CTBUH Global News

Tallest Trends and the Burj Khalifa

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:30:00 GMT

March 10, Chicago

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has received and examined detailed drawings of the Burj Khalifa submitted by building owner Emaar, and can now confirm the official building height at 828.00 meters (2716.54 feet), as well as the title of “The World’s Tallest Building”. With the official completion of the building on January 4th...more

Oak Park readies to discuss--and vote on--the plan for its tallest skyscraper

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:26:00 GMT

March 4, Oak Park, Chicago

Oak Park's village board will hold a special meeting to discuss--and, in all likelilhood, vote on--the controversial plan for a 20-story hotel and condominium tower that is proposed for a prominent downtown corner, just down the street from a cluster of homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright...more

Bogota Skyscraper Steps Up

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:24:00 GMT

March 4, Bogota

Stepped skyscrapers have long been popular, but few designs have taken it quite as far as this new tower planned for Bogota in Columbia. The development is actually a collection of three interlinked towers called BD Bacata after the area it will stand in. They will be 240 metres, 200 metres, and 120 metres in height with the main tower rising to 66 floors...more

Itty Bitty Cities: 22 Models That Miniaturize the World

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:22:00 GMT

March 4

Model cities are used all over the world for urban planning, architectural proposals and research. But while miniature cities are useful, they’re also a unique kind of art. Older models give us a very real glimpse into what cities looked like in past generations, while new models can help us to visualize what our surroundings will look like in the future...more

Things are starting to look up for a revamped Hollywood high-rise

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:21:00 GMT

March 4, Los Angeles

Hollywood's tallest tower has shed its bones and skin -- and hopefully its reputation as the most cursed building in town. The slender 20-story Sunset Vine Tower that was Los Angeles' first modern skyscraper when it opened to international acclaim in 1963 at Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street has been converted into a luxury apartment building...more

Dubai: World Record: Final word awaited

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:19:00 GMT

March 4, Dubai

Dubai: Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) says Burj Khalifa builder Emaar has not shared blueprints in order for the 828-meter Dubai skyscraper to be truly certified as the world's tallest structure. "No, we haven't got a blueprint yet, but we'll probably get one sooner or later," Jan Klerks, CTBUH spokesman...more

Sydney’s Barangaroo towers breach height limits, says design architect

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:17:00 GMT

March 4, Sydney

Almost all the towers in the Lend Lease's proposed $6 billion redevelopment at Barangaroo breach height limits, according to the first publicly available architectural drawings of the scheme. The drawings show the hotel planned for construction on a public pier will be about 10 storeys higher than allowed under the concept plan for the area...more

Dubai: Over the Top

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:16:00 GMT

March 3, Dubai

More than a dozen of us filed into the dark elevator, ready to be whisked up 1,483 feet to the observation deck of the newly minted tallest building in the world. The smooth 60-second ride delivered us to the Burj Khalifa’s 124th floor. People of all ages were making their way around the viewing platform...more

Doubts Surface On London’s Lewisham Gateway Plans

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:14:00 GMT

March 3, London

Plans to regenerate the center of Lewisham in east London have taken a major hit following the revelation from local councillors that changing economic conditions have made the proposals unviable. The Arup planned project consists of a number of buildings including two towers that should be about 70 and 77 meters in height...more

New York: I.M Pei on the Hyperboloid

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:12:00 GMT

March 2, New York

Watch an animation of, and hear I.M Pei talk about, the Hyperboloid – the building that wasn't built. The Hyperboloid was designed in 1954 for Manhattan. Though never built, the plans inspired organic structures around the world...more

Chicago: 860-880 Lake Shore Drive refurbishment by Krueck & Sexton

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:09:00 GMT

March 2, Chicago

Chicago office Krueck & Sexton have completed the restoration of two apartment towers in Chicago by German-American architect Mies van der Rohe. Called 860-880 Lake Shore Drive, the 26-storey glass and steel towers were built between 1949 and 1951. The refurbishment involved re-coating the steel frame facade and...more

The greening of the Empire State Building and other topics

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:07:00 GMT

March 2, New York

The 2010 March/April issue of Preservation magazine has some stories that explore the related, but occasionally conflicting, agendas of saving old buildings and saving the planet from global warming. Preservation senior editor Sudip Bose examines the greening of the Empire State Building, a project comparable to the greening of Chicago's Willis Tower...more

Rem Koolhaas Loses His Star Designer

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:01:00 GMT

March 2

Rem Koolhaas's Office for Metropolitan Architecture announced that Ole Scheeren, the Rotterdam-based firm's envoy to Asia and its acknowledged superstar young designer, has split to start his own studio. Scheeren was the director of OMA's Beijing office, and oversaw the CCTV tower project, among others...more

