “They are more of public nature; they are bigger and they are more complex. The boutique type of practice cannot cope with the complexity of these projects. Working together with a wider technical base can fulfill the requirements for the present times.

“Itʼs a healthy change, and currently, the whole world is moving toward institutionalizing the practice of architecture,” he adds.

Under this new professional setup, the architect who once used a subtle play of light on the stone surfaces of his buildings, while making sure they blended in their urban context, has now designed the city’s tallest high-rise, the Jordan Gate project off the Sixth Circle.

The Jordan Gates project

The incomplete Jordan Gate Towers viewed from west Amman in August 2008

THE TWO 44-STORY TOWERS are being built on land that was designated as a park for residents of Um Uthaina—an area where buildings rarely exceed four stories in height.

Jordan Gate is a radical development by all measures, and may be the most controversial project in Amman’s history to-date. As a development, it wasn’t only the precedent of its height, but its divorce from the uniformity of the Amman’s skyline that raised objections. The Greater Amman Municipality, once a partner in the project, withdrew and created a new policy for high-rise buildings which explicitly prohibits the construction of similar structures. The municipality has cited Jordan Gate as a major reason for the new regulations.

Tukan defends the project, though in his description it seems, more than anything, like an interesting puzzle to be solved.

“The challenge has been to keep such a large project sympathetic to the dominant low rise fabric of the city,” he says. “The architectural decision [we reached] was to create a low-rise podium that is in a harmony [with] the surroundings, and upon which two towers rise high, as minimalist crystals that dissolve in the sky with their completely glazed facades.”

Itʼs debatable whether his work on a project like Jordan Gate means Tukanʼs philosophy of modernism has itself been reinvented in the latest stage of his career. Comparing the towering glass crystals with the subtle stone-faced villas of the 1980s, it seems hard to believe they are the products of the same process. Yet Tukan himself describes them in similar terms: minimalism, simplicity and rationality, giving forms meaningful functions and creating aesthetic statements from the interplay of materials and light.

Still, the change in scale from a villa to a skyscraper is not negligible, and seems to have placed Tukan in a different trajectory of modernism altogether. Take the case of Mies van der Rohe, one of the pioneering modernists Tukan admires.

Van der Rohe designed numerous high rises in New York and Chicago along minimalist lines. His work was embraced by many in the American establishment, but also earned harsh criticism.

American philosopher and political scientist Marshall Berman, in his well-known take on modernism, All That Is Solid Melts Into Air, critiques Van der Rohe, “whose modular glass boxes, identical everywhere, were coming to dominate every metropolis, equally oblivious to every environment, like the giant slab that springs up in the midst of the primitive world.”

For many, the twin towers rising above West Amman are the embodiment of the money and international investment that has flown across borders with similar obliviousness to where it lands. (Jordan Gateʼs developers, Gulf Finance House, Kuwait Finance and Al Hamad, are based in Bahrain, Kuwait and Sharjah, respectively.)

Tukan does not seem especially perturbed by the criticism leveled at Jordan Gate. In an article he wrote in 2007, published in I magazine, he admitted to the project’s uniqueness as the first—and perhaps last—high-rise to occupy such a prominent location. But he also celebrated it as part of an ongoing process of modernization and transformation.

“In the last decade the city of Amman witnessed extensive social, political and economic transformations,” he wrote. Factors like rising oil prices and increasing investment from the Gulf have “created new economic realities which will…transform the city of Amman urbanistically and architecturally as well.”

So while “for the romantic Ammani’s Amman cannot and should not change…Amman cannot anymore remain the quiet, low-profile, sleepy city” that it once was, he concluded.

In Bermanʼs philosophy, the kind of modern transition that Tukan describes is the root of modern distress and discontent: a modernity that “annihilates everything that it creates…in order to create more, to go on endlessly creating the world anew.”

For Tukan, such questions seem irrelevant; his focus is on form.

