May 26, Dubai Cesar Bobonis-Zequeira, Ivan Perez-Rossello and Teresita del Valle designed 'Utopia One' for the Dubai tall emblem structure competition in Zaabeel park.The tower and its elements are composed of materials that resemble a smooth sculptural piece that are integrated into the park. The base behaves as a single unit housing the programmed spaces, entry areas and existing walkways. Form creates a courtyard intended for gatherings and general leisure...more

May 26, Birmingham Birmingham City Council has granted planning permission for Trevor Horne Architects’ Beorma Quarter skyscraper. The £150 million scheme comprises three new buildings around a new public space including a 27-storey tower which ‘responds to existing Birmingham landmarks’, including the Rotunda and Selfridges, with ‘its roof line and double height sky garden’...more

May 26, Mumbai The Metropolitan Region Development Authority in Mumbai is taking bids on an iconic 100-plus-story building in the city’s Wadala district. The tender calls for an interstate bus terminal and tower to be built on 35 hectares of land. Pre-qualifications for tenders have been asked for submission by July 2. Only construction companies with an annual turnover of US$600million will be accepted, while shortlisted firms who meet this criterion will then be asked to submit their bids...more

May 26, Chicago The CTBUH is holding its 2009 conference in Chicago and has lined up a great number of speakers who are true experts on building supertall skyscrapers. Highlights will include a presentation by Tony Kettle, one of the leading directors of RMJM who will be looking at his firms designs for the 396 Gazprom Tower in St Petersburg, and Mark Mitcheson-Low of Woods Bagot who will be speaking on the 1km tall plans his firm did for Nakheel...more

May 26 We know how to build new buildings with a low carbon footprint, but little attention has been paid to the thousands of existing structures worldwide that are extremely inefficient and have a massive carbon impact. In North America alone they account for 40% of all greenhouse gas emissions. The goal of the Zerofootprint Building Re-Skinning Competition is to advance the state-of-the-art in retrofitting such built spaces through better design and improved materials and technology...more

May 26, Los Angeles Arthur Erickson, the prominent Canadian architect who designed the campus of Simon Fraser University, Robson Square in Vancouver and the Canadian Embassy in Washington, and whose work on the California Plaza towers in downtown Los Angeles nearly proved his financial and professional undoing, has died. He was 84...more

May 25, South Africa Zonk'izizwe (meaning 'all nations') Town Center transforms one of the last remaining vacant sites in its location, into a one-of-a-kind mixed-use destination. Situated midway between Johannesburg (the economic hub of Africa) and Pretoria (the capital of South Africa), it will be developed as a new town centre, connecting these two populous and fast- growing cities...more

May 25, New York When New York City announced a plan to shut down parts of Times Square to traffic, New Yorkers’ reactions ranged from bemusement to mild hysteria. Despite reassurances from the Transportation Department that the changes would create a greener, more pedestrian-friendly city, some critics of the plan worried that it would sap the square of its chaotic energy...more

May 25, Dubai The cranes atop the Burj Dubai will be dismantled by August 2009, according to a senior Emaar executive."The project is expected to open by the end of the year," said Greg Sang, Project Director at Emaar Properties. "But we are still looking at all of the programming elements. After lowering all the cranes in August, we still have to finish all the fitouts, As of now, the basic core and shell is all finished in Burj Dubai. But every floor is at a different stage of being completed."...more

May 22, Stockholm Lord Norman Foster has beaten off competition from Jean Nouvel and Mia Hägg, Carl Nyrén, Gert Wingårdhs and BIG’s Bjarke Ingels, to win the Slussen regeneration competition for Stockholm. Foster + Partners worked together with Berg Arkitektkontor, part of C.F. Møller Architects, to create the winning design for Slussen's waterfront which will become the new centre of activity in the district...more

May 22 The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI), a project of the William J. Clinton Foundation, announced a global program developed in collaboration with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), called the Climate Positive Development Program. The program will support the development of large-scale urban projects that demonstrate cities can grow in ways that are “climate positive.” Climate Positive real estate developments will strive to reduce the amount of on-site CO2 emissions...more

May 21, Mumbai Godrej Garden City is a 10 tower project comprised of 20 storey skyscrapers and above.  Supported by the Clinton Climate Initiative's Climate Positive Development Program, the project has been chosen as one which demonstrates urban growth in a 'climate positive' way. Being located at the fast emerging central suburb of Mumbai - Vikhroli, this property is at the heart of a dynamically evolving city...more

May 21, Las Vegas One sector of the Las Vegas real estate market hit harder that just about any other is high rise luxury condominiums. At one point during the economic peak, more than 100,000 new units were on the drawing board. But only a fraction of those were ever built. Of those 100,000 announced units, a local research group says only about 10,000 have actually been built. For those units that are on the market, sales are stagnant...more

