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Dubai largest listed developer Emaar Properties has halted new building work after a construction boom in recent years led to oversupply in the Gulf city, its chairman said on Monday.
Dubai’s real estate market, where supply has outstripped demand for much of the past decade, has come under additional pressure this year from the coronavirus crisis.
— Reuters
"We as a group have stopped supply," said Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman of Dubai's largest developer Emaar Properties, after denying similar claims back in April. The suspension includes work on the new Dubai Creek Harbour mega-development and its centerpiece, the Santiago Calatrava-designed Dubai... View full entry
Two years after a lack of funds halted construction of a marble-clad Greek Orthodox church at New York's World Trade Center site, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Greek Orthodox officials announced plans Thursday to resume construction with the goal of finishing the rebuilding by the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. — The New York Times
The troubled Santiago Calatrava-designed St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center appears to have received the blessing from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo after the project fell victim to acute cost overruns and had to eventually halt construction in... View full entry
Few things are as embarrassing for an architect than having a building you’ve designed spring a leak. Unfortunately for Santiago Calatrava, that is exactly what's happened at the World Trade Center Oculus, a $3.9 billion transit hub built to memorialize the September 11th terrorist... View full entry
The sweeping structure, which spans the Grand Canal and was the first new bridge to be built in the floating city for 70 years, was designed by renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.
But it has been dogged by controversy ever since it was unveiled in 2008.
— The Telegraph
According to The Telegraph, Santiago Calatrava has been fined €78,000, or roughly $86,000, by the city of Venice due to "negligence" involved in the design of the troubled 300-foot-long Ponte della Constituzione bridge in the city. According to the report, an Italian judge... View full entry
The skylight that crowns the spiky, $3.9 billion World Trade Center Oculus has sprung a leak.
A rubber seal that runs along the spine of the retractable skyline is believed to have ripped during its opening and closing on the 2018 anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, The Wall Street Journal reports.
— Curbed NY
"Some $30,000 by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was spent this winter to repair the tear using black strips of Flex Tape, but the skylight at the massive transportation hub and shopping mall leaked again on May 5," Curbed summarizes the WSJ's account. The Santiago... View full entry
The opening allows for the “Way of Light” to pass through the main hub of the transit hall at 10:28 a.m.—the moment that the North Tower of the WTC collapsed on September 11, 2001. The path along which the light travels inside the hall symbolizes “the light that continues to shine through after the darkness of the tragedy,” says a spokesperson for the Oculus. — Curbed NY
Concrete placement work for Dubai Creek Tower's pile cap has been completed two months ahead of schedule.
A 20m-thick, multi-layered pile cap has been developed for the $1bn (AED3.67bn) Dubai Creek Tower, which is part of the 6km2 Dubai Creek Harbour master development.
The pile covers and transfers the load to the foundation barrettes.
— constructionweekonline.com
Image: Emaar Properties. Up to 16,000 tons of steel reinforcement, reportedly twice the weight of the Eiffel Tower, have been buried in the sandy Dubai ground to support (what has been promised to become) the world's tallest tower at a yet to be disclosed height: the Dubai Creek Tower designed by... View full entry
WSJ reports that “a person familiar with the matter” claims that Santiago Calatrava and Frank Gehry have been tapped to design buildings for the megaproject’s second phase, due to rise over the west side rail yards [...] There’s little information beyond that, but 2018 is the year that co-developers Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group are due to start work on the platform that will cover the west side yards — Curbed
According to the Wall Street Journal, Frank Gehry and Santiago Calatrava may be joining the star-studded lineup of designers working on the Hudson Yards development, which — so far — includes SOM, Foster + Partners, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Rockwell Group, and Thomas... View full entry
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
Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, stopped by the Santiago Calatrava-designed Dubai Creek Tower megaproject last month and inspected the monumental foundation work of what may soon be the world's tallest building (the final height is still kept a secret but was announced to... View full entry
The Margaret McDermott Bridge was supposed to be open to pedestrians and bicyclists by now, but the arches over the Trinity River remain closed partially over concerns about broken cables.
The issue centers around problems with the cables -- and their resistance to heavy winds -- that connect the arch to the base of the Dallas bridge, which was designed by famed architect Santiago Calatrava and his firm.
— Dallas News
The $113-million (partially) Calatrava-designed Margaret McDermott Bridge carrying Interstate 30 is part of Dallas' ambitious Trinity River Project. "City officials are hoping to open the bridge to pedestrians and cyclists in March," Dallas News writes. Meanwhile the finger-pointing between... View full entry
The clown king of novelty infrastructure fantasies has once again stolen the limelight with his preposterous plan for a 22-mile bridge across the Channel. [...]
But none of this matters. In a world where Johnson got as far as flushing £37m of public money into the Thames on another fantasy project, the Garden Bridge, a great Channel crossing could easily be conjured into being.
— The Guardian
The Guardian's architecture critic, Oliver Wainwright, responds to the former London Mayor's suggestion to build a 22-mile bridge across the Channel and physically connect the European Union with the brexiting island kingdom (on top of the already existing 31.35-mile Channel tunnel). Let's just... View full entry
Construction at the site of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox National Shrine at Ground Zero in New York City has been halted by the main construction company because the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has defaulted on payments, according to a letter sent by the company to its subcontractors working at the site. — Pappas Post
Image: Greek Orthodox Church in AmericaThe Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America acknowledged the payment issues and responded in a statement: "In light of recent financial difficulties at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and in order to make certain that all operations and funds are... View full entry
Building within the 2.3 square-mile Dubai Creek Harbour complex, Emaar is looking to eclipse its most famous creation the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest structure since 2010. To do so has required laying 236ft deep foundation piles—a world record—set to be capped with 1.59 million cubic feet of concrete. When completed, the 3,045ft tower will best the Burj by a massive 322ft. — CNN
The Emaar Properties and Dubai Holdings joint venture is inspired by the lily flower and mosque minarets, say its developers, and will feature a 68-mile array of supporting cables. Swiss-Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has designed a 360-degree observation deck and a capacious Hanging Gardens... View full entry
How does Santiago Calatrava's Oculus encapsulate the complex history and significance of its site? In this brief video from filmmaker Jeff Durkin, Calatrava's elaborate transit hub canopy is sited in its aesthetic and social contexts via a series of carefully selected voice-over news clips and... View full entry
Peninsula Place, part of the Greenwich Peninsula redevelopment, is a billion pound landmark building, designed by architect, artist, and engineer, Santiago Calatrava. He was joined at today’s press conference by Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London), Peter Murray (NLA), and Richard Margree and Sammy Lee... View full entry
