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A new study from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has revealed important statistics that provide a clearer picture of the present state of tall mass timber construction across the globe. There are now a total of 66 completed mass timber projects worldwide totaling of... View full entry
Without special approval, cities with populations of less than 3 million must not build skyscrapers taller than 150 metres (492.13 ft), and cities with larger populations must not construct buildings higher than 250 metres, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said on Tuesday. — Reuters
China had previously imposed a ban on “oversized, xenocentric, and weird" architecture, including many copycat-type structure’s like the faux Eiffel Tower in the suburbs of Hangzhou. The previous ban set a limit of 500 meters. Violators of the rule “will be held accountable for life”... View full entry
Vertical living may not be the most environmentally friendly way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Colorado, Edinburgh Napier University, and the University of Cambridge. The study, published in the... View full entry
China’s National Development and Reform Commission has implemented an outright ban on the construction of buildings taller than 500 meters, following mounting safety concerns over the quality of some tall projects. The move is seen as a formal ratification of an in-principle ban on new buildings... View full entry
The U.S. Embassy in London, designed by Philadelphia-based KieranTimberlake has been awarded a 2020 Award of Excellence by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) in the Best Tall Building Under 100 Meters category. Previously on Archinect: Rachel Whiteread brings American Suburbia... View full entry
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) develops an online resource for those interested in mass timber use in tall building construction. Thanks to a USDA Forest Service grant, the CTBUH aimed to explore the work and research regarding mass timber and its... View full entry
In its 9th iteration, the annual CTBUH International Student Tall Building Design Competition highlights the best student work that explores the future of sustainable vertical urbanism. The competition aims to invite students to submit their best project ideas as they explore a "new light on... View full entry
[...] tall buildings are still sold on the basis that they are good for the environment. Mostly the argument is about density – if you pile a lot of homes or workplaces high on one spot, it is said, then you can use land and public transport more efficiently. There’s some truth in this, but you can also achieve high levels of density without going above 10 or 12 storeys. — The Guardian
The Observer's Rowan Moore dissects a list of the usual arguments in favor of ever taller buildings around the world and concludes that not much of it passes the reality test of urgent climate crisis, resource scarcity, wealth distribution, city planning, global pandemic, and ultimately, good... View full entry
Rising high in the skies over New York City, Chicago, Hong Kong, and other great metropolises are tall towers that appear impossibly slender. Fueled mostly by market demand from wealthy clients who desire spectacular views, the design and construction of these superslim, generally residential skyscrapers also depend on engineering advances over recent decades in building materials and damping technologies as well as careful coordination by the design teams. — Civil Engineering Magazine
"Slender" towers are beginning to pop up all over the world, notably, in cities like New York, where real estate is scarce, but the desire to maximize ROI is strong. "The limited space for new buildings in places like New York City generally involves small parcels of land, which means that these... View full entry
Municipal laws in New York City are hampering the city's real estate developers and building owners as they look to embrace the use of drones to perform periodic building and facade inspections on their properties, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. In New York City... View full entry
In the next few years, Chicago's iconic Aon Center will be getting a shiny, new glass-sheathed exterior elevator that is set to be the tallest of its kind in North America. Designed by locally based Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB), the elevator — which will be tucked into the northwest corner of... View full entry
Researchers found the sedimentary basin under [Seattle] can amplify the type of ground motion that’s hardest on high-rises by a factor of two to five — much more than previous estimates.
In response, Seattle and Bellevue are boosting seismic standards for new buildings 240 feet or taller [...] But the prospect of stronger shaking also raises concerns about older high-rises
— Seattle Times
Rising 33-stories, the stack of concrete boxes that will make up the IQON tower in Quito, Ecuador, will become the city's tallest building. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, the firm's first project in South America recently began construction. Image by Bjarke Ingels Group.Plans for the residential... View full entry
Tel Aviv has the largest concentration of buildings in the Bauhaus/International Style of any city in the world. With a collection of over 4,000 buildings covering almost one and a half square miles, the White City, as it is called, was largely created in the 1930s by a group of 200 German Jewish... View full entry
Chicago is one of the global centers of the architectural world, not only for its rich history, but also as a stage for continuous innovation and design exploration. This lineage is a major part of why The Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) has decided to create the Chicago Architecture Center... View full entry
