This is Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation in Marseille, France. Completed in 1952, it’s a modernist residential housing complex for up to 1,600 people which features 337 apartments over 12 stories. Interestingly, every apartment is built over 2 floors and is 24 metres long – filling the whole width of the building. The building also has an internal shopping street halfway up, and on the roof – a recreation ground, children’s nursery and swimming pool (which you can just make out at the south end).

Le Corbusier actually built 4 more of these buildings; 3 in France and another in Berlin, all of them similarly constructed in rough-cast concrete. Sounds like a block of high-rise flats to me… does anyone know what the residents think of living there?

There’s more info on what the French call ‘La Maison du Fada’ (in English, “The Lunatic’s House”) over at Wikipedia, and there’s a good photo gallery here, which includes some internal shots.

Thanks to Frederic Argazzi and Bertrand Capo.

A 30 mile chain of limestone shoals connect the islands of Mannar, near Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram, off the coast of India. The bridge is known as Rama’s bridge in Hindu mythology and Adam’s bridge in Christian mythology.

Some archaeologists have claimed to prove the bridge is man-made, although not all are convinced. It does look like a very convenient connection and it is agreed that as late as the 15th century it was possible to pass the bridge on foot.

More about the bridge, as ever, at wikipedia.

Thanks: Jane Turnbull (my mum!)

There’s a couple of airfields in North Korea that airplane buffs and wannabe spies will enjoy browsing.

Taechon airfield has numerous biplanes sitting in little bunkers and a couple more randomly parked on the runway. One submitter reckoned they could be AN-2 Colts.

Kaechon airfield has loads of unidentifiable planes sitting at the south end of the runway. Following a small road leads to more planes, perhaps a service area? Also off the same road is what appears to be a cave entrance with another plane (maybe two) blocking the way. I wonder what else they’ve got hidden in there?

Thanks: kb, Michael Davis, Steve Rot, Marc Armstrong, Joey, Pete, Tiger Wang, toufox, Kowy, Ranty B, BenQ, DJ Swammi & TGM.

The Voortrekker Monument was built in honour of the Voortrekkers (Pioneers), who left the Cape Colony in their thousands between 1835 and 1854. The monument was inaugurated on 16 December 1949, the anniversary of the “Battle of Blood River“, and was designed so that the noon sun on that day would cast a ray of light onto the “Shrine of Honour”. The day is now a public holiday named “Day of Reconciliation”, to represent the hope for reconciliation between different racial groups after the end of Apartheid.

In 1949 a large amphitheatre was also erected to the North East of the Monument, which seats approximately 20,000 people.

Thanks: Carl & Dean

It’s tough keeping up with the Joneses… In this Californian community the latest trend is apprently having a tennis court in your back garden.

It doesn’t seem that this is an isolated case either, tennis court communities are springing up all over the place.

In fact, in this suburb in New York the tennis courts are obviously built at the same time as the houses – you can see the tennis-shaped plots of land which still need to be surfaced. In fact several of the swimming pools are empty too. Maybe these houses are too expensive for normal people to afford…?

Thanks to Steve, Nate Nelson and brando.