Proposed Newark high-rise would become city's tallest building

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:50:00 GMT

March 2, Newark

Newark, once home to New Jersey’s tallest high-rise but overtaken time and again by the waterfront towers along Jersey City’s Gold Coast, is poised to get back in the game. Carl Dranoff, the Philadelphia developer who unveiled plans in 2008 for a 28-story luxury apartment high-rise, pegs his new Two Center Street at 44 stories...more

Proposed Newark high-rise would become city's tallest building

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:15:00 GMT

Bill Baker to receive Institution’s Gold Medal Award

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:04:00 GMT

March 2, Chicago

William F. Baker, PE, CE, SE, FIStructE, FASCE is to receive the Institution of Structural Engineers' highest accolade, the Gold Medal, for his work as an internationally acclaimed structural engineer. The Gold Medal is awarded to an individual for ‘exceptional and outstanding contributions to the advancement of structural engineering’...more

New York: The Height of Sustainability

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:02:00 GMT

March 2, New York

April 2009, a crowd gathered on the 80th floor of the Empire State Building to hear of a plan both ambitious and audacious, the details of which had largely been kept secret. The journalists and other parties assembled that day already knew that the Empire State Building was undergoing a $550 million restoration. What may have come as a surprise...more

Riyadh: Nikken sign contract to design SAR1 billion Saudi Stock Exchange

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:01:00 GMT

March 2, Riyadh

Nikken Sekkei has beaten 31 international companies to secure the design and engineering consultancy contract for a new, highly sustainable Saudi Stock Exchange Headquarters building. The SAR1 billion (€179 million) development will rise 50 stories high in new financial heart of Riyadh...more

Traditional moorings inspire Doha realty plan

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:58:00 GMT

March 1, Doha

Call it Qatar's two-track real estate development strategy. The gleaming new high-rises in the upscale West Bay enclave answer to Qatar's need for a swanky real estate profile that is in tune with its soaring global aspirations. At the same time, the Gulf state is not about to let go of its traditional moorings, and a newly unveiled development - Musheireb...more

With new name, tenants and amenities, the shine is back on Chicago’s Willis Tower

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:55:00 GMT

March 1, Chicago

Amid the worst office real estate market in memory, Willis Tower has mounted an improbable comeback. With lower rents and investments in attention-grabbing upgrades that followed a refinancing deal, Willis Tower added leases totaling 880,000 square feet with new and existing tenants and halved its vacancy rate to almost 10%...more

London’s Heron Tower sprouts over Tower 42 to take top spot in the city

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:53:00 GMT

March 1, London

Lee Polisano’s Heron Tower, which will stand 755 ft tall upon completion, is the tallest building in the City of London after surpassing Tower 42’s 600 ft height. Set for completion in March 2011, Heron Tower’s 46 stories will provide over 40,000 sq m of office space in the center of London in an innovative 3-floor village structure...more

Oasis Tower is a Spiraling Vertical Farm for Dubai

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:50:00 GMT

March 1, Dubai

Dubai is emerging from the desert sands and more people are moving into the famed city. With limited land available for agriculture, Dubai may soon be in need of an alternative solution for growing food for its residents. One solution could be this Oasis Tower vertical farm designed by Rahul Surin...more

Developer Henry Taic constructing high-rise, hotel on Tel Aviv beachfront

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:47:00 GMT

March 1, Tel Aviv

Yet more high-rises with luxury apartments will be sprouting up on the Tel Aviv beachfront. The project, called David Promenade Residences, envisions two towers connected by a ground-level glass structure. One of the towers is to be 25 stories tall and have about 70 apartments...more

The end of the high-rise shortfall

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:45:00 GMT

Feb 28, Denver

A city is sized up by its skyline, both its might and its imagination. When we look at tall buildings from far away, we don't care about their science — if the elevators are fast or how much energy they consume. We take in how they shape the urban outline, if they are innovative or traditional, if they give the city a personality...more

International Tourism Complex Hangzhou by Steven Holl Architects

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:43:00 GMT

Feb 28, Hangzhou

Steven Holl Architects of New York have won a competition to design a major urban quarter on a former industrial site beside a lake at Hangzhou, China. The project, which includes several residential towers and an exhibition center, is based on Shan-Shui – “mountain-water” – a Chinese landscape painting style...more

Kohn Pedersen Fox Architects: One Central Macau

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:40:00 GMT

Feb 28, Macau

International architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) has finalized construction for their 'One Central Macau' project. The luxury 400,000 square foot retail facility is part of a grand scale mixed-use development designed by KPF, and completes another key milestone in the city’s continued growth...more

