Building

A building or edifice is a structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of shapes, sizes and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for a wide number of factors, from building materials available, to weather conditions, to land prices, ground conditions, specific uses and aesthetic reasons. To better understand the term building compare the list of nonbuilding structures.

Buildings serve several needs of society – primarily as shelter from weather, security, living space, privacy, to store belongings, and to comfortably live and work. A building as a shelter represents a physical division of the human habitat (a place of comfort and safety) and the outside (a place that at times may be harsh and harmful).

Ever since the first cave paintings, buildings have also become objects or canvasess of artistic expression. In recent years, interest in sustainable planning and building practices has also become an intentional part of the design process of many new buildings.

30 St Mary Axe

30 St Mary Axe (widely known informally as The Gherkin and previously as the Swiss Re Building) is a commercial neo-futuristic skyscraper in London's primary financial district, the City of London. It was completed in December 2003 and opened in April 2004. With 41 storeys, it is 180 metres (591 ft) tall and stands on the former sites of the Baltic Exchange and Chamber of Shipping, which were extensively damaged in 1992 by the explosion of a bomb placed by the Provisional IRA in St Mary Axe, the street from which the tower takes its name.

After plans to build the 92-storey Millennium Tower were dropped, 30 St Mary Axe was designed by Norman Foster and Arup Group and it was erected by Skanska, with construction commencing in 2001.

The building has become an iconic symbol of London and is one of the city's most widely recognised examples of contemporary architecture.

History

Site

The building stands on the former sites of the Baltic Exchange (24-28 St Mary Axe), the headquarters of a global marketplace for ship sales and shipping information, and the Chamber of Shipping (30-32 St Mary Axe). On 10 April 1992 the Provisional IRA detonated a bomb close to the Exchange, causing extensive damage to the historic building and neighbouring structures.

Cities: Skylines

Cities: Skylines is a city-building game by Colossal Order and published by Paradox Interactive, released on 10 March 2015 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux, with an Xbox One port planned. The game is a single player open-ended city-building simulation. Players engage in urban planning by controlling zoning, road placement, taxation, public services, and public transportation of an area. Players work to maintain the city's budget, population, health, happiness, employment, pollution (land, water and noise), traffic flow, and other factors.

Gameplay

Mary (mother of Jesus)

According to the New Testament, Mary (Miriam: Hebrew: מרים‎; c. 18 BC – c. 43 AD), also known as Saint Mary, the Virgin Mary, or the Blessed Virgin Mary—amongst other titles, styles and honorifics—was a Galilean Jewish woman of Nazareth and the mother of Jesus.

The gospels of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament describe Mary as a virgin (Greek: παρθένος, parthénos) and Christians believe that she conceived her son while a virgin by the Holy Spirit. This took place when she was already betrothed to Joseph and was awaiting the concluding rite of marriage, the formal home-taking ceremony. She married Joseph and accompanied him to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. According to ancient Jewish custom, Mary could have been betrothed at about 12, however, there is no direct evidence of Mary's age at betrothal or in pregnancy. The term "betrothal" is an awkward translation of kiddushin; according to the Jewish law those called "betrothed" were actually husband and wife.

The Gospel of Luke begins its account of Mary's life with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced her divine selection to be the mother of Jesus. According to gospel accounts, Mary was present at the Crucifixion of Jesus and is depicted as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem. According to Apocryphal writings, at some time soon after her death, her incorrupt body was assumed directly into Heaven, to be reunited with her soul, and the apostles thereupon found the tomb empty; this is known in Christian teaching as the Assumption.

St Mary Axe

St. Mary Axe was a medieval parish in the City of London whose name survives as that of the street which it formerly occupied. The Church of St Mary Axe was demolished in 1561 and its parish united with that of St Andrew Undershaft, which is situated on the corner of St. Mary Axe and Leadenhall Street. The site of the former church is now occupied by Fitzwilliam House, a fact acknowledged by a blue plaque on the building's façade. Nearby parishes include the medieval Great St. Helen's (1210) and St. Ethelburga (14th century).

The street name may derive from a combination of the church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and a neighbouring tavern which prominently displayed a sign with an image of an axe, or simply from the church name itself, which may have come from the axes used by the Worshipful Company of Skinners, who were patrons. The sign of an axe is reported to have been present over the east end of the church.

The street St. Mary Axe is perhaps most famous for fronting the Baltic Exchange at No. 38, and for being the location of 30 St Mary Axe, a skyscraper built on the former site of the Baltic Exchange (destroyed by an IRA bomb in 1992) and widely known as The Gherkin due to its distinctive shape. The street originates as a turn off Houndsditch at its northern end, with traffic flowing one-way southbound, and it originates at its southern end as a turn off Leadenhall Street, with traffic flowing one-way northbound. Both one-way portions of St. Mary Axe converge at Bevis Marks, where traffic is forced westward into Camomile Street.