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The latest addition to the Los Angeles skyline — the New Wilshire Grand, the tallest structure to be built west of the Mississippi — takes a major step forward Saturday when more than 2,000 truckloads of concrete are driven through downtown for what is being billed as the world's largest continuous concrete pour.
The slurry-fest begins at 5 p.m. and is expected to last nearly 20 hours.
— latimes.com
The organising committee for the Qatar 2022 World Cup has promised that contractors who build its stadiums will be held to high standards on the welfare of migrant workers, in the wake of trenchant and sustained criticism.
But the promises, made after demands for a progress update from football's governing body Fifa, do not deal with wider concerns about workers engaged in the £137bn construction boom underpinning World Cup infrastructure.
— Guardian
After the accidental death of over 185 Nepali workers' death, Qatar has obliged to introduce new standards to avoid further pressure from the international community.However, it only deals with the construction of the stadiums, which is due to begin in earnest this year. View full entry
Less than five months before Brazil's World Cup kicks off, 6 out of 12 venues are still unfinished -- including a complex in the northern city of Manaus, where construction workers have died and pay for laborers is an issue. Fifa has warned Brazil's World Cup 2014 host city of Curitiba that it could be excluded unless work speeds up. — marketplace.org
Previously: Three killed after partial stadium collapse at 2014 World Cup venue View full entry
A German architect accused of improperly installing a fireplace in his Hollywood Hills mansion, leading to a firefighter’s death in February 2011, is expected to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter Friday. — LA Times
Architect, Gerhard Becker, is accused of involuntary manslaughter in Los Angeles in the death of a firefighter in February 2011. He is expected to plead "no contest" and serve a 6 month long sentence. Becker was accused of constructing fireplaces in a 12,000 square foot residence in the Hollywood... View full entry
Brazil's World Cup preparations suffered a deadly setback on Wednesday when a roof collapsed killing at least two building workers at the São Paulo stadium that is due to host the opening match.
Coming a week before the draw for next year's tournament, the fatalities revive concerns about unsafe infrastructure and the slow pace of construction, which have dogged the hosts for more than a year.
— theguardian.com
The winners of the 2013 Structural Awards were revealed last Friday during a ceremony event [...] in London. Hosted by The Institution of Structural Engineers, the annual Structural Awards recognize the talents, the challenging environments, and the invaluable contributions of the world's best structural designers.
Twelve winners from around the world were honored this year, with the Taizhou Bridge in China winning the Supreme Award for Structural Engineering Excellence — the highest title.
— bustler.net
Previously: The Structural Awards - 2013 Shortlist View full entry
Upon receiving approval, construction of MVRDV's The Couch is set to begin this month. The Couch is a club house that the Dutch firm designed together with co-architect Studio Bouwkunde for IJburg, a growing tennis club established in 2010 on an artificial island in Amsterdam. — bustler.net
Images courtesy of MVRDV. View full entry
After winning first prize in a 2009 international competition, Henning Larsen Architects' Kolding Campus building for the University of Southern Denmark is full of sustainable features. One in particular is the recent construction of its facade, which is built with a solar shading system that maintains climate control throughout the day — and plus, the triangular shape of the solar shutters add a nifty-looking pattern for the structure. — bustler.net
[Genie is] a platform with online-based planning applications to help architects and engineers in the design process, especially for skyscrapers and large buildings. The platform includes planning tools of expert architects and engineers and advance analytics and simulation tools. Genie standardizes and automates the design and construction processes with unlimited design options, enabling an architect to preserve the building's uniqueness in the urban environment. — Globes
The much anticipated—and wildly criticized—San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge finally opened to the public earlier this week (previously on Archinect). See 42,000 hours of bridge construction compressed to a compact 4-minute time-lapse video below. View full entry
China is home to 60 of the world’s 100 tallest buildings now under construction. But the skyward aspirations of Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, have inspired incredulity tinged with hostility. [...] the project’s scale and speed have set off a burst of national introspection in recent days about whether Chinese municipal leaders and developers have gone too far in their increasingly manic reach for the skies. — nytimes.com
Previously: Sky City, world's tallest building, stops construction due to lack of government approval View full entry
MIT researchers have developed a lightweight structure whose tiny blocks can be snapped together much like the bricks of a child’s construction toy. The new material, the researchers say, could revolutionize the assembly of airplanes, spacecraft, and even larger structures, such as dikes and levees. — MIT News Office
Finding 3D printed materials unsuitable for structural applications, this group of researchers has been investigating new ways of building "big things out of small pieces". The configurations proposed are claimed to be much less susceptible to sudden failure, providing redundancy and predictable... View full entry
Yin Zhi, head of Beijing Tsinghua Urban Design Institute, said, "The technique that Broad Group uses has no precedent in the world, and the cost they promised is very low. So they either have some record breaking techniques or it’s a lie. They are gambling. If they win, they will change the history of world architecture, but that's one chance in a million." — news.xinhuanet.com
In China’s Hunan province, ground was broken for the next "world's tallest skyscraper". It was a brave ambition. The developer Broad Group planned to build an 838 meter tower with 202 stories, in just 10 months. The tower would surpass the current tallest skyscraper, Dubai’s Burj... View full entry
Stud Find is an iPhone application that uses the device's built-in magnetometer to find metal studs, screws, nails and anything metallic in a wall.
The iPhone's three-axis magnetometer is an instrument that measures magnetic forces. Internal Apple software uses the instrument to position the phone's 360° orientation. Stud Find uses the magnetometer as a metal detector.
— enr.construction.com
Find it here in the app store. The reviews are mixed. View full entry
Builder confidence in the market for newly-built single-family homes hit a significant milestone in June, surging eight points to a reading of 52 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) released today. Any reading over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor. — nahb.org
