June 25, Louisville

In an effort to help jumpstart the financing of the stalled Museum Plaza skyscraper, the Kentucky officials say they will apply for a $100 million federal loan typically associated with creating jobs for low-income residents. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear  was set to make the announcement at a press conference at the Museum Plaza construction site…more

June 24, Moscow

City Hall may force developer Don-Stroi to lop several completed stories off a giant luxury apartment complex in southwestern Moscow, saying the extra floors were built without prior approval. A source in the Mayor's Office said, that as many as 22 stories could be ordered demolished…more

June 24, Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv's skyline continues to grow higher. The Tel Aviv Local Planning and Building Commission allowed the adding of floors to the Meier on Rothschild luxury residential skyscraper to a total of 37 floors. The approval brings Meier on Rothschild almost to the height of the Neve Tzedek by the Sea skyscraper…more

June 24, Toledo

Renovating the former Fiberglas Tower downtown into a mix of apartments, a hotel, and a restaurant will create 400 permanent jobs, but the project can't happen without Toledo backing a $10 million loan, the building's owners told City Council. Councilmen who completely against putting the city on the hook for the loan at all, warmed up to the idea after…more

June 24, London

AREA Property Partners, the New York-based investment firm formerly known as Apollo Real Estate Advisors, will help U.K. investor Gerald Ronson finance the biggest residential development in the City of London in 30 years. AREA bought about 40 percent of the luxury-homes project from Heron International…more

June 23, Brooklyn

With its grubby bricks, broken windows and rusting storage tanks, the old Domino sugar refinery looks more like a crumbling medieval fortress hunkering on New York City’s East River than the centerpiece of a $1.3 billion development. The New Domino project will first build homes for families earning as little as $23,040, which reflects an unusually deep subsidy…more

June 23, Wuhan, China

A new Calla lily-shaped research center for Wuhan University is set to bloom in China. Netherlands-based firm Grontmij, in collaboration with Soeters Van Eldonk architects, won the award to design and construct the new research center which will be both zero carbon and zero energy…more

June 23, New York

Christian de Portzamparc’s name has barely been heard in New York since his LVMH Tower on 57th Street went up in 1999. But while few firms are currently working in New York, Atelier Christian de Potzamparc is poised for a comeback as it gets underway with two of its largest projects to date; the Riverside Center and Carnegie 57…more

June 23, Seoul

Lotte Group  has received a green light from the Seoul Metropolitan Government to build a 123-story skyscraper, called the "Second Lotte World," in southeastern Seoul. The business group has been attempting to build the landmark near its famous indoor park, Lotte World, in Jamsil for years, but was unable to obtain approval from the government…more

June 23, Singapore

The Marina Bay Sands in Singapore is welcoming visitors for the first time to the 'Sands Skypark', a 380 meter-long roof top deck which spans across the length of the complex's three skyscraper structures. Designed by architect Moshe Safdie, the platform rests 200 meters in the air and is equivalent in size to the eiffel tower laid horizontally on its side…more

June 23, Brunei

The lawsuit filed against the Brunei Malay Teachers Association (PGGMB) by its creditors has triggered debates in the business world on the financial wisdom in erecting high-rise office buildings similar to the PGGMB Building in the capital. Some have speculated that bad management had to do with the difficulties faced by the owners of the building…more

June 22, London

A new planning application has gone in the London borough of Barking & Dagenham for a tower at Trocoll House next to Wakering Road. Sitting almost next to Barking Station, it has been designed by Dexter Moren Associates for Coplan Estates. The 22-storey, 187 bedroom hotel will stand on a plot that…more

June 22, Melbourne

High-rise apartment blocks along leafy transport corridors will be given a green light if new planning laws pass State Parliament, critics say.  Amendments to the planning scheme to be considered by Parliament will encourage developers to build bigger and higher density buildings next to bus, tram and train lines…more

June 21, Philippines

Ever since Santiago Calatrava dreamed up the Turning Turso, twisting skyscrapers have become all the rage. The latest of these is the Amparo Suites in Koronadal City, Philippines designed by architect Sol Uy Flores. Dictating the look of the tower are the angled vertical fins planned to help provide solar shading for the tower thanks to their placement…more