“I see my architecture as an exploration of the unlimited possibilities that the philosophy of rational architecture offers,” he says. “What I am trying to prove is that rational architecture produces architecture that belongs to its time and place.”

Sandra Hiari studied urban design, and has worked as an architect for Sahel Al Hiyari & Partners and as a researcher at the Center for the Study of the Built Environment. She now works for the Amman Institute for Urban Development.

Aceptémoslo, los remakes están de moda. Si hasta están preparando uno de Los Ángeles de Charlie. Últimamente, estos pequeños pedazos de pasado son el refugio perfecto para algunas viejas glorias de la televisión de los 90. El mejor lo hemos vivido esta semana con el esperado regreso de la malvada Amanda a Melrose Place. Y no es la primera que se deja caer por los apartamentos más famosos de América, muchos antiguos inquilinos ya se han dejado caer por allí. Pero a los que la Melrose original nos pilló algo jóvenes no acabamos de enterarnos de quien en esta gente, así que vamos a hacer un pequeño repaso a sus interesantes vidas.

¿Quién es quien en la nueva Melrose?

Sydney Andrews (Laura Leighton)

No se la conoce mucho, pero era casi tan mala como Amanda. A Sydney la conocimos cuando se zumbó al marido de su hermana, el doctor Michael Mancini. Con esa carta de presentación, se pasó la serie haciéndole la vida imposible a medio vecindario (especialmente a la mujer por la que Michael la abandonó, Kimberly, una doctora a quien interpretaba cierta pelirroja desesperada) hasta que un coche se la llevó por delante el día de su boda. Pero (¡sorpresa!) no murió, sólo fingió su muerte y reapareció años después con una hija secreta bajo el brazo para acabar flotando boca abajo en una piscina. Una pena…

Jane Andrews-Mancini (Josie Bisset)

Una de las cornudas oficiales del edificio: su marido Michael se acostó a sus espaldas con su mejor amiga y con su hermana. Ella, ni corta ni perezosa, echó a Sydney de casa y se divorció de Michael. Pero como la cabra siempre tira al monte, volvió con él, lo dejó de nuevo, se embarazó de él, y todo esto con un importante fraude fiscal por medio. Tras su marcha de Melrose, reaparece en la nueva versión como heredera del edificio cuando muere su hermana, pero después de putear un poco a Ella, desaparece del mapa.

Michael Mancicni (Thomas Calabro)

Una joya de hombre. Se acostó con medio vecindario (incluso llegó a casarse con la madre de S.), pero sin duda su gran tira y afloja amoroso fue con Sydney. Tanto duró esa extraña relación, que sobrevivió al fin de la serie y fue retomada en la nueva Melrose, eso sí, con chantaje, asesinato y una nueva familia de por medio. Y con hijo secreto y todo.

Jo Reynolds (Daphne Zúñiga)

La única persona normal de esta lista, todo hay que decirlo. Fotógrafa y con un par de ex maridos, es infinitamente recordada por disparara a un hombre en una lancha (un noviete que intentó violarla), y por ser la única habitante de los apartamentos en quedarse embarazada y tener el hijo. Reaparece en 2009 al servicio de Ella Simms.

Amanda Woodward (Heather Locklear)

Bueno, bueno… Qué decir de ella que no sepamos ya. Amanda apareció en el edificio cuando la serie era una bonita versión ventiañera de La Casa de la Pradera. Ella fue la que le dió caña a la serie y la salvó de su cancelación. Entre sus azañas podemos decir que chantajeó a prácticamente todo el edificio, se acostó con medio vecindario, se casó con la otra mitad (con sus posteriores divorcios), despidió a media plantilla de la agencia de publicidad en la que trabajaba… En fin, una joya de mujer, que sólo lleva unas horas en la nueva Melrose y ya lo ha puesto todo patas arriba. Desde luego, con nuestra rubia favorita de vuelta, esta nueva Melrose promete.

Sigue Melrose Place los martes a las 9/8c en The CW.