May 21, Madrid Distrito C is an ambitious project designed to consolidate 40,000 employees in Madrid from Spain’s largest company, Telefonica. The complex includes four phases of three buildings each, for a total of twelve structures. The design and materials for the buildings are identical so as to streamline the construction process and keep time and material waste to a minimum...more

May 21, Vancouver News that the Bentall 5 building in downtown Vancouver had been sold to a German investment firm for $300 million dropped like a bombshell in the city's commercial real estate sector Wednesday, May 20, 2009. It is the highest price paid for a single building in Metro Vancouver in at least the past decade. And buyer Deka Immobilien Investment GmbH came forward with an unsolicited, all-cash bid to entice owner SITQ into selling...more

May 21, Houston Regent Square is more the sort of name you'd associate to London but the Texan city of Houston seems to be getting in on the imperialist branding now with a proposed 28-storey residential tower. The tower will stand on a site wedged firmly between the Galleria and Houston's downtown area as the first part of an $850 million dollar redevelopment of the area...more

May 21, Manchester Financial and retail giant the Co-operative Group has unveiled its new headquarters in Manchester which will stand on Miller Street opposite the existing CIS Tower. Designed by 3D Reid the high-tech building is in essence an enormous donut with a slanting roof profile that offers 29,700 square meters of office space wrapped around a huge central atrium with glass elevator shafts running up it. At ground level a remodeled public square will be created...more

May 21, New York A 40-story skyscraper sits on a prime corner in the wealthiest U.S. commercial market, blocks from Rockefeller Center and Central Park. It recently sold for $100,000. The 1330 Avenue of the Americas building — which sold for close to $500 million three years ago — was auctioned in April 2009 for the minimum to a Canadian pension fund unit after owner Harry Macklowe defaulted on a $130 million loan...more

May 21, Frankfurt UN studio has been selected to design the Grand Hyatt hotel in Frankfurt. The new tower will house a 5-star-plus hotel with 405 rooms and suites, a ballroom, spa, various restaurants, a lobby bar and a public sky lounge on the top floor, and the possibility of an adjacent congress center. The hotel tower consists of 22 floors at a height of approximately 110 meters...more

May 20, London The 310m Shard skyscraper being built at London Bridge will become the tallest building in Europe. At 244m, the publicly accessible viewing galleries spread over floors 68, 69 and 72 will offer a vantage point over London, almost twice the height of the London Eye. The 360 degree viewing galleries will be accessed directly from an entrance on the mezzanine level at below ground level so that visitors do not cross over with any of the other users of the building...more

May 20, Singapore The project is located in the Central Business District (CBD) of Singapore between Robinson Road and Cross Street. The existing 24-storey office building is the Headquarters for Singapore’s largest property developer City Development Land (CDL). CDL created a competition to redesign the HQ and update the building to high international sustainability standards. The criteria for the project was to replace the existing facade and to provide innovative internal space solutions...more

May 20, Winnipeg, Canada The long-vacant Union Bank Tower on Main Street in downtown Winnipeg — Western Canada's first skyscraper — was given a new lease on life Wednesday, May 20, 2009. The federal and provincial governments held a joint press conference to announce they are contributing $15 million towards the redevelopment of the building, located next to city hall at the corner of Main Street and William Avenue...more

May 20, London Approximately half way between the City of London and Canary Wharf is the site for this newly planned high-rise building in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Coming from the pens of architecture firm Studio One for developer Sudbury Properties, the scheme features the regeneration of a row of dilapidated Victorian terraces along the eastern end of Cable Street and the construction of a new residential tower overlooking Butcher Row...more

May 19, New York Whilst many skyscraper projects around the world have been canned thanks to the continuing economic problems at least one New York is not only alive and kicking, but even growing in size on the drawing board as the development becomes ever more ambitious. Sited on 53 West 53rd Street, the previous design featured a 75 storey tall 350 meter tower next to New York's Museum of Modern Art, but this has now been increased to 82 stories and 400 meters plus height...more

May 19, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Goettsch Partners (GP) has been commissioned by Saudi Oger Ltd. to design a new five-star, 214-key business hotel in the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As a design-build assignment, Saudi Oger is serving as the contractor, selected by developer Rayadah Investment Company. The project is sited on Parcel 1.08, one of the first 10 parcels currently under development in the massive new master-planned district....more