June 21, Chicago

Even modern buildings are suitable candidates for historic preservation. Chicago’s iconic Inland Steel Building is set to undergo an eco renovation courtesy of SOM and Frank Gehry, who is part of the development team. In light of some of Gehry’s comments about LEED, it may surprise some to learn that the renovation plan is targeting Platinum under LEED CS 2.0…more

June 21, Cardiff

An ambitious plan to build a glass needle skyscraper that would have been Cardiff’s tallest building has been axed, the Echo can reveal. The iconic £50m development, earmarked for land next to Cardiff Central Station, would have housed more than 100 luxury apartments. Officially named Seren by developer Urban Solutions, the 32-storey needle would have…more

June 21, Seoul

Korean architect Kim In Cheurl designed the innovative Urbanhive tower located in Seoul, South Korea. Urbanhive is a 17 levels of 70 meter high tower with white exposed concrete and contextually sits on the corner of the street within the urban matrix, featuring the perforated architectural façade…more

June 18, London

50 Years of London Architecture 1960-2010, is a sweeping photographic exhibition organized by the Architecture Club and covering 200 buildings in London starting with the likes of Centrepoint and Economist Building. It has many glorious photos of the Modernist era that briefly took over London in the sixties, before it progresses to the Post Modernism…more

June 18, New York

The war of petitions over Jean Nouvel's shrinking Tower Verre continues. One of the biggest problems for the MoMA tower's opponents all along has been the developers' environmental impact statement, which they say ignores the real effect of the tower's height on residential buildings in the neighborhood. The last memo is a response to the city and developers…more

June 18, San Francisco

In a pristine world, no tower would sully the rear of the Fairmont Hotel. That sparkling 1906 classic would stand in regal isolation on the crest of Nob Hill. Instead, as the owner seeks to demolish the hotel's 1961 addition and erect an even larger one, the Fairmont illustrates a 21st century challenge faced by cities such as San Francisco…more

June 18, London

There was a time, around the start of 2009, when it felt like every grand building project in London had stalled. Plans for a multitude of soaring shiny towers, conceived at the very height of the boom years, were filed away, the money to build them having, apparently, disintegrated in an instant. The skeletons of grand office blocks, only half-constructed stood silent…more

June 18, Singapore

Singapore's tallest public housing project has gained international recognition. The Pinnacle@Duxton - a 50-story Housing Board residential project in Tanjong Pagar - was named the 'Best Tall Building' by the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. It won the accolade for the Asia and Australasia region…more

June 18, New York

Local community leaders and and neighborhood activists have renewed a plea to New York University to build a controversial skyscraper in the Financial District instead of Greenwich Village. More than a dozen leaders of local groups signed a letter to NYU Vice President Lynne Brown affirming that they  still “vigorously oppose” plans for a the tower…more

June 18, Suzhou, China

Plans for a 94,000 sq m multipurpose development in Suzhou, China, have won DeStefano Partners an international competition for the project held by Suzhou Wuzhong Guoyu Asset Management Co. Suzhou Wuzhong North Road Development is set to include a variety of high-rise office buildings, residential, hotel and retail facilities…more

June 18, Baltimore

A Philadelphia developer is trying to resurrect its plans to build Baltimore’s tallest skyscraper, which it sidelined after failing to get the money or tenants needed to build the tower. Spice Lot Business Trust LLC needs to secure at least one large office tenant to take space at 10 Inner Harbor in order to convince lenders to finance the project…more

June 17, Ho Chi Minh City

VietNamNet Bridge – Local property developer Bitexco Group will start developing another high-rise structure in HCMC in October 2010 shortly after putting into service the Bitexco Financial Tower skyscraper which is underway in downtown HCMC. The developer says the Ben Thanh Towers project will be developed on a prime site covering 8,600 square meters…more

June 17, New York

New York University expects to unveil its much-anticipated design plans for the proposed 38-story tower in Greenwich Village. The tower, sight-unseen, is already facing backlash from community groups who say the building would interfere with the original three-tower design by famed architect I.M. Pei…more

June 17, Tel Aviv

Crescent Heights plans to build a luxury complex in the heart of Tel Aviv. The company announced buying 70 dunams of land by the Recital halls in Tel Aviv for $38 million from the Ela Brothers. The company means to build 30 apartments and 20,000 square meters of commercial space, and anticipates sales of about a quarter-billion dollars…more

