The 16,000 people who work in and visit Willis Tower each day could soon be spending less time on their elevator rides in Chicago's tallest building.

A five-year project to upgrade the tower's 83 elevator shafts -- and replace 97 passenger cabs, as some shafts have two-level elevators -- will start in June, according to the building's owner, Blackstone Group's Equity Office, and elevator firm Otis. — Chicago Tribune

[...] one Washington, D.C. architecture firm wants Philly to become a trailblazer in the future of high-rise construction.

Specifically, it wants Comcast to build its rumored third tower out of wood — mass timber, to be exact. [...]

At 62 stories, Timber Towers would be the first high-rise to utilize mass timber. Two office towers are linked by a connecting bridge, with a third tower including residences, a school and ground floor retail. — Philly Voice

San Francisco lives with the certainty that the Big One will come. But the city is also putting up taller and taller buildings clustered closer and closer together because of the state’s severe housing shortage. Now those competing pressures have prompted an anxious rethinking of building regulations. Experts are sending this message: The building code does not protect cities from earthquakes nearly as much as you might think. — New York Times

Developers on Monday unveiled plans for Chicago’s second-tallest skyscraper, a tapering shaft of metal and glass that would soar above historic Tribune Tower, resemble the top of Batman’s black mask and be only 29 feet shorter than Willis Tower.

If completed, the $1 billion-plus project to repurpose Tribune Tower and build a skinny, 1,422-foot high-rise just northeast of it would bring more than 700 residences and 200 hotel rooms to an area north of the Chicago River. — chicagotribune.com

Azizi Developments will begin work on what will become the world’s fifth tallest skyscraper in the third quarter of the year.

Being developed at a cost of $816m (AED3bn) on Dubai's Sheikh Zayed Road, the 570-metre tall, 122-storey residential and commercial tower will house residential apartments on the first 100 floors, and a luxury hotel on the remaining 22.

In an update, the Dubai-based developer said that it is currently consulting with Atkins to finalise the design based on its feedback. — constructionweekonline.com

The Manhattan skyline is one of the world’s most iconic, but it wouldn’t be complete without the city’s famed residential supertalls. Luxury buildings like 432 Park Ave and One57 have set a high bar in the era of tower living, but the past decade has seen the vertical lifestyle catching on across the globe—from Boston to Monaco to New Orleans. — quartzy.qz.com

[...] historians were dumbstruck last week when Chase announced plans to demolish the 52-story glass-curtain-wall skyscraper, which opened in 1961, and replace it with an even bigger structure.

The news prompted two immediate responses. The first was an outcry by preservationists. That part was predictable; what is surprising this time around was their wistful sense of resignation.

Construction of The Conservatory sky bridge has given Raffles City Chongqing the title of development with the highest sky bridge linking the most number of towers. [...]

Designed by Moshe Safdie, Raffles City Chongqing also consists of a 350-m supertall skyscraper, which currently holds two records for being China’s tallest residential tower and Chongqing’s tallest building. — Business Insider

The design development programme for Dubai Creek Tower is fully complete. 

BMT, an international design, engineering and risk management consultancy, announced that it had taken the Emaar Properties project "to 100% design development".

Wind engineering experts from BMT have completed aerodynamic shape optimisation studies, wind loading analyses, and façade wind pressure assessments for the project. — constructionweekonline.com

Sumitomo Forestry Co. Ltd. has announced that it plans to build a 70-story 350-meter mixed-use skyscraper in Marunouchi, a central Tokyo business district, by the year 2041. [...]

The project [...] is estimated to cost 600 billion JPY (5.5 billion USD). This is almost twice that of conventional high-rise buildings using current technology, but the company hopes to reduce costs by making technological advances in wood-based construction. — Real Estate Japan

Construction of the world's tallest skyscraper in Jeddah is going ahead, the head of the consortium behind the $1.5 billion project said, despite the detention of some businessmen backing the plan in Saudi Arabia's crackdown on corruption. [...]

Construction has reached the 63rd floor and the superstructure - the concrete shell and the cladding - is to be completed next year, Jomah said, adding that delays in some areas were inevitable because of technical challenges. — Arabian Business

All of which makes for a nuanced tower, conscientious and self-assured even as it reorients the skyline and redefines San Francisco’s visual image. But there’s also an air of detachment, as if the creators were so busy being tasteful they forgot that big buildings can be fun.

In the works for a decade, and with plenty of work left to do, the 1.42 million-square-foot tower at First and Mission streets opened quietly Monday. — San Francisco Chronicle

A 156m (511ft) skyscraper in northern Shanxi province has been listed on Taobao, China's largest e-commerce website, by a local court. [...]

Construction on the building first began in 2006 and was due to be completed by 2011, according to Chinese state media outlet Xinhua.

However, the developer ran into funding troubles. The building was eventually seized by the Shanxi Provincial Higher People's Court. — BBC