Archinect - News

Scotland-based firm Kettle Collective unveils plan for world's second tallest tower in Russia

2021-05-27T16:07:00-04:00

Scottish architecture firm Kettle Collective has announced plans to build one of the world’s tallest buildings. The tower will be located in St. Petersburg, Russia and stand at 703 meters, making it the second tallest building in the world.

While shorter than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the 150-story Lakhta Center II will feature the highest occupied floor and viewing gallery of any building in the world at 590 meters. The tower will be located on the outskirts of St. Petersburg and will sit next to the Lakhta Center, Europe’s tallest building and the headquarters of Russian energy company Gazprom.

Design lead and Kettle Collective founder Tony Kettle was previously the design director for Edinburgh architecture practice RMJM and created the competition-winning design for the 462-meter-tall Lakhta Center. The project was later handed over to Russian architect GORPROJECT to complete.

Central Park Tower rises above 432 Park, officially becomes tallest residential building in the world

2019-03-27T10:59:00-04:00

Extell Development’s supertall on Billionaires’ Row is officially the tallest residential tower in the world. Central Park Tower, at 225 West 57th Street, has reached its 92nd floor, surpassing the 1,396-foot-tall tower at 432 Park Avenue. Designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Central Park Tower will top out at 95 stories, or 1,550 feet tall, making it stand out significantly among neighboring skyscrapers when construction wraps up next year.

World's tallest Passive House completed by VArquitectos in Spain

2018-09-05T15:53:00-04:00

The recently completed Bolueta high rise by VArquitectos is now the tallest reaching Passive House building in the world. Located in Bilbao, Spain, the project includes an adjacent 9-story building with 63 apartments dedicated for social housing.

Bolueta by VArquitectos, located in Bilbao, Spain. Image: VArquitectos.

All apartments in the taller, 32-story building have been sold with residents now moving in. Achieving the energy efficient Passive House Standard means Bolueta will consume about 90% less heating energy than an existing building, and about 75% less energy than an average new construction.

Bolueta by VArquitectos, located in Bilbao, Spain. Image: VArquitectos.

Like all Passive House buildings, the design features a high amount of thermal insulation, triple-glazed windows, and an airtight building envelope to take the place of a classic heating system.

China's projected tallest building reduces height, now ranking 5th tallest

2018-08-29T16:15:00-04:00

Greenland Wuhan Center, designed to surpass the Shanghai Tower and become China’s tallest building, will be falling short of its planned 636 metres (2086 feet) height, after the local government prescribed a 21 percent reduction in height for the central China supertall, according to an account in local media outlet the Paper.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture won the competition back in 2010 to design China's tallest, and the world's 4th tallest, building. The supertall was originally designed to reach 126 floors, however construction halted in August last year stopping at the 96th floor.

The height reduction is due to safety concerns with the expansion of the city's air transit hub completed in 2017. The original 126 floors would now be in the path of planes approaching the Tianhe International Airport. The building will now only reach 1,640 feet making it China’s fifth-tallest.

Europe's new tallest building, The Lakhta Center by RMJM, nearly completed in St. Petersburg

2018-07-31T13:30:00-04:00

For a brief period from 2011 until 2012 Renzo Piano’s 309.7m London skyscraper, The Shard, was the tallest in Europe. However, it has since been dwarfed by three new buildings in Moscow, and, this summer, the title has shifted to Moscow’s second city, St Petersburg, as one of Russia’s largest companies plans its relocation.

The Lakhta Center, designed by British firm RMJM, is set to be Europe's new tallest skyscraper. The nearly completed supertall, located on St. Petersburg's coast, will reach approximately 1,515 feet, which is about 50% taller than The Shard in London. The building will serve as the new headquarters for Russian energy company Gazprom, currently based in Moscow.

Lakhta Center rendering by RMJM, located in St. Petersburg, RU. Image: Lakhta Center.

With piles driven 270 feet into the ground, the 87-story skyscraper also boasts LEED Gold certification. The design features an energy saving ice storage facility, which can accumulate up to 1000 tonnes of ice during the night used to air condition the building during the day.

Passing $2B in sales, 432 Park becomes highest selling building in NYC ever

2018-02-07T21:53:00-05:00

CIM Group and Macklowe Properties announced on Wednesday that the world’s tallest residential building just broke another record: the single best-selling building in New York City. According to the developers, they have sold $2 billion in luxury condominiums at 432 Park Avenue, a 1,396-foot tower designed by renowned architect Rafael Viñoly. The building’s most significant closings include 48 residences selling for more than $20 million each.

Toronto reaches new heights: construction of the One Tower begins

2017-10-09T15:49:00-04:00

Construction of Canada's tallest building has started. With 85 stories and 306 meters of height, the One, designed by Forster+Partners will host commercial spaces, a 175 room hotel, and 60 floors of condominiums and multi-story penthouses.

Rendering of Toronto's future skyline. Picture from Foster + Partner

The tower is composed of suspended rectangular blocks linked by two large columns and diagonal bracing.

Foster + Partners

The tower is situated between commercial downtown Toronto and the trendy high-end neighborhood of Yorkville. A five story podium will host shops and restaurants.