June 17, Zagreb

The ZCC (Zagreb Crafts Centre) forms part of the urban grid that is expanding towards the south-western part of the city, specifically located on one of the key access points of Zagreb. Within this particular context, the ZCC is surrounded by important city icons such as: the Arena Zagreb, the hospital school, the Zagreb thermal baths and the Sava river…more

June 17, Calgary

Homburg-Centron Teamworks announced the construction re-commencement of its Oslo tower on the corner of 11th Avenue and 12th Street S.W. Panned as two high-rise condominium towers, the company has worked closely with NORR Architects and Engineers and the City of Calgary's Planning and Building Regulations departments to re-design the project…more

June 17, Birmingham

Cutbacks in British government spending are finally starting to bite in a noticeable way with a number of landmark projects canceled or put on indefinite hold. Immediately canceled will be the replacement Stonehenge Visitor Centre by Denton Corker Marshall which the previous government had allocated £25 million to…more

June 17, Rome

Enoki Rome Ecocity is a futuristic ideological proposal from OFL Architecture, as part of an investigation into the possibilities of future housing. The firm suggest that ‘achievements in material science, energy conservation, aerodynamic and environmental solutions allow designers to experience new housing typologies’…more

June 16, Sydney

Designers of the $6 billion Sydney Harbor development at Barangaroo have slashed the height and size of the "landmark" hotel they want to build out into the water. After months of criticism of the scale of the buildings in Sydney's biggest redevelopment project, the company in charge of the project, Lend Lease, has unveiled new plans. The hotel's height will fall…more

June 16, Chicago

What makes a landmark? Is it the stuff it’s made of? Or the goals of the architects who made it? In the case of the Inland Steel Building these questions have become both practical and philosophical. In the lead-up to the building’s renovation, architects, preservationists, and city and state officials all debated the future of the icon…more

June 16

Broadcasting Place, a 23-story student complex built for Leeds Metropolitan University, was named alongside the spectacular Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai which is 10 times as high. It was chosen as one of four winners of the annual ‘Best Tall Building’ awards by the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat…more

June 16, Dallas

Developers who have been working for more a decade to build a soaring downtown Dallas condo tower say they are moving ahead with those plans. The luxury condos in the planned 42-story Museum Tower will overlook the future Woodall Rodgers Park. The 42-story Museum Tower will have more than 100 luxury residences, smack in the middle of the Arts District…more

June 15, Naju, South Korea

The Project is a new corporate HQ for KEPCO, a world-renowned utility company. The project includes approximately 120,000 s ft office, public amenities and an energy center. It is situated on the NW corner of Naju. It’s presence in the region constitutes a major new anchor point for KEPCO and its continuous advocacy of sustainable management…more

June 15, Ho Chi Minh City

The 'Everrich 2' apartments by Vietnamese DWP Architects is a housing complex which measures 630,000 square meters, and reaches a height of 37 stories. In total, there are 3,100 apartment units ranging from 120 to 250 square meters each, with two floors of mixed retail and public space on the ground level…more

June 15, Chongqing, China

Architects Woods Bagot and engineering firm Buro Happold have launched a model for large-scale sustainable development, which they say will ‘significantly advance’ the construction industry's contribution to achieving a zero carbon economy by 2050. Details of the project called Zero-Emissions Design - or Zero-E - were unveiled at…more

June 15, Boston

The Chiofaro Co. contends that a pair of waterfront skyscrapers will not “significantly” cast greater shadows or generate more wind on the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway than more modest-sized buildings. Developer Don Chiofaro also proposes a temporary “floating” parking garage to address some of the city’s concerns…more

June 15

Some stunning buildings have appeared in American cities the past years -- buildings, like the Aqua skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, that attest to the creativity of 21st-century architecture. But there might be fewer of them in the near future, because the recession has forced many architects to tone down their ambition…more

June 15, Benidorm, Spain

In its day it was proclaimed as the tallest residential building in Spain, but the residents of the Lugano Tower in Benidorm are far from happy. The building, the second tallest in Benidorm after the Bali Hotel, has 48 floors and is 148 meters high. Residents have taken the promoter, constructor and architect to the courts…more

