The Tallest Trees on Earth in California

The Coast Redwood or California Redwood — Sequoia sempervirens is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood and California redwood. It is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1,200–1,800 years or more. This species includes the tallest trees living now on Earth, reaching up to 379 feet (115.5 m) in height (without the roots) and up to 26 feet (7.9 m) in diameter at breast height. Before commercial logging and clearing began by the 1850s, this massive tree occurred naturally in an estimated 2,100,000 acres (8,500 km2) along much of coastal California (excluding southern California where rainfall is not sufficient) and the southwestern corner of coastal Oregon within the United States. An estimated 95% or more of the original old-growth redwood trees have been cut down due to their excellent properties for use as lumber in construction. The name sequoia sometimes refers to the subfamily Sequoioideae, which includes S. sempervirens along with Sequoiadendron (giant sequoia) and Metasequoia(dawn redwood). On its own, the term redwood usually refers to the coast redwood, which is covered in this article, and not to the other two species.

Image credit Steve Dunleavy

Khan Shatyr — The World’s Tallest Tent in Kazakhstan

 Photo — Link

Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, is an architectural project that is billed as the world’s largest tent. The “tent” is made of a transparent material and suspended on a network of cables strung from a central spire 150 meters high. The structure has a 200 meter elliptical base enclosing an area of 140,000 square metres. Underneath the tent, an area larger than 10 football stadiums, is an urban-scale internal park, shopping and entertainment venue with squares and cobbled streets, a boating river, shopping centre, mini golf and indoor beach resort. The transparent material allows sunlight through which, in conjunction with air heating and cooling systems, maintains a comfortable internal temperature between 15–30 °C while outside the temperature varies between -35 and 35 °C across the year.

To prevent condensation in the winter, three translucent layers of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene fabric or EFTE act to channel warm air. In summer, fritting on the outermost foil layer provides solar shading. Inside, low-level jets direct cool air across the space, while opening vents at the apex induce stack-effect ventilation. The transparency and scale of the tent stands out in the skyline like a beacon, changing colors at night and streaming in natural light during the day. 14 more images after the break...

The World's Highest Climbing Wall

The world's highest climbing wall is situated in the town of Groningen, The Netherlands. It is 37 metres (121 ft) high and is known as the Excalibur. More images after the break...