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May 31, New York
NYC crane collapses into street, kills 2 workers
A construction crane snapped and smashed into an apartment building with a thunderous roar Friday, killing two workers in the city's second such tragedy in 2 1/2 months and renewing fears about the safety of hundreds of cranes towering over the New York skyline...More
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May 30, Shenzen
New Supertall Plans In Shenzen
Approval has been given for a new supertall skyscraper for the Chinese city of Shenzhen called Hon Kwok City Center. Set to rise to a lofty 321 metres with 80 storeys, the tower is designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill...More
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May 30, Birmingham
Another planned Birmingham skyscraper unveiled
This is the first image of the dramatic skyscraper that could be the newest addition to Birmingham’s skyline, it was revealed as the city and the West Midlands celebrated a clutch of major architectural awards.The new skyscraper will be the focal point of the Beorma Quarter and be situated next to Selfridges in Digbeth...More |
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May 29, Mecca
Islam's holiest city set for 130-skyscraper redevelopment
The holiest city in Islam is to get a £6bn facelift, it was announced yesterday, with homes and hills being flattened to make way for hotels, apartments, shopping malls and transport facilities for pilgrims. Six development projects ordered by the Saudi monarch, King Abdullah, will transform Mecca...More |
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May 29, San Diego
The Highs and Lows of High-Rise Recycling Downtown
There are more than 130 high-rise buildings downtown, and 16 more are under construction. That adds up to a lot of people downtown, and a lot of trash. So how are these complexes helping residents recycle? Some are winners, and some are losers...More
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May 29, Kiev
Wings Of The Hawk
Proposals have been put forward for what could be the Ukraine's first supertall skyscraper for the city of Kyiv. Named the Tryzub Building which translates to the Trident Building, the design by Ukrainian architect Sergiy Babushkin is based around a popular emblem in Ukraine, the outline of a diving hawk...More |
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May 29, Seoul
Lotte’s Dream for Skyscraper
Lotte Group has waited more than a decade for the green light for its project to build a 112-story skyscraper near its famous indoor theme park, Lotte World, in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul. In the initial stages, Seoul City opposed the construction on worries about possible air pollution and traffic congestions in the densely populated area...More |
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May 29, Chicago
Chicago Derives Many Benefits from Green Buildings
The city probably could have found a better site for its Center for Green Technology. But none more symbolic. The center sits on the site of a former illegal dump. It is now a hub for 400 environmental programs for residents, business owners and developers. The building also received the highest rating from the U.S. Green Building Council...More |
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May 28, Kuala Lumpur
KL reaches for the skies, approval granted for several new superstructures
Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) town planning director Mahadi Che Ngah has confirmed that the DBKL had approved several superstructures comprising office blocks, hotels and serviced apartments. According to Mahadi, a skyscraper soaring to about 60 storeys has been approved as an extension to the Petronas Twin Towers...More |
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May 28, Mumbai
P and T Tower Plans In Mumbai
The latest proposal from Mumbai comes from the P and T Group, and if given the nod will comprise of two intimately connected towers which will stand at approximately 200 metres and have 54 floors. Named the Ahuja Towers the project is accompanied by a 10 storey building at its front which will provide parking spaces...More |
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May 28, Abu Dhabi
Strict green building laws announced in Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi's Urban Planning Council on Wednesday said that all buildings in the emirate will have to adhere to a green standard that will eventually make it "a world leader". The new measures are set to transform the way all buildings in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Gharbia are designed, the planning council said...More |
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May 27, Paris
Nouvel towers over Paris competition
Jean Nouvel has beaten Foster & Partners and Daniel Libeskind in a competition to design a landmark tower in Paris’s La Defense district. At 301m tall, the Signal Tower will be only 23m lower than the Eiffel Tower in the city centre.The jury chose the project because of the technical plan, sustainable development, and innovation...More |
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May 27, London
HSBC unveils solar skyscraper
HSBC yesterday announced that it has completed work on its project to install 617 square metres of solar panels on the roof of its Canary Wharf office tower. The company said the installation of the 422 monocrystalline photovoltaic panels made it the tallest corporate headquarter building in Europe to use solar panels...More |
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May 27, Poznan
Libeskind's Poznan Prisms
It seems a new trend is developing in the cities of Poland as yet another proposal for a Daniel Libeskind designed tower has popped up this time for the city of Poznan. Named the Korona Tower it will stand at a height of 105 metres and 29 storeys above ground plus three levels of basement parking...More |
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May 27, Abu Dhabi