Fujian's tallest building in the making at Xinglin Bay

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:48:00 GMT

Feb 26, Fujian

A 262-meter-high skyscraper, which will be the highest building in Fujian Province, as well as another two 150-meter-high office buildings, will stand up on the north bank of Yuanboyuan (Expo) Garden in Jimei District of Xiamen. The skyscraper will be located inside the phase II of the Xinglin Bay Business Operations Center, in the mainland districts of Xiamen...more

Canary Wharf Has 25 Churchill Place Redone

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:46:00 GMT

Feb 25, Canary Wharf

Ever since News International decided they weren't interested the site has been mothballed, but now Canary Wharf has been working on a new design for 25 Churchill Place, the last available plot in the original estate. As before the scheme comes from the pens of KPF but this time features a 108 metre tall mid-rise tower...more

London: Land Securities relaunches skyscraper

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:44:00 GMT

Feb 25, London

Land Securities restart talks for building 20 Fenchurch Street ‘Walkie Talkie’ tower. Shelved for 18 months, the provocative plans for an office tower at 20 Fenchurch street in London, penned by Rafael Viñoly, are being ‘dusted down’ in the hope of a possible restart, according to a spokesperson for property giants Land Securities...more

Last beam laid on Long Island City skyscraper

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:41:00 GMT

Feb 25, Long Island City

A 21-story office building in Long Island City which has been in the works since late 2008 is structurally complete. Workers placed the final beam on the Gotham Center tower, topping off what will be Long Island City’s newest skyscraper. The top floors still need to be glassed in, and the interior is not yet finished, but the 28th-Street facility is on track to open in 2011...more

Mexican Tower Takes Diagrids To New Heights

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:40:00 GMT

Feb 25, Mexico City

Reforma 432 is a newly planned residential skyscraper to stand in Mexico City with a façade that is nothing if not distinctive. The front of the building which faces on to an existing circular public plaza, Paseo de la Reforma, is based on a triangular framed pattern with glass and steel in a manner similar to that of the corners of Foster's Hearst Tower in New York City...more

High-rise recycling success

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:37:00 GMT

Feb 25, Glasgow

Councils could increase recycling rates if they put more focus on high-rise and multi-occupancy homes - historically the hardest-to-reach areas for this service - research for recycling and waste container firm Taylor suggests. The study, conducted by Professor James Baird of Glasgow Caledonian University, surveyed residents of 1,000 North Lanarkshire Council flats...more

Architect backs plan for Plymouth city centre tower

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:36:00 GMT

Feb 24, Plymouth

Barcelona architect David Mackay has given his backing to plans for a tall building on the site of the old Woolworth's store in Plymouth city center. But the author of the 2003 Vision for Plymouth has called for the city's Design Panel to be recalled to make sure the planned 20-storey tower block is of a good design...more

Kokkugia: Fibrous Tower

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:32:00 GMT

Feb 24, London

Kokkugia is an architecture studio based in New York and London. Fibrous tower is one of the studio’s projects exploring structures based on fibrous skeletons. The series of studies is based on algorithmic design methodologies, exploring ornamental, structural and spatial order through this lens...more

How Would You Design London’s Skyline

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:30:00 GMT

Feb 24, London

This new tool from Hayes Davidson, the imaging company who come up with so many of those visualizations of London in the future, allows you to play with London's skyline. Showing one of the views towards St Paul's Cathedral from north London that's protected, it allows you to see the London skyline looked like in the past...more

Sands to open part of Singapore resort in April, 2010

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:27:00 GMT

Feb 23, Singapore

Las Vegas Sands Corp. said it will open a portion of the $5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on April 27, 2010. The project's nearly 3-acre SkyPark, which sits atop the hotel-casino's three 55-story hotel towers, will open June 23, 2010 as part of the overall grand opening celebration...more

Hope Rise For Leicester Business Gateway

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:24:00 GMT

Feb 23, Leicester

One of the final hindrances to the development of a new business quarter in Leicester looks like it will finally be resolved. Leicester City Council has given planning permission for a replacement building on Charter Street that is being offered to Royal Mail as part of a £9 million deal, although the would-be tenant has yet to agree to moving there...more

Faulders Studio: Geotube for Dubai

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 20:19:00 GMT

Feb 23, Dubai

Geotube is a building proposal designed by the California based architecture firm, Faulders studio for the unique environment of Dubai. The building features a large super structure which will, over time, grow a skin façade on its own. The system utilizes a vertical salt deposit growth system that uses water from the adjacent Persian Gulf...more

Sydney’s Harbor high-rise breaks all the rules

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:24:00 GMT

Feb 23, Sydney

The Premier, Kristina Keneally, has endorsed a plan to build one of Sydney's biggest hotels more than 100 meters out over the harbor. And the British architect behind the Barangaroo proposal, Richard Rogers, said he had ''no reservations'' about going where no private developer had been allowed to develop before...more

Tokyo Sky Tree to become a new peak for Tokyo -- but of what?