Foster + Partners

Giles Robinson, Senior Partner, says “The One is the final piece of the jigsaw in the tower cluster at the Yonge and Bloor node – one of the most prominent intersections in the city. The project creates a new anchor for high-end retail along Bloor Street West, while respecting the urban scale of Yonge Street. The design is respectful of the legacy of the William Luke B...

The world's tallest wooden tower is being built in Norway

2017-08-31T12:24:00-04:00

With an expected completion date of March 2019, the 18-story, 80-meter-tall-plus building in Brumunddal, Norway known as the Mjøsa Tower will soon become the world's tallest wooden structure, a coveted title among those designers who favor wood over more traditional tall building materials. Designed by Voll Arkitekter, the Mjøsa Tower is on track to supersede the previous wooden record holder, the Brock Commons Student Housing building at the University of British Columbia, which topped out at a stately 53 meters in height.

Image: Metsä Wood / Voll Arkitekter

Wood has numerous advantages over oft-used concrete and steel: for one, the construction time can be cut approximately in half due to easy prefabrication and the overall lighter weight of the materials. Surprisingly, one of wood's advantages as a tall building material lies in its ability to withstand fires, at least when compared with the tendency of steel to melt down during an all-consuming blaze. As the site's general contr...

Rumors circulate around world's largest unoccupied building in North Korea as the country tests its second missile

2017-08-01T16:21:00-04:00

For nearly 30 years, the 105-story tower has been a mystery. Located in Pyongyang, North Korea, the Ryugyong Hotel was billed to be the world's tallest hotel but has yet to host a guest, making it instead, the world's largest unoccupied building. But, on Friday, the country took down some walls around the construction area causing many to speculate that the building might finally open in the near future.

Dubbed the "Hotel of Doom" by Western media, the building broke ground way back in 1987, with construction expected to take only two years. An overly optimistic goal from the get-go, construction dragged on until 1992 when it was halted by a major economic crisis in North Korea caused by the fall of the Soviet Union. In 2008, construction on the hotel's exterior resumed with Egypt's Orascom Telecommunications Holdings injecting $30 million into the project. Upon completion of the buildings' exterior in 2011, the international mobile network company supported another $15 million to ...

Wilshire Grand, the tallest building in Los Angeles, lights up over the weekend

2017-06-26T15:57:00-04:00

Nearly a fifth of a mile up in the sky atop Los Angeles’ tallest building, two massive LED displays — each 42 by 60 feet — sit dormant, ready to beam messages out across the city. The screens consist of 250 million pixels, each no bigger than a pea, ready to explode with vibrant oranges, blues and greens once the sun sets and the building begins to glow.

Los Angeles's tallest building, the Wilshire Grand, finally opened it's doors this past Friday. Standing at 1,100 feet, it is the tallest building in the U.S. west of the Mississippi. Beyond it's height, the tower is bringing something else new to the downtown skyline with two massive LED displays and roughly 2.5 miles of LEDS running up and down its spine.

In 2011, the LA City Council approved a plan to designate the area of Wilshire Grand and its surroundings as a sign district which would allow buildings to have LED Displays, including some for elaborate advertising. Though it had its opponents, backers claim this will bring an energy to the area akin to Times Square or Tokyo. The display screen atop will flash the logo for Korean Airlines, who owns the building, and for the InterContinental Hotel, which is a key tenant. It is also envisioned to have special displays for key events like holidays or a hypothetical Lakers Champion win. At street-level, a sign with static advertise...

Seoul's Lotte World Tower now the 5th tallest tower in the world

2017-04-05T12:23:00-04:00

Located in Seoul, the Lotte World Tower, designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, has become the world’s fifth tallest tower, in the process knocking 1WTC—the tallest U.S. American building—out of the top five. At 555 meters tall, the Lotte World Tower has also surpassed Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Twin Towers, which not long ago was among the tallest towers in the world. The Tower is nearly double the height of the now second-largest tower in Seoul, Three International Financial Center.

The Lotte World Tower houses retail spaces, offices, a luxury hotel, and an officitel—or studio-apartment style accommodations meant for the people who work in the building and which feature a slew of amenities. At the base of the building, the ten-story Lotte World Mall has already been open since 2014, and is a popular destination in the city, drawing 28.2 million people in its first year. That’s the equivalent of one out of every two South Koreans. The two building components are connected via interior pathways...

New Renderings Revealed for 217 West 57th Street, the Will-Be Tallest Residential Building in the World

2015-04-20T16:37:00-04:00

With its spire the Nordstrom Tower will be just one foot shorter than One World Trade Center, but its elevation will make it the tallest point in New York, as its site is 100 feet above sea level, compared to One World Trade’s 12- foot elevation.

New renderings have been released for Extell Development's Nordstrom Tower at 217 West 57th Street. When completed, the 92-story, 1,775-foot supertall that will take the title of tallest residential building in the world, surpassing Mumbai’s World One Tower by 29 feet. The images show how the tower, designed by architects Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill, will dominate the skyline, as well as close-up views of the façade and a peek into one of the penthouses.