June 14, Chicago

Roosevelt University is planning a new high-rise tower that will accommodate hundreds of students in a new glass clad dormitory. Standing at 421-425 South Wabash, the scheme will have 32 floors and rise to 143 meters. It's been designed for the John Buck Company, who are developing it on behalf of the university, by architecture firm VOA…more

June 14

'UP' is a multi-layered investigative study by we-designs.org of an urban tower condition, operated under the logic of the hexagon. Through a process of developmental delineation studies formed and translated from two-dimensional studies, that entered into a three-dimensional rationale, and then developed into an accentuated folded landscape…more

June 14, London

Owners of the Shard, London  skyscraper that is under development, have backed out of a previous agreement that would let approximately 30% of their office space with Transport for London (TfL). TfL initially signed up to occupy 200,000 sq ft of the available 586,000 sq ft office space in 2006, however due to market fluctuations and an increase in demand…more

June 12, Austin

You might just call it the life styles of the rich and famous in Austin. Two luxury condos are opening and a third by the end of the 2010. These high rise projects have already changed the face of Austin's skyline and are revolutionizing Austin's urban lifestyle…more

June 11, San Francisco

A group of South Korean investors have bought 333 Market St. for $333 million, the largest San Francisco office building sale since 2007. The 657,115-square-foot Market Street high-rise fetched far more than $500 a square foot. The transaction was not considered a accurate barometer of San Francisco commercial real estate values because…more

June 11, New York

What the Parthenon was to Athens, said the photographer Alfred Stieglitz, the Flatiron Building is to New York. Certainly Stieglitz helped to perpetuate the legend of a triangular skyscraper that, if never the city's tallest, was once its most famous and remains a cherished emblem of urban achievement…more

June 11, Rome

Rome's glorious cityscape, with its jumble of architecture from the ancient world to 20th-century, has just one notable omission - a skyscraper. But this is about to change with the construction of a 30-floor tower that will drag the Eternal City's skyline into the 21st century. Construction of the 120m-high apartment block, dubbed the Eurosky Tower, is under way in the EUR district…more

June 11, London

Two blocks south of London Bridge, Renzo Piano’s 72-storey, £416 million Shard is visibly blasting skywards. When completed in 2012, this tower, containing offices, apartments and a hotel, will be 306m high – 71m higher than Britain’s current tallest building, One Canada Square at Canary Wharf…more

June 11, Doha

Spanish firm Xavier Vilalta Sudio has won an international competition for a mixed-used development in Doha, Qatar. The alpha project is a completely self-reliant, innovative development. The project aims to sensitively capture the essence and culture of the city of Doha, with ancient design traditions forming the fundamental basis of the plan and…more

June 10, Vietnam

It took developers eight years to invent an individual high-rise evacuation system they named Escape, which has been ordered by many hotels and companies that own and operate skyscrapers. All the existing systems for rescuing people from high buildings were overly complicated and could only be utilized by trained professionals…more

June 9, Winnipeg

Preliminary approval has been granted for a $45-million riverfront development that will include the first residential highrise in downtown Winnipeg in about 20 years. The proposed 25-story building is eyed for Assiniboine Avenue, in front of Bonnycastle Park and a stone's throw from the site of the Upper Fort Garry Heritage Park and Interpretive Centre…more

June 9, Toronto

The 'Absolute Towers' by MAD Architects is under construction, due to be complete in 2011. Also nicknamed Marilyn Monroe by the locals, the project was the firm's first international winning project back in 2006, giving them worldwide attention. Located in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, Canada the towers will be a landmark for the area…more

June 9, Mumbai

Developers in Mumbai and Dubai are in a race to build the world’s tallest residential tower as they try to tap demand among swelling billionaire ranks for luxury homes costing more than $10 million. Lodha Developers Ltd. said its 442-meter (1,450 feet) World One property in India’s financial capital will be the tallest when completed in 2014…more

June 9, Santa Monica

As part of a larger revision of the city’s zoning codes, the Santa Monica Planning Commission voted in favor of increasing the city’s maximum building heights, a move it claimed would improve the city’s architecture and make buildings more green. Building heights could rise an additional two to six feet, which may not seem like much, but the impact on the city…more

June 8, Montreal

A new high-rise complex of residential condominiums and commercial space has begun preparation work on Ste Catherine Street West, the developer announced. Built on the site of the storied Seville Theatre between Chomedey and Lambert Closse streets, the project will feature a 21-story high rise and be named Le Seville in honor of the site's history…more

