Observations concerning multifunctional sport and entertainment facilities of London indicate a number of problems associated with their use. These large and undoubtedly expensive buildings should be designed in a way enabling their flexible use and change of their functional layout taking into account the adaptation to requirements and trends, which in the extreme case, were not known at the moment of creating the objectives and design of these facilities. Sometimes, before the completion of construction process, its handover and opening, it turns out, that functional solutions are not following the latest standards of this buildings’ type. A separate issue is the construction of special purpose buildings, which by reason of their single use or unique character of the event, for which they were designed and constructed, have to be later adjusted to the needs of everyday use or dismantled.

The article presents the history, principles of organization and operation of the Academy of St. Luke. The basic form of representation the works – projects at the Academy were drawings. Principles developed in the Academy had a significant impact on teaching in later architectural schools. The European architectural universities, regardless of their general profile – whether it was polytechnics or academies of fine arts –drawings were considered one of the main subjects of profiling education of an architect.

The paper presents selected issues on architecture in Lebanon during the 60 years of existence this State starting from 1943. The outstanding Polish modernist architect Charles Schayer, was very important person for shaping the architectural identity in Lebanon, we presented one of his works – Dar Al Sayad building from 1954. The Cathedral in Harrisa by Pierre El Khoury, Mohammad Al Amin Mosque in Beirut by Azmi Fakhuri and Resistance Museum in Mleeta, are characteristic public buildings for 3 major Lebanese religious groups: Maronite, Sunni and Shiite. The Reconstruction of downtown Beirut after the civil war in the years 1975–1990 and the role of the company Solidere in this endeavor, is shown in the following part of the work. It presents for example design of the New Beirut Souks by Rafael Moneo, the work of sculptors and landscape architects such as Xavier Corbero and Vladimir Djurovic, as well as a discussion related to the recent execution of Steven Holl design called Zaitunay Bay and its impact on designed in the 30’s of the XX century, the Hotel St. Georges designed by August Perret. Next on selected examples of Zaha Hadid designs and Bernard Khoury presents the architecture of the Christian East Beirut and Muslim West Beirut. Finally at the end of the work presents the realization Fair in Tripoli called Rashid Karami designed by Oscar Niemeyer and architectural experimentation in the region of Mount Lebanon.

Preservation, conservation and restoration of the objects of cultural heritage is extremely important if we think in terms of cultural and social achievements of societies. These problems have been reflected both in the so-called Brundtland report and in the formulation of the concept of l’sustainable development’. One of the important factors of this development is the protection of cultura and national heritage. Development of masonry structures over the centuries can be exemplified by numerous historic buildings which exist in old towns and villages. Specifically, in this article we describe various types of masonry structures that have been built in Scotland and Ireland. The exposure of historical buildings became available to the general public through facilitation of the appropriate social and cultural policies within the countries of the united Europe. Conservation activities which have been undertaken over a span of time allow availability of numerous beautiful architectural monuments of masonry to the public today.

Traditional system of social ties and communities, based to a major extent on the classic dichotomy of Gemeinschaft/Gesellschaft succumbs to the process of debilitation, even atrophy. Modern social networks are undergoing a metamorphosis towards the system of “weak ties”, the term coined by Mark Granovetter. Those ties, despite their name, are very effective. Changes in the social sphere are dynamically connected with the process of redevelopment of urban spaces. The spaces evolve towards creation of residential complexes that enable an unlimited choice of living scenarios and lifestyles (Homo eligens [choosing agent] architecture). The trend towards pluralism is connected with the tendencies to create multicultural spaces, that evolve in the direction of becoming transnational.

The paper deals with artefacts – material works of architecture and sculpture – that are raised on battlefields to commemorate a military action, a victory, or a single hero. In the Mediaeval times churches and chapels were built on battlefields devoted to God in gratitude for victory, places of prayer for the fallen. The 19th c. in its rationalism operated with sculptural creations sometimes at a large architectural scale. Objects often were representations of meritorious persons. The 20th c. commemorates the victims with large cemetery complexes and monumental building arrays. Works dated in the 21st c. relate to situations of earlier history and no more are traditional figural monuments but try to create a spatial system of multisensory influence on the viewer. The paper presents cases of battlefields commonly concerned as historically most important. Existing commemorative arrays are characterized and their typology is proposed. Reflections on political manipulation with meaning and form of a monument are raised.

Berlin is one of the most dynamically redeveloping European metropolis of the last decades. But how is the process of change proceeding in the urban structure in the capital of the biggest (in terms of population)1 European country? The author is concerned with the methods of reshaping the urban tissue, especially of the service segment, in the central area and in the distant residential districts of the eastern Berlin. The idea of the article concerns also the effects that were brought by the programmes and projects connected with the functional and spatial unification of the two, previously disconnected, parts of Berlin. Attention was paid to places, where the city life concentrates in its various forms.