May 19, Toronto Much like every big city, Toronto has an aging array of Post WW-II high rise apartment buildings. When they were built in the 1960’s they were considered the height of modernity and dense urban design, but now as they are close to reaching the end of their intended lifespan, they are hugely inefficient and lack the qualities that make a sustainable, viable, urban community. There are no markets or grocery stores, inadequate public transportation, and little retail or local jobs...more

May 19, London Kings College and Investream have teamed up to redevelop Capital House, an increasingly dated office building to the immediate east of Guys Hospital in the London Borough of Southwark. The site is currently bounded by Weston Street, St Thomas Street and Melior Street in what is fast becoming a development hotspot. Shard developer Sellar planes to build the Three Houses project just up the road whilst the Shard itself will be soon be rising a stone throw away...more

May 19, New York It may seem like an unusual time to spend money on the luxury jewelry industry but that's what city officials were touting Monday, May 18, 2009 as they unveiled plans for a new 34-story office building in the heart of the diamond district. Construction is about to begin on the International Gem Tower on West 47th Street, a high-rise that will house office space, vaults and retail for diamond dealers. The city plans to provide some $50 million in tax incentives for the project...more

May 18, Seoul Studio Daniel Libeskind has won an international design competition to transform the center of the South Korean capital into an international business district. The $20 million project will create a new large-scale district on the Han River that is to include a cluster of residential, office and retail neighborhoods in an extensive urban park. It will also contain new cultural institutions, education facilities and rapid transportation systems...more

May 18, Houston Construction is underway on a new skyscraper for Houston, USA. Named MainPlace taken from its location at 811 Main Street the tower comes from the sticky grey matter of American architectural firm Pickard Chilton, and will be developed by Hines. On completion it will stand at 192 meters. The tower is rectangular in shape but resists the urge to lean towards all things boringly boxish by having elegantly curved facades at its sides...more

May 18, Glasgow Glasgow seems to be going through something of a glut for proposed hotels and the latest of these in May 2009 are a couple of designs by Ian Simpson Architects and RMJM as the city continues to update its often tired hotel stock. First up is Ian Simpson's plans for Progress Property Developments which features a 203 bedroom hotel on a site that will be tied into the 2014 Commonwealth Games and stands nearby to Celtic Park...more

May 18, Miami Terra Architecture has announced the completion of its redesign of One Bayfront Plaza, a US1.8 billion dollars landmark project set to redefine the skyline of Miami. Terra Architecture initially won the competition to design what will be Miami’s tallest building in 2006 and has been developing the design of this mixed use project since. The project is composed of a single 1,010 ft tall iconic tower with unparalleled views of Biscayne Bay...more

May 17, East Liberty, Pittsburgh It took less than 10 seconds in the morning of 17 May 2009 for an empty 20-story apartment building in East Liberty to be reduced to rubble. The former Penn Center High-Rise was imploded about two minutes later than the 9 a.m. scheduled time because some onlookers had to be moved away from the site at 6231 Penn Ave. The site will be used to build a new Target department store as part of the neighborhood's continuing revitalization...more

May 15, Manila Groundbreaking has gone ahead on what will be Manila's first green office building to gain a LEED gold certificate, a rating system used in the USA as a guide to anyone involved in the creation of sustainable buildings. It's been named the Zuellig Building after the Zuellig family who are much respected not only in the business community for their operating in the area since the 1900's, but also their philanthropy. Once completed, the tower will stand at 155 meters...more

May 15, Oklahoma City Rand Elliott has plans for a new downtown Oklahoma City skyscraper that looks like a top. And it spins. But at the present time it’s just an idea. Elliott is calling the building plan Turbinomic. His renderings show an office tower with spinning turbines and a stainless steel skin that would derive much of its power courtesy of the Oklahoma wind. The idea came about from an international skyscraper design competition Elliott entered in January 2009...more

May 14, London Mace has set its sights on securing two more major contracts in a bid to become Europe’s leading tall building construction firm. Chief executive Stephen Pycroft said: “We could take on another one or two major contracts, and then we would be at our capacity for major projects.” He added: “We have an ambition to be recognized as the leading high profile tall buildings construction firm in Europe. We would be happy to be involved in all major tall buildings projects...more

May 14, New York The latest concept design from Vincent Callebaut Architects – the Dragonfly – has been designed with the intention of easing the ever-increasing need for ecological and environmental self-sufficiency in the urban cityscape. The proposed development, designed around the Southern bank of Roosevelt Island in New York, follows a vertical farm design which, it is hoped, would cultivate food, agriculture, farming and renewable energy in an urban setting...more

May 14, London Strongly supported plans for the redevelopment of Queens Market in Upton Hall, which were to include 350 new homes, have been blocked at the last hurdle by London Mayor Boris Johnson who says the scheme does not fit into the London Plan. Following five years of consultation with local traders, residents and Newham Council, St Modwen, the plans were approved by Newham Council on 22 April 2009 and were subsequently issued to the Major for final approval...more