June 8, Chicago

The initial phases of a landmark restoration and sustainability upgrade are underway at the Inland Steel Building, the 1958 skyscraper that was the first major project to be built in downtown Chicago after the end of the Great Depression. The structure’s column-free, modular interiors served by an adjacent tower of circulation and mechanicals…more

June 8, Kazakhstan

Italian Stefano Boeri Architects has won a prize for a housing development scheme in Astana, Kazakhstan. The international competition organized by the Astana Department of Architecture and Urban Planning called for the design of a contemporary residential neighborhood with affordable housing and services to restructure a rundown area next to the city center…more

June 8, Nanjing

A key 7km, 460 acre swath of Yangtze River waterfront in central Nanjing is to be transformed from a collection of former brownfield sites into Nanjing Hexi – a mixed-use extension of the city’s downtown. The design by SWA Group will include a 185 acre Yangtze EcoPark featuring a major mixed-use development with an eco-hotel, shopping, housing and office space…more

June 8, Mumbai

Lodha Developers launched one of the world’s tallest residential building — the 450-meter (1,450-feet) high World One — in Mumbai at a project cost of Rs 2,000 crore. This super high rise, to be constructed in partnership with architects and structural consultants Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and Leslie E Robertson Associates, is targeted at ultra-rich individuals…more

June 8, Melbourne

Cities under the ocean, buildings made out of mould, a futuristic "spine" that runs from Tasmania to the mainland and a roof on top of Melbourne. Those are some of the ideas dreamed up by Australian architects as part of a project to imagine what our capital cities might look like in a hundred years…more

June 8, London

Land Securities is set to form a joint venture with fellow developer Canary Wharf Group to build Rafael Viñoly’s 150m-high Walkie-Talkie tower. A number of firms were in talks to invest in the City of London scheme, but Canary Wharf has entered into exclusive negotiations with Land Securities, the Financial Times has reported…more

June 8, Mexico City

David Lee and Anthony Stahl, Cal Poly architecture students and co-founders of Metous Studio, were awarded first place in the 2010 Mock Firms International Skyscraper challenge for their project entitled Barrio de los Paracaidistas. Preserving the character of Mexico City this tower is a frame-work for a new vertical city…more

June 8

Designer Natalie Jeremijenk has conceived of a series of bug-like urban gardens that are reminiscent of cocoons or insect larvae. Her modular symbiotic greenhouses are designed to be easily installed on towering skyscrapers and are capable of filtering stale skyscraper air and recycling gray water…more

June 7, Boston

Parking and density have been two of the biggest issues surrounding the redevelopment of the 11-acre former Domino Sugar refinery on the Williamsburg waterfront. The City Planning Commission extracted two minor concessions for both on the way to granting the New Domino project unanimous approval…more

June 7, Abu Dhabi

Plenty of skyscrapers dominate the desert horizons of the Middle East including the world's tallest building, the 828-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai, but until now the term 'leaning tower' has been associated with just one destination - Pisa. The centuries-old Italian tourist attraction has a new rival in the shape of the 160-metre-high Capital Gate building in Abu Dhabi…more

June 7, New York

The Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation is financing a database of hundreds of buildings that have been sustainably renovated in New York City. The database will detail boiler improvements, insulation updates, window replacements and other substantial green retrofits and their related cash savings for building owners…more

June 6, St Petersburg

A Russian court rejected an appeal against controversial plans by state-run gas giant Gazprom to build a skyscraper in the historic city center of Saint Petersburg. The Smolninsky district court 'confirmed the legality' of a decision by the city hall to give permission for the planned 403-metre (1,322-foot) skyscraper…more

June 6

The world's tallest building and a glassed-enclosed viewing platform at the skyscraper that used to hold the record were the top winners as the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois presented its excellence in engineering awards for 2009. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill won the most innovative structure honor for the Burj Khalifa and Halcrow Yolles won…more

June 4, Regina, Canada

Mayor Pat Fiacco suggests you take a picture of the downtown skyline, because it’s about to look very different. A new skyscraper has been proposed, this on top of the three other multi-story buildings that have already received the go ahead. The latest plan submitted to the city intends on adding up to 20-stories of office space to the downtown…more

