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The skyscrapers of New York’s so-called Billionaires’ Row in Midtown Manhattan have something in common besides eye-watering prices: The city still considers them active construction sites, with a range of safety-related requirements that remain incomplete, sometimes years after occupancy. — The New York Times
All of the eight new Billionaires’ Row towers are reportedly missing final signoff from the Department of Buildings on elevators and plumbing, with seven lacking final signoff on fire sprinklers and standpipes. Five are missing approvals from the fire department. According to The New York... View full entry
Although far from soothing, advances in materials science and construction technology, along with experience, are starting to help residents’ day-to-day comfort levels climb along with buildings’ heights. Experts are constantly refining ideal structural shapes, masses, and weights, as well as more obscure features like the multiton machines known as tuned mass dampers, which are designed to limit a building’s sway. — Bloomberg
Residents of Rafael Vinoly’s billion dollar 432 Park tower have begun to pursue legal remedies against the property developers over the building’s annoying sway and a host of other abject failures. Case studies, in addition to advancements in building science could mean a future with fewer... View full entry
The condo board at the supertall tower 432 Park Avenue, one of the most expensive addresses in the world, is suing the developers for $125 million in damages, citing multiple floods, faulty elevators, “intolerable” noise caused by building sway, and an electrical explosion in June — the second in three years — that knocked out power to residents, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday. — The New York TImes
Reports on the shortcomings of the nearly 1,400-foot-tall, Rafael Viñoly Architects-designed luxury tower were initially released in February. Identified by an engineering firm hired by the condo board, damages include the estimated cost to repair around 1,500 construction and design defects in... View full entry
A spiraling new supertower hopes to grace one of Tanzania’s most spectacular coastal islands thanks to an ambitious, albeit repurposed design from Dubai-based firm xcassia. Taking its design from a set of dominoes, the proposed 70-story tower will inhabit a manmade island on the Zanzibar... 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
9 DeKalb, a soaring residential tower by SHoP Architects and developers JDS Development Group, is officially the tallest building in Brooklyn, New York. Via an Instagram post, JDS Development Group announced that the under-construction skyscraper has recently reached 721 feet. When complete... 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
China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) celebrated the completion of the concrete structure of Iconic Tower in the Central Business District of Egypt’s New Administrative Capital last week on 17 June.
Now the tallest tower in Africa, Iconic Tower’s concrete structure is 373.2m while its highest point is 385.8m, CSCEC Egypt said.
— Global Construction Review
The 78-story Iconic Tower is the centerpiece in an ambitious mega-development of several planned skyscrapers in Egypt's New Administrative Capital outside of Cairo. Designed by China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), construction work started on May 2, 2018. #WitnessHappiness The... View full entry
A slew of new renderings showing the breadth of the next-gen 343 Madison Avenue have emerged. The supertall tower, developed by Boston Properties and designed by skyscraper pros Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), is currently on the rise atop the former site of the Metropolitan Transit Authority headquarters in Midtown East just one block from Grand Central. [...] The tower will rise 1,050 feet and be among the tallest in the neighborhood. — Urbanize NYC
The developers of Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami, planned as the city’s tallest residential tower at 100 stories, are launching sales, The Real Deal has learned.
The luxury project, at 300 Biscayne Boulevard, will be the highest skyscraper south of Manhattan at 1,049 feet tall, the developers said. Property Markets Group, Greybrook Realty Partners and Hilton are partnering on the tower.
— The Real Deal
The ambitious project first appeared on Archinect as 300 Biscayne back in 2017. According to The Real Deal, Canada-based Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott designed the 1,049-foot-tall (320 meters) tower, and Sieger Suarez is the architect of record. A Waldorf Astoria-branded condo doesn't come cheap... View full entry
Less than a decade after a spate of record-breaking condo towers reached new heights in New York, the first reports of defects and complaints are beginning to emerge, raising concerns that some of the construction methods and materials used have not lived up to the engineering breakthroughs that only recently enabled 1,000-foot-high trophy apartments. — The New York Times
The New York Times on complaints about substantial "leaks, creaks, breaks" in NYC's preeminent supertall ultraluxury condo tower, and briefly also tallest residential building in the world, 432 Park Avenue. Previously: Rafael Viñoly admits 432 Park ‘has a couple of screw-ups’Central Park... View full entry
A 390-meter-high (1,279 feet) skyscraper inspired by a flaming torch is set to become Japan's tallest building when it opens in 2027.
Standing above a new plant-filled public plaza in Tokyo, the tower will also feature a soaring observation area from which visitors can enjoy views over the capital and nearby Mount Fuji.
— CNN
In a recent set of Instagram posts, Sou Fujimoto revealed that his team was designing the top section of Japan's future tallest skyscraper, dubbed Torch Tower. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sou Fujimoto (@sou_fujimoto) View full entry
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has published its latest annual web report, Tall Buildings in 2020, with plenty of facts and figures on the state of the skyscraper construction industry during a year full of pandemic-related uncertainty. With 106 completions of buildings... View full entry
Kohn Pedersen Fox's (KPF) infamous One Vanderbilt tower has finally opened. A project extensively covered on Archinect, the 77-story building now stands completed and open to the public. According to the firm's press team, the tower "transforms the civic experience of the Grand... View full entry
Despite the state-wide shutdown of all non-essential construction projects, work on the 77-story One Vanderbilt tower in New York City designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) is marching forward. New York YIMBY reports that construction crews are currently hard at work installing the finishing... View full entry