May 14, New York A worker operates a facade lift next to a sign announcing the Empire State Building renovation project in New York. The Empire State Building will be retrofitted in a multi-million dollars project, with all of its 6,500 windows being changed and a massive upgrade of the heating, cooling and lighting systems, which will reduce energy consumption by 38 percent and allow the Empire State Building to enter the top 10 percent of eco-friendly offices...more

May 14, Stockholm The inner city of Stockholm has a low silhouette, where mostly towers and spires visibly emerge in the skyline. Stockholm does not have any skyscrapers, i.e. houses over 100 meters height, as they are specified by international definitions. But when Kristina Alvendal of the Moderate Party (liberal conservative) became City Commissioner responsible for urban construction in Fall 2008, she said it was “kind of outdated” to let church spires be the tallest building in Stockholm...more

May 13, London The Commission for Architecture and Built Environment (CABE) has welcomed Allies and Morrison's design for a new residential tower in London's Elephant and Castle describing its position as "broadly supportive". CABE praised the architecture as "intelligent and high quality" however they reserved some criticism for the area in and around the scheme, specifically how the planned public areas at ground level are designed and managed...more

May 13, Makati City San Miguel Properties, Inc. (SMPI), the property unit of San Miguel Corp. (SMIC), is readying the construction of a P3-billion, high-rise service apartment project in Makati City. The project is a joint venture between SMC and the state pension fund Government Service Insurance System. Alan Cruz, head for real estate development, said that more than 30-storey property project will break ground in the fourth quarter of 2009 and is targeted for occupancy after three years...more

May 13, Sydney Diversified trust Dexus and builder Grocon have started building the latest skyscraper in Sydney's CBD, at 1 Bligh Street, which promises to be the first six-star green star site constructed in the city in a decade. At a ceremony on 13 May 2009, the first concrete was poured into the foundations for the 27-storey building that will have lawyer Clayton Utz as the anchor tenant. It is expected the property will be completed in mid-2011...more

May 12, Birmingham RPlans for a 27-storey skyscraper which could create 2,000 jobs in Birmingham city centre are to be considered in May 2009. Kuwaiti firm Salhia Investments bought up former factories and warehouses in Digbeth for the £150m development. Nasser Al-Ghanim of the firm said: "We have seen different opportunities, but Birmingham was the one that really screamed out." The city council said it had received more than 12 objections to the scheme which goes before planners on 21 May 2009...more

May 12, New York A new tall condo tower currently under construction in Brooklyn, New York is close to topping out in May 2009. Named 80 Dekalb Avenue after its location, the tower is the work of New York based architectural firm Costas Kondylis and will be developed by Forest City Ratner. When complete the tower will stand at the fairly respectable height of 122 meters, enough to make a noticeable dent in the area...more

May 12, Manila President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo broke ground Monday the construction of the P7-billion Zuellig Building in Makati City. Once completed, the Zuellig building will be the first ever "Green" high-rise office building not only in the Philippines but in Asia and seen as a testament to investor's confidence in the Philippines. The 33-floor Zuellig building is said to be the "largest investment in a high-rise office building in the Philippines."...more

May 12, Hull, UK A new £50m high-rise building which will offer four-star hotel luxury in the heart of Hull has been given planning approval. International hotel group Millennium Hotels and Resorts is being lined up to open a 141-room venue in part of the 20-storey development next to Myton Bridge, overlooking the River Hull. Operating under the group's Copthorne brand, it will be Hull's first purpose-built four-star hotel...more

May 11, New York The incredible shrinking World Trade Center will be cut back from five iconic skyscrapers to just two signature towers under a new Port Authority plan, the Daily News has learned. Bludgeoned by recession and a war with developer Larry Silverstein, the Port Authority is proposing halving the office space it will build at Ground Zero - from 10 million square feet to 5 million, sources familiar with the plan say...more

May 11, New York Are there vertical farms in practice now, or are they all in the concept / design phase? No, there are no vertical farms in existence as we speak. This is now April 2009, but there are lots of high-tech greenhouses where massive amounts of produce are being raised. The best one I can think of is called Eurofresh. It's in the middle of the Arizona desert and it's 318 acres' worth of indoor farming in a place, which ecologically speaking you, could never farm...more

May 11, Shiraz, Iran Construction on the foundations is currently underway on the first ever skyscraper in the Iranian city of Shiraz with a design that wouldn't look out of place in Star Trek. The project named the Shiraz World Trade Center will stand at 47 stories when complete taking it over the 200 meters mark. The project consists of two twin towers which rise from a rectangular shaped fully glazed, stepped podium, the sides of which gently slant outwards...more