The purpose of my visit to New York was, on the one hand, a desire to get acquainted with one of the biggest agglomerations in the world, a city regarded by contemporary sociologists as a model example of the newly arising social phenomena, social trends and urban movements, and what’s more, one that is characterized by the greatest intensity of development and referred to by the leading sociologists as a global city – one of three, besides London and Tokyo (according to Saskia Sassen [1]). What was extremely interesting for me was to compare NY with London; I have known the latter from several visits and stays over various periods of time, beginning with the 70’s of the previous century. Another purpose of my visit to NY, probably the most important one for me personally, was an exhibition of my paintings in the world capital: in a professional art gallery in Chelsea in the heart of Manhattan, side by side works by Bangsy or Yoko Ono, but also Warhol, Rauschenberg or Lichtenstein, accessible to tourists and passersby nearly from the High Line pedestrian walkway.

Berlin is an example of a city in which the principle of sustainable development has been consistently carried out for many years. The result of implementation of this principle is, among others, the rebuilding of the city’s central parts and creating public spaces of a high standard. In the following article I present the newest example of a implementation of urban open space in the city-Park am Gleisdreieck. The park was created on the grounds of revitalized post-rail areas which lie on the border of two districts of Berlin: Kreuzberg and Schöneberg. It occupies an exceptional place in the system of the city’s public spaces. This is because it constitutes a green continuation of the central areas of Berlin – it is an extension of Tilla Durieux Park in the Potsdamer Platz complex and at the same time it is a part of one of city’s two main green axes. The park is distinctive because of the high quality of applied spatial solutions and extraordinary care to retain the elements that constitute the place’s identity. It is also an example of effective cooperation of designers, city governors and inhabitants.

Porto is the second metropolis of Portugal. The economic crisis has slowed down the development and growth of not only the city itself, but also that of its metropolitan area. It has not, however, put a stop to the process of reshaping its spatial structure. It biggest problem is a high degree of unemployment caused by the declining amount of jobs in the private sector, in addition to the process of the society becoming poorer overall. A high factor of work-motivated emigration to Portuguese speaking countries, as well as some European states, is also present. The comparison to analogous problems arising in the Three-city region – the Polish coastal metropolis – seems to suggest a correlation between certain trends, however the difference regarding Porto is a larger percentage of the share of the unemployed in the working age adults group, which is accompanied by a decrease in the unemployment of persons just entering the workforce. There is also the element of crime. Furthermore, there seems to be a big difference in the economic potential and innovative factors that favor the Portuguese metropolis, which is a stronger economic center than Three-city. The most important element that stabilizes the development of the Three-city metropolis is the preservation of local jobs.

Tourist traffic today constitutes the basis and condition for the functioning of parks and archaeological reserves. The employed forms of presentation, widely understood accessibility, as well as various conveniences for visitors, to a major extent determine the attractiveness of such places, and, consequently, the possibilities of acquiring financial means, both for the future research and for the current conservation of exhibited buildings. The article presents methods of making the large-scale exhibitions of architectural monuments available for the public, on the example of chosen archaeological sites in Austria and Italy.

Architectural design, as well as urban and transport planning in the Southern Cape of Africa is based, unlike in other African countries, on the European history of urbanism and architecture and on the European cultural and social roots. The very special place in the Southern African history belongs to the oldest city of the Cape region, Stellenbosch. The unique character of Stellenbosch city urban plan and architecture is an effect of over three centuries of the European settlement in the fruitful valley departed from the continent with high mountains. Now the traditions and heritage of the white culture are kept and the monuments of architecture are restored in the whole Stellenbosch valley, in line with building a new democracy and with a dynamic regional development. This paper presents a wide scope of spatial development in Stellenbosch area in relation to regional history, culture, geography, environment and transportation, sociology as well as safety of infrastructure users.

The article describes the circumstances surrounding the construction of the new Parisian museum by Frank Gehry. From the beginning dynamic form of Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation induce various associations among critics of architecture. Kim Willsher asks in the title of her article “Is it a cloud? Is it a cocoon?”. Leigh Silver invents even weirder comparison: “(...) Frank Gehry created a new structure in Paris looks like a robotic insect or an alien hive”. Another controversial project made by prominent architect caused a multitude of protests in the city considered to be open to the modern architecture.

In the following text is described the cultural phenomenon in Italy inspired by the anniversary of creation of the Manifesto of Futurism. It relate to a large extent to architecture. Organized exhibitions memorized the most prominent architects from the first half of the twentieth century, their works and completed projects of.