June 4, Santa Ana

A developer who wants to build Orange County's biggest skyscraper has approached city officials about relaxing some of the requirements that have held up the project for the last years. Michael Harrah calls his vision One Broadway Plaza, a 37-story office tower just north of Santa Ana's Civic Center that would dwarf anything else in the city…more

June 4, Mumbai

Lodha Developers, one of India’s biggest realtors, is taking a tall bet on Mumbai’s top-end residential property market as home prices continue to surge in the country’s financial capital. The company is negotiating with foreign as well as local financiers to fund what it claims would be the world’s tallest residential tower…more

June 3, Hawaii

Dream holiday destination and iconic location for honeymooners the world over, Hawaii sticks in mind for its long golden beaches, relaxed attitudes and sunny, cloudless skies. Where better then to design a stunning new luxury hotel than Waikiki, Hawaii? This was certainly the attitude of New York-based firm Guerin Glass Architects…more

June 3, Riyadh

'Villas in the Sky' by Danish Henning Larsen Architects is a proposal for a mixed use 34 story tower located in the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The form imitates the structural ideal of a high-rise building. It is a polygon with four equal sides allowing for very flexible spaces…more

June 3, St Petersburg

In a letter to St Petersburg officials, Medvedev told the city’s leaders to halt the building of the proposed 403m-tall tower. The RMJM-designed tower, thought to have a budget of $3 billion, was put forward as the new headquarters of energy giant Gazprom, of which Medvedev was formerly a board member…more

June 3

U.S. theaters began showing the “complete” version of Metropolis—the film made by Fritz Lang showing his expressionist vision of an urban dystopia. The movie originally ran about two and a half hours, but was drastically cut soon after its first release in 1927, and the removed footage presumed lost…more

June 2, Busan, South Korea

Construction of the Zenith Towers in Busan, South Korea which began in 2007, is nearing completion. Designed by American firm De Stefano + Partners the mixed-use development features three 75 - 85 story luxury residential towers (with the highest standing at 984 feet tall) spread over 6.1 million square feet…more

June 2, Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam has long been famous for its bamboo but could now be getting some plants with a difference. Reinterpreting their national symbol as a couple of glass skyscrapers are plans by property company Keppel Land to build two glass towers of 88 and 66 floors with the tallest building rising to to an impressive 386 meters…more

June 2

Futuristic floating cities seek to provide a solution to many of our environmental problems, like rising sea levels, increasing temperatures and dwindling resources. Japanese building firm Shimizu Corporation unveiled plans for a completely self sufficient floating ecotopia that is covered in vegetation, generates its own power, grows food, manages waste, and…more

June 1, London

Squire and Partners has released their latest redesign for a couple of towers in London's Vauxhall Cross Island. Previously the firm had worked on twin towers for London & Regional on the same site with a similar design of 52 and 25 floors, however these failed to get planning permission thanks to wrangling over the affordable housing contained within the scheme…more

June 1, New York

One of the most recognizable skyscraper in the world is under going a $13.2 million greening initiative. An extensive energy analysis was conducted on the Empire State Building through a joint effort of the Clinton Climate Initiative, Johnson Controls, Jones Lang LaSalle, and the Rocky Mountain Institute…more

June 1, San Francisco

The Legg Mason Tower is a 24 story 662,029 square foot building that is part of the larger 1.9 million San Francisco mixed used development. The development includes a parking garage with 1,150 parking spaces and a hotel residential tower that includes 784,000 SF on Baltimore's Inner Harbor…more

June 1, Guadalajara, Mexico

In Guadalajara, Mexico, RACO Design has integrated three major architectural program areas - hotel, residential and commercial - into one design concept. The project is an urban infill and attachment that expands the boardwalk into a shopping mall that surrounds the main pedestrian attraction, the casino…more

June 1, Toronto

Chicago landscape architect Peter Schaudt is part of the design team getting kudos in Toronto after that city turned the abandoned, desert-like roof atop the podium of its twin-towered City Hall complex into a green oasis open to the public. Schaudt served as the landscape consultant for the effort…more

June 1, China

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright predicted in the 1950s that the shape of cities would be decided by the winner of a race between the car and the elevator. "Anyone who bets on the elevator is crazy," he said. China may prove him wrong. Some 350 million Chinese - more than today's entire US population - will move to China's cities in the next 15 years…more