May 11, Brasov, Romania Topaz towers located in the city Brasov, Romania, is comprised approximately 450 medium cost apartments within 4 buildings. The 12-storey buildings are arranged parallel to the two roads on the plot sides to create a quiet, light and secure inner garden between them, while on sides facing the roads there are two commercial arcades...more

May 10, Chicago In the New York tabloids, this would be the headline: "The Donald's top flops!" And they wouldn't be targeting Donald Trump's comb-over. The subject instead is the just-completed spire atop the 92-story Trump International Hotel & Tower. You and I are going to be looking at this prominent pinprick for a very long time. Unfortunately, it's a one-star piece of skyline stagecraft, a Kmart accessory for an Hermes suit...more

May 10, Lebanon Against all economic and political odds, a Lebanese businessman has proposed to build an enormous island in the form of a Cedar tree for the coast of Lebanon. The building of the Palm Islands and The World in Dubai has provoked reactions everywhere. In the Netherlands a massive tulip was proposed, in Canada a big Maple leaf, in Russia a mini-Russia and now in Lebanon a mega cedar tree...more

May 8, US Only one in six of the country's 40 largest cities say sustainability is not one of their top five problems, according to a new report from Living Cities, a collaboration of 21 of the world's largest foundations and financial institutions. The vast majority of city leaders have focused attention and effort on improving the environmental performance of their towns...more

May 8, Vancouver With precision timing, Mayor Gregor Robertson pulled up to a Concord Pacific media event this week in May 2009 in a hybrid Prius sedan, then posed for cameras as he plugged the vehicle into its power source. The gathering was less about the announcement of the 200-residence Concord Pacific Cosmo than to announce the project's inclusion of power plugs in all its parking stalls. Marketing for sale of the development at Georgia and Beatty streets begins in summer 2009...more

May 8, San Francisco Rincon Hill developer Turnberry Associates has canceled its 40-story deluxe condo tower at 45 Lansing St., and asked the city to refund an $8.4 million affordable housing fee it paid when the building permit application was filed in 2007. In a letter dated May 4, 2009, land use attorney Andrew Junius said the building permit for the 227-unit tower “will be withdrawn immediately by the project sponsor.”...more

May 8, Takapuna, New Zealand The proposed high-rise Merge development on North Shore City Council-owned property in Takapuna has been put on hold. Council strategic projects manager Simon Guillemin says the developer Location Group has asked the council to freeze its resource consent application. "The reasons for this decision is to allow the parties to consider possible modifications to the scheme to respond to more difficult and, in some respects, changing market conditions," he says...more

May 8, Shenzhen Dutch firm Mecanoo architecten has won a contract to design the masterplan for a new business center in Longgang, a district of Shenzhen in China. The center will provide 8,000 homes and 400,000 m² of commercial space including a shopping mall, a hotel and office buildings. These will be connected by a network of promenades, squares, broad boulevards and shopping streets...more

May 8, Singapore Construction of the groundbreaking ION Orchard by Benoy is set to complete in Singapore, providing the city’s most expensive accommodation and a new visual icon for South East Asia. Providing Singapore’s first monocoque façade and canopy structure and one of the largest media walls in Asia, the design is a conquest in innovation in the East. Over 400 shops and 175 ultra-luxe apartments, together with new public realms ensure the project is one of great significance...more

May 8, Vancouver The Architectural Institute of British Columbia together with the city of Vancouver held a competition to develop and improve the city's livability through greener, denser development known as the 2030 challenge. For the competition, Public Architecture + Communication developed a point tower typology that is closely associated with the city. The proposal explores four distinct building programs integrated into a vertical topography...more

May 8, Dubai April 29, 2009 saw the final Jury meeting of the ThyssenKrupp Elevator Architecture Award. Under the Presidency of Javier del Pozo Portillo, the final 62 projects were analyzed and five finalists chosen. The awards are called in order to select the Architect who will be entrusted with the architectural design idea of a Tall Emblem Structure to promote the new face of Dubai located in Za'abeel Park in the center of the city, with views over the main transport artery Sheikh Zayed Road...more

May 7, Hong Kong The Mega-Structure Diagnostic and Prognostic System developed by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has won the Special Prize and Gold Medal for its application in the Guangzhou New TV Tower at the 37th International Exhibition of Inventions, New Techniques and Products in Geneva in early April 2009. This is yet another international recognition of PolyU's outstanding research achievements...more

