Moonrise Hotel, Saint Louis, MO. Photography by Debbie Franke
Opened in April 2009, the Moonrise Hotel brings a unique hotel experience to the Delmar Loop neighborhood. The hotel is the creation of developer Joe Edwards as part of his vision to bring vibrancy to The Loop. “I brought the idea of a hotel to several hi rise owners in the Loop, but no one was interested in converting to a hotel,” Edwards says. “I thought it was important for the area to have a one-of-a-kind boutique hotel. Owner-operated businesses are what makes the Loop strong.”
Blending modern design with quirky sophistication, the hotel features an iridescent lobby wall and open staircase with ever changing colors, lively artwork and display cases of collectibles that are lunar themed with items such as autographs of every person that has walked on the moon, ornaments, toys, etc. Driving down Delmar, you can spot it by looking up to the sky. Edwards created the one of the largest manmande moons in the world on the rooftop. The moon rotates throughout the day taking the scene from day to night. The rooftop bar is one of the hotel’s highlights with spectacular views of the neighborhood. In April 2013, the rooftop underwent a renovation to add on to the space. In addition to providing more room for guests to enjoy the outdoor views, the roof is the first restaurant roof in the U.S. to be made entirely of solar panels and was constructed by Microgrid Solar. The Moonrise Hotel is also one of the region’s leading green hotels. Stop in for a weekend stay, a drink at the rooftop bar or consider housing out-of-town guests at the Moonrise this holiday season.
Atomium, Brussels, Belgium
Originally created as the main pavilion and icon of the World Fair of Brussels in 1958, today the Atomium is one of the key landmarks in Brussels and well known worldwide. It was created by engineer Andre Waterkeyn and architect Andre Polak to symbolize the democratic will to maintain peace among all nations, faith in technical and scientific progress as well as an optimistic vision of the future of a modern, new, super-technological world for a better life for mankind. At 334 feet tall, the Atomium features nine interconnected spheres and represents an elementary iron crystal enlarged 165 billion times. Now an exhibition spread over two floors, the Atomium tells the history of this pavillion and how it became the symbol of the city of Brussels and of Belgium.
The Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, FL. Photography courtesy of HOK / Moris Moreno
Home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of Salvador Dali’s art outside of Spain, the three-story Dali Museum sits alongside a beautiful bay in St. Petersburg’s downtown waterfront. To create an iconic building symbolic of the Spanish painter’s work, the design team at HOK created a building with 18-inch-thick concrete walls with a free-form glass geodesic structure featuring 1,062 undulating faceted glass panes that brings light and views of the bay into the space. The American Institute of Architects placed the building on its distinguished “Florida Architecture of the Last 100 Years” list.