May 30, Pimpri-Chinchwad, India

With the state government and the Center giving a nod to construct buildings up to 70 meters and double the floor space index (FSI) respectively in Pimpri-Chinchwad, the industrial town will now see high-rise buildings and densification along roads. Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Commissioner Asheesh Sharma said the height of buildings in the town…more

May 30, New York

The completed Bank of America tower had its official grand opening gala with the owners throwing the celebration that some final touch-up work is finally completed and the scaffolding has been taken down. On account of the "opening," developer Douglas Durst and architect Bob Fox of Cook + Fox showed off the building's many sustainable features…more

May 28, Singapore

Four Singapore property developers were winners in this year's Fiabci Prix d'Excellence Competition, considered as the Olympics of the international real estate industry. The Sail @ Marina Bay by City Developments came out tops in the Residential (High Rise) category. Far East Organization won two accolades: a top award for Central at Clarke Quay…more

May 28

Sketches, renderings, models... these have been the traditional methods in which architects have communicated their structural visions. Now, among these tools, the architecture video is gaining importance, influencing the effective communication of technical information, the conceptual design, along with the construction/development process…more

May 28, London

It has now been six years since Mayor Ken Livingstone published the London Plan in 2004, finally establishing the strategic planning policy. Welcome as that initiative was, it was predicated on an assumption that, from today’s credit-crunched perspective, looks more than a little doubtful – that in the 15 years following the document’s publication…more

May 28, Shanghai

The picturesque regions such as the Black Forest and Bavaria form the well known image of Germany. So it’s probably wise, if a Chinese investor gives his project the wonderful title ‘Black-Living’ for better marketing purposes. The Munich office Obermeyer won a competition to build three luxury apartment buildings (Original article in German)...more

May 28

To minimize urban sprawl in China, it is estimated that 50 000 skyscrapers will be erected in the next 15 years. With this phenomenon, the demand for faster elevators has also increased as more high-rise towers continue to go up. From this, a competitive market has emerged amongst manufacturers, who are seeking to be leaders in breaking record speed...more

May 28, Charlotte

If you've been in Center City, you've likely noticed the gleaming tower rising from Charlotte's Fourth Ward neighborhood. Among the trees and low-rise condominiums, The Vue Charlotte is 51 stories -- the tallest of the residential buildings in town. And Chicago-based developer Dan McLean admits it's been a challenge to get something like this built in this economy...more

May 28, Singapore

Gardeners have long been “training” plants to grow up and along walls, but architects and structural engineers have tended to view plants as a danger to their designs and even to the structural stability of buildings. That perception is changing with improved technology, however, and vertical gardens have become fashionable since the French scientist and botanist Patrick Blanc showed their possibilities...more

May 28, New York

"Gary Barnett, one of New York City’s most prolific developers, is about to start construction of a $1.3 billion skyscraper on 57th Street that will overtake Trump World Tower as the tallest residential building in the city.” The only problem is, Trump World Tower was already surpassed by Frank Gehry’s Beekman Tower...more

May 28, Hamburg

May 27, 2010 saw the topping-out ceremony of Herzog & de Meuron’s philharmonic hall on the river Elbe in Hamburg. Called Elbphilharmonie, the project involves installing the Swiss architects’ new glass structure atop a red brick warehouse built in 1963 by the late Hamburg architect Werner Kallmorgen. The building will comprise three concert halls, a hotel...more

May 28, Murcia, Spain

With what is one of their first commissions since the credit crunch hit, A-cero Architects has started work on Torre Norte Murcia in Murcia, Spain almost four years after the project was originally canned by the developer, Spanish property company, Global Seinco. With 22 floors and a height of 100 metres the tower will be the tallest building in what is a largely low-rise city...more

May 28, China

At 492 meters (1614 feet) the Shanghai World Financial Center is mainland China’s tallest building but its height may become “almost standard” around the country, according to the senior designer of the 101-floor center. “Almost every city is going to build one,” says David Malott, a director at the New York-based firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates...more

May 27, Barcelona

Previously, the various legal departments of the governments of Barcelona and l’Hospitalet were scattered in 17 buildings across the two cities, with functional frustrations for both users and employees. A new conjoined City of Justice will improve efficiency and allow working spaces to adapt and absorb the constant transformation of the judicial body...more