Ford has developed a prototype vehicle--the P2000--that replaces steel and cast iron in several key components as part of an effort to reduce the weight of a vehicle by 40%, which would create dramatic fuel efficiencies.

FORBES: Why Aluminum May Glow Like Gold

It has chosen to retain its opulent and comfortable interior almost precisely as it was, from the original cast-steel bases of the seats in the stalls all the way to the top of its five golden tiers.

ECONOMIST: More gaudy than Gaudi

Like many Moscow apartments, it did not look much from the outside - a heavy, grey-steel security door, a scruffy communal entrance hall, a grand old staircase with a cast-iron banister spoiled by multiple layers of shiny, off-blue institutional paint.

BBC: In Moscow, history is everywhere

Head chef Stuart Tattersall, formerly of Hix in London, cooks in the dining room at a large open fire on a steel shelf (an idea Braka poached from a restaurant in Paris), where cast-iron pans roast potatoes and specialties of the house a rib of beef for two, a rump steak.

WSJ: The Perfect English Country Inn