Chicago architecture firm Goettsch Partners has designed the flagship commercial development for UAE-based Al Hilal Bank in the heart of Abu Dhabi’s Al Maryah Island, formerly known as Sowwah Island. — bustler.net

We have received images of Ben van Berkel / UNStudio's design for the new UIC building, ‘V on Shenton’, in the heart of Singapore’s Central Business District. The office/residential twin tower concept is scheduled for completion in 2016. — bustler.net

It took Dubai more than five years to build the 828-meter Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building (for the moment, anyway). But Chinese architects and engineers reckon they need a mere 90 days to leave the Emiratis in the dust. At least, that's what they've claimed. — cnngo.com

Chicago-based firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture just released its design for Dancing Dragons, a pair of landmark supertall mixed-use towers for the new Yongsan International Business District in Seoul, South Korea. The buildings, which include residential, “officetel” and retail elements, consist of slender, sharply angled mini-towers cantilevered around a central core. — bustler.net

International architectural practice 10 Design has shared with us their concept of a headquarter park for pharmaceutical company Yabao in Shenzhen, China. Construction of this massive project already commenced last October and is well underway. — bustler.net

More than a decade after a terrorist attack brought down New York's twin towers, their under-construction replacement will become the city's tallest building on Monday.

The placement of a column of the 100th floor will bring the colossal new steel structure of One World Trade Center tower to a height of 1,271 feet – surpassing the frame of the Empire State Building, which is currently New York's tallest skyscraper, by 21 feet. — news.blogs.cnn.com

The site of 425 Park Avenue now awaits its fate as a star-studded line-up of prospective architects compete for the chance to helm the $750 million project. L&L Holding Co. has tapped Jean Nouvel, Herzog & de Meuron, Foster & Partners, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Richard Meier, Renzo Piano and others with high hopes to create a "bespoke skyscraper that will both complement Park Avenue's existing architectural treasures and make its own indelible mark in the world's most timeless office corridor".. — artinfo.com

The fire engulfing Moscow’s Federation Tower has been extinguished. About 300 square meters of the yet-to-be-completed skyscraper were set ablaze, but the centrally located building has been evacuated and no victims have been reported. The fire broke on the building's 67th floor (250 meters above the ground) and spread to several sections on the 66th and 65th floors. Fourteen people working at the floors hit by the firestorm were evacuated. — rt.com

Swapping cement and steel for timber is the vision of a number of environmentally-minded architects who are planning high-rise buildings across the world.

Architect Michael Green has plans for a 30-story wooden skyscraper in Vancouver, while plans are afoot in Norway and Austria for 17- and 20-story buildings that use wood as the main building material, eschewing steel and concrete. — CNN.com

In our previous post, we just published the winners of eVolo's 2012 Skyscraper Competition. This entry here, Coal Power Plant Mutation by Romanian architect Bogdan Chipara, was one of the Honorable Mentions and suggests a radically new design approach towards fossil fuel power plants. — bustler.net

eVolo Magazine has announced the winners of the 2012 Skyscraper Competition. The annual contest—now in its sixth year—honors visionary ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the use of new technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations, along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution. — bustler.net

The proposal is for a mixed-use development. On the Howe Street side, there will be a 49-storey residential tower with a 9-storey podium which includes market rental housing, commercial uses, and a childcare facility. The building height is at 150 metres and will be the tallest building on the southern end of downtown and the 4th tallest building in the city, unless the Ritz Carlton site gets developed before this, in which case it would be the 5th tallest. — vancitybuzz.com

Skyscrapers have an 'unhealthy' link with impending financial collapse, according to banking experts. [...]

Researchers pointed to the fact the world's first skyscraper, New York's Equitable Life building, was finished in 1873 during a five-year recession, while the Empire State Building coincided with the Great Depression. — dailymail.co.uk

Danish practice schmidt hammer lassen architects has won the international architectural competition to design a 188 meter office tower in the financial district of central Warsaw, Poland. The 60,000 m2 high-rise building is to replace the existing ‘Ilmet’ building. — bustler.net