Elsewhere: The World Upside Down

According to eyewitnesses, the construction of the miracle-house, instead of the expected three weeks, took 114 days (i.e. almost four months), and did not go smoothly. They say that the builders often changed, and that many of them lost their orientation in such an extra ordinary space. The same symptoms are also noted in some of the visitors of the attraction. But the strange layout has not affected Santa Claus. In Shimbark, at the end of last year, the traditional assembly of Santa Clauses took place. As usual, they sang kolyadki, danced the mazourka and trained – by climbing on a pipe of the upside down house.

Gone with the wind

Who and why builds upside down buildings? What is it, a call to the traditional canons of architecture or a revolution of consciousness? In the story of American visionary Robert Heinlein "He built a crooked house," the story is about a mystical "tesseract in three measurements " which as a result failed in another sector of space. These days upside down buildings exist to please all new visitors. The upside down house by Chapevski, is far from unique in the modern variety of architectural forms. Here are only a few of the most famous examples of upside down buildings: in Mammoth Lakes (California), in Paju (South Korea), a coffee house in Matsumoto (Japan), and an entertainment center in Orlando (Florida). The Wonder Works entertainment center in Orlando was constructed in 1998. The building looks upside down not only from the outside, but also from the inside: the chairs hang down from the ceiling, and under the legs it’s possible to find... chandeliers. According to the legend the entertainment park represents a research laboratory that was located on one of the Bermuda islands which was not designated on a map. Carried away by a most powerful tornado from the Bermudas it landed in Orlando. Today Wonder Works functions under the motto "Travel into a novel," and there are over 100 interactive attractions. It is subdivided into five zones with symbolical names: the Zone of sound and light, the Space zone, the Zone of disasters, the Calling Zone and the Gallery of illusions. So, for example, in the Calling Zone there is an Arena of physical possibilities where visitors are offered to challenge their fears and doubts: to jump from virtual rocks, to play with a basketball champion and win, to swim for a while with sharks, etc. To go through the strongest earthquake or the most powerful hurricane, to become a captain of a spacecraft are just a few of the opportunities on offer at Wonder Works. If you are tired of the entertainment you are offered "to have a rest" on a miracle-bed with 3,500 nails in it. The park works daily from morning to midnight, and the cost of tickets is $14.95 for children and $19.95 for adults.

Revolution in consciousness

Great Britain is famous for its architectural traditions, and has gone one step further. The eccentric suburb of Manchester called Salford-Langworthy has a building that is one quarter turned upside down called Chimney Pot Park, and is a nominee for the annual award of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Within the whole project, which is expected to be completed at the start of 2009, the construction of over 300 upside down buildings is intended.

The kitchen in the upside down houses will be in the loft, the bedrooms on the ground floor, and the reception rooms on the second floor. By the end of March, 80 of them had been constructed and populated, and the rest have already been sold. They say that some houses have been bought by buyers "from London".

In April, the members of the judging panel with chairman Sindi Uoltersa will visit 33 buildings-nominees, including the upside down houses and a final verdict will be made on May 28th at an award ceremony.

However, conservative Englishmen have turned the world from legs onto its head not from a good life. In the 1990s the Salford-Langworthy area had literally started to die out. Many houses constructed during 1910 remained abandoned, criminality was on the rise and it seemed that there was only one way - to take down the abandoned blocks. However Urban Splash came up with another offer - to reconstruct the houses, cardinally changing their layout.

Today the Chimney Pot Park project, in which the local government takes part as well as Urban Splash, North West Development Agency and English Partnership, is included in the National program of reconstruction of residential housing. As a result, instead of the existing 385 houses there will be 349. The wooden window and door frames are all being replaced with double-glazing and the brickwork is being restored; in the houses there will also be modern pipes.

It is remarkable that the space in the houses considerably increases due to the elimination of old pipes which have become obsolete. Two kinds of layout are offered: a kitchen in the loft or part of an open layout on the first floor, and in the attic a study. Bedrooms, bathrooms and pantries in all layouts are located on the ground floor. On the first floor there are covered terraces and gardens. In the area sports centers and public catering establishments, a church and other public premises will also be built.