May 7, Singapore Work is underway on a rather large project for downtown Singapore by Foster and Partners in May 2009. The project named Beach Road will occupy an entire city block and is located between the Marina Centre and the Civic District of the city. The project, which is the work of world renowned company and will create what will be known as an eco-quarter in the city which is in keeping with Singapore's desire to become a 'city in a garden'...more

May 6, Los Angeles Proposals have been put forward for a new skyscraper for downtown Los Angeles. The proposal is the first new construction project to pop up since the global credit crisis reared its ugly head and pretty much ruined everyone's fun. The project thus tentatively named the Wilshire Grand Redevelopment mainly because it will be replace the 50 year old, rather dull looking Wilshire Grand Hotel which currently occupies the site...more

May 6, Vancouver The 'Harvest Green Project' by Romses Architects was a winning entry in a recent competition held by the city of vancouver 'the 2030 challenge' to address climate change plans and to guide greener and denser development, reducing carbon emissions for the future. The concept of 'harvest' is explored in the project through the vertical farming of vegetables, herbs, fruits, fish, egg laying chickens, and a boutique goat and sheep dairy facility...more

May 6, Makati, Philippines The low-key Zuellig Group is building a 33-story office tower, the first green office tower in Makati, at the corner of Paseo de Roxas and Makati Avenue. The corner property, used by Ayala Land for a long time as a car park, is right next to the Atrium and, across the street, the Mandarin hotel...more

May 6, San Diego The developer of downtown San Diego's largest condominium project is facing the possibility of losing dozens of its buyers if it doesn't meet a deadline to complete the nearly 700-unit high-rise by the first weekend of May 2009. Finishing the mammoth project on time, though, is just one of the developer's worries in a slumping housing market that has significantly slowed sales of new condos downtown...more

May 6, London The City of London approved a modified version of the building, which had been given permission in its original form in 2007, at a meeting on 5 May 2009. It is the latest stage in the long-running saga for the Land Securities project. In 2007, the 155-meter-tall building was called in by the then secretary of state Ruth Kelly despite receiving the go-ahead from the City Corporation, CABE and the Greater London Authority...more

May 5, US Fire researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have just published two reports in May 2009 providing details of how wind affects fires in high-rise buildings. A set of instructional DVDs based on the research is available for firefighter training, and will lead to improved safety for civilian and firefighters. While much is known about wind’s impact on outdoor blazes, little has been known about how a fire rapidly turns into a “blowtorch.”...more

May 5, San Francisco The Shanghai Center, due to open in 2014, won’t just be the world’s second tallest building at 632 meters. It will also be a set of neighborhoods stacked on top of each other. The building will contain eight separate neighborhoods each 14 stories tall, says Dan Winey, managing principal for the Asia Pacific office of the architectural firm Gensler, which designed the building. These neighborhoods will contain retail outlets, office space and residences...more

May 5, Stavanger Approval has been given for a new high-tech tower in the oil-rich Norwegian city of Stavanger located in the new Central Business District that's planned. Named the Foniks Tower, the scheme comes from the gooey grey matter of Brandsberg-Dahls Architects and when completed will stand at 115 meters, an increase on the 106 meters it was originally penned to be. Once completed it will be the new headquarters for SR Bank...more

May 5, Almaty, Kazakhstan Eric Owen Moss architects create a mixed use tower that neighbors the capitol building in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The Republic Square is part of a large-scale development across the city of Almaty. The tower itself is 126,000 square feet that will be divided up between retail, office, hotel and residential spaces. The building is a long tower which is anchored to the ground by a 38 meter diameter spiral. This feature will enclose an indoor plaza or ‘winter garden’ connecting the two sides...more

May 4, St. Petersburg This project is intended to become the new public space in the city with commercial and residential functions. Developed as a master plan, the project aims to integrate the residential quarter on the north of the Obvodny Canal with the southern part of the district by transforming the former industrial area into a new city center. The size and dispersed shape of the site guided the architects to design an element which will bring together various functions and buildings...more

May 4, Chicago Four months after a helicopter installed the structural undergirding for the spire for the 92-story Trump International Hotel & Hotel, iron workers finally are putting the fiberglass covering for the spire into place. The work was done over the first weekend of May 2009. All but the top tier of the spire is complete. Work also continues on the skyscraper's tiered plaza along the riverfront, which promises to be a thriving public space...more

May 3, New York The future of Ground Zero remains shrouded in secret negotiations between the Port Authority and builder Larry Silverstein. It's time to bring the discussions into the open. Silverstein and the authority are haggling over billions in public money as well as the shape and timing of construction on the city's most important development site. Outrageously, they have signed a confidentiality agreement to prevent scrutiny of their talks...more