Masdar’s Solar Powered Rapid Transit System
In Arabic, Masdar means “the source,” and the the latest development to spring from the city’s upwelling of green tech is a transit system that will serve the city’s six square kilometers. Realizing a concept straight out of sci-fi, the system consists of a fleet of solar-powered vehicles that seat six and keep streets congestion free...More |
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May 27, Manchester
£180m tower for Old Trafford
Cork-based developer Howard Holdings is close to a deal with an operator for a 190-bed four-star hotel next to Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium. If agreed, the deal will open the door to a 2m sq ft mixed commercial and apartment development, including a 37-storey skyscraper...More |
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May 26, Calgary
Calgary’s new green skyscraper by Foster + Partners
What does one of the largest independently owned oil and gas companies do to turn over a more sustainable leaf? Well, in this case, EnCana hired green-tech architecture firm du jour Foster + Partners to design their new, environmentally sustainable headquarters in Calgary, Canada. Dubbed The Bow, the tower’s namesake comes from its shape...More |
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May 26, Brighton
Marks Barfield design heads to the sea-side for a new landscape to admire
The Marks Barfield design for a viewing dock in Brighton, England will shortly begin construction following a delay of a year. The i360 design was created by the husband and wife duo who designed and conceived the idea for the London Eye...More
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May 23, Dubai
Demand for cement and steel to double next year
Demand for concrete and reinforcing steel is expected to more than double next year as over $1.8 trillion worth of construction projects flood the GCC. Concrete, reinforcing steel and stone cladding are in all in huge demand in the region as the Gulf becomes the epicentre of the world's most concentrated construction boom...More
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May 23, New York
Giving Up the ‘Ugliest Skyscraper’ Title
There are people who say you have to stand next to the Verizon building at 375 Pearl Street to appreciate how ugly it is — its blank presence at street level, its disconnection from any human scale. There are others who say the offensiveness of the tower stems from the way it overshadows the Brooklyn Bridge when viewed from afar...More |
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May 21, Warsaw
Zaha Hadid unveils plan for Warsaw skyscraper
Acclaimed Anglo-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid unveiled plans Wednesday to build a 240-meter (790-foot) high residential skyscraper in the heart of the Polish capital Warsaw. "We're very excited by this project," Hadid, 57, told reporters during a joint press conference with Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz...More |
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May 21, New York
Manhattan's Tribeca district set for contemporary condominium tower
Located in the Tribeca Historic Cast Iron District in Downtown Manhattan, Five Franklin Place will be the first major American building by internationally admired Dutch architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio. The building will rise 20 stories with 55 homes, offering impressive panoramic views of the Hudson River, East River and Manhattan Skyline...More |
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May 21, USA
USGBC Seeks Public Input on LEED 2009
The U.S. Green Building Council is giving the public a look at the first fruits of its sweeping revision of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. On May 19, the organization posted the working draft of LEED 2009 for a 30-day public comment period...More |
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May 21
Living Walls, Vertical Gardens & Sky Farms
A living wall, also referred to as a green wall, vertical garden, or sky farm, is usually part of a building and consists of some sort of vegetation. These types of gardens are sometimes referred to as urban gardening, because they are well-suited for an urban environment where space on the ground is very limited but vertical space is plentiful...More |
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May 20, USA
AIA Evaluates Green Building Rating Systems
The American Institute of Architects has released a study of three of the most widely used green building rating systems (Green Globes, SBTool 07, and LEED NC 2.2). The report finds Green Globes lacking when it comes to certifying a project, needing more stringent and specific requirements in the areas of energy reduction and operational performance...More
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May 19, Chicago
Chicago's Michigan Avenue 'streetwall' named to list of nation's 11 most endangered places
The National Trust for Historic Preservation name the cliff-like wall of historic skyscrapers along Michigan Avenue across from Grant Park to its list of the nation’s 11 most endangered historic places...More |
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May 19, Monterrey
Monterrey Tower Planned Under A Loop Of Stars
The Mexican city of Monterrey could soon have a funky new skyscraper adorning its skyline if proposals put forward by Spanish group Orange Investors and Americans Group CIM are given the green-light...More
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May 19, Namibia
Namibia: Green Skyscraper for Capital
Windhoek will have its first 'green' and tallest skyscraper by mid-2010. Currently under construction, the building will house the headquarters of Old Mutual Namibia, Nedbank Namibia, and Mutual and Federal Namibia. With 21 storeys, of which four would be underground, the building will have retail space and a courtyard...More |
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May 19, London
Skyscraper projects for North of Borough may never materialise.
Whilst former mayor Ken Livingstone was known to be a supporter of the proposals to dot the London skyline with a series giant skyscrapers on and around the south bank of the river Thames, his Conservative replacement Mr. Johnson was more reticent about his support for the plans during the recent campaign...More
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May 19, New York
Not Yet on the Skyline, but Above Street Level
Another tangible and fanfare-free milestone occurred over the weekend at ground zero, where two steel columns of 1 World Trade Center rose above street level for the first time. That means the 1,776-foot skyscraper, until now an entirely subterranean structure, will be doing the rest of its climbing in the public eye...More |
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May 19, Beijing
GREENPIX Zero Energy Media Wall Lights up Beijing
The upcoming 2008 Olympic Games are inspiring some show-stopping buildings and technologies, among them the Greenpix Zero Energy Media Wall by New York based architecture & media firm Simone Giostra & Partners. Visible from up to a kilometer away on one of Beijing's most congested roads...More |
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May 19, London
KPF Pen Wharf Tower For News International
Attempting to woo News International to Canary Wharf, the property developer of the same name has had architects KPF draw up new plans that will increase substantially the size of 25 Churchill Place into a major new tower on the eastern end of their estate. If built the tower will be 124 metres tall and have 24 floors above ground level...More |
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May 17, Abu Dhabi
Greening the desert
Adrian Smith Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) has won a global competition to design the Masdar Headquarters building in the emerging ecocity of Masdar, Abu Dhabi - the world’s first carbon neutral city. The building will be the first net positive energy building in Abu Dhabi, producing more energy than it uses...More |
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May 16
Chicago Tribune wins AAES Engineering Journalism Award
The Chicago Tribune, led by architecture critic Blair Kamin, has won the American Association of Engineering Societies Engineering Journalism Award for its series, ‘How to Build Today’s Supertalls,’ devoting extraordinary resources and prominence to the new generation of supertalls in Chicago. Click here to see the AAES press release, or here for the winning article
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May 15, Kuwait City
Kuwait City gets Dhown
The go ahead has been given to yet another skyscraper to be located on the rapidly evolving skyline of Kuwait City. Cunningly named the KIA Tower, KEO International Consultants won a competition run to design the new headquarters for the Kuwait Investment Authority who the tower takes it name after...More
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May 15, Tel Aviv
On the roof, wind turbines to bring power
Tel Aviv residents are likely to encounter a new sight on local rooftops in the coming years. No longer will there just be the walls and fences on high-rise rooftops that currently surround the various devices and machinery, but there will also be wind turbine farms that will supply part of the building's electricity needs...More |
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May 15, Manchester
Limelight reveals Manchester theatre tower
Taking an unusual approach for a development that combines a cultural feature is these new plans for the Theatre Royal in Manchester. The Theatre Royal site stands in the very centre of Manchester near the Great Northern Tower. It's a challenging one to develop due to the need for a high density commercial project that respects the existing building...More |
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May 15, UAE
UAE pushes sustainable green buildings
While sustainability is the current buzz word for construction, Middle East developers – or certainly those in the Gulf region – have stolen a march and begun creating many environmentally friendly developments. Masdar in Abu Dhabi is of course the obvious example held up, with its plans to be a zero waste, carbon neutral city...More |
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May 14, Raleigh
Spire tops Raleigh's tallest building
Raleigh's tallest building climbed even higher this morning when contractors attached a steel spire to the RBC Plaza at Martin and Fayetteville streets downtown. Hardin Construction affixed the 60-foot spire to a pyramid at the top of the 33-story office and condominium tower. Counting the spire, the building now stands at 538 feet from the sidewalk...More |
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May 14, Brisbane
CBD skyscraper loses 215 windows - and counting
More than 200 windows have shattered on the outside of a Brisbane city skyscraper since 1990.And more windows are expected to fail, with a solution still six months away. Council briefing notes show 215 windows in Waterfront Place in the CBD have shattered in the past 18 years and 400 of the building's 4000 glass panels were replaced in about 1996...More |
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May 14, Dubai
Atkins P-17 design unveiled
Leading international architecture and engineering firm, Atkins, have unveiled a design for a super slim tower at Cityscape Abu Dhabi. The 379m tower will be located on Dubai's main artery, Sheikh Zayed Road. P-17 gives the illusion of an ever changing appearance due to the reflective nature of the facade...More |
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May 13, London
Wind turbines have been fitted to three of the East End's tall towers making Blackwell 'go green'
The 25-storey Electron Towers development nearing completion now sprouts solar energy ‘collectors’ high above the Thames waterfront in East London to make a ‘renewable contribution’ to its energy needs...More |
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May 13, Turkey
Turkey's Green Building Association focuses on standards
Environmentally friendly buildings will become blooming business in Turkey in the coming years, according to the vice president of Turkey's Green Building Association. The Green Buildings Association of Turkey, founded in September 2007, has some 20 member companies including product manufacturers and construction firms...More
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May 13, London
Insurance giant Willis opens London HQ designed by Fosters
Foster Partner’s gleaming glass Willis Building held its press preview today marking a move for insurance giants Willis into their new London headquarters. The building, which is the fourth tallest in the city, is being touted as the city’s new landmark offering a strong visual presence in London’s cityscape to match its' neighbouring Norman Foster design, the Gherkin...More
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May 13, USA
Green design nets results, study shows
Federal facilities incorporating sustainable design features cost less to operate, consume less energy and have more satisfied employees on average than all U.S. commercial buildings, according to a landmark study to be issued this week...More
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May 12, Shanghai
China's tallest building evacuated after earthquake
China's tallest building, the Jinmao Tower, and other high-rise buildings in Shanghai's financial district were ordered evacuated on Monday after tremors were felt from a strong earthquake in southwestern China's Sichuan Province, witnesses said. On Monday, an earthquake measuring 7.5 rocked Sichuan province...More
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May 12, Doha
Doha's diamondesque Nouvel tower rises
Work on the Burj Qatar in Doha is well underway with a quarter of the tower now rising from the ground. It is designed by French architect Jean Nouvel who was perhaps having a lazy day when drawing the designs as it looks suspiciously like his Agbar Tower in Barcelona. Upon completion it will stand at a hieght of 232 metres...More
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May 12, New Delhi
Architects should focus on 'safe and smart' high rises
Union Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy today urged the construction industry to focus on futuristic ‘Safe and smart’ high rise buildings as need for construction of high rise buildings in metro cities will increase due to soaring land prices and growing global trend for accommodating various activities under one roof...More
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May 12, Glasgow
Solar lilly pads proposed for Glasgow's Clyde River
Scottish architecture firm ZM Architecture have come up with a brilliant scheme to provide solar power to the city of Glasgow The proposal? To design Solar Lily Pads which will float in Glasgow’s River Clyde and soak up the sun’s rays, sending electricity to Glasgow’s grid while also stimulating urban riverfront activity...More
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May 12, New York
Green home building market expected to double by 2012
McGraw-Hill Construction, today presented the findings of its latest market research investigating "green" home building, focusing on changes in green building activity between 2001 and 2007; the impact of the down market on green home building; opinions and preferences of builders for green materials and processes...More
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May 12, New York
Billion Dollar project derailed
Not more than five weeks after New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) awarded the development rights to West Side Rail Yards to Tishman Speyer, the deal has collapsed. The deal for the billion-dollar development died on the vine Thursday when Tishman and the MTA reportedly reached an impasse...More
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May 12, Engineering News Record, pp.26 - 33
Dubai's Cloudbuster
All the latest news on the construction of the Burj Dubai, 668m high at the time of writing. Includes an interview with CTBUH Steering Group member Ahmad Abdelrazaq, Samsung’s Executive Vice President for high-rise and structural engineering...read more
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May 11, New York
Video tour of Citigroup's green skyscraper
Joe Sprouls gives a tour of Citigroup’s $310 million Green Skyscraper...More
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May 9, Dubai
Another Dubai supertall grows
Construction is well underway on another skyscraper set to grace Dubai's ever expanding skyline named the HHHR tower overlooking the key Sheikh Zayed Road. The volley of letters in the title are actually an abbreviation for His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum who is the Minister of Finance and in his spare time deputy ruler of Dubai...More
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May 8, New Delhi
Tall buildings needed to save land for farming
With the growing food shortage weighing heavily on his mind Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy today favoured construction of high rise buildings in order to save precious land for agriculture. Rapid urbanisation is one of the reasons for the decrease in the land availability for agriculture, which has a cascading effect on farm output...More
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May 8, Benidorm
Casino tower wraps up
Benidorm, sometimes referred to as the Manhattan of Spain due to its unusual skyline made up of towering hotels and apartments not seen elsewhere on the Costa Blanca, could soon have another skyscraper added to its collection if proposals get the go ahead...More
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May 6, London
Eileen House for Elephant and Castle
Busy developer, Oakmayne Properties, has had this new tower scheme to stand in Elephant and Castle in London designed for them by Allies and Morrison Architects. Standing on the site of Eileen House, it is planned to overlook Newington Causeway only a short distance from numerous other planned towers including Strata and the London Park Hotel site...More
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May 6, New York
Panel holts plans for NYC high-rise hospital
A hospital's plan to build Greenwich Village's biggest development in decades was dealt a major setback Tuesday as preservation officials blasted the contentious project. The city Landmarks Preservation Commission did not vote, but members said sternly that they couldn't support razing all of St. Vincent's Hospital's patchwork of buildings...More
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May 5, Singapore
Foster & Partners new green complex for Singapore
The complex will fill an entire city block between Singapore’s Marina Center and the Civic District with commercial, residential, retail, hotels, and a ‘green’ link to an Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station. All facades will be fitted with solar cells and, to help control solar gain, direct sunlight will be filtered through ribbon-like canopies...More
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May 5, Engineering News Record, p.20
Cranes Mounted Atop Finished Skyscraper are Odd Sight but Serve Higher Purpose
The latest developments on the addition of 24 floors to the top of the previously completed 33-story Blue Cross Blue-Shield building in Chicago. Includes an interview with CTBUH Chairman David Scott...read more
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May 2, Portland
The Casey becomes first LEED Platinum condo tower in the USA
There are dozens of platinum-certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design buildings in the United States. But only one of those buildings is a condominium tower, and it’s located in Portland...More
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May 1, Chicago Magazine, May 2008, p.106 - 109 & 121 - 127
Towering Ambition
The Chicago Spire aims to be the tallest skyscraper in North America. But will it get built? This article covers the twisting tale so far. Includes an interview with CTBUH Executive Director, Antony Wood...read more
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