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:22:00 GMT

Feb 23, Tokyo

Despite the economic recession, Tokyo's pursuit of height shows no sign of slowing down, providing a lot more opportunities for its residents to enjoy the new facets of the city. The Tokyo Sky Tree, a broadcasting tower under construction in Tokyo's Sumida Ward, is visible from various locations as it grows taller...more

Finnish architecture exports to China booming

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:20:00 GMT

Feb 22, Chengdu, China

The Finnish company PES Architects won a competition for the construction of a high-rise building in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province. The skyscraper, which is to be nearly 200 metres high, will contain offices, a shopping complex, a spa, a congress centre, and a residential hotel...more

London’s Heron Tower tops City heights

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:18:00 GMT

Feb 22, London

Construction of KPF’s 43-story skyscraper has pushed its height beyond 138m, making it officially the tallest City building to be built in 30 years. Tower 42 was the tallest completed structure in the city with 42-storeys, it was completed in 1980 and designed by Richard Seifert...more

New York: Tower on Hudson River nears completion

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:16:00 GMT

Feb 22, New York

Designed as a direct descendant of French architect Jean Nouvel’s Parisian landmark Arab World Institute building, his new 23-story residential tower overlooking the Hudson River is nearing completion. Previously known as 100 11th, the tower has been named Nouvel Chelsea in admiration of the architect’s prestige...more

Tower Rises In Ghent’s Flanders Fields

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:15:00 GMT

Feb 22, Ghent, Belgium

The Belgian city of Ghent isn't exactly renowned for high-rise buildings but it could soon be getting the tallest building in federal Flanders once it has been complete. The MG Tower is a 126 meter, 24 floors off building that will offer 28,000 square meters of space on an island site near the E40 motorway...more

Beijing: WAI Architecture: The story of the tower

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:12:00 GMT

Feb 22, Beijing

The story of the tower is a conceptual project of Beijing based WAI Architecture Think Tank. The story of the tower proposes a fictional construction of the intellectual urbanistic apparatus, using narrative architecture—which is a mix of narrative texts and images, as a catalyst of possibilities, challenging realities, and tentative alternatives...more

274 entries rejected in Mercedes competition for Yerevan, Armenia

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:11:00 GMT

Feb 22, Yerevan, Armenia

After a UIA competition attracting 274 entries, no winner has been appointed for the International Business Centre and Intercontinental Hotel bound for Yerevan in Armenia. Instead a second and third prize were awarded, leaving the design for the Mercedes Benz-led project in the air...more

New skyscraper planned for Gdańsk

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:09:00 GMT

Feb 20, Gdańsk

Polimeni International LLC plans to erect a new skyscraper in Gdańsk. The commercial developer wants the office building to be one of the tallest structures in the Tri-city area, comprising 36 storeys and standing at 100 metres. It is anticipated that the total usable area will be 40,000 sqm, roughly the same as Gdańsk’s Prorem and Zieleniak office buildings...more

Tel Aviv planning to redraw city skyline with high-rise blocks

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:05:00 GMT

Feb 20, Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv's clean lines and low-rise Bauhaus blocks make it instantly recognizable - but the White City's skyline now looks set to change forever with the unveiling of new development plans. The municipality released details of T.A./5000, a scheme to revamp the town center and provide accommodation for its ever-growing population...more

Oppenheim’s Sloping Beach Tower Hides a Green Oasis Inside

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:03:00 GMT

Feb 19, United Arab Emirates

Sloping towards the open sea, Oppenheim’s luxurious mixed-use tower for the United Arab Emirates is both elegant and a model of efficiency. The pixelated residences comprising the development sprawl fluidly away from the lush garden oasis hidden at its base and onto the sandy beach. The design was conceived specifically to maximize the quantity of units available on the water while minimizing the amount of energy used...more

Chicago: AS+GG Launches New Firm, PositivEnergy Practice, with Roger E. Frechette III as Founding President

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:55:00 GMT

Feb 19, Chicago

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture LLP announced the launch of an affiliated energy services, engineering and consulting firm, PositivEnergy Practice LLC, with Roger Frechette as the new firm’s founding president. PositivEnergy Practice will conceive, design, implement and manage energy performance, resource management and carbon reduction strategies...more