May 2, Oklahoma City Call it "six in the city” — and a literal spin on what it means to live the high life. Consider life on the 33rd floor, in one of only a half dozen condominiums towering above the core of downtown Oklahoma City. It’s in the works for City Place, the Depression-era skyscraper at 204 N Robinson Ave. The top seven floors of the office building are being converted to residential use — but only six condos, whose residents will have access to indoor parking on the ground floor...more

May 1, Burlington The Vermont Supreme Court on Friday, May 1, 2009 reversed a lower court’s approval of a 10-story development at College and Pine streets in Burlington, citing concerns about parking and legal procedure. The building, proposed by developers Investors Corporation of Vermont and KeyBank, would include a KeyBank drive-through ATM and two commercial offices on the ground floor, with nine stories of residential space with 50 units rising above...more

May 1, Durham, NC Steel work at the top of the 48-story Duke Energy Center has progressed slowly since late October 2008 and left passers-by curious about what appears to be couple of pointy cat's ears. Something obviously is missing: the piece the development team has nicknamed the "handlebar." It's a 160-foot-long, 130,000-pound steel truss that will fit between the two architectural ears, creating a see-through "sky window...more

May 1, Cincinnati A Chicago investor who is pondering a hotel conversion for the Bartlett building is one of two bidders offering to acquire the historic downtown office tower. The Fourth Street skyscraper, designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, was forced into bankruptcy after its owner, Chicago-based Sterling Phoenix Development VI, stopped paying utility bills in January 2008...more

May 1, San Francisco To celebrate the AIA 2009 National Convention host city and its commitment to sustainable design, the AIA has partnered with Mayor Gavin Newsom to select “San Francisco’s Greenest” buildings. The AIA San Francisco chapter and city representatives identified a cross-section of building types and uses that represent the diversity of green buildings in San Francisco. The announcement comes on the heels of Mayor Newsom’s signing of a groundbreaking green building ordinance...more

May 1, Shanghai Architect Ken Yeang has been commissioned to design a 4,000-acre eco-city in the sea off the Shanghai coast. TR Hamzah and Yeang, the Malaysian sister company of Llewelyn Davies Yeang, is leading the design of the Shanghai Beach master plan for an unnamed Malaysian client. The scheme, which is to be sited on reclaimed tidal flats, aims to create a “green community”, with offices, housing, theme parks, visitor attractions and hotels...more

May 1, Chicago Visitors won't have to crane their necks to see straight down from the Sears Tower Skydeck when the building adds four glass-bottomed balconies, nicknamed "The Ledge," to its 50-mile views in June 2009. The Skydeck on the 103rd floor of the building that is changing its name to Willis Tower, opened in 1974, and has always provided a view of four states. But to see what's directly beneath them, visitors always had to get as close to the building's windows as possible...more

May 1, New York There's some pretty bad news for anyone who hoped the hole in the New York skyline that was once occupied by the World Trade Center would be plugged soon in 2009 - it's looking increasingly unlikely to happen. Cushman & Wakefield have done a report into the state of the office market in New York and come to the conclusion that Manhattan cannot absorb the 700,000 square meters of space that the developer Silverstein World Trade Centre Properties intends to build...more

May 1, Brussels Julien de Smedt Architects aim to revitalize Brussels’ Rue de la Loi with an ambitious urban master plan. After observing Brussels’ struggle to tackle urban complexities, JDS architects set out to create a real project that could bring about ‘the new relevance that Brussels wants to stand for.’ Their concept is to revitalize the central area surrounding Rue de la Loi by celebrating Europe’s diversity (Brussels is the location of the EU union)...more

May 1, Chicago 1884: Construction begins in Chicago on the Home Insurance Building, generally acknowledged as the first steel-frame high-rise. The innovation heralds the era of the skyscraper and the modern city. People are only willing to walk up so many flights of stairs, so if you want to build tall, you need to haul them up in some form of elevator. But people also have an aversion to falling from great heights, so you’ve got to have an elevator that won’t fall if the cable breaks...more

April 30, Paris “We need to think big”, said French President Sarkozy on April 29, 2009 as he revealed ten works by architects invited to help redesign a 'Greater Paris', and pledged an investment of €35billion towards improving transport. In an effort to reunite Paris, currently divided by a predominant ring road around the center of the city, Sarkozy is promising a 130 km automatic metro line which will ease commuter and conjoin the outer suburbs, universities and the central business district...more

April 30, Beijing American firm Mark Dziewulski Architect designed the United Nations Trade Headquarters in Beijing, China. The building is set at the focal point of the Wangjing area, a new district in Beijing and it is intended to provide the catalyst for the renewal for the area. The design encompasses various buildings around a tower. The openness of the tower element and the textures of its detailing allude to the form of the materials promoted by the organization...more

April 30, Melbourne Melbourne could house an extra million people within existing boundaries by accelerating multi-level development on main tram and bus routes, according to an ambitious plan before the State Government. A draft report, obtained by The Age, proposes a radical rethink of the urban planning system in a bid to overcome persistent obstacles to higher-density housing development...more

April 30, Paris The Docks de Paris project by Paris-based architecture studio Jakob + Macfarlane is nearing completion in April 30, 2009. The building was first designed in 2004 for a competition held by the city of Paris. Jakob + Macfarlane’s entry eventually won the competition and has been underway since 2007. The project is actually a renovation of a concrete shipping depot originally built in 1907, which the architects chose to keep for the base of their new design...more

April 30, Brisbane Brisbane could see more than 1000 new 20-storey apartment towers dotted across the skyline in the next 20 years. While understanding some residents may be concerned at dramatic changes, Property Council state executive director Steve Greenwood agrees with Lord Mayor Campbell Newman that Brisbane city needs to "go up if we can't go out"...more

April 29, Taiwan Inspired by the elegant form of the Nautilus Shell, the Taiwan Center for Disease Control’s BioLab conceals a dangerous riddle within its outer skin. Usually only visible to the naked eye, the structure of the outer skin is laced with geometric patterns that represent the four symbols of the DNA sequence of the dangerous bacteria being studied within...more

April 29, Los Angeles HMinutes after their return from the moon in 1969, the three Apollo 11 astronauts gazed out the window of their isolation chamber as President Nixon welcomed them home and invited them to a state dinner in their honor. The setting would be a magnificent ballroom in the Century Plaza hotel in "Los Angeles' space-age Century City complex," as the Los Angeles Times described it...more

April 28, Bangkok One of Bangkok's latest skyscrapers, the MET, a 66 storey, 228 meter tall residential tower that will offer the tallest living spaces in the city, is nearing completion in April 2009. Containing 370 new apartments, the structure is effectively three slender vertical columns that are connected together by eight sky bridges, each of which will accommodate a communal garden for residents to enjoy. These have been designed by WOHA Limited+Tandem Architects as "ventilation levels."...more

April 28, Kolkata, India Hot on the heels of the award-winning Symhomes Mk1 comes Symhomes Mk2. Following Piercy Conner’s work for the Living Steel steel housing programme in Kolkata, India, Symhomes Mk2 is a logical advancement in design. This high rise speculative building for mixed commercial and residential use takes the double-skin concept to the next level. The stacked, arched structure facilitates a 360 degree open balcony offering unimpeded views from all aspects of the building...more

April 28, Los Angeles The recently renovated AT&T Center in Los Angeles, formerly known as Transamerica Center, has received the first "gold" level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for an existing downtown building. In addition, AT&T Center owners announced that restaurateur Patina Group will move its headquarters to the 32-story main tower at 1150 S. Olive St. and open a restaurant on the ground floor...more

April 27, Rockville The Tower Cos.’ flagship building at Tower Oaks in Rockville is officially the first ground-up office building in the Washington region to win a platinum rating by the U.S. Green Building Council. It is the first such building to get the highest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design designation in the area, according to the USGBC. It received the rating under the council’s core and shell 2.0 system...more

April 27, Amsterdam Amsterdam city council recently held the 'adaptive reuse design competition' for two former sewage treatment silos in the city's Zeeburg district. The competition was named the Annie MG Schimdt house honoring the Dutch writer. For the competition, NL architects proposed silos dedicated to climbing, sports and culture. In their design the existing structures were extended to the maximum height to benefit from the views...more

April 27, London Piling has begun on the first super tall tower to be built in the United Kingdom, London's Shard, and will see contractors sink them up to 200 feet in depth with the first steel work going into a pile on April 27, 2009. Stent, the piling specialist that is part of the construction giant Balfour Beatty, is doing the work on the scheme and has been preparing since the 16th of March to start driving piles with work having started on the smaller ones...more

April 27, Taipei As a cultural reference to a Taiwanese aboriginal construction technique using slabstone heaps, the project similarly piles up 4 slabstones (3 containing theaters, 1 containing administrative spaces) in a cairn-like structure. In order to emphasize the public nature of the building, it is elevated on top of a wide upper plaza, upon a plinth that liberates the movement of pedestrians on the ground level...more

April 24,  Plymouth Revised plans for a landmark 31-storey skyscraper in Plymouth city centre are due to be given the go-ahead. The city council's planning committee will meet on Thursday, April 30, 2009 to consider the new proposals for the Oceanique project at Derry's Cross. The project's 109-metre tower remains, but offices have been replaced with student flats and a